Springtime Adventures

I know, it isn't really springtime yet.  But, it sure does feel like it here in Central Texas.   We have had some absolutely gorgeous weather and the kids and I have tried to limit our time indoors as much as possible.  We are just soaking in this beautiful weather.  I know some have said that having weather this gorgeous in January and February probably means we may have a hot summer, but our family says, "who cares, that means more pool time!"  We just love being outdoors and having adventures whenever possible. 

One random beautiful day at home.

We have had so much fun exploring and hiking lately, that I have decided the kids and I are going to try to go to every hiking trail in the Austin area.  We are going to print out a checklist and see how many we can visit in a year.  When I can remember, I will try to blog about them.  If I blog about enough of them, I will create a page with links to each of the parks I blog about. 

Here are some photos of some of our most recent adventures:  (Most of these are taken with my Samsung Galaxy S5 and edited in Snapseed, and just a few with our DSLR.  Please forgive the poor quality--they have been compressed twice to insert into this blog.):

At Veteran's Park in Round Rock, TX:

The kids and I went fishing on one random gorgeous weekday.  We were the only ones there and we absolutely loved the park!   You certainly do not feel like you are in the middle of downtown when you step foot into this park.  Here are some of the photos I took of our time there.

My little climber immediately found a tree to try to climb. 

But he fished for a little while. 

Then he was back to exploring though.

Abbey stayed with me a little longer than Luke.  We found this pretty log to sit on while waiting for the fish to bite. 

more exploring

We saw fun creatures

But in the end, it was I who was the lonely one fishing. I didn't want to leave until we caught one. We didn't catch one that day.  Abbey was getting a bit tired though.  So, she played an educational game while I tried for a bit longer to catch one.

Mayfield Park and Nature preserve--Austin, TX:

Abbey took this photo of me recently at Mayfield park.

There are tons of peacocks who are residents of Mayfield Park.  What gorgeous animals!

 

Abbey found a peacock feather.

This peacock led the way during the first part of our hike on the trail.

These flowers tell us that Spring is close!  They think Spring is already here!

 

Mimi and Papa and their friends from Ohio (but who now live in Indiana) explored Mayfield park a little bit with us recently.

 

 
Bull Creek--Austin, TX:

The kids and I went with our homeschooling co-op to Bull Creek District Park last Friday. It felt like the most beautiful summer day and the kids certainly acted as if it was summer. Some in our co-op even had swimsuits on!  The kids had a blast exploring the park together, building things, finding animals and insects, building dams and bridges, and just hanging out.

You can see the 150+ year old wagon tracks that are embedded in the bottom of the creek bed here.  Wagons used to travel this route bringing goods in and out of town.

 

on a mission.

Abbey fell into the creek with her clothes on.  I hung her little shirt on a limb to dry.

Mt. Bonnell--Austin, TX:

We have been here countless of times. In fact, Mt. Bonnell is where Drew proposed to me.  (Actually, that moment happened this month 8 years ago.)   We visited a few times the past couple of months.  It is the highest point in Austin, so you can see for miles up there.
 

And we have enjoyed walking down to the creek near our home. 

Our next adventure awaits!