Lost Oasis Cave Preserve

I accompanied Spencer's class on an amazing field trip yesterday to the Lost Oasis Cave Preserve. Check out these adorable preschool spelunkers all geared-up and ready to go:

That's half of Spencer's class above. We were in two groups since the cave couldn't accomodate all 8 Iguanodons at once. First, Ms. Kate from the Austin Nature and Science Center entered the cave, followed by Ms. Kelly. I stayed up top to help the kids get in, then I followed last. I wasn't so sure I was going to fit, but I squeezed through the opening...

I took a few pictures inside with my phone, but of course the quality is not great. You can at least get an idea of what we experienced.

I just love how Spencer and Rex are holding onto each other in the photo above. Such sweeties! We saw lots of cave crickets and even a frog. We had to crawl around a lot because the cave is pretty shallow. Definitely not for the claustrophobic folks out there!

When we were finished, we went on a nice hike with our director, Ms. Bonnie, while the other half of the class explored the cave. I can't believe our time at NWPS will end next week. I can hardly bear to think about it!

Up, Up and Away!

For the last several months, Spencer's preschool director, Ms. Bonnie, has been trying to organize an early morning hot air balloon event for the kids. But every time it was scheduled, the weather didn't cooperate and she would have to cancel. Well, last week the stars finally aligned, and we got to take a ride in a hot air balloon. We were safely tethered to the ground, so we rose about 30-40 feet and then made our descent.

The wind started shifting while Spencer, Dave and I were up, and we had a bit wilder ride than the previous families. And as it turned out, only one more family got to go up after us because of the changing conditions. I'm so glad we made the cut! It was a cool experience and just another in the long list of reasons Nature's Way Preschool is such a special place.

2013-2014 Iguanodons

This is just a picture-of-a-picture so not the greatest quality, but how cute are these little Iguanodons? (Click to enlarge.)

 
Nature's Way ends early (May 8!), so I'm really starting to cherish each pick-up or drop-off. It's been such a magical place for our preschooler. Love love love it and going to miss miss miss it!

Halloween 2013

We carved our jack-o-lantern the night before Halloween. We had to work around a rotten spot, so he had a big ole' mouth. Spencer made him look nice and spooky by adding toothpick teeth.

The Nature's Way Fall Festival was on Halloween morning. Like last year, there were all sorts of sweet activities like songs, stories, pumpkin rolling, peanut tossing, apple peeling, pumpkin scooping, pumpkin painting, face painting, the Hokey Spooky and the Chicken Dance for the big finale.

This picture KILLS me - those are 3 super sweet (I mean tough) boys right there.

I took the day off, but the afternoon was a little rushed because we had to take Spencer to an unexpected doctor's appointment (luckily it was nothing that kept us from enjoying Halloween!). We did have time to watch "It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown" and relax/play a little before time to get ready for trick-or-treating. We met up with some of our new neighborhood friends and hit the streets. Dave created Spencer's one-of-a-kind costume again this year and it turned out great! Spencer wanted to be a ninja, but an ordinary ninja would not do. He was a "wandering ninja" complete with straw hat. Dave's sewing skills amaze me - he took in that vest to fit the boy, added the grommets and cord to hold his knives, used the scraps to make shin guards, made a sword holder, etc. Ninjas were really popular this year, but I have to say I didn't see any as cool as Spence! And it was cute to watch him be in character - he really played it up.

 

 

Spencer's sixth (!) Halloween was a blast. We are really enjoying have kiddo friends in the 'hood.

Back to School

Nature's Way started up again in mid-September and Spencer was so ready to get back to the Trailhouse. He's going four mornings a week this year and he's in Miss Kelly's Iguanodon class along with three of his classmates from last year and four new friends.

 

Daddy made these awesome drink slings for Spencer from a pair of cargo shorts. So cool! Now he can be hands-free on his hikes and even store his treasures in the handy pocket.

Of course with the start of our more full-time schedule at Nature's Way, we had to say goodbye to our friends and teachers at Roz-Mina. I'm sure Spencer will go back from time-to-time and they already invited us to come to the Halloween party!

Spencer also wanted Daddy to pose in front of the school. :)

Can't wait to see what this year has in store for our sweet boy.