Day Fourteen: A nonstop fun day in Austin!
After we got Jackson on his bus early this morning, Sabrina, Karis, Grandpa Jones and I had some errands to run. We had heard stories of how low the lake level was down at Lake Travis, and since Sabrina was curious to see it for herself (and so were we!), we drove in that direction as we did our errands. Lake Travis is not a natural lake but was made by making several dams on the Colorado River.
If you look carefully at the first picture, there is a small boat on its side by the shore. Two years ago, this spot in Lake Travis was 40-50 feet higher and this is actually a boat that had sunk in prior years but is now visible ...
We are standing near the Mansfield Dam and we walked down a pathway to the rocks. It was interesting to walk around in places that in normal years was covered with water. I like to go looking for "treasures" in spots like this ... but our time was limited, and Karis had seen a play area she wanted to explore, so we didn't stay there very long.
Karis picked us a couple of flowers on the way back up to the play area ... isn't she precious?
Karis is a little monkey ... I wonder WHO she got THAT from?!!
This is just another shot of Lake Travis and the low water level. Lots and lots of folk have huge mansions along this lake ... it's a great resort place in Austin that has been hit hard by the drought.
There is a very cool walkway across the Mansfield Dam, but no one has been allowed to walk across it since 9/11 ... it's all chained and locked and forbidden. I would have loved to walk across it and get the great view in both directions.
We finished up our errands, including grocery shopping, and then Karis and I did some sticker pictures. It was odd playing with Karis without Jackson!
Jackson came home from school, and see how he runs? This is the speed at which he does everything!
Andrew picked up new patio furniture for their new extended patio, and everyone went to work putting it together. It would have been nice if Sears had included the hardware for the chairs ... we were going to eat outside tonight, but since the chairs could not be finished, we are planning on doing that tomorrow once we go to the hardware store and get the correct screws!
We did cook burgers and have kind of a nice indoor picnic meal complete with corn-on-the-cob (like Aunt Kathie taught us to do while in Ohio), watermelon and yummy burgers.
For dessert, we MADE icecream in Grandpa Jones's brand new TOY that he actually purchased (!!!) while at Learning Express the other day. See the blue ball Sabrina is holding? She is actually shaking up a mixture of ice, cream, sugar, and flavoring that turns into icecream after about 35 minutes ...
The little kids helped make the ice cream tonight, rolling the ball back and forth, back and forth, enjoying the whole process very much.
And then we ATE every single drop of it. It was a good day here in Austin! Olivia is waiting to play a game of Apple Scrabble with me, so I'm going to sign off for tonight ...
If you look carefully at the first picture, there is a small boat on its side by the shore. Two years ago, this spot in Lake Travis was 40-50 feet higher and this is actually a boat that had sunk in prior years but is now visible ...
We are standing near the Mansfield Dam and we walked down a pathway to the rocks. It was interesting to walk around in places that in normal years was covered with water. I like to go looking for "treasures" in spots like this ... but our time was limited, and Karis had seen a play area she wanted to explore, so we didn't stay there very long.
Karis picked us a couple of flowers on the way back up to the play area ... isn't she precious?
Karis is a little monkey ... I wonder WHO she got THAT from?!!
This is just another shot of Lake Travis and the low water level. Lots and lots of folk have huge mansions along this lake ... it's a great resort place in Austin that has been hit hard by the drought.
There is a very cool walkway across the Mansfield Dam, but no one has been allowed to walk across it since 9/11 ... it's all chained and locked and forbidden. I would have loved to walk across it and get the great view in both directions.
We finished up our errands, including grocery shopping, and then Karis and I did some sticker pictures. It was odd playing with Karis without Jackson!
Jackson came home from school, and see how he runs? This is the speed at which he does everything!
Andrew picked up new patio furniture for their new extended patio, and everyone went to work putting it together. It would have been nice if Sears had included the hardware for the chairs ... we were going to eat outside tonight, but since the chairs could not be finished, we are planning on doing that tomorrow once we go to the hardware store and get the correct screws!
We did cook burgers and have kind of a nice indoor picnic meal complete with corn-on-the-cob (like Aunt Kathie taught us to do while in Ohio), watermelon and yummy burgers.
For dessert, we MADE icecream in Grandpa Jones's brand new TOY that he actually purchased (!!!) while at Learning Express the other day. See the blue ball Sabrina is holding? She is actually shaking up a mixture of ice, cream, sugar, and flavoring that turns into icecream after about 35 minutes ...
The little kids helped make the ice cream tonight, rolling the ball back and forth, back and forth, enjoying the whole process very much.
And then we ATE every single drop of it. It was a good day here in Austin! Olivia is waiting to play a game of Apple Scrabble with me, so I'm going to sign off for tonight ...
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