McKinney Falls State Park

I'm so glad we made it to this park! We almost turned around and came back home after getting stuck in traffic due to some construction. (we're not very patient) We ended up spending about 5 hours here.....wishing we would have brought our camping gear and bikes. This place is just 12 miles south of Austin, so a good hour and a half to get there. Totally worth it though! We were afraid it would be super packed because it was so close to Austin but it wasn't bad at all.....especially the first swimming spot we went to. It was a little more of a hike to get to than the other, maybe that's why it wasn't as crowded. We don't like crowds so it was perfect for us. (and we LOVE to hike)

Start of the hike. Allie insisted on wearing the Camelback. I knew it was so she could CONSTANTLY be drinking water while we were hiking. I was right!

walking under a rock shelf (reminded us of Old Man's Cave trail in Hocking Hills, Ohio)

We made it to the Lower Falls!! Our first Texas swimming hole.

Avery and Derek swam out to the rock. You can see where the water is darker. It gets really deep.

Allie's turn

now all of us are over there. I found a way to go around the back side of the rocks! There were little pools of water on top of the rocks. Our little genius found a stick and dipped it in the water and started writing and drawing.

Blake's turn to cool off!

We had to keep a very close eye on him......everything goes to his mouth

Not happy that he can't get those rock things in his mouth

......so we taught him to splash

not too far into the hike back Blake was asleep

we promised the girls we'd stop at the Upper Falls. It was a lot bigger and way more crowded......but more kid friendly b/c of this big shallow area.

Derek was loving this little diving area

This was such a fun day! I always have a hard time getting up early to drive to these 1-2 hour away destinations but am always more than glad that we did after we get there. It's so nice and refreshing to be outside exploring nature. I'm so glad we started hiking with our kids when they were little because it's helped them to really enjoy hiking and being outdoors as well. This spot was extra special because we had somewhere to cool off in the Texas heat! When we got back to the car the external temp said 100 degrees! Can't wait to scratch off a few more of our "must see" places soon. We don't have a whole lot of time left to do them all.

Enchanted Rock

Today we headed to Fredericksburg, Texas to visit Enchanted Rock State Natural Area. It was an hour and a half drive so you can imagine the things we heard in the car (mostly from Avery). "It's taking forever!" "It's taking for long!" "It's taking super long!" And the list could go on. Luckily it was a gorgeous drive through the Texas Hill Country so her whining was easily drowned out. We had heard a lot about this park and is always recommended to us when people hear we enjoy hiking. When I researched it the pictures I found didn't make it seem as 'enchanting' as people described. We figured we would go ahead and give it a go though. I'm glad we did! After looking back at my pictures they don't do the view we saw any justice whatsover. The hike is basically just up this huge pink granite rock. It reminded me of parts of our hike up to the famous Arch in Arches National Park. Obviously not nearly as long and strenuous though. The girls hiked the entire way up and down by themselves! We asked them if they would rather be hiking or at the Carnival (we were trying to decide last night which one we were going to do today). Avery said, "hike!!" Allie said, "How can walking be more fun than a carnival?!" ha. She's so funny....and smart. But she really did have a good time. All of us did. Now get ready for picture overload.

View of Enchanted Rock from a distance

Blake's not sure what to think of this contraption. Get that tongue back in your mouth!

Enchanted Rock behind us

Those little dots/spikes at the top of the rock are people

Starting the hike. Avery wanted to go without holding anyone's hands. 

Ten minutes into the hike Allie hurts her leg. I had noticed Blake's hat was gone (it was pretty windy) Being the helper that she is she immediately turned to start looking for his hat and slipped on the rocks. She has a small scrape and is fine. Blake's hat was sitting in front of him.

This was probably the steepest part.

"I'm the Queen of the World!!"

"NO, I'm the Queen of the World!" 

I think these LARPers (or whatever Derek called them) think they're the Queens of the world.

Looking at the clouds

Took a break for water and snacks and to give Blake a break from the backpack

Hanging off the edge ;)

**************a little video of the girls walking***************

Blake Emerson ~ 8 Months

Our boy is eight months old! He's still the happiest baby. We get comments all of the time about how happy and good he is. We think he's finally starting to thin out although he still has his monster thighs and chubby cheeks like Momma. His newest tricks are to rock back and forth while he sitting and then leap for whatever he sees in sight. Sometimes he really seems like he is going to crawl but never does. I have a feeling he'll either skip the crawling and do an army crawl or a scoot like his cousin Abby did. He will also pull himself up onto his knees. He can't get himself all the way up yet but we can get him to stand and hold on to something and he'll be fine. Although he loses interest pretty quick. I swear he said "da" the other day but can't be sure. He watches us talk so closely then mimics the movements with his mouth but usually nothing comes out. He still adores his sisters and thinks it's pretty funny when they hold him.

There's his teeth!

this boy still isn't feel 100%. He fell asleep sitting just like this except his head was on the floor. He must  not have been all the way asleep yet because he popped right up when I turned the camera on.