Natural Springs Garden

We were fortunate enough to be able to tour Natural Springs Garden. Karla was a gracious host who had a lot to tell us about the vegetables they are growing. The kids weren't as into as I thought they'd be, but that's okay! It was educational for me. We are planning to put a garden in our yard so I was interested to hear what she they were able to grow, etc. The tour was free, so that was great but I do wish the kids ad been able to plant something--even if it was just to play in the dirt with seeds and think they were actually planting. I think they would have enjoyed it! But--it is a working farm, not a place for kids to play. :-)
They had a great shaded area with a picnic table so we were able to sit down and have a snack after our little tour.
You can join their CSA and get fresh veggies delivered...although I think there is a waiting list. I asked if they were at any of the farmer's markets around, but she said they weren't right now. They are thinking about setting up some kind of farm stand out in the Lakeway area.

Story Time at Barnes and Noble

The Barnes and Noble near Lakeline Mall has story time on Wednesdays. They have it at 9:30 and at 11:00. I can't seem to get there by 9:30 a.m. , but have made it to the 11:00.
The man that does the story time is great! He sings songs with the kids, always does the same little countdown routine to story time so the kids know what to expect, and he's lively while he reads the books.
He usually reads two books with a little break in the middle for getting out the kids' wiggles. He also does a great job of reading over the noise. It's never silent in there....after all you're reading to a group of children! But he just ignores the noise and reads on. :-) And then at the end there is always a little coloring activity for the kids to do.
We always have a good time. It's a great free (and air conditioned) activity to go do!

Brushy Creek Splash Pad

We LOVE the Brushy Creek Splash Pad! It's at Brushy Creek Lake Park over near Avery Ranch in Cedar Park.
Wonderful things about it:
It's a splash pad so we don't have to get out all the floaties and life jackets just to cool off in this blistering heat.
There are bathrooms!
There are a trees and a grassy area to spread out blankets so we can picnic
There is a playground nearby so the kids can go back and forth if they want.
Plenty of parking
The splash area is partially fenced in.
It's free!

Downsides:
The picnic tables that are right next to the splash area are NOT shaded.
It does tend to get really crowded...so get there early!
The bathrooms can be a little gross, but at least they have bathrooms
The playground isn't really shaded at all so the kids always complain about how hot the equipment is.

My girls love it there. I always forget buckets or balls for them to play with in the water..but other "good moms" bring them and the other kids are always willing to share! :-)

Memorial Park in Round Rock

We went to Memorial Park the other day. I had never been there before. It was really peaceful and quiet. There is a river or stream that goes through it that is really well shaded. The ducks seemed a little full because they weren't racing after our bread--but the kids still liked to try and get the ducks to catch the bread in their mouths.
They have a pretty nice play area for the kids. My older daughter (5) loved climbing the "rocks". My 22 month old didn't really have too much to do there. There were two baby swings and also a smaller play area. The smaller play area wasn't very well shaded and she kept saying the slides were too hot. But, I know that's the price you pay for living in Texas and going to a park anytime after 10 am!
The one really big downside was that the bathrooms were across the street next to the baseball field. So, when my 5 year old had to go to the bathroom, we had to put the little one in her stroller and walk a ways to get there. Luckily she's able to "hold it" til she gets to the restroom! Potty trainers should be aware of that! :-)
I heard from another mom that the park gets really crowded on the weekends. We went on a Tuesday late afternoon and there were only a few other parents with kids there. Don't forget your bread for the ducks! Oh and there are picnic tables if you want to take a picnic.

Mueller Lake Park

We went to Mueller Lake Park today. The girls always have a good time there and I like that it's fenced in. There is a lot of street parking and they have a parking lot. The bathrooms have always been clean when I've used them. They have quite a few picnic tables so taking a lunch is pretty easy. If there aren't any picnic tables available, there is a big grassy area where you can sit on a blanket.
The playground is totally fenced in so the kids can't run off into the water! The playground has a smaller playscape for younger kids and then a bigger one for the older kids. There is also a sandbox and several swings. There are quite a few trees, but they aren't huge trees so they don't give that much shade. After playing you can walk down to the water and feed the ducks. I've seen people fly kites in the big grassy area. There is also a great walking path around the whole park so you can get in some exercise too!
The one downside to this park is that the trash cans are outside of the fenced in area. That makes people think they don't need to throw their trash away! We picked up quite a few empty water bottles and other trash so our kids could play. Throw your trash away people!

Three Christmases--not Four.

So--this year we happened to have three Christmases. I think we had more fun than the movie Four Christmases. Adeline hasn't grasped the calendar yet and Emerson is only 18 months, so we can pretty much tell them whatever we want about the days and holidays and they believe us!
So, we made Christmas Eve Christmas at our house! The night before, we read Adeline the real Christmas story out of the Bible...actually found a child-friendly, easy to understand version online after we started reading out of the Bible and realized she wasn't grasping any of it! Adeline sprinkled the reindeer food on the lawn and put out cookies and soy milk for Santa. We also put a small dish of syrup with little bits of candy cane in it for our "Elf on the Shelf" who she named Buddy (think of the movie Elf with Will Ferrel in it).
We opened presents the next morning...had some breakfast..let the girls play with their toys for a little bit....and then packed up the girls and took off for Houston. We had decided to try to make the 4:00 Children's mass service at a church down the street from Josh's parents house. We got to the church at 3:30 thinking that would be plenty early...boy were we wrong! We had to park on the grass and stand behind the pews of the church where we couldn't really see anything. Then as the service got started, we quickly realized it wasn't really geared towards children. Adeline liked listening to the bells, but Emerson wasn't really enjoying any of it. In previous years the children's mass has been very different. So, we either got the time wrong or they just changed it! So--we left at about 4:30 and decided God would forgive us.
Then the next morning (Christmas day) we opened presents at Josh's parents house with his sister and her partner. We all had fun and ate a yummy lunch. Afterwards, while Emerson slept at home with Grandma and Grandpa, we took Adeline to see the new Chipmunk movie. I had never heard of going to the movies on Christmas Day until I became a member of the Merritt family. I think it's a great tradition! It gets you out of the house when everything else is closed. FYI...Adeline loved the Chipmunk movie, but Josh and I didn't care for it at all! But we suffered through for her. I now have Beyonce's Single Ladies song on my Ipod for when Adeline requests the chipmunk song. LOL.
The next day, we went over the my parents' house for the Staples family Christmas. I have a big family that has a mish-mash of people in it! The adults played a kind of white elephant gift game where one of the hot presents was a book about poop (brought by Josh). Then we let the kids tear into their presents. I never know who gives what present to Adeline and Emerson because the present opening goes so fast over there. We did have four less kids there this time because some of them were sick and couldn't come...but it was still chaotic! Even with the four kids missing that were sick we still had six kids there.
All in all we had a good time at our Christmases...the girls ended up with some nice gifts and I didn't have to buy more storage for all their stuff!