Guadalupe South River Trail

A refreshingly cool August Saturday morning found us hitting the hiking trail as a family. (Read that---it wasn't 90+ degrees until after noon!)

Next up on our 60 Hikes withing 60 miles of Austin and San Antonio, the Guadalupe River Trail in Canyon Lake. It was about a 45 minute drive, but well worth it, especially since this hike was right along the Guadalupe River and completely shaded!

Who doesn't want to drink out of a water bottle that is as big as you are?

Part of our days entertainment was letting Lil' D take pictures with the camera (a.k.a. Nikon D80, heavy digital SLR). He's becoming quite the pro. The above picture is one of the 200 or so pictures he took. :)

Summer Projects: Part 2 (A.K.A. Kitchen Renovations Part 2)

We started project number two in March when we removed our "bar" counter top and have been living with an open/exposed half wall ever since. Renovating our kitchen will be more than a summer project. Hopefully we will be finished by Christmas! Task number two in our kitchen reno was to paint the cabinets. We removed the upper cabinets because ultimately we were going to rehang them anyway.

Lil' D was a big helper!

He insisted upon helping with the painting, and HAD to use the exact same paint roller as Daddy.

After a couple false starts, we managed to finish painting the upper cabinets and rehang them 8 inches or so higher. The cabinet doors are still in our garage ready to be painted. Baby steps. 

We love the new look, and what is promises to be when we finish everything! 

Saturday Adventures

The first weekend in August, we got up SUPER early and drove to Mansfield Dam to see the annual Lake Travis Hot Air Balloon Fest. We got up around 5am and arrived just in time to see some of the hot air balloons beginning to be inflated.

Lil' D thought it was pretty cool.

Then we had a lovely breakfast.

Then we headed to Zilker Park to go canoeing.

We had a great time and saw lots of wildlife! Turtles, herons, and swans.

And because you can never have too much fun in one day, Daddy and Lil' D tried to build their own hot air balloon!

It didn't fly, but they sure had fun.

Summer Projects: Part I

Now that we are home from vacation and have a little down time, much needed house projects are underway. First up: The Bradford Pear tree in our backyard. This is what it looked like when we moved in. 

It has grown a bit since then. What you cannot see from this picture is that the branches are resting on our neighbors fences, so Nicholas decided it was time for a haircut.

Watching Daddy chainsaw

Taking a turn sawing with his saw (ADORABLE!).

Originally we were going to cut down the whole tree. Instead it's just a much skinnier version of its former self. We shall see what happens next!

Saturday Adventures

Two Saturdays ago we visited the Austin Children's Museum. They have a special time for kids under 3 on Saturday mornings. It was less crowded and gave Lil' D some time to explore.

Making food for Mommy and Daddy

Watching the train

Learning about magnets of different sizes at the Nano exhibit

Learning about pulleys and clamps and how to make pigs fly

The flying pig

After the Children's Museum, we had lunch at Austin Java.

That night we had dinner with the Turmans where there is never a shortage of attention or fun things to do, like playing with the Jenga pieces, making brownies and putting together new patio furniture!

And eating chocolate cupcakes!