Austin Adventures

Now that we're homeless and stuck in Austin, we've been having lots of fun exploring Austin.  We love Austin, but never have enough time on the weekends to really do that much.  So this week has just been lots of fun with the kids, especially since I pulled the kids out of school.  Here's what we've been up to--

1. The Dino Park: This place is outside of Austin and it was so much fun!  The kids loved seeing all the different dinos.  (Can you guess who had the idea of just sticking one foot out of the t-rex's mouth??)

We loved that the dinos were all hidden, especially the brachiosaurus.  We turned a corner and there he was.  It was so neat!  Check out Eli with his matching brachiosaurus shirt!

2. Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center:

Since it's bluebonnet season, I figured we should check this place out.  Unfortunately, the kids are so into catching critters (like caterpillars and roly polies) that they were more focused on those things rather than the flowers.

I'm not even sure they remember any of the flowers we saw.

I got a few bluebonnet pictures, but the group shot I got was no good at all.  It was just too sunny to get a good shot...someone was always looking away or squinting too hard.  Boo.

3. Austin Nature and Science Center: This place is in Zilker Park and is actually free to get in.  I love that Austin has so many nice outdoorsy things that don't charge admission (like the Botanical Gardens).  I mainly chose this place because they have a Dino Pit, but we ended up seeing and doing so much more!  They have large rescued animals, bats, injured birds, and lots of other things. We even ate snacks underneath a bunch of roosting bats!
The kids also found lots of caterpillars while we were there...which is probably why the kids spent a grand total of 5 minutes in the Dino Pit!  Oh well...at least they had fun!

4. Zilker Zephyr and Zilker Park: We had fun riding the train, hung out in the playground, then played in the water by Barton Springs.

The kids had fun finding snails and baby minnows in the water.

5. Twin Falls: We went on a hike on the greenbelt and then played in the water at Twin Falls.

The water was so cold, but it was so much fun!  Of course, the kids were more interested in finding minnows and caterpillars, but Evie seemed to really enjoy herself!

...which is probably why Evie looked like this when we hiked back out...it's tough having fun!

What an awesome week it's been!!