stay-cation: austin children's museum

the last time i went to the austin children's museum, jackson was a youngster. and, my, have things changed!

the children's museum is 2 stories, with things for kids of all ages to do. there was a penned in play area with toddler sized toys, a construction area, train area, mi casa area, reading area, plus tons of stations to create all sorts of crafts. we went on a "science sunday," so there were also animals (snake, lizard, tarantulas - yuck!) and learning stations about them.

grandma joan and aunt natalie joined us there, and we all had a lot of fun. luke's favorite things were the mi casa area (where he got to play drums and pretend at a kitchen table) and a small slide which he did over and over and over. he never wanted to slide down though - he liked walking down the slide! weirdo :).

lucas got a little overwhelmed near the end, but overall he had a good time and we will definitely be going back. on sundays, it is free from 4-5. since we found out lucas can only handle about an hour anyway, that will be perfect!

stay-cation: playing with trains

aunt marcy and uncle john gave lucas awesome train sets for his birthday and christmas, but we didn't get the tracks out then. we knew he would be interested in the trains and wheels, but back then he was still more interested in putting things in his mouth than in actually playing with them.

well, we decidedit was time to set up the track and lucas loved it! he can't quite doit perfectly yet, but he gets the basic idea. his favorite thing is to put the trains on the track, then take them off. over and over.

he also calls all the trains "cars," which i love because it's a word i understand!

stay-cation: fountain!

getting his face wet and having a blast!, originally uploaded by alibean731.

lucas really loves the water. at the shopping center near both grandparents' houses is this fun fountain. as you can see, lucas has the best time playing in it!

he likes to dunk his head in all the fountain streams - almost like he wants to take a drink. he also just likes running around and getting splashed on the head. he was probably playing in the fountain for a good 40 minutes...yet still wasn't tired for a nap after.

stay-cation: austin zoo

joel, lucas, grandma sue and i all went to the austin zoo this past wednesday. the austin zoo is pretty small, but there were some nice animals in there. however, it was HOT. i will definitely remember this for the future and never go there in the summer again.

we got to see lots of peacocks, some monkeys, lions, tigers, wolves, a bear and goats in the petting zoo. however, i think lucas's favorite animal was the cat laying in the grass. go figure.

the goats at the petting zoo cracked us up. one was standing in his food trough and didn't look like he could get out, and another was quite simply the ugliest goat i've ever seen. lucas didn't really want to pet them, but he did like looking at them and being up close. i tried to let him feed the goats their pellets, but he just tried to eat the pellets himself. ew.

stay-cation: schlitterbahn!

tuesday, my mom and dad watched lucas while joel, jackson, his friend andy, and i all went to schlitterbahn! for those of you not in the know, schlitterbahn is the #1 waterpark in the country (and "the hottest coolest time in texas").

we had so much fun down there. joel and i loved the black knight and the wave pool the best. it was such a fun, relaxing day. however, by 10pm when i got home i was pooped!

stay-cation: chill sunday

nihlean family band
Originally uploaded by alibean731

we had a pretty easy day at home on sunday, with lots of playing. joel and lucas started a family band, but i think lucas really just wants to be a solo artist.

stay-cation: saturday

for the first full day of our stay-cation, we decided to head over to grandma sue's house for some swimming! lucas is getting more and more comfortable in the water. he doesn't mind floatingon his own, and actually tries to float on his back and get his hair wet. although, he's still not too happy about getting his face wet!

here are two videos of lucas in action: video 1, video 2

after the pool, we played in the sandbox for awhile, then went in for some snacks and rest. harry potter and the chamber of secrets was on tv...and lucas was totally amazed. he paid a lot of attention to it. i knew i was raising my boy right!