Nature Science Center

We continued our Nature Challenge at the Nature Science Center this morning.  We got there right as they opened in an effort to beat the heat... and were mostly successful.

The NSC is one of our favorite places to visit, but today's scavenger hunt took us into the Zilker Nature Preserve as well - a place we had never taken the time to explore.

We followed the trail through a dry creekbed and up to an overlook where we could see the downtown skyline off in the distance.

It was starting to get a little warmer on the way down, so even though we took the "less challenging" route down we decided to stop for a water break and were entertained by Lincoln on his harmonica.

We finished off the morning with lunch at the dino pit where we helped uncover several sets of dinosaur bones and made some new friends.

All in all, a successful challenge!

Asian Adventure

After our hike in the heat this morning, we decided we needed to go somewhere cool for the afternoon.  Luckily, the jar of Summer Fun provided some inspiration and we headed up to Chinatown Center to explore the Asian supermarket.

While it wasn't quite as cool as this picture, it was an interesting experience.  We saw lots of unusual fruits and vegetables and tanks of live fish as well as some (very recently) gutted fish... I believe there was also some squid in the mix there somewhere.

We picked a few new things to try - some lychee fruit and a young coconut (no idea what I'm going to do with that yet!) - as well as gathering a few staples that are often hard to find at the regular grocery.

Then we went home to enjoy a dinner of spring rolls with peanut sauce and steamed pork buns.

Yummy!

Uncle Ben is so Cool!

Andrew's brother Ben is a helicopter pilot for the Army... which pretty much makes him the coolest uncle ever in the eyes of the nieces and nephews.

We were lucky enough to find several birds in need of some TLC in the hangar so we could explore them to our heart's content.

We were hoping to meet up with my brother Keith on Saturday afternoon, but he woke up sick that morning, so we had to move to plan B... check out Ben's helicopters!  Lincoln got a crash course on flying from his cousin Cami.

Peter thought they were about the coolest thing ever.  His only complaint was that kids couldn't fly them and he declared as we were leaving that someone needed to make a helicopter that could only be flown by kids.  When we suggested that he do that when he grows up, his response was, "But then I won't be a kid!"

Valid point.  Could someone please work on this concept?  We need it in the next 6 years or so :)

Gaylord Opryland

 Andrew's conference was held in the Gaylord Opryland hotel, right next door to the Grand Old Opry.  Ben and Erin were nice enough to take responsibility for our kids for a night so I could join Andrew and take in the opulence there... it kind of reminded me of Vegas!

We spent a fun, relaxing night together and I took a little time this morning to wander around and gawk at the beauty of the hotel.  All of these pictures are taken inside the hotel conservatory.

I definitely have to bring the kids tomorrow - they'll think it's amazing!

Old Friends

One of the things we both love and dislike about our ward is the fact that we have the university's married student housing within our boundaries.  We love getting to meet new families and make new friends every year, but we dislike the fact that they eventually move on, leaving us sad to see them go.

However, the bright side of that is that wherever we travel, we're bound to run across friends along the way!  One of our favorite families moved to Nashville last year - they have three boys almost exactly the same ages as our three boys, so we jumped at the chance to meet up with them for a day of play.

After a yummy lunch, the boys were getting kind of exuberant in their play, so we headed to a very cool park and ended up in the sandbox.  The boys were all filthy by the time we left, but it was worth it!  We had a wonderful time and it was lovely to get caught up and enjoy some adult conversation.  Thanks Editt!