J. Lorraine Ghost Town

At the undertakers. (They're pretending to be vampires.)

In jail

Purple Martins

Tonight we drove two miles down the road to see the purple martins. Purple Martins are a type of bird with dark, blue-purple feathers. Watching them is kinda like watching the Congress Avenue bats--only cooler. (Isn't Austin weird?)

Can you see the bird poop all over the parking lot? Notice how almost everyone has an umbrella or a hat. ;)

It's kinda hard to see because my camera isn't great, but there are hundreds of thousands of birds swirling around in the air above the shopping center. This summer--from late June to early August--they've been roosting in the oak trees outside of Shepler's every night. (They have great taste, right Dad?)

Miss Liz

Liz fell and hurt herself at the playground this week. Mom  made her a "cast" and even signed it to make her feel better.

Liz drew this picture of the temple a few weeks ago.

This is Lizzie's birthday list. Since she's turning six, she wants six things: a bike, a top, a violin, a real dog, a kitchen set, and a toy boat.

Liz also drew this picture of our back yard. You can see the corn growing against the back fence, the flower bed, the fire pit... Pretty good likeness!

Laguna Gloria

Yesterday we went with friends to see Laguna Gloria. In 1916, a woman named Clara Driscoll built this Italian-style villa on the shores of Lake Austin. Now the home is an art museum, and the grounds are covered in interesting statues. We enjoyed a picnic lunch and a walk.

Picnic lunch. This is our friend Alyse and her little girl. Alyse and I are visiting teaching companions. We've been getting together for play dates pretty regularly.

Lake Austin.

The villa. Nearly 100 years old.

Mud People

I sent the kids outside the other day so I could get some work done around the house. Next thing I know, they looked like this:

Lizzie explained that they were "pretending to be mud people." The look sad because Mom was a little upset. Dilemma: How to get them from the backyard to the bath tub without getting mud all over the carpet.

San Antonio Temple

Now help me out... I can't decide which picture I like best:

...The one with Owen keeled over?

...The one with Heidi jumping? (Owen is sitting up now because Scott is hiding behind the bench, holding him in place.)

...The one with no one looking at the camera?

...Or the one with Heidi keeled over?

So many great options. Lol. :)

Day Trip to San Antonio

Yesterday we spent the afternoon in Downtown San Antonio:

We had a picnic. (We had planned to go to the Quadrangle at Fort Sam Houston, but they weren't letting visitors in without a sponsor this weekend, so we ended up having our picnic in a parking lot instead. Lol.)

The Alamo (We didn't go inside because of the long lines.)

Double decker bus tour.

Near the end of the tour, Reed decided he was done--and protested loudly--so we got off the bus and took a break at a gelato place. 

Great idea, Reed!

We walked the Riverwalk, and some street performers even sang to us.

And of course, we had to say hello to our old friend Stumpy at Ripley's Haunted Adventure. (The girls were fascinated by him on our last trip.) As you can see, Owen was intrigued.

Then we got some Big Gulps (it was hot!), and stopped  by the temple on our way home...

BBQ-in'

Roasting hot dogs...

...and marshmallows...

...to make s'mores!

Who sleeps like this? ;)

Blunn Creek Greenbelt

So Austin has these things called "greenbelts" (areas of open land around the city). There are at least 16 of them, with the most popular being Barton Creek. 

Well yesterday we decided to go for a little nature walk through the Blunn Creek Greenbelt--just south of the downtown area:

Selfie!

Tunnel!

Butler Park

This park is downtown, right on the river. There's a a big pond filled with turtles (well over a dozen) and a fountain / splash pad that never seems to be working.

These aren't the best pictures--sorry. I think the kids were disappointed because they think park is synonymous with playground, which in this case it's not.

Downtown Austin

Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree

Fireworks

Today for Independence Day we had a backyard BBQ and played with a few small fireworks:

Our Garden

Our zinnias turned out to be our most resilient plant.

See the butterfly?

The corn and sunflowers are taller than the kids now.