Zilker Nature Preserve

One of the things I love most about Austin is its thin line between nature and concrete.

Today we hiked the Zilker Nature Trail inside the Science and Nature Center downtown Austin.

It was a short, but enjoyable hike with plenty of stops along the way.

We climbed the steep hill to the top of a lookout into downtown Austin...

I'm not sure what the old structure is that sits at the top of the hill. An old homestead maybe? It's one of those things I wanted to research but haven't gotten around to yet....

The kids found a geocache also....

They all signed the geocache log

Back down the trail onto another splinter trail....

Into Dry Creek. All of the kids...even the older ones....spent awhile playing in the "creek". ...

I absolutely LOVE this picture of the teens. In order to give them some posing inspiration I directed them to give me their model pose....

At the trail entrance/exit is the animal sanctuary....

We ate a quick lunch at the Nature Center and headed home.

Donkey Day

Today we met up with friends at Berry Springs Park and Preserve.

There were two donkeys. Skye was impressed with the donkeys and spent a good bit of time petting and feeding them...

There was also a very shy cat that was impressive to the smaller kids....

...and to donkey....

We took a little hike through the trails....

Pecan trees are everywhere. We all picked up a few pecans along the way but Toby picked us a loot of pecans.....

Did a little geocaching....

Stopping off for a break and some meditation at the bird watch area....

AND.....back to the donkeys.....

The historic cemetery and homestead...

 Good company, good fun, the outdoors, animals, and good weather. This is my idea of living the life.

Together Again

I got some awesome news a couple of weeks ago. After trying out public school for a couple of years, our friends we used to hang out with are back to homeschooling again!!

Me and Skye could never quite find anyone we meshed as well with as we did them and ended up being sort of recluses socially. I'll admit, me and Skye both were a bit ecstatic when we got the news.

Even after being away from each other for an extended period of time, it was just like old times again....moms' included. :-)

We met up at the park and the girls entertained themselves with geocaching....

They also took advantage of the skate park...

It was nice to see my teenager out being active. It was a good day.

Halloween

We had a good Halloween this year.

First we picked out a pumpkin and carved it....

We were a pretty scary threesome this year....

We went trick or treating with the neighbors around dusk...but not before mama had her a little Halloween cheer....

We must have all had fun. I woke up to empty liquor bottles, clothes, candy wrappers and Halloween costumes strewn everywhere.