In August we drove out to Austin with Grandma Stacy for a camping trip! Grandma Kim flew in from Wisconsin and we had ourselves a very Grandma camping trip! It was so fun. Our first stop was at a famous pizza place, Conans. Yes please!
Then we tried out a new hike to some waterfalls. The hike was VERY long and hard for the kids (and for the adults carrying kids). It was shady though, and beautiful.
Once we got to the falls, we were happy to be there and played for a while. Welcome to Sculpture Falls! It was so beautiful. The water was very warm in some places and very cool in others. The kids jumped off the side into the deep end, and swam behind little waterfalls into the caves, it was cool.
After we made the long hike out, we went to Windy Point Park and met up with Grandma Kim, who had arrived while we were at the falls. The kids were SO happy to have TWO grandmas there! For kids who don't have any in-town grandparents, they felt pretty special on this trip!
The water level was a LOT higher here than it has been in the past and so we had to go swimming, even though the sun was setting and it was a lot later than these kids are usually awake.
The next day we packed up our tents and moved to McKinney Falls State Park for the rest of the week. We went swimming right away and it was the most PACKED we've ever seen it! It was crazy full of people! Usually we're alone, but this was a weekend day...
Paul showed off and jumped this cliff a million times. Matix and Hawken were both brave and jumped it a few times too.
I had to include this second shot so you can see how high up he actually was. See how in the second picture his arm is in line with that long shadow in the water on the left side of the picture (and he's still NOT in the water)? Now look back at the first picture and you can see his feet are far above the same shadow...
We actually did some campy things this year and roasted hotdogs. The kids LOVED it and had a great time doing it. Grandma Stacy didn't love it, and THREE of her hotdogs fell off her stick and/or into the fire. Poor Grandma.
We drove up to see Longhorn Cavern again and loved it again. The tour guide wasn't the best this time, but it's still a beautiful cave with an interesting history.
Rubbing the bear's nose for luck! The guide said whoever rubs the bears nose will certainly be able to get back out of the cave. Matix on purpose didn't rub it so he could stay and live there.
Here is a scary face we found along the way.
That small black fleck in the middle of the picture is a BAT! We spotted it right as the guide turned out the lights. He wasn't very patient for picture taking. But I was happy to see later that the picture turned out okay!
Sully was the crankiest baby in the cave, but finally passed out! I was never happier to be carrying this heavy babe, than in an echoey cave with other people who are trying to listen to a soft spoken (often interrupted by a crying baby) tour guide!
Group shot at the exit of the cave. So beautiful!
