Pfluger Park

First official day of summer! I left the kids home to clean their mess and I left to run "errands" (that's code for pedicure).  It worked out well except Riley mopped the whole house with Listerine! I came home and it smelled really weird and finally figured out what he did, and he had to redo it all with vinegar!  And it wasn't the minty fresh Listerine either, it was the medicinal yellow one.

Anyway, he has a "girlfriend" now and a group of friends wanted to meet up at the park, so I said if they did a good job getting the place cleaned up, I would take them. Also, he had to be okay with me staying with the girls. He said fine as long as I didn't follow him around. Wow, it's come to that now.

So, Regan and I walked Elise around and let her swing, she LOVED swinging! She was laughing the whole time. Then we walked around by the creek and Regan wanted a photo shoot, and then we went to get Dr. Pepper Icee's and head home for church.

Not a bad start to the summer!

Here's the video of Elise on the swings:

 

Pure Energy

Sadly, this was Riley's last day of school. He really loves Pure Energy and will miss it a lot. We are looking at putting the kids back into a charter school for next year and we haven't decided yet, so this may have been his last day forever, and I'm sad about that. He really fits in well there, and learned a lot this year. The last day was at the Sprinkler Park, it was a picnic and they had a good time with water balloon wars and water gun wars. Regan even had a sibling to play with also, (I let her skip her school for the day) and we ended the day at McDonald's with a couple of the other mom's so the kids could spend even more time together. They have a really great group of boys there, and I know Riley will really miss them. The last picture is Riley with his 3 BFF's, Tristan, Parker and Peyton.

Castle Park

We had our home school small group meeting in Georgetown at the "Castle Park" and had a really good turn out. We have a lot of kids all around the same ages, so it works out perfectly. The weather has been getting hot already, but it was still pretty nice, and the parents had a great time talking about curriculum, selling houses, kids, etc. It's just nice to be able to have an adult conversation sometimes! The kids had fun, Riley likes to use this park for Parkour, and Regan and one of her friends, Tyler, found a ladybug and examined it VERY closely. They made their own little science class around the ladybug. It was cute watching them with it.

And my friend Sandy brought her new puppy, and Australian Shepherd named Ralph, and he's adorable! He looks like a fluffy teddy bear, he was so cute, and soft and cuddly, the kids loved playing with him.

Kawaii Ice and Round Rock Park

For another fun, cheap treat, I took the kids to Kawaii Ice, which is the world's BEST snow cone place, and we got our cotton candy/banana colada snow cones and headed over to the Round Rock park to enjoy. Since the flood that happened a few months ago, you can really still see a lot of damage, lots of trees uprooted and the walking bridge is closed, but that didn't stop the kids from getting in the nasty water and playing around. Last time we went, they had to swim out in chest deep water to get to the "Round Rock" but this time you could walk out on the rocks, since we're still in a drought. They had fun puddle jumping and it seems like we went from winter to summer overnight. It has been HOT in the afternoons around here. So, even though the water was ice cold, it didn't bother them much.

Springwoods Park

It's been a while since we've been out and about, and the weather has been wonderful. So we hit up one of our favorite parks and had some fun. We walked the path and climbed trees, Riley calls them "hobo trees" because the way the branches hang low, he says a hobo could sleep in them and be comfortable!

Springwoods Park

It was Celebration Home School Small Group day today so we went to Springwoods Park, one of our favorites! They have a ton of trees, which were dangerous today, any time there was a strong wind, one of us got knocked in the head by a falling acorn. But the kids love that park because there is so much to do there. And my Aunt Judy came with her baby grandson Joshua so we let Regan practice some babysitting skills! She got to swing Joshua and push him around in the stroller, and she even got to walk Alice May (the dog).

We have a great little group going, and one of the mom's went to Romania last year, so I asked a bunch of questions, she brought a care package for me to bring to some people there, and I got a lot more info and a lot more excited about leaving in less than TWO days!!

I'm trying not to panic, trying to make sure David has everything covered. Set up bills to be paid while I'm gone, renew library books online (I don't think David knows where the library is!) make sure he has a daily schedule, list of phone numbers and all that. At the very worst, they will just have a 2 week vacation from school, and we end up catching up over Christmas break, so I'm not too worried about it I guess. Trying not to any way!

And I still need $250 for the trip!! Again, I'm trying hard not to panic, God hasn't brought me this far to leave me hanging on a measly $250!! I know it's His plan for me to go, so I'm trusting He will work it all out.

And to top it all off, I checked the weather where we're going and it said 13 degrees, but "feels like" -8. Yes, negative eight. Yikes. I've never, ever experienced that kind of cold in my life! Should be a new and exciting experience!!

I'm hoping to blog some when I'm there, but not sure. I added international to my phone, but I'm worried about data charges, so I might just take Riley's phone so I can text. Incoming texts are free, so feel free to text me! But it's 35 cents for me to send a text, so don't expect a reply!!

Boy's Club

Riley's new school has a boy's club, where all the boys in the school meet up once a month outside of school and do something fun together. This is in addition to fun night once a month, and pizza party once a month (he is LOVING his school!) This month they met at the Georgetown Rec Center and played basketball and swam for the afternoon. He had a blast! But while he was playing, Regan and I killed some time at one of our favorite parks, and then drove around and saw some of the area that was still flooded. Georgetown got hit pretty hard with the rain a couple of weeks ago, and it was still pretty high in a lot of places. Anyway, I thought this was a cute picture of her on the tire swing, which is the one thing she just LOVES about this park!

Springwoods

Another park day at one of our favorites. Riley climbed this huge tree, and had some girls down below worrying about him, hoping he didn't fall off. He's a pretty good climber!

Skate Park, Again

This has become our regular Monday haunt I think. We call it "PE" and say it's school related! The kids have so much fun though. Regan and her friend Emma have found a huge tree in a clearing that they have dubbed their "fort" and they even cleaned up the trash around it for "Earth Week" so that was nice! They play pretend games and run around and just love the fort. Regan has asked me if they could sleep there even. Not a chance, but I'm glad she likes it.

Riley brings his skateboard and sometimes his rollerblades or scooter, and this time he brought his unicycle. He was getting better, but then hasn't touched it in a while, so I was glad to see him getting out there and trying again. He got pretty good while we were there, going the length of the basketball court and back. I, of course, took video!



Also of him sliding down the slide on his skateboard, which was pretty funny.



And then we got home, and we've had this ongoing battle with Regan about her training wheels. She absolutely does NOT want them off her bike, and said she could most definitely ride around her college campus with a bike with training wheels, no problem. I keep trying to get her to TRY to ride and she refused. Then, a glimmer of hope when she said she would TRY it IF me or dad would hold on and never, ever, ever let go. So we have been trying. One of these days maybe she will let us let go, but for now we hold on tight while she pedals, and looks around like someone else is driving. She has never really had very good driving skills, so maybe keeping the training wheels on a bit longer might be a good idea.

Lake Pflugerville

Tristan had some unexpected time off from school this week, so he came and spent a day with us, and we headed to Lake Pflugerville, which is less than 5 miles from our house and we've never been!

After our adventures in Barton Springs on Monday, I told them to grab their bathing suits just in case they wandered into the water, and sure enough they did. It wasn't nearly as warm as Barton Springs water was, and that's saying something! But they played around a bit, and then decided we needed to go run around at a park to warm up, so we headed to Pfluger Park, which is the park that Kenzie used to play on when she was a baby. Brings back a lot of memories when I go there.

So they had a good time, got wet and dirty, and we got home and cleaned up just in time for church!

Park Day

I have to say, one of the very best things about home schooling is park day on Fridays! We have a small group of friends that we know, but we try to hit up some fun area parks and let the kids run wild! And run wild they do. This is one of our favorite parks (I say that about every park we go to) but this one has wide open spaces, just a touch of water in the creek, so no soggy wet clothes for the trip home, and lots of fun playground things, and most importantly, hills to roll downs! The moms can sit and enjoy the weather and talk and get a small, much needed, sanity break.

Wonder How Round Rock Got Its Name?

We've taken people here and shown them where Round Rock really did get its name from, and people generally don't believe that it was indeed named after a large, round rock! But it really was, and today, the kids made their mark on the round rock. After going to an early movie to see Diary of a Wimpy Kid, we met some friends and a home school group at this park which we haven't been to in a while, but is usually good for watching the ducks. But today that wasn't good enough for the kids! They wanted to get IN the water and swim around and climb on the round rock. Well what's it gonna hurt, right? They jumped in, Riley came prepared with his bathing suit, but Regan didn't, so she ended up getting completely and totally soaked before we left. They had a great time, Riley found some tadpoles and they both caught some minnows, they fed the ducks, climbed the rocks, slipped around on the mud and basically enjoyed being kids! Regan came home naked, wrapped in my girl scout cookie tablecloth that I keep in the back of the truck during cookie season, and Riley had to go to gymnastics smelling like pond water. I'm sure Coach Gene loves me today.

So now you know, and have photographic proof of the actual Round Rock that our town was named after!

Northwest Park

Northwest Park

We had our bowling group this morning and after that we decided to try out a new park with some friends. We grabbed lunch and headed there, the weather is SO beautiful these days and even I hate to be trapped inside on a day like today! We had a picnic lunch and the kids played on the playground some, but the real appeal was the pond and the turtles that lived on an island in the center of the pond. And a hobo camp in the bushes! The things these kids will find!

Riley's friend AJ rolled his pants up and tried to wade in, but before you know it, he was in about waist deep, so Riley decided to strip down to his boxers and undershirt and they wanted to see if they could get to the island to grab a turtle. They eventually made it to the island, but with so much screaming over the cold water and the muddy bottom, there wasn't a turtle in sight when they got there! (Smart turtles!) They were so messy and dirty and disgusting, which is a sure sign that it was a fun day!

Next thing you know, we hear they found a clearing in the bushes where there were blankets and clothes, and they thought that was so cool that people must live there and get to play in the pond all the time! Anyway, it was fun, and I'm just so glad we have the opportunity to be outside on days like this, enjoying nature, and not stuck behind a desk.

Park Day

One of my new goals this year is to get involved more. Regan is really missing friends from school, so I realize we need to be out and about, and expand our circle of friends. With that in mind, we headed out to Park Day with some other home school friends. This is a great park, I used to bring Riley when he was a baby, but hadn't been in ages. The kids loved it, plenty of room to explore, trees to climb and lots of shade for us moms! It was a perfect spring day, and we spent hours outside enjoying it!

Hockey Day

One of our home school groups had a really awesome field trip that we got to go on. First, we got to go out in the morning and tour the new Cedar Park Center, home of the Texas Stars Hockey Team, and tour the facility. We were the first group to ever get to watch the Stars during practice. The kids loved it as we sat up in the party boxes and watched the practice, and listened to someone go over the "science" of hockey. Basically, the ins and outs, and some of the rules, and how they set up and tear down the rink for other events, it was very neat.

Then since we were over by our old house, that used to be my mom's, we drove over there, saw the old place, (it looks pretty much the same) and drove over by Grandma and Grandpa's old house that was right down the road from ours, but now was confusing because there is a giant toll road separating our houses now! We also went to Block House Creek Park, where I spent MANY an hour pushing kids on swings! Regan didn't remember the park, but Riley did, and we went hiking up the creek a ways. The weather has been gorgeous, but we were dressed for the ice rink, so we were melting out there!


Then later that evening we went back with our group for a real live hockey game! Regan wasn't too impressed, but Riley and his friend Jett loved it. Riley got an autograph from one of the hockey players, and then as we were leaving the arena, the cheerleaders were by the door, (I didn't even know they HAD cheerleaders for hockey!) so Regan wanted to meet them and get their autographs, and Riley of course had to get in on that too.


It was a fun day, and one of those rare ones where the planets align and the kids actually got along! In one picture, right before I snapped, Riley actually, on his own, put his arm around Regan. I wanted to scream, "You DO love her!" It was fun, and I'm hoping Spring is bringing out the best of all of us.

Feeding the Ducks

When Alex brought all the food over to make sandwiches to feed the homeless a few weeks back, I saved all the bread ends to feed the ducks. Well, we had been so busy that we forgot about it, so the bread was nice and crusty when we did make it to the pond. I went back to where we saw the mama and baby ducks, there is a small fishing pond nearby, and I thought that might be where they lived and sure enough, we saw the mama and a TON of babies there, and got to feed them and pet them. They were very friendly and ate the bread right out of our hands. Regan reached out and picked one up, he was very vocal about that, and then Riley wasn't going to be happy until he managed to grab one too. They were so cute and fluffy looking though! It was really hard not to bring one home with us!

Ducks in a Row

We went with some friends to a park for the day, after being cooped up inside for a while due to the cold. It started out a nice warm day, but a cold front blew in again, and although the kids could care less, I was starting to lose my voice, so me and the other mom ended up sitting in her van watching the kids run around and play. They had a great time, got good and worn out, some fresh air, and when it was time to head home, we were driving by a pond and saw this:



We turned around, pulled over, and watched this little mama try to get her chicks up a curb, and then she gave up on that, and tried to get them to cross the street, which made me nervous, and then she gave up on that, and got them up the driveway to the yard, and they were just so stinking cute! She waddled so much that if they got too close to her, her tail feathers knocked them over! Regan and I really just wanted to go snatch one up and cuddle it, they are so soft and fuzzy looking! But it was so cute to see them, and the kids enjoyed this rare peek into nature.

A Reason to Remember

Georgetown Park

There's a holocaust exhibit at the Georgetown Public Library and we met up with a home school group for a docent led tour of the exhibit. It was very moving, and the kids really enjoyed it. We first watched a short film, focusing on a very small town in Germany, and the 5 Jewish families in that town. We followed them to the camp, and saw what happened to each member of each family, and whether or not they survived, and if so, how they survived. They had surviving members on the film talking about their life, how they were persecuted, and how they managed to escape and come to America, and were sometimes still picked on here for being "different". We learned a lot about tolerance, and the importance of speaking up for people, not just turning a blind eye when someone is being picked on or bullied. I think the kids learned a lot from the exhibit.

The docent who led our tour was fabulous! He used to teach 5/6th grade history, and had a lot of family that survived the holocaust, so he had a lot of personal stories about it, and knew how to get right on Riley's level and talk to him. Plus, there were only 5 of us in our group, so it was a very personal experience.

And after the exhibit, we grabbed lunch and headed to one of our favorite parks, the castle park, where Riley tried to be Spiderman, and then pretended he was on a Ninja Warrior show, and Regan made her self sick spinning in the tire swing.

Skate Park

Since the dad's were off work today, we met up with Craig and Laura and took the kids to the skate park (it was around 65 today, SO not feeling like Christmas around here!) The kids skated, played on the playground and had a great time, then we went to breakfast at Cafe Java, the BEST breakfast place around! It was nice to have the dad's with us for a change.

Duck Park

The weather has been so gorgeous the last few days, we decided to take the kids out to the duck park for a while. We took Bailey, who doesn't normally get out much, with his hip problems, he's just not real active. But he sure enjoys chasing a duck every now and then. We had some bread to feed the ducks and geese, and I let Bailey off his leash for a bit, normally he sticks close by, but this time he saw a goose in the bushes and took off. I've never seen him move that fast! He chased that goose up the hill, around the corner, and next thing you know, I see Bailey rolling down the cliff smack dab into the lake! He freaked out, not sure if he could swim, it wasn't far to the bank, and he finally made it, but he was exhausted and a little goose-shy after that.


So I put him back on the leash just in time for a stray dog to come sniffing around. It was a pit bull, and I have nothing against pit bulls, but this one sniffed a bit then grabbed Bailey by the throat and started attacking him. Bailey is the sweetest dog ever and didn't know what to do, I grabbed him and pulled him back and a man that was there came over, took out his knife and was yelling at the dog, I thought we were going to witness a murder right there. Come to find out, it was a stray and he was just trying to keep him away from his little boy, which I can understand, but my kids were kind of freaked out by the grown man wielding a knife at a dog.

At that point I think we'd all had enough of the duck park. While we were waiting for animal control to come get the dog, we helped a littly boy who was fishing and caught a snapping turtle instead. It was quite the adventure at the park.