Post-Christmas Fun and Happy 2014

Editorial note: I updated this post to include a few more things...

I took a lot of time off at Christmas this year - December 20 until January 2! It was so fun to have that much time with the boys. We went to see the movie Frozen...

 Took the new Tonka truck for a spin at Butler Park...

Saw a groovy light show at Mozart's (previous Christmas light viewings in the car had not been very enjoyable...not enough "movement" according to Spencer)...

 Went for a bike ride/walk around Town Lake...

Stayed up late to watch the first half of Alamo Bowl (while reading about birds of prey)...

Plus we did quite a bit of eating at restaurants and watching more TV than we usually do. Felt blessed to have so much time to play and wander with Spencer. Good times!

We also rang in the New Year at a neighborhood party. Yep, we let Spencer stay up until midnight (12:30 by the time we got to bed). World record for our boy. But he was having a blast with his pals at the party - it's so neat to have friends with kids Spencer's age in the 'hood. We were pretty unsure what the next day would be like, but we slept until 10:30AM which really helped!

Hope your had a wonderful holiday season and 2014 brings blessings galore!

Lazy Sunday

Last weekend, Spencer and I had an awesome slow morning at Town Lake. We got some exercise, fed the ducks and swans, tooks some pics and did a little cloud gazing in a field. My kind of day!

Canoeing on Town Lake

Yeah, I know it's Lady Bird Lake now, but whatever you choose to call it, Saturday morning was our first time as a family unit to take a canoe out on the lake. We set off relatively early, but it was probably 10:00 AM before we hit the water, and man oh man, that sun started beating down around 10:45 or 11:00 and Spencer said he was ready to go back to shore.

Canoeing on the lake is one of those Austin experiences that when you do it, you keep asking yourself, "Why don't we ever do this??" Anyway, we saw lots of turtles, fish, some ducks, a couple of swans and of course loads of hydrilla. Spencer was such a gentleman, remembering not to move around too much or lean over the side and he helped paddle from time to time. It was a super way to start the weekend!

p.s. Spencer got sick again Friday night. He woke up around 10:00 PM and puked more than I thought one preschooler was capable of! But it was one-n-done, so I think his dinner just didn't agree with him. (I think his tummy is a little off because of the antibiotics from the last illness.) Anyway, when I was cleaning him up in the bathroom, he said in the sweetest, sleepiest little voice, "I like canoeing..." He was already thinking about our Saturday morning plans, and when I told him that we'd have to see how he was feeling the next morning, he started to cry a little bit. I'm glad we didn't have to disappoint our little guy.