Marble Falls is about 60 miles west of us. Today we checked out the Balcones Canyonlands Wildlife Preserve, Sweet Berry Farm, and Blue Bonnet Cafe.
We went on a one-mile nature hike. This lazy kid made Mom carry him the whole way, can you believe it?
(There's a small pond in the background.)
Yay for picnics!
H is for Heidi
Picking strawberries
Saying hi to the goats
It's Pi Day! And this place is FAMOUS for its pie! We had to wait in a crazy long line that extended all the way into the parking lot.
Mom got a slice of chocolate cream pie, her favorite! And we got french fries and ketchup because, you know, vegetables. (We are all about eating healthy in our house, lol.)
If you weren't already hungry for pie... You're welcome! (This is just a stock photo from the restaurant's website, but it blew my mind so I had to throw it in here.)
And the icing on the cake... We made a pie out of all the strawberries that we picked!
We went for a hike this morning. In my opinion, this is one of the most beautiful areas in all Austin. (We've visited this area a few times before, and I love it!)
Check out the ruts carved in the limestone rock. This was considered a commercial highway for wagons back in the 19th century.
Owen fell in the muck a few times and was all kinds of dirty when we left. (He has a stop watch around his neck. !?!)
Look how green it is! This stuff is all growing on the surface of the rock.
Amazing, right?
We climbed the bluff, and here you can get an aerial view of the wagon tracks down below.
It rained a bunch this weekend, so the creek was flowing nicely.
The girls were in a "parade" at school on Friday. The kindergartners had a stick horse parade, and the 1st graders made Texas-themed shoe box floats. The kids also dressed up like cow girls and cow boys:
Lizzie was on the school's video announcements that day with her Destination Imagination team, so she is wearing her DI shirt (which worked out, since there's a Texas map on it).
With Mrs. Sims, Lizzie's teacher
William was bouncing along to "Deep in the Heart of Texas" as it played over the speakers, but I couldn't grab my camera quick enough! Then all the kids started clapping and he wanted to see what was going on.
In between parades, Emily and the boys went to the park in Round Rock and then checked out the Hutto hippos. (Hutto is a small town northeast of Pflugerville. Hutto is "home of the hippos," and there are hippo statues all over town.)
On Saturday morning, a big group from four wards got together to mulch the trees and bushes at the church in the rain. It took about an hour and a half to redistribute a huge pile of mulch.
Destination Imagination is an extracurricular program that encourages kids to develop their creativity, teamwork, and problem solving skills. Lizzie has been going once a week for about an hour and a half after school for the last several months. Yesterday was their tournament. We went to a high school in a nice neighborhood in south Austin, and Lizzie's team presented a skit that they'd been working on, and they did an "Instant Challenge." Since she's only in first grade, it wasn't competitive--just for fun. (The older grades actually compete and there are awards.) It was a really big event, with kids from elementary school to high school--from 15 school districts. Anyway, here are some pictures:
Practicing
Lizzie's team, the Super Cookies
The team got medals and t-shirts for participating
With her coach, Mrs. Klein (a 1st grade teacher at Lizzie's school)
