Horseback Riding...Belated Birthday Trip

We were finally able to take Little Miss A and Mr. D on their birthday trip horseback riding. It was so wild to see how many places require their riders to be 8 years old! We found an amazing place in the Hill Country and will definitely be going back in the summer to enjoy the rest that the place has to offer! :)

The both had the most amazing time!!!! As soon as our ride was over, they both began asking when we were going to go again. Little Miss A thought we'd be able to go again the same day...sweet girl!

Little. Miss A and Carmel

Mr. D with Tony

Unfortunately, we weren't' able to take our phones or cameras on the ride, since they scare the horses, but as the trail caboose, I had a vantage point of the kids at the front of our family line and they just looked SOOOOOOO incredibly grown up. They both did an amazing job with their horses...turning them when/where they needed to and pulling up their heads when they stopped. We crossed through some of the most amazing sections of the hill country across several streams and creeks. It was amazing!!!!!

We are already so excited to go back this summer to experience all that the resort has to offer including additional horseback riding. :)

Tuesday Trip #8

My final Tuesday Trip with the kids was spent at one of our favorite water spots...Hamilton Pool. After a nice hike down to the pool, we found the perfect spot to settle in for the day.

We had so much fun, none of us wanted to leave. I have so enjoy my Tuesday trips with the kids. What a wonderful summer tradition. (The three of us have thoroughly looked forward to Tuesdays!!) I think we're going to have to continue our adventures through the school year with a monthly Saturday Spree or something like that. :)

Tuesday Trip #7

Our trip today took us bouncing which seems so odd because this is something we seriously used to do ALL the time and we haven't been now in years. The kids have been begging me for some time to go and today was the day! :) They were having so much fun we stayed almost the whole day. I'm worn out and I wasn't even bouncing!!

Tuesday Trip #7

Our trip this week took us to the ice rink. It was so nice to get bundled up in the heat of summer and hit the ice. :)

This was a common scene...Mr. D was down most of the time as a direct result of speed. What can I say, the kid just wants to go fast!!! That's my boy!! :)

After our adventure at the rink we headed to dinner and a movie. Despicable Me...you're right Aunt K, the minions definitely have the same laugh as Mr. D! ;)

Mountain Vacation Rewind

Snowbird

All kinds of family fun:

snow

hikes

and even more animals...moose, deer, badgers, beavers, chipmunks and potguts too!!

Tuesday Trip #6 in Snowbird...

Bungy tramps, bounce houses, rock walls, alpine slide races, tram and chair lifts, ropes course

The boys are ALL extremists...with injuries all around. So when Daddy and D crashed on the alpine slide, I figured we'd get some manly photos of the aftermath. Not so much.

Yellowstone

Phenomenal 2 day adventure through the park complete with a drive through the gorgeous Grand Tetons...

Old Faithful

bike ride to Morning Glory PoolCamping

Mammoth Hot Springs

We saw all kinds of animals...elk, moose, coyote, bear. It was AWESOME!!!!

Idaho

We stayed in an amazing cabin...a friend of Dad's. Had a blast!!! smores over the campfire

Utah

We landed in Utah and headed to Grandpa N's house. The evening brought a nice game of croquet (which Mr. D immediately confused with a golf like sport mixed with baseball)

coloring "calf" roping"horseback" riding

Tuesday Trip #5
The kids and I hopped a plane headed for the mountains. Daddy was joining us a few days later. Our Tuesday was pretty much spent just traveling to our destination. We are on vacation!!!! :)

Tuesday Trip #4

Since we had to skip our Tuesday trip last week due to Spanish Camp, we took a bigger trip this week to...SIX FLAGS!!!! :)

I packed for the entire park...not sure if A & D would want to experience the rides or the water park. When we got there, the kids saw the signs and started singing in unison "Six Flags!!!" I love surprises!! So, I asked whether they wanted to do rides or water...they both virtually screamed RIDES!!!! So, we left the towels in the car and headed in ready to ride!!! Unsure of how the rides were going to play out with a party of 3 instead of an even party of 4, I have to admit it was easy!!! Little Miss A is officially 48" tall and able to ride most everything by herself. With a nice warm summer day, we rode more water rides this trip than any other. There were several points in our day where we were all 100%, completely SOAKED...it was awesome!!! The kids loved getting wet...we were all so glad to have our bathing suits on under our cover ups! The one ride we need to come back for was he bumper cars...52" to ride alone, so we'll catch this one with Daddy when we come back next month. :)

We had an absolutely AMAZING day!!! We had so much fun that we stayed for the fireworks when the park closed at 9 which were wonderful...not sure why we've never stayed for that before, but it was totally worth it. :)

Tuesday Trip #3

We took an evening trip with Daddy tonight to a

Round Rock Express game.

Not sure how much the Caswell Kids actually understood about the game, but they loved the interactive games, songs and dances between innings. :) They especially enjoyed rolling down the grassy berm area towards the end of the game.

We were so glad Daddy could join us for a Tuesday Trip!!! :)

Tuesday Trip #2

Our Tuesday Trip this week took us to the Austin Zoo. To my out of town family and friends that haven't experienced this little gem, our zoo is as weird as Austin...it's a rescue zoo. The super fun thing about our trip to the zoo is that it used to take us about an hour to get there, today it was a mere 20 minutes!!! Have I mentioned how much I love our new house and location?!?! :)

We had so much fun reading the exhibit write-ups on each animal. This was truly the first time we actually stopped to read each animal's info, usually we catch their names and what they are and that's about it. The kids really got into it this year, which was so much fun!!! It was almost like we were on a fact finding mission for all of these new friends. :)

Here we are reading about the brown bear...

Of course one of the MAJOR highlights of the zoo is the petting corral. We bought bags of food to feed the goats, sheep, deer and llamas and the kids could have spent the day JUST doing that....so fun!

The other highlight is the train.

The Caswell Kids LOVE to ride the train!!! :)

We had an iced treat before to help keep cool in this crazy summer Austin heat. It wasn't long after this picture was taken that Little Miss A lost her snow cone to the ground, we've been totally butterfingers over here lately, but that's another post in and of itself. :)

As we were leaving the kids spotted a sunflower. I am only including this because they have literally been on the hunt for sunflowers for the past MONTH and this is the first one we've found. There are TONS of wildflowers on the side of the road everywhere here in the spring and early summer and the kids were convinced that the little yellow ones we kept spotting were sunflowers. When we FINALLY found one today, they realized how special they really are. I was telling them about the sunflowers I remember seeing on the side of the road when growing up in Salt Lake City...way taller than Daddy. They were completely shocked!!! Maybe we need to purchase some seeds to plant our own little Sunflower garden in the backyard. :)

Tuesday Trip #1

Our first "Tuesday Trip" of the summer took us just outside of Austin to the Dinosaur Park. (Part of the excitement to our trips is that the kids have NO CLUE where we are going until we get there.) This place was perfect for 2 five year olds!!! We picked up the scavenger hunt sheet at the entrance and walked our way through a dino adventure!!! With dinos along the trail and "hidden" items along the way it was like a real life "I Spy" experience. :)

Our first stop was peering through the t-rex's mouth. Do we look scared?

Having fun together as we trekked through the woods. :)

Screaming "A T-Rex is Coming!!!! Run for your lives!!!"

A dino dig...
Teamwork!

We loved reading the dino blurbs and learning more about these fascinating creatures. I think I've spurred a new obsession...as we enter the world of Dinosaurs. We got home and pulled ALL of our dinosaur books off the shelves and read ourselves into an oblivion, then curled up with Dinosaurs the movie and popcorn and a prize for a fun ending to a fun-filled day!!! :)