This was our last day to be in Austin, and we woke up to clear blue skies and absolutely perfect temperatures ... a first since we arrived here five days ago! Sabrina decided we should take advantage of the great weather this morning and take a look at Pedernales Falls State Park, which is only a 30 minute drive from her house. Since it was Wednesday, Karis was able to join us since her preschool is only two days per week (Tuesdays and Thursdays).
As you enter the park, there are all kinds of signs warning of flash floods. One sign showed a picture of the Pedernales River when it is normal. The picture right next to the first one showed the river just FIVE MINUTES after the first picture was taken ... and the river had risen dramatically and was gushing everywhere. We read all of the warning signs about flash floods, and then set out on our hike.
We could hear the rushing water through the woods and down pathway to the river. This is the sight that greeted us at the end of the path.
Karis was ready set to go! She had her pretty blue tennis shoes on and was going to take a big girl hike!
So we walked through the forrest, listening for any sounds of wild animals ... and then grandpa snuck up on her and roared like a bear ... you should have seen the look on this tiny girl's face! She grabbed Sabrina's hand and actually held onto it for the next ... five minutes!
Where we started, there was two possible pathways down to the water. We started out taking the pathway to the right, which was really rough rocky steps that led down to sand and more rocks ...
Our pictures really do not do this place justice. It's just spectacularly beautiful in every way.
We saw a little gecko on this rock and it posed very nicely for its picture ...
Grandpa Jones took this picture of him and then it sped off ... about 90 mph! We actually saw a few more geckos as we hiked this morning and had fun watching them.
This is a little spring that runs underground for eight miles before surfacing here ...
These pictures are not in the correct order, but I don't care! I have mixed in some of my pictures and some of Grandpa Jones's pictures just to try to show you how beautiful it is here. The sound of the water was just amazing, and I loved the contrast of the water falls and the calm pools of water surrounding it.
The water was crystal clear, but since we'd had so much rain the prior weekend, the water had been much higher down here and so the sand had been churned up. Karis liked getting as close as she could to the water's edge. She did slip and fall once, and so soaked both shoes and her little bottom ... she wasn't pleased, but there was nothing that could be done. I got a soaker too, and that made her feel a little bit better I think.
Grandpa Jones got the best picture of this heron ... I got some good ones, but my zoom lens isn't as good as his. Between the two of us, we took over 400 pictures in two hours this morning. I don't have time to go through all of them, but some of them are really really nice.
It's a little tricky to hike here, but Sabrina is a climber and Karis takes after her mama ~ although there were places where Karis was pretty nervous ...
She doesn't stay nervous for very long ... which, of course, made US nervous!
This is MY picture of a different heron. I can't wait to get home and use my photo editing software on my PC in my office. I will be able to fine tune many of my pictures and make many a card from them! 
I could have been happy spending many days here, hiking different paths, getting as high up the rocks as possible, and watching the wildlife. There is nothing like being out where the unmistakable hand of God has left His awesome mark.
We left the falls, returned home for lunch, some of us took naps ... but I baked some cookies for the kiddos during naptime. When I was in Bandera with Rachel and Nick and we stopped at that half price bookstore, Rachel had found a cute book of railroad craft ideas and in it were these sugar cookies decorated like a railroad crossing sign. These are the cookies I made this afternoon.
When Jackson came home from school, he ate two of these enormous cookies!
We waited until Olivia got home from school, and then since it was actually HOT, we all went to the pool for a very refreshing swim.
We ate our last dinner in Austin over at the Salt Lick, where everyone enjoyed ribs, sausage and all kinds of delicious meat, grilled and barbequed Texas style!Well ... it was kind of a day in paradise, and we are thankful the weather cooperated for one really really nice day! Grandpa Jones and I plan to be on the road very early tomorrow morning ... but we are anticipating an important phone call about a very anticipated little baby ... hopefully, I'll be able to post some news before we get on the road in the morning.
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