Fun, fun, fun with Mama!!!

My mom came for a visit in August for 2 1/2 weeks.  It was so good to see her and spend time with her!  We all had a blast together and she helped me explore more of the city, too.  First up...Karson's turn to cook dinner.  He chose mac 'n cheese muffins!  I must say...VERY yummy:)

We headed over to the Austin Zoo and Animal Sanctuary one morning.  It's smaller, like the Greenville Zoo, and had some interesting animals.  Here's Karson and Kassidy feeding the llama and fawn.

 Several roosters were roaming around the property.  I never knew how colorful they were!

 Of course the reptile/amphibian houses are always a hit with the boys;)

Tons of peacocks roam free around the zoo, too.  I think we counted at least 20 just in the main entrance/food court area!  Some have beautiful feathers but just wouldn't show them off.  This one, instead decided to show off his feathers.  They just weren't very pretty!

Grey fox, common to our area.  (which I have seen right down our street)

 

 2 little black bear cubs, oh so cute:)

 This is a cross between a wolf and a dog.  They're not found in nature because humans bred them.  They are supposedly very unpredictable and dangerous due to the wolf in them.  This one was just lying around and looked so soft and cuddly.

 The kids saved their keepsake stones to make with Mama.  One day we mixed and dried the stones, the next day they painted them.

 Beautiful job, Kassidy!

I did not help either boy paint...nice work, Kaleb and Karson!

The last event for the kids summer reading club at the library was called Circus Chickendog!  This guy was pretty talented!  He played the accordion while riding a unicycle, juggled, had lots of dogs do tricks, etc.  Then each kid got a water bottle, jump rope, coupon for a free burger, and a free book.

Kaleb met a boy a few weeks ago when the Game Truck came to the library.  His mom invited us to go swimming at their pool:)  We really needed some cooling off in this Texas heat!  Boy, did the water feel good!!!  We even had quite the crowd for our noodle jumping/diving game!
Here's Mama and Kassidy.

 Kaleb with his new buddy, Caleb;)

 Karson is finally jumping in and going under water! (usually he hates getting his face wet)

Here we are in Corpus Christi, on the Texas coast, at dinner.

Keith showed us the USS Lexington which is the oldest one of it's kind still floating!  It's out of service, but now a museum.  It was pretty cool getting such a close look at it!

 There were tons of little crabs coming out of their holes in the sand.  Our goal was to catch some the next night with a bucket and I think we got up to 7 or 8 before we left the beach!

  The next morning we drove a little farther to Port Aransas.  It's on Mustang Island off the coast of Texas.  It's just beautiful!!!!!  Since it's such a small island it's not really commercialized too much.  You can literally drive your car on the beach right to the spot you want!

 Jack enjoyed the beach, too!  He swam right into some big waves!

 

The view from our condo.

 Also from our condo balcony.

The bridge from our condo to the beach

 
The beach is always a relaxing getaway.  Without tons of people around it was even more relaxing!  We enjoyed seeing a set of dolphins jumping out of the water, several fish jumping, a sting ray up close in the shallow water, a school of minnows swimming fast and jumping, and of course lots of tiny crabs.  We also did lots of sand castle building, digging holes, burying each other, finding shells, and swimming in the cool water.  And at night we played UNO Attack, which is pretty hilarious when it shoots cards out at you:)  After the kids went to bed Mom, Keith, and I played Rummy and I won!!!  They tried to have a re-match with me a few nights later but weren't quite able to beat me!

We took Mom to Zilker Park downtown.  It was super hot this day!  After lunch, some climbing on the big rocks, petting lots of dogs, playing frisbee, and watching the boys play on the playground, we were mighty sweaty to say the least!  We headed down to the river and let our feet/legs get cooled off a bit before heading home.

Mom had her birthday when she was here.  I treated her to an early b-day movie at the Movie House and Eatery down the street.  We each had our own leather recliner, had a snack and drink, and watched the movie being so cozy!  It's definitely the way to go:)

 After church on her actual b-day

 

 Kassidy made Mama a special birthday strawberry pie!

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Later that evening we headed downtown.  We've been wanting to try the food trucks out so figured this was a good chance.  We picked a spot with about 6 food trucks so we could all find something we liked.  The food was DELICIOUS! ! ! ! !  And the portion sizes were humongous!  After dinner we headed to the Congress Ave bridge to watch the bats.  This is something everyone recommends around here and we have yet to see it.  There's about 1.5 million Mexican free-tailed emerging from their roosts under the bridge every evening around dusk.  We spotted one flying out and back in, then there were tons pouring out.  It lasted about 20 minutes, just a constant flow of bats!

 

 

 This was also the night of the Super Moon

And just in case you think it never rains in Texas...we even had some hail!

Kaleb got to be Pirate Pete during one of the stories for the Pirate Balloon Show at the library;)

One afternoon we stopped for some Fro Yo before swimming with Thea and Drake.  Thea is my mom's cousins daughter, and Drake is her little boy who's almost 2.  They live about 30 minutes from us.  The kids love playing with Drake and Thea is just the nicest:)

Another day we headed downtown to the University of Texas Union Underground.  We played glow bowling then headed to the turtle pond next to the big tower.  This pond was filled with turtles of all sizes!  We saw at least 25 and I'm sure others were hiding under the moss.

On our drive home I just had to stop and take this pic...it really shows you what Austin looks like.

Our last fun thing was a stop to Rockin' River Aquatic Center in Round Rock.  It's about 30 minutes from our house but well worth the drive.  It was like a mini water park for the kiddos:)  It even had a lazy river!

 Now it's Kassidy's turn to make dinner.  She went all out with ham and noodle casserole, steamed veggies, and crescent rolls.  She is quite the cook!  All I had to do was open the crescent roll packages and put the pan in/out of the oven because it was heavy.  She did such a great job and the food tasted great:)

It truly was a wonderful time with Mama.  We played countless games of Uno and Sorry, even some Monopoly, Beat the Parents, and Pictionary.  Kaleb and Karson showed Mama how to play Mario Kart, although Mom needs a little more practice to beat them;)  I enjoyed some grown-up alone time with Mom which is always nice.  We just really enjoyed having her here and hope she comes back soon:)  I love you Mom!!!