Dinosaur Park

Today we visited the Dinosaur Park, which is located in Cedar Creek. They had amazing life sized dinos spread out along a trail. At the end of our tour the kids were able to play archaeologist and search for fossils in their fossil dig area. They also had a wonderful gift shop and lots of dino toys for the kids to enjoy. We all left as dinosaur experts!

i just LOVE this picture of miss gracie =)

miss lexie

chad and colton do their best impression of dinosaurs being born

group shot less the three girlies

last but certainly not least, here is alexis having the time of her life! i'm sure she is contemplating the virtues of the velociraptor behind her

Surf's Up Party

No need to vacation in Hawaii...we had our own surfing adventures at the Rec Center. We crafted our own surfboards, learned surfer lingo, and enjoyed a viewing of Surf's Up.

hannah works on her surfboard

karley shows off her finished surfboard

austin parks and pizza

This trip was by far the most popular, and after visiting Austin Parks & Pizza I could see why. This was my first time there, and we were pleased to find go karts, bumper boats, two climbing towers, mini golf, tea cups, laser tag and of course arcade games. And i'm probably forgetting something....I was thrilled to find a Pacman/Galaga game and skee ball. Good times!

Mark assured me he would let his parents go at a very reasonable rate

lilli, allison, haryle, emma and karley make sure no leaves the bumper boats dry

zachary shows off his guitar hero skills

erin and ashlynn climb their way to the top

Indiana Jones

Today the Rec Center was transformed into a forbidden forrest, the Sands of Egypt and even had its own Cave of Doom! The kids navigated their way through the Indiana Jones style adventure using the clues provided. We transported the Cave of Doom and Sands of Egypt to Riverbend so the kids could get some more fun out of them during the movie. It was a great night and everyone enjoyed watching Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

cindy was kind enough to lend her services as a tribal face painter. she was beyond hilarious!

henry makes his way through the cave of doom

big thanks to miltons for supplying the boxes for our cave!

josie and henry mummified

the forbidden forrest

sam goes over the unravelled clue with zachary offering advice

josie digs through the sands of egypt for treasures

jackson supervises movie set-up

I Love Horses Day Party

Every day is a holiday somewhere, and today is National I Love Horses Day. We celebrated all things equine by crafting our own horse which we then used in a horse race. After our time at the track we enjoyed watching the classic National Velvet.

christina shows off her horsey

christiana, grace and nicole race down our homemade track

capital of texas zoo

Today we visited the Capital of Texas Zoo. It is quite different from your typical zoo. There are some animals which roam free, like the deer and baby goats. The animals which are enclosed seem far more accesible than in a traditional zoo. We enjoyed getting close to the wallabies, monkeys and especially the white tiger! It is definitely worth a trip out there!

the kids dubbed him King Julian

the white tiger

even though there were lions and tigers, the guinea pigs were their favorite!

after we finished our self-guided tour, we were given feed to feed all the animals (the friendly ones anyway)

Senior Trip to Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center

Today we visited the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center with the "Smithville Seniors". Our docents led us through the center and taught us which plants are native to Texas and will thrive even in this heat wave and drought. It was the first day of Joan Son's exhibit "Origami Diva", which was beautiful (and air conditioned!). We were a bit worried since there was a heat advisory and the high temp reached 107, but we were all pleasantly surprised at how plesant it was. After our tour, we enjoyed a scrumptious lunch at the onsite Wildflower Cafe and spent time in the fabulous gift shop. We're all looking forward to the next senior trip!