Cleaning up at the Derby

Congrats Cole (our super awesome nephew) for rockin' the pinewood derby!

Six!!!

AJ turned 6 on Wednesday. She had her eye on a new bike and seeing how she is about 3 feet too tall for her old one, we picked one up and hid it on the side yard for a couple days. So when she came home from school on Wednesday, there was a shiny new bike in the yard which she promptly jumped onto and rode off.

Instead of a party she choose to take Jack to Build-a-Bear. They really had a blast. For weeks she was online almost daily checking all of the animals and accessories available. So when we got there she knew just what she wanted. It was much more fun than I expected. Then we came home for an impromptu party with all of the neighborhood kids crowding around our table for cake. It was fun.

(And if you are wondering why this is the picture I choose to post–it is because I accidentally erased all of her party pics. I don't want to talk about it. I don't want to think about it. I am a moron.)

A day at the park

Sunday was a gorgeous day, so we decided to try out a new park. Brett got online and picked one out for us that had a frisbee-golf course, which the kids love. It was about 10 minutes away. It turned out to be one of the most beautiful places I have ever been, I mean ever been. Gravel paths through oak trees opened out onto at least a dozen or more big fields. The place was seriously huge, and the light was just amazing. I almost couldn't enjoy myself because I was so mad about not bringing my good camera.

Oh and as for the frisbee-golf, we were way out of out league. There were some serious players there. One group got really mad at us for watching them because apparently we were distracting them! I didn't know it could be such a serious sport! Madness.

Anyway, here are some pics we took with Brett's phone. I'm still mad at myself for forgetting the camera– I plan to go back soon. It was such a beautiful spot.

Square Dancing

Okay, if this isn't proof we're in Texas, I don't know what is.
AJ had a whole section–a whole two week period in Kindergarten
dedicated to cowboys! How AWESOME is that! They made a
cowboy quilt, made cactus-juice, made cowboy collages and best of all–
learned to square dance. If you don't think this is the cutest
thing you have ever seen in your life–you are a serious scrooge!

Willie Nelson

Okay, we went to the Austin Rodeo
and Willie Nelson concert...awesome.
I liked him before–love him now! I
thought, you know, with a performer
like Willie Nelson it was going to be a
huge venue, but it wasn't at all. Just a
local rodeo with the local favorite son

of Texas. Seriously cool.

The 80th Annual Zilker Kite Festival

...was AWESOME!!!

University of Texas Open House

UT had an open house for kids to come check out the school with lots of exhibits and activities. We watched this totally boring presentation about cat scanning dinosaur bones and I thought the kids would be complaining about it, but AJ thought it was one of the coolest things she's ever seen. She has been talking about it since. She got a little handout with pictures of cat scans of a dino-egg, and she almost went into hysterics when I asked if I could throw it away.

Anyway, the coolest part for the adults was the practice field bubble. We still aren't sure if we were supposed to go in or not, but it was open so we did. It was so cool! Just this huge artificial grass field inside a massive bubble. The kids ran touchdowns until Jack was staggering around hardly able to keep his feet moving.