We're Back!

I have had several complaints about our blog not being updated in several months, so after thinking about it, and thinking some more.......I decided to try to pick it back up.  Even though I'm not working full time anymore, life still seems super busy!  But this blog is a nice journal of our life, so here we go again!

I'm starting off where we left off, back in August.  And August can pretty much be summed up with TAHOE!!!!

 Micah has been traveling back to Tahoe regularly this year, but this was my first time back since we moved.  We spent lots of time with friends and most of our time in Tahoe.  We were there for 11 days, most of which Micah had to work.  So on the weekends we stayed at friend's houses down in Carson City and for 5 weekdays we stayed in Kings Beach. 

 

It. Was. Wonderful.

My lovely friends enjoying a beach BBQ!  I miss my ladies!!

Owen and Ryder were reconnected and didn't miss a beat.  Ryder spent the entire week with us in Tahoe.

The kids had a blast at the beach!  While Micah was working we went hiking, played mini golf, explored Kings Beach, and best of all visited with friends!

 More friends!

 I hope we can make this an annual trip back to our former home! 

There's so much we miss!

More of my ladies!

JULY

How is July OVER???  This summer is just flying by.  We have only 3 weeks left until Owen starts the first grade and Adler starts preschool.  But I can honestly say we have thoroughly enjoyed our summer and experienced as much as possible.  Here's what we did in July.

We had a couple of great rain storms and the kids had a blast playing out in the rain.  Now the kids expect a "rain walk" everytime it rains. 

We found a few shaded parks to visit regularly.

 The kids finished up summer swimming lessons and were able to show off their new skills to Grandma!

We attended an Austin Aztex soccer game......a minor league team here in Austin.  Other than it being extremely HOT at this game, we had a great time! 

We attended Nature Nights at the Wildflower Center.  The theme on this particular night was Birds of Prey and we saw all kinds of interesting birds in person, plus we enjoyed a bunch of other kids activities available that night.

 Here are the kids digging for fossils at the Nature & Science Center.

 Now we welcome August as we are off to Lake Tahoe for some cooler weather and visits with our Nevada family!

Live Music

I can't get over all the live music there is here in Austin.....even for kids!  I've had a great time exposing the kids to different kinds of concerts and music.  Adler especially enjoys all the music.

This was a kids show at Central Market.  Here we're watching Joe McDermott perform, who has become the kid's favorite.  They've seen him twice already in concert and own 3 of his CDs!

This was a performance by a Singing Zoologist at the library!  He sang songs about all kinds of animals and insects.

This was our second time to attend the Art Park in downtown Austin.  This time we knew we had to rush down to the art tent as soon as the performance was over in order to get the kid's faces painted!

Wow!  The artist did this in about one minute each.  I need to hire her for Halloween!

Adler asked to be a princess!

Blues on the Green

Blues on the Green is a twice-per-month summer concert series at Zilker Park, with a great line-up!  We couldn't miss Bob Schneider and decided to expose the kiddos to a BIG outdoor concert!

This is the view from the stage area looking out into the crowd!

The kids really liked all the beach balls being thrown around in the crowd.....but they wanted to keep them all!

WildLife Ranch

The kids and I recently took a trip to New Braunfels to see the baby twin giraffes that were born at the Wildlife Ranch in May.  Apparently twin giraffes are extremely rare, with these two currently being the only living set in the US.  We had seen them on the news and on the internet, so the kids were excited to visit them in person!

They were adorable!  And I was completely fascinated by these majestic creatures.

 After we checked out the giraffes we got in our car and drove around the safari.  The kids had a blast, especially Owen, who was snapping pictures and feeding all the animals for over an hour.  We saw all kinds of animals, including bison, springboks, wildebeests, zebras, rhinos, camels, and bunches more that we don't even know the names.

This one was especially fond of our car!

 

This ostrich ate and ate and ate and ate!

Friendly llama!

Hometown Fun

We spent our first week of July in College Station, hanging out with the family!

 We watched the fireworks on TAMU campus and didn't even have to get out of the car!  Actually, this brought back a lot of memories for us, as this is how we used to watch fireworks in college. So fun to be back in the same town and the same jeep, but this time with our family of four!

We saw Micah's brothers very briefly and all of us loved playing with Noah for a few hours!

 

Owen and Pop playing checkers

We went to Lake Conroe for one day to chill on the boat.  Here Uncle Brian is teaching Owen how to drive.

brotherly/sisterly love!

Not the best family picture since Adler is passed out from exhaustion!

Micah loves fishing with his Pop and has many fond childhood memories doing just that.  It was a wonderful morning for all of us to fish with Pop.  An even more fun because Owen caught 20+ perch.  We all did.  But Owen was the only one who caught a catfish! 

Adler probably caught 5 fish, but as soon as we brought it in, she would squeal and run away.  She didn't even want to touch them!

 

Great picture of two of my favorite men!