Lost Maples State Park

On our way home from Concan after Thanksgiving, we took a long route home and went to Lost Maples State Park.

I don't believe I had ever been there before, which is a shame, because it was SPECTACULAR. The only thing that made me sad about our visit was that we were probably about a week past the leaves prime time, so I've made a note to monitor it more carefully in future years and try and time it better.



Take a look at the beauty we saw.

Thanksgiving in Concan

We spent Thanksgiving once again with my family in Concan. I didn't take many pictures of the weekend's activities, per se, but I did drag the boys out to the river while we were dressed up for Turkey Day for a few pictures.

Muddy Times at the Wildflower Center

Earlier this summer we headed out to the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. Its a bit of an Austin institution, but because its 1) located way south on the other end of Austin from where we live and 2) I have BOYS, we don't visit much. As in, I'm not sure Ryan has ever been out there. I have pictures of Alex as a toddler there, but that might have been the last time we visited.

So when I saw that they were hosting all sorts of mud-related activities in honor of International Mud Day, that seemed like a good reason to remedy my gaps in the boys' education of their home town.

They LOVED the mud.

Loved, loved, loved it.

The rest of the garden was a bit hit or miss for them. The newly added Luci and Ian Family Garden is a nice addition, and it was the kind of place that would be perfect for younger kids. Mine were a bit old for it. Girls their age might like it a lot, but mine were looking for more activities like we found last fall at the Dallas Arboretum's Adventure Garden. I wish they would have built this about eight years ago.

Its a beautiful place, and I'm glad we went out. But return trips will probably be solo with my mom, and we'll leave the kids at home.

Inks Lake

A few weekends ago, I had a bunch of girlfriends come in to Austin for a reunion (last get-together: five years ago in Chicago). I'd been planning it for months, so needless to say, when I realized the campout with Alex's webelo den at Inks Lake overlapped, oh well, I knew what I was doing.

So thanks to Carolyn for taking all these great pictures for me.