Zilker Park Kite Festival

I am seriously LOVING Austin right now!  The weather, the food, the activities.....all incredible!  On Sunday we attended our first kite festival.  It reminded us a lot of the Reno Balloon Races, except it was warmer and more interactive with everyone flying kites.

 Apparently over 20,000 people showed up at Kite Fest.  Thanks to some good recommendations from friends we found our way in and out fairly easily.

 Micah took his trick kite out and flew it for a while, but there were so many other kites around us he didn't want to risk getting it tangled up.  Next year we'll bring a cheaper kite that we won't worry about so much.

 This will definitely be an annual event for us. Looking forward to next year!

How can it be March????

Time is just flying by.  March is my favorite month of the year, and I have a feeling I'm going to much prefer March in Texas over Nevada. 

 Our backyard is filled with snails and shells.  The kids love to search all the shells until they find a snail.  This one was especially friendly.

 For Valentine's Day I bought Micah tickets to see Bob Schneider in concert.  It was held last week in Gruene Hall, and I can honestly say he's my new favorite musician!  He's a local Austin artist but Micah's been following him for years on Pandora.  He put on a fantastic show......I'm certain we'll be seeing him again.  Fun night...thanks Mom, for babysitting!

 I walked in on Adler doing this the other day. Her dress was soaked but she was all smiles.

Meet Cecily: 

This is Adler's butterfly creation from last week's art class. 

 

Austin Zoo

Monday was President's Day, which meant Owen had a day off school.  Unfortunately, Micah still doesn't get off work for these federal holidays, so we had to have fun without him.  The weather was gorgeous so we decided to go to the ZOO!

 

My wonderful co-workers/friends back in Nevada purchased an annual family pass to the Austin Zoo for us.  What a thoughtful and generous gift.  We are sure to enjoy the zoo all year long, and the zoo just happens to be about 15 minutes away from our house.

I love this beautiful mural!

 It's a small zoo, but I loved the quaintness of it and the fact that all the animals are rescued from bad situations.

Owen liked all the big cats.

All aboard for a train ride!

The kids fed deer, goats and sheep.  The llamas weren't interested.

This & That

We had a family Valentine's Day this year, including cookies, fondue and sushi......strange combination, but it was all delicious!!

 On Valentine's Day, I heard the kiddos playing and got suspicious as to what was going on.  This is what I walked in on.

Owen had his sister's feet tied up and was dragging her across the floor, taking her to "jail."  Apparently her ponies were also going to jail.  But she was just as happy as can be!

 We have a new sport to play here in Austin.....Disc Golf!  It's super popular here and there are courses everywhere. Owen is already a pro.

Last weekend Micah's youngest brother Matt and his wife Jami came for a visit.  Micah and Matt managed to play a few rounds, but it's great because even the kids can get into this (literally). 

 We took Matt and Jami to the popular South Congress area for lunch at the food trailers.  I just love the atmosphere and delicious food here!

 The Hey Cupcake trailer is one of the most popular in Austin, and yes their cupcakes are amazing!

 Mimi and Olfa drove up and joined us for the afternoon as well.  It's nice to see family this often!

Adler Joy

I am officially a stay-at-home mom, for the first time in my life.  I'm not sure if I love that title or not, but I am trying to have some fun with Miss Adler and make the most of it.  Some days are better than others, and some days I'm bored to tears.  I've found that I have to keep us busy, and that we both are in desperate need of friends.

 

We have become friends with with the wife and girls of one of Micah's college buddies.  But they live way up in north Austin and so we don't see that much of them.  We're trying to get together every so often, as Adler really enjoys playing with Ella.

We met at a bouncy house not too long ago and the girls had a blast!

Adler & Ella

 Adler is still obsessed with her babies!  She teaches them, sings to them, takes them to "school" and puts them down for naps every day.  She's such a good little mommy.

 We've been venturing out daily to find the coolest parks in Austin.

 Adler typically refuses to take naps anymore, but she occasionally falls asleep in the car.  Once she actually fell asleep on the stairs, completely covered by a blanket.  This is what I found when I lifted the blanket to check on her.  Too cute!

 Adler is still enjoying her dance class on Saturday mornings and last week she started an art class at Gymboree.  There's a few other girls her age there, so I'm hoping she'll make some friends.  She loves anything art-related, so this class should be a success! 

Adler's Masterpiece

 Adler really misses her big brother when he's at school.  She's constantly asking for him and is thrilled when we go pick him up!

Trip to Aggieland

Last weekend was my mom's birthday so we drove into College Station to spend her birthday with her.  It was really nice to be there on her special day......for the first time in 10 years.

Adler wanted to make pinkalicious cupcakes for Grandma!  They were pink inside and out.

We made the most out of our weekend there and I was able to attend a baby shower for my dear friend, Alyssa.  She's due in April and I can't wait to meet Baby Girl Locklear!

 

We also took Owen to his first Aggie sports event......Aggie Basketball!!!  WHOOP!

 What an exciting game!!!  We ended up losing in overtime to Kentucky, but I couldn't have asked for a more thrilling game.  I had forgotten how much I enjoy basketball!

 I'm looking forward to more Aggie sporting events!  We will go to a baseball game this spring for sure.

Parks Galore

The weather has been really warm for the past few weeks and we've been exploring lots of local parks and soaking up the sunshine.  There's no shortage of parks here!

 One of my favorite things about Austin (so far) are the multiple local restaurants that have playgrounds for the kids.  It's a parents dream to be able to sit down for dinner and have a drink while the kids run around playing, bothering nobody. 

It's GENIUS!!!!

This is the outdoor patio (playground in the background) at Doc's Backyard.

This playground is surrounded by several eateries, including Jason's Deli, Waterloo Icehouse, and Amy's Ice Cream.

Apparently this is a common site in Austin and I am loving the family-friendly atmosphere!

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