Dixie Dude Ranch, Day 3

This was our last morning and Lydia started it a little slow, not eating much breakfast and even not wanting to ride. I think she was tired and she said she was scared of the gorge. The wranglers put her on a big mule named Rock and off we went. I kept looking back to see how she was doing. I was assured she was fine.

When we arrived back from the ride, she said it was fun and that she loves Rock and his fuzzy ears!

New friends: Tess & Anna also from Austin, Lydia and Jordan from Belton. I loved how the set up was so friendly, from family style dinners to the pool and hanging out before and after rides. 

After the ride, we said good bye to friends and headed one more time to Froggie Peninsula. We got to see the next group of riders go down the same trail that we had that morning.

We had to be out of the room by 11 but decided to stay for lunch. We spent the time hanging out on the porch, reading, watching hummingbirds, petting the dogs and seeing the sweet baby birds some more. 

Lunch was fried chicken! We then got into our car and headed out of Bandera to the highways and city again. I am so glad that when given the choses for her Before-You-Turn-10 trip with me, that Lydia knew right away HORSES. I hadn't thought of a dude ranch...research led me to Bandera and further research pointed me to Dixie Dude Ranch. It was such a fun experience and now I am one of those that hope to bring the whole family back again, some we met had been coming for years. On the drive back the flags were lowered to half mast for the Dallas police officers that had been sniper shot during a protest, following more black men being killed by police. My first thought was that I was so glad that we had been away from the reporting and commentary of the last days, then I felt guilty for wanting to escape instead of face the injustices of the world and fight for better things. Then my mind landed on gratitude. I am grateful that I am a person alive today in this amazing world. That I am a mother of such a great girl. That I get to be a part of her growing up. That I get to meet different people and experience nature and do fun things. My hope is that my children will know they are loved and worthy and that they are part of the original mandate to care for creation including humans and nature. That when they are full then they can also pour out to others and be peacemakers. Experiences such as these are memory makers and I am grateful! 

Horse camp!

2nd annual horse summer day camp at Rio Vista farm. Last year only Lydia went but this year Gloria joined her. Above is their first day greeting some horses before the camp kicked off.

They enjoyed riding, learning, cleaning their tack, swimming and making friends.  

Friday is the performance day and Nana and Grandpa joined too. When we walked up we saw a big scrape across Lydia's face. She had fallen off that morning and wasn't really interested in performing on the horse that threw her but the camp director said she would walk with her, so she got back on and went out.

But first we had photo opps.

Both girls were in the beginner group, here is Gloria's partner Sarah with horse Henry (aka In a Nut Shell)

Getting on and

heading to the arena.

Walking to the arena.

Waiting for their time for perform.  

Lydia walking. 

Gloria posting and trotting.

After the performance we had watermelon and got to share it with the horses.

Lydia and her partner Emma with Rocket

Sweet sisters had a great week and are looking forward to next year!

June

The Currier family moved at the beginning of June. We enjoyed a few last times together hanging out as families and with neighbor friends.

Mom and kid matching shirt day!

Gloria's class had a Market day and she made chocolate chip cookies and decorations.

ADS Spark Night to see their school and portfolios in their classrooms.

We went to Zilker park to see the Ballet under the thunderclouds. Both May and early June were so wet and Barton creek was rushing!

We both took the day off for Caleb's birthday and enjoyed Alice through the Looking Glass movie and pizza place.

Last day of school-good bye Tina & Nisa (though we think Lydia will have them again next year)

Gloria will have different teachers though so good bye Kim & Joy.

A bunch of people from ADS went to Deep Eddy for a last day of school swim and then we continued to

the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center nature nights. Nita and family met us to enjoy the fire exhibits.

After school was out, Lydia and Gloria spent the weekend and week in Salado while Caleb and I took a trip for our anniversary (see post) and then they enjoyed FBC Salado's VBS Submerged! I picked them up and we enjoyed the family presentation and Salado Creek. Thanks Nana & Grandpa for another great grand camp.

Father's day, before church we took a family bike ride at a veloway.

We said good bye to Alina who was headed to Canada before Germany.

Summer time-take the girls grocery shopping and come up with lots of interesting things!

Caleb's friend from Beaumont, Will was in Austin so we all enjoyed Barton Springs swimming pool.

Caleb's grandmother passes away and we headed to Corsicana for a celebration of her life with lots of family, including 15 of the 21 greatgrandkids.

15 year trip!!

 We had a fabulous trip for our 15th year anniversary. Caleb found a place to stay on Lake Buchanan and it was lovely. After dropping the kids off in Salado and enjoying a fish fry with Bill and family, we stopped by HEB in Burnet to stock up and then arrived at Lakeside Lodge where we enjoyed spending the evening on the pier. The lake breezes were amazingly cool. 

Saturday, we woke up and had a super yummy breakfast. Then we headed out on our two man kayak into the windy chopping waves. We paddled up shore into a creek, we went under a bridge and found our own backdoor of a small waterfall where we waded around for a while. We didn't bring the camera but later got out on the bridge and took a picture of somebody else's kayak in the same spot.

After lunch and cleaning up we headed to a Hill Country winery where we sat around a bunch of barrels. The grapes were pretty and we tried 3 red and 3 white all from Texas and the 'estate.' It was fun but I think vineyard tours have been marked off my life list. I'd go with friends but won't need to seek them out :)

We grabbed some dinner (at HEB) and went to Inks Lake State Park. Neither Caleb or I had been there. We rode our bike for a few minutes, my knee was still too stiff to ride much.

We hiked a bit and then sat in the shade chilling until the Starry Night hike.

Here we are on a group interpretive hike around the lake from dusk to 10. It was fun to be out and learn about stars but the mosquitos were really bad!

Sunday morning we had our own breakfast out on the pier before heading to the Canyon of the Eagles. We did a little hiking, added to our bird count (35 different species total) and started getting hot.

We had a nice lunch in their Overlook restaurant. It is a nature preserve as well as resort.

This is a show picture showing our fabulous view as well as my healing knee!

Next we went back to Inks Lake for some swimming. We didn't take the camera but I got this off the web. It was so lovely. There were tons of people and dogs at the waterhole with kids jumping off cliffs. We climbed over the first smallest waterfall and it was like we were in our own world. Cool breeze, warm sun, running water. We floated in private pools and scampered around for a while and decided it was almost as cool as Wadi Shab in Oman.

We came back to our lodge for the evening. The wildflowers were just gorgeous. We had dinner in the room and watched a James Bond movie.

Monday morning we woke and had another yummy breakfast from our friendly hosts.

We took a quick kayak trip down the shore this time.

And after enjoying the great breeze we packed up and headed back to Austin. We had a wonderful getaway.