Our own Kite Festival

The day after the party, we decided to take the kids to a local park to fly some kites. This year, the Zilker Kite Festival was cancelled due to weather. We wanted to enjoy the nicer weather with our family so we headed to the park with our kites. It was a very windy day (great for kite flying).

Daddy helping Caitlin with her kite

The scene...

Caitlin retrieving the kite for Oma

Evan doing a great job with his kite!

Mema and Evan

Baba and Chelsea enjoying the day

Keeping Jake up in the air

And Ryan was there too!

It was a gorgeous day (minus a little cold due to so much wind) - better than the freezing temps in the Midwest! We had a great time flying kites and spending time together before everyone had to head back to their homes.  We look forward to when all the grandparents will get to stay for much longer!

Ryan's First Birthday Party!

For Ryan's first birthday, we decided to do a joint party with his cousin Allie.  She is just 2 weeks younger and Bryce's parents were coming in for just the weekend so we didn't want to take all that extra time/expense to have 2 parties! 

We had originally planned to have the party at a local park - unfortunately, the weather had different ideas and so we ended up just at the last minute having it at our house.. worked out just fine!

First everyone had some yummy lunch.

We invited just a few friends to join us so it wasn't a huge party.

I think Ryan is having a good time!

Family pic with the birthday boy

Couldn't resist my two boys :)

Singing happy birthday to the two one year olds!

We got each of them an individual smash cake...

And then one big cake to share with everyone!

Ryan checking it out...

Oh yeah, I remember this stuff...

And he wastes no time digging in...

It was a great day for celebrating these two very special people.  Thanks everyone for helping and celebrating with us!  Happy First Birthday Ryan!

Zilker Botanical Garden

Another day of our spring break, we took a trip to the Zilker Botanical Gardens. They have a special exhibit this spring which is all about Faerie Houses!  My kids are kind of obsessed with Jake and the Neverland Pirates. They actual have been really into making little Faerie Houses with our nanny out of cardboard so I thought they would love this.

The Faerie Houses are all along this trail. Some of them are kind of hidden so it was an adventure to find them!  Each house was made by an artist and they were all so different.

After walking the trail, we went over to see some of the rest of the botanical gardens. I've only been once or twice before and we had family visiting so we wanted to make the most of our visit.

Aunt Shell and the kiddos

Standing in front of the waterfall.

One of the best parts of the botanical gardens is the Japanese Garden.  It's so beautiful and interesting. I love it. The kids LOVED walking through the pond on the walks. I have to say I was really nervous about it... I mean, I knew they wouldn't drown but I really didn't want them getting soaked.

But they both proved I had no reason to worry! They each went with an adult the first time but they really didn't need the help.  They later went back and each did it all by themselves.

It turned out to be a great day for visiting, and everyone had a lot of fun!

Spring Break - Cameron Park Zoo

Another thing we seem to do every Spring Break is head to the Cameron Park Zoo in Waco.  This year, my mom and Becca joined us! 

Ready for some adventure!

First stop was the otter slide! This is always a favorite with my kids.

This time, we went the opposite way so that we hit the slide first (before all the crowds arrived). It was perfect as the kids got to do it probably 20 times!

We enjoyed seeing the fish and turtles. I had printed out a ZOO BINGO card for each of the kids to mark off animals as we saw them. Turtles made the list!

Pic of my two older ones on our journey. It was a little chilly in the morning but turned out to be a great day. We beat most of the crowds too by arriving early.

Family pic - too bad Daddy had to work

Giraffes! This is one of my favorite spots because you are right at the height of the giraffes.

Say Cheese!

Caitlin loved watching the elephants

Sitting on the komodo dragon (statue)

This is another of my favorite places... it's right by the orangutan exhibit but it has some great things for the kids (like this musical plates you step on)

Ryan enjoyed hanging on the orangutan.

And our last stop of the day was the playground!  Even the babies enjoyed themselves.

Big bro taking little bro for a ride on the dolphin.

Caitlin wanted a turn too!

Baba, Chelsea, Oma, and Ryan hanging out

After that, we exited the park and ate our picnic lunch before heading home. What a great day! So glad we decided to go. 

Trip to the Austin Rodeo

One of my favorite spring activities is to take the kids to the Austin Rodeo.  We always have a great time. Schedule-wise, this year the only day that really worked was one in which Evan was still in school. But, Baba had the day off so she and Chelsea joined Caitlin, Ryan, and I!

Stopped at an exhibit to learn how to milk a cow

Checked out the petting zoo

Then we went to the "barn" area to see all the different animals like pigs, cows, horses, rabbits, etc!

Caitlin raced Baba on a tractor

And then probably the most fun for Caitlin was the carnival! We let her pick a couple rides to try...

And one nice thing is they had a free play area for little kids. It was a good chance for Ryan and Chelsea to get out of the strollers and play too.

A very fun day for everyone!