Easter, Spring... into Summer!

As I write this with a mostly dead yard, it seems hard to believe that in late March - May my yard looked like this. Look at Louis on his swing that he made (sanded, drilled holes, and painted) at the Tinkering School! Have you ever seen a happier, more satisfied kid? Also: he is tiny! He must have grown several inches over the summer eating so much red meat in Chile. 

Our first iris, from bulbs I planted in the fall that I bought at the Iris show in Fort Worth. Gorgeous! And our carrot crop was kind of pathetic for some reason this year but these two were beautiful and made up for lack of quantity. Also, good timing: picked them JUST in time to offer to Peter Rabbit.

Sophie's first rat. Ew! 

And voila! My completed bed, with detached framed headboard. I LOVE IT.

We made our bi-annual pilgrimage to Enchanted Rock, this time, armed with all kinds of goodies Alicia found or dreamed up like camping sangria (concentrate below) and boozy s'mores (dip marshmallows in Bailey's after roasting -- you MUST TRY THIS).

 

I think this was our prettiest visit to Enchanted Rock -- there were spring flowers on display everywhere, even in the tiniest gaps in the rock. It was also a very well-timed trip -- we had a VERY busy spring (too busy) between my being quite preoccupied/busy with work, James working basically full-time consulting on top of teaching + travel, helping my parents with their Austin house search, hosting Easter, end-of-year school events, and helping Mo with finding her Texas wedding site (she got engaged in March, just prior to the Antofagasta/Iquique earthquake! -- or at least she revealed her and Paul's intentions then;-). So, as usual, Enchanted Rock proved the perfect environment to get away, relax, and reflect. This tradition feels like a pilgrimage -- once in the fall, once in the spring, and Aaron Barker's enthusiasm for the place and his childhood attachment to it adds to it. In any case, we had a great time, singing by the campfire, hiking the rock (thought it was hot) and Aaron took the brave kids (meaning not mine -- though Rosemary did make it all the way to the entrance) through the cave -- which would have horrified me and I was glad not to do.

Summit of Little Rock with the whole crew:

We had, as is becoming the norm, an eggs-travagent Easter. Our bunny collection on the front mantle grows and grows... the St. Mark's Easter Egg hunt...

 

 

The Easter bunny came of course and brought German toy cement mixers and Legos, as well as (this was the biggest hit) small pieces of colored glass garden rocks for making fairy forts.

 And Nani got very creative with the Easter eggs, spray painting them gold... we did a few of Bonnie's blue eggs au nature but added jewels.

Pretty table and confetti eggs:

This might be the last time I convince Louis to wear a tie. He VIOLENTLY objected but doesn't he look adorable? I love this outfit.

And a feast. James got a little carried away and we had like 3 leftover legs of lamb, stuffed with Greek herbs from our garden, but it was delicious!

And the big Easter egg hunt:

 

My focus this year was an an adult Easter egg hunt, which included eggs stuffed with lottery tickets, small perfume vials of various flavors of bitters (Kyle had to help me pipette), and fancy chocolates. Amity won!

 

And the pinata:

The next day mom and I spent looking at possible wedding sites for Maureen in Wimberley, which was exhausting but fun. The search didn't end there ... indeed, until I took several more trips out there and eventually the kids and I found the "one" NOT in Wimberley. But before all that, there was KINDER RODEO... which was an adorable, kitchy, and very special event just for kindergarteners at Barton Hills. Below is her group with their "trail boss" at the singing and storytelling station (just before they got to brand wood). The event was complete with hayrides on a tractor and real pony rides and relay races. It was grand!

Panning for "gold" (rocks spray painted by Carlisle):

Teachers taking photos with the bull:

Nani came with us to load the truck for Mobile Loaves and Fishes for our monthly Little Helping Hands volunteer project. This truck goes out 365 nights a year to feed people on the street:

 

One of the many creations that is around the house at a given time. The kids still play together so nicely, its really great.

  

This from a pretty extravagant birthday party where my friend rented a school bus which took everyone down to Zilker Park to ride the train and then back for home catered Indian food. All the kids got a school bus t-shirt. It was great.

Carlisle and I had a mothers morning out lunch and walk and discovered huge piles of discarded sticks (they were clearing out invasive species) in the woods so we came back for Happy Hikers fort building! The kids LOVED it, it was so fun to watch them create.

Another Happy Hikers at the new LBJ children's garden -- a bunch of handsome dudes sitting on eggs in their nest:

Louis's funny picture of his family (is everyone screaming? scared? singing?):

Rosemary's end-of-year field trip to the farm (we moms ditched out a bit early at the end for a 2 margarita lunch):

Holding an awesome hawk feather we found:

Rosemary and her amazingly wonderful kindergarten teacher, Ms. Thomson:

We took our first spin on Bradley and Baron's boat on Lake Travis, which ended up being one of the most fun activities of the summer for kids and adults (we had a couple of adult girls-only boat trips, including one for my birthday!). We loved jumping off the boat and swimming and floating and the kids -- AND I -- enjoyed being pulled behind on the tube.

 

The biggest news and project of the fall was that my parents bought a house in Austin!  It's in north Austin, in a small little 70s neighborhood a lot like Barton Hills. It's kind of amazing in a way how fast this all happened, but we started talking about it in January, thinking that it might make sense, and then they found something in May and closed in June! It was not without disappointments and frustrations -- the first place we fell in love with we got outbid by $70K (with no chance to counter). Below is a picture that I love from Mother's Day -- James was with his mom in Chicago but the kids, my parents, and I had a great dinner at Chavez, walked out to the Four Seasons lawn. It was that weekend where they decided to make an offer on their house.

 

This is the truly wonderful view from their lot:

This is the house, which is perfectly cute and lovely. Doesn't take advantage of the lot at all and is in need of update but great for renting out, which they have already done. Will eventually tear down and build anew:

And THIS is the creek below. All spring we kept going back with friends each weekend and after school because it's got to be one of the best swimming holes in town. This is just below a cliff that goes from their property straight to Bull Creek:

 

There is a natural water slide in the creek -- kids go down this chute into a deep hole. And fireflies everywhere!

Aw.. the last day of Kindergarten. I can't believe it still -- she's already in first grade:

My mother's day presents from kids, I love them:

 

One weekend, we took the kids on quite a long paddle down the Colorado River -- they did six river miles and paddled the whole way (with a couple of swimming breaks)! They were really tough and it was a very fun activity -- we enjoyed it so much that we got James a tricked-out fishing kayak for father's day.

Next big life transition: Maureen's wedding.As I mentioned above, kids and I checked out this place and we instantly loved it (I had seen at least 8 others so I had a point of comparison). Just a lovely property with tons of beautiful trees.

 

And then we went back -- with Alicia and the kids -- for their food tasting, and were really convinced! The food was lovely and delicious! The monthly tasting was free -- with wine -- we figure we should pretend to get married every month!

Some lawn games, being enjoyed by Louis and Miles:

Great climbing trees:

And then there was the spring/early summer Happy Hikers. It was so very glorious to have water everywhere. This is from a new discovery -- Lost Creek. It is indeed hard to find and I didn't know about it -- but look how glorious it is!

After a hearty rain we came back the next week and had to wade -- some adventurous mamas (namely Lindsay) strapped their babies on and crossed the raging river via SNAKE ISLAND (where I saw a snake but didn't tell anyone until after) in search of the waterfall at LOST CREEK.

This spring we were also invited to Rockport, where Bradley's mother lives full-time now (used to be a vacation place). It was a really special place -- kind of an cultural insight for us on growing up in South Texas. Great little beach, great fishing, really wonderful time with the kids biking and catching fish and collecting shells.

A beautiful and very intelligent heron sitting on the back of a fishing boat eating all their bait!

Louis and Carson chillin' on the boat:

We ditched the boys one night and went to dinner with Bradley's mom and good friend Lauren.

We cashed in our prize from the St. Mark's Fiesta raffle -- a night at the JW Marriot family resort in San Antonio. Stacie and Aaron Mitchamore donated the prize so we invited them and their family along and we had a fun few rides on their extensive water slide and lazy river until it started POURING RAIN. Was still a good time though, we went to the science museum and Aaron competed in a "relax" mind-waves game, and Rosemary and Bryson went through the aliens exhibit:

We hosted a sushi rolling party at our house -- Carlisle and Tom:

Esme tried her hand:

We had a lot of leftovers so made dad roll us some more the next day:

Great Barton Hill friends:

The annual tradition which was NOT torture this year (and in fact both kids excelled and Louis really learned to swim!): swim lessons at Nora Martin and SNOW CONES. We did them with William and Quinn this year and it was great to see him build some confidence in the water as it sounds like he started out like Rosemary.

Rosemary's summer "bucket" list -- we did them all!