Austin Vacay

Before our trip to Lake Travis, we took a little mini vacay to Austin with just our family.  We went to the Capitol, went hiking, and went to the movies.  It was a fun little relaxing vacation.

We went to the Capitol and the boys had a great time.  I thought they'd be bored but they really enjoyed it.

They loved checked out all of the different rooms.  Caleb especially loved going up all the different "levels" (like a video game).  We'd go up a flight of stairs and he'd say "what level are we on now?"

This cool tree was outside of the Capitol.  Of course they wanted to climb it but it's some sacred tree that you're not allowed to touch.

We tried several cool restaurants from Diners Drive In's and Dives.

We went to a state park full of hiking trails and springs.  This was the favorite activity for the boys.  Caleb still talks about going hiking and wanting to go back.  I was suprised they lasted as long as they did because it was over 100 degrees outside.  It was miserable!

I didn't go too deep in that water.  I didn't know what was swimming around in there.  It was pretty cold too.  Of course the boys loved it.

We saw a deer as soon as we got there.  That was pretty neat.

We went to the movies to see Epic.  Great movie!

Eating at another fun restaurant.  Can't go wrong with chips and salsa!

All cleaned up to go out to dinner.

There was a motocycle convention that weekend and our hotel was full of them!  We left to go home on Friday morning and the motorcycles were lining up.  Whew, left just in time!

And of course, we had to stop in West on our way home.  :-)

Lake Travis

We took a little vacation to Lake Travis in Austin with my friend Traci's family at the end of June.  We stayed in a condo and spent our days at the pool since the lake was so low.  We also explored the hill country and checked out the wildlife!

We stayed in a 3 bedroom condo on the second floor.  The kids loved being together but the parents were pulling their hair out at times.  ;-)

All ready to go check out the pool!

It was pretty toasty outside!!

Carson, Colton, Ethan, and Caleb.

There were two different pool areas.  This area had to small pools and a hot tub.  We had to keep a set of parents at both pools because the kids kept switching where they wanted to be.

Carson and Caleb.  Such little characters.

I think this is the only picture of us from the trip.

Yep, Caleb was dragging Carson around the wading pool.

The infinity pool.

The spent a lot of time pushing each other into the pool.  Boys!

Ethan and Colton figured out how to text each other on their DS's.  They spent most of their time hiding in the condo and texting where they were.

There were several houses in between condos.  It was like a huge spread out neighborhood.  If ou look really close next to the front door you'll see a deer!

There was a little playground by the pool.  They didn't spend much time here...too hot!

We tried to walk to the lake behind the pool.  It was amazing how low the water was.  That little house is a boat dock.  It should be totally surrounded by water!  So...we never made it into the lake.  Fine with me!  I hate nasty lake water.

Silly Caleb with his swim shirt squeezed on his head.

One night after dinner, Mondo and the boys sat in the back of the minivan while I drove and watched for deer.  It was about a 15 minute drive from the main road to our condo.  They loved it!  And they did see some deer...and a jack rabbit!

Enjoying some popcorn and a movie before bed.

Little gamers.

All ready for bed!

Someone was all tuckered out on the way home.

We always stop at the Czech bakery at the gas station in West.  This time we decided to drive into town to the original bakery.  It really wasn't that impressive.  The kids got cookies that were hard as rocks and they tasted awful.  There were only a few kolaches under a plastic cover...with some flies in it.  So we ended up driving back to the one by the gas station to get them.

Yum!

We also drove through the part of town where the explosion happened.  It was amazing to see how much devastation was still there months after it happened.  There were several houses that looked like this.  So sad.