Field Trip

 Owen's class had a field trip last week to see the play If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, based on the book series.  Unfortunately, all of the tickets were sold out so Adler and I couldn't join him.  But we did meet with with him at the park afterwards for a picnic lunch.

When we were visiting Austin last September we just so happened to stop at this same park to let the kids run around.  We had been driving around looking at possible neighborhoods and houses.  It was strange to be back at this park on a school field trip.



Owen playing with his new friend, Logan.

Owen's school has 6 Kindergarten classes and all of them were on this field trip, which added up to about 120 kids.  It was a crazy day at the park but fun to see Owen playing with his new friends and I even met a few other class moms.

Lake Austin

It's always good to have a friend who owns a boat!!!  We've been spending some time with Micah's buddy Jeremy and his family.....they're one of the only families we know in Austin, so they'll likely be getting tired of us any day now.  Last weekend the weather was warm enough for a boatride down Lake Austin and lunch on the patio of Hula Hut!  No complaints here!

Adler testing out the water

Hula Hut

Owen mastering the art of driving a boat

Our Little Dancer

After watching Adler dance around the house for her entire little life, we decided to put her in a dance class.......we thought maybe she would meet some new friends in the area (and mommy friends too).  She absolutely LOVES it!!! 

She goes to class once a week with about 10 other 3-5 year olds. She's one of the youngest in the class but listens and follows directions for the whole hour.  Then she comes home and practices what she learned and begs to go back to class!

Hopefully I'll get some more pictures soon, but parents aren't allowed in the studio during class.  I can't imagine why??

Many thanks to Grammy and Papa for paying for her dance classes!!!  What a wonderful gift!

Micah's new work digs

Micah started his new job at the beginning of the month and his new office is pretty cool.  The owner of the company built their studio on her own personal property in south Austin.

Here's the studio....notice their office dog, Sadie, in the photo.

The kids loved the koi pond right outside of the office. 

There are some trails and a creek running through the property that the kids enjoyed.  Not your typical landscape architect studio.  Micah seems to be enjoying it so far!

The Ranch

My favorite place to be is my family's ranch in central Texas.  We've only visited once since we've been back in Texas and it was really cold.  But we only live about 2 hours away now, so we'll be making another trip soon!

Showing the kids the snake cave.

Grandma and Owen riding the tractor

Adler's turn!

 

Owen found a jaw bone in the cave

Adler enjoying herself as we did some vintage shopping.

Christmas

We spent our first Christmas in 10 years back home in College Station.  It was fun being there and able to spend time with our entire family.  We celebrated 3 days in a row, at each of our parent's houses.

Owen and Adler had a blast playing with their cousin Jordynn and enjoyed this motorized Mercedes from Papa and Grammy.

Having fun with Jami and Ann

Owen playing dress up

Here's the madness of Christmas!

The highlight of the holidays????  We finally were able to meet our new nephew, Noah.  He is such a little sweetheart!

Uncle Micah and Noah

Home in TEXAS!

We made it to our new home in Austin, Texas on December 14th.  It's hard to believe we've been here for almost a month.

Here's our rental house in South Austin, taken right after we pulled onto the street.  It was such a long road trip that "home" never looked so good.  It's a cute house and we have a little more space than we did in Nevada.  I think we did pretty good, considering we rented this place sight-unseen.

The kids were excited about having stairs and Adler was so exhausted she almost passed out here while we were unloading the Penske truck.

Our first few days in Texas we enjoyed some gorgeous weather.  Micah set up the hammock in record time and we all unpacked our flip flops!

There were some sort of critters living in the chimney when we moved in and Sandy couldn't get close enough to them.  It drove her crazy.  She would actually climb into the chimney, whine, and bark all day long.

But then the weather turned cold and we started using the fireplace.  We no longer have the critter problem, but sure have enjoyed a fireplace.  We were really missing out on this in Nevada (where it would have been really useful)!

We seem to be settling in nicely in Austin.  Micah started his new job on January 2nd and Owen started his new school just this past Wednesday.  We are so proud of Owen and how well he seems to be adjusting.  I know it was hard that first day, being the new kid in school, but he's not complaining.  He did say one of his new friends is a "longhorn" though......this will be the downside of living in Austin.  :o)

New Mexico

We weren't in New Mexico for long and these are about the only pictures from that portion of our trip.

We did learn that Owen can guzzle water faster than the rest of us.  But as a result we were stopping to do this about every 30 minutes afterwards.

Owen turned 6 in Arizona

Owen turned SIX during our move from Nevada to Texas.  We woke up on his birthday in Flagstaff and drove to Sedona and Phoenix on his special day.

Sedona looked charming and I look forward to visiting there again, maybe on an adult-only trip! 

The kids enjoyed a mini-hike in Sedona and we just loved the gorgeous landscape.  Even Adler's baby went on the hike with us!

We spent the afternoon of Owen's birthday at the Phoenix Zoo!  It was a cute zoo and we all had a great time with all the animals.  The weather couldn't have been better, especially after freezing our buns off at the Grand Canyon.

It's incredibly hard to believe Owen is six years old.  He seems to be adjusting well to all the changes we've thrown at him though......better than we both thought he would do. 

 

Grand Canyon

I'm finally getting back to the blog!  It was exactly one month ago today that we visited the Grand Canyon and words can not describe how amazing it was!  Within 5 minutes of arriving, we saw a bald eagle fly across the canyon.  It was incredible.  I've never seen anything like it and definitely want to go back to do some hiking. 

 

There were some parts where I was really nervous about the kids getting too close to the edge.  We had to keep them real close to us.

We had a lovely lunch at the El Tovar, with a table overlooking the canyon.  Thank you, Cynthia, for this wonderful recommendation!