Cousins!!

Oh how we love cousins! Marc's sis, Carin, and family came down to spent part of their spring break with us. They have not been to visit us in Austin yet, so we were excited to show them around and play. We packed in as much fun as we can and hope that it was enough to entice them back to visit sometime in the near future.
The night they got here we ventured to Congress Bridge to watch the nightly exodus of over 1.5 million bats on their quest for insect paradise. It is a little early in the season, but we did see tons of bats.
The next day everyone headed down to LBJ lake to canoe and picnic at the park. We then hiked up over a hundred steps to the top of Mt. Bonnell to check out the views. We hit a favorite restaurant and had lots of fun play time at home. It is so nice to be able to see our cousins more than once a year...yet one more of the many benefits of living in Austin!!

A Green Thumb

So, I am not sure that I've noticed the skin on any of my appendages tinged green...but I have to say that my new pride and joy is our garden. My parents, the gardening EXPERTS, came down for one of M's soccer games and we spent Saturday morning putting in our first real garden. There is just something so gratifying when you plant the seed and water and just hope that something will survive...and then you see those first little buds popping out of the soil (sounds kind of like a parenthood parable).
It has been so fun to do with the boys. Throughout the whole process they were right in there, making the boxes, mixing the soil and fertilizer and planting the seeds. Every day M and B want to help water the garden and every day M runs out to see if anything new is coming up. We should start chowing on some of the goods in another month. SO, if you have a hankering for a delicious salad...come on over!

Sea World

We took the opportunity to take Grandma and Grandpa to Sea World during their weekend visit. B has been telling everyone for weeks that we were going; so of course, the grandparents did not want to disappoint (plus we like to use our season passes whenever we can). It was everything the boys could have hoped for. From the Shamu show to the 4D movie and popcorn...the day was perfect.
I take special pleasure in going to a public place that isn't totally packed. I know that our days of having the park to ourselves are numbered and that, with the opening of the water park section next month, we will have to share with all the crazy Texans trying to get some reprieve from the heat...but we will just enjoy it while we can!!