Great Hills Park (Austin)

I think the kids are starting to get burnt out on hiking. Maybe because it's getting hotter. Today the complaints included needing to go to the bathroom (x2), spiders, leeches, and falling in the creek. (Only a little bit. He was fine.) Fun times.

Our Week (05/03 - 05/09)

We made a bunch of light sabers for Star Wars Day. (May the 4th be with you!)

Vegan stormtrooper cupcakes

Heidi came up with a Star Wars-themed scavenger hunt. Here were a few of her clues.

Torchy's Tacos for Cinco De Mayo

Heidi's class was allowed to bring a pet for show and tell on Zoom, so we dressed Emma up like a monkey.

Emma wants to write and color like the big kids.

Chalk art... The parks & rec department gives a weekly theme and has a competition. This week's theme was superheroes.

At-home preschool

Donating face masks to Austin Disaster Relief Network (ADRN). Our stake has made around 400 masks for ADRN.

Lizzie's class Zoom meeting this week. 

It's sad to think that there won't be any class pictures this year, so this will have to do!

Heidi and Emma

Breaking up the soil so we can put in sod. 

The dirt was so hard and compacted that we didn't have any success with grass seed.

These are just some of the shallow tree roots that Scott dug up (with the girls' help!).

Geocaching around Springbrook Neighborhood

As I look back over the pictures from this week, I'm just now realizing that Owen wore the same shirt three days in a row. #MomFail

Geocaching around Wells Branch Neighborhood

Indian Grass Prairie Preserve and Goat Cave Karst Nature Preserve (Sunset Valley)

First we visited Indian Grass Prairie Preserve:

Really tall radio tower!

Lots of pretty wildflowers! Emma enjoyed picking them and putting them in Mom's hair.

The kids were convinced that there was a bear.

Creepy bridge underpass

Then the kids really wanted to go see Goat Cave (nearby):

William got some burrs in his socks and wanted to go home, so Heidi carried him for a little bit.

This is cool... So this cave has a 35-foot drop, hence the tall chain-link fence surrounding it. It's called Goat Cave because a goat fell down there once. It took 4 men an hour just to catch it, and then they had to lift it out with ropes.

Hideout Cave

 

Wade Cave

We saw lots of bees, taking advantage of all the flowers in bloom.

We're nearing the end of wildflower season, but there were still fields of them out there.

Finally, since we were in the neighborhood, we did a quick geocache. It was right next to this pond. We spotted several cool birds, so Heidi snapped a picture:

Kinda hard to see from a distance, but there were some really interesting-looking ducks. 

(There was a no trespassing sign, so she couldn't get any closer.)

Pickett Trail (Georgetown)

This was not the kids' favorite hike. The temps were in the low 80s, so they were hot and whiny. Also, William got bit by an ant. #EndOfTheWorld  

Our Week (04/26 - 05/02)

Emily has been working with ward Relief Society presidents to coordinate a face mask drive in our stake. These 70 masks were made by members of the Elgin Ward this week and were donated to the Austin Disaster Relief Network.

We had mother-daughter facials. (Liz didn't want to participate.)

There has been no shortage of creative programming in our house this week:

Owen made this invitation...

...And when I walked into his bedroom I was a little surprised to find this guy sitting on the dresser. (Kinda creepy.)

Fort building

Emma likes to blow loud raspberries on the back of our living room chair.

Here's Owen in a Zoom meeting with his reading group. Lots of Zoom meetings happening around here these days!