Family field trip to Blanco County!

As some of you might know and the rest of you will now, Hubby and I have a dream of ending up in the Texas Hill Country. Well being the dreamer that my husband is and the planner that I am we make a pretty good team. I like to plan ahead, know where we are headed, have direction, etc. So we have begun our look into Hill Country living. Now I know, I know, the move probably won't happen for a few years yet, but it's never to early to have options and direction, right? (Anything to get us closer to South Texas and I am all in!) :)

So on our way down to Heaven on Earth (Texas Hill Country) we made a stop at the Air Museum in Burnet, Texas. The museum itself wasn't open, but we thought it would be a good chance to stop and stretch our legs and we could see the big airplanes on the lawn.

Well to my delight there is actually an old family cemetery on the property as well. Woo-Hoo! While the boys looked at all the big planes I wandered over to the cemetery to check it out. It was really cool. The Magill family (The Dad being

a veteran of the Battle of San Jacinto) moved to Burnet County in 1850. The first grave is of the 15 year old son. The small cemetery is surrounded by a rock wall with these interesting cement steps and aluminum pipe hand rail to enter and exit.

A bit neglected and seemingly forgotten this cemetery marks the legacy of the Magill Family.

One of the big planes we saw...

It was quite chilly out there and Red convinced Daddy to haul him around because he didn't have his shoes on (he was letting his hurt toe air out).

The wind was blowing at a pretty good clip and even with jackets it was pretty nippy!








The boys were quite fascinated by them.

Here is the missile we saw - it was really cool. Daddy had the boys convinced if they touch it, it would shoot off. Boy oh boy did he have them going. LOL

There were a couple of big guns to look at as well.

Yep, he told them if they pulled the trigger it would shoot. Needless to say neither of them touched it until Daddy "tried" to pull the trigger. LOL I thought Red was gonna have a coronary. "We're gonna get arrested". LOL Poor Kid!







And an old fire engine.

This was a source of hilarity for me. A holder for the "gun book". I mean don't get me wrong - it's good that the soldiers running this giant weapon had a book to learn about it, but ummm...do you need to carry the book into the field? Is that in case someone forgets? "Oh, wait! Hold on there Enemy - let me look in the book real quick"! LOL

On the way back to the car we spotted a Caterpillar inching his way across a stick.

Pretty little booger isn't he?

A friend of ours from Bulverde came to have dinner with us on Thursday night. We were staying in Blanco and needless to say there is not a whole lot of options for dining out. (Not that that is a bad thing, don't get me wrong -I happen to love small town life.) My brother alerted us to the Blanco Bowling Club - they have a cafe and a 6 lane bowling alley in the back. Well we had some steaks and salads and chili and it was yummy! Then we headed back to the TV to watch the Rangers lose in that crazy back and forth game 5 of the 2011 World Series! Augh we were all on the edge of our seats for that one!

The boys and Daddy out and about in the Texas Hill Country...













We found a Historic Texas Cemetery while exploring near Stonewall Texas. There is a really cool road side park near the LBJ ranch. Behind the road side park is a beautiful church and cemetery. Well you know me I can't resist a cemetery. So we stopped for a little leg stretching and some cemetery hunting!













There were several headstones that were written in German. It was a great place. Very peaceful and pretty.








There was a playground next door so the boys had some fun playing pirates.













While I was walking through the cemetery I noticed there were lots of pecans - so I grabbed a bag and picked some up. Yummy! Stonewall pecans!

Of course we had to do some geocaching while we were exploring - this little tiny nano was one of Momma's finds for the day! It was quite windy and chilly, but we sure had fun! We logged quite a few geocaches while in the area too! We always love a good hunt!

Pumpkin Carving Fun with the Cousins!!!

The Friday before Halloween we got together with Auntie and the cousins for Pizza and Pumpkins. A good combination in my book!

The kids had a ball digging out the seeds and strings and goo from the pumpkin. Cousin L was especially excited about the goo digging.

We did two pumpkins and each kiddo got to draw one aspect of the pumpkins face. It was quite an interesting combo let me tell you! LOL

And then Daddy had the privilege of cutting out all those interesting shapes. One even had a heart nose!

While we were sitting carving pumpkins we gave Cousin H her birthday goodies. The boys had picked out something special for her and were very excited to give it to her.

I see now that I didn't get a picture of the actual gifts. Poo!

Bug picked out a beautiful blue and silver dragonfly key chain. When I reminded him that Cousin H didn't actually have a car - he said, "That's okay she can put her house key on it". LOL

After carving and (kid) wrestling in the yard we went in for pizza and the Rangers game!

The kids decided to roast the pumpkin seeds so Bug, Cousin B and Cousin L washed the seeds really well and dried them for roasting.

The roasted seeds were quite yummy and the kids seemed to really like them!

It was a fun family time. The cousins enjoyed playing together and spending time with each other.

A field trip to Blanco State Park...

While visiting Blanco county the boys and I headed out to the Blanco State Park!

I love state parks - so much to see and do and explore!

And it counts as a school day - so woo-hoo!

Of course while we were out exploring the smallest state park in Texas we had to do a little geocaching!




We found the first one no problem, traded a little swag and took a card that told about the park - cool!

Bug had fun returning it before the muggles coming down the trail saw us! Hehe!

While out and about exploring we came upon this guy who was a highlight in Bug's day. He was able to feed him leaves by hand - which of course just made his day!

Red kept saying "Watch out he's gonna spit on you"! LOL








Yum Yum!











This poor ugly creature came up - but not to close. He was just pitiful looking with this huge flap of wool hanging off his back like a scab. Yuck!









Another geocache that we found at the park. A witches finger - very clever! LOL

















Some beautiful cluster of daisy's growing off the side of the damn. Pretty!

















Bug searching for another cache - we soon figured out it wasn't "in" the rock wall!


















We decided to drop Geico Gecko to continue his journey and we grabbed a geocoin to take to another cache.















On our way to find the last cache we encountered a couple of ducks.

He didn't seem to excited about us...but he didn't come after us so I guess that's good! LOL

After a little hike up the side of a mountain (hill) we found the cache hanging in a tree! Cool! We traded some swag and signed the log before heading out to find Daddy.

What a fun day!

I did it! I created a Calendar Journal! Woo-Hoo!

I saw this really cool idea on Pinterest.

I set my mind to do and it got it done.

Now my hope is I will stick with it.

It's a great idea!








I did mine is a 10 cent spiral journal because, honestly, I tend to start projects like this and not complete them. So I thought that if I didn't spend a lot I wouldn't feel so bad if I do end up falling down on the "job".

I simply drew lines with a pencil and ruler then decorated it with map colors and stickers.















I also added in a few quotes and a turkey drawing. It can't be November without turkeys right! LOL

I also added in a list on the side so I can write out things I am thankful for!










I was so pleased with the turnout of my November calendar that I decided to go ahead and make a December calendar.












I added a festive frame for the 12th which is Red's birthday!



















Here is the other side of the calendar for December.

Moving on to Halloween! Iron Man and Darth Vader were the choices for this year!

We went up to the cowboy church for Fall Festival Halloween night.













Here's Darth Vader (Bug) with his bucket full of treats waiting in line to play a game at the festival!



















I think Bug's favorite activity was the bounce house slide. He must have went on this thing a 1000 times!

I am not sure how many people came this year - but it was A LOT!

















Here's me at the GA booth - it was two+ solid hours of kids having fun! Let me tell you I was a bit worn by the time it was all over!









Superman came to play the End of the Rainbow game! :)

Here's our sign!














Me gathering up the rocks for the next player!

A close-up of our game! The girls helped to paint the rainbow - it turned out so good!

Here's a little bit of our school work for the week!

We drew a barn during our Draw Write Now lesson.


Here is Bug's Barn!









Here is Red's barn - you can see the airplane at the top.

And here is Iron Man reading a book during Reading time! LOL

During our Girls In Action meeting this week we sorted and packed the food donations that we had collected over the last month at church.

What an abundance of goodies everyone has brought in! Blessings Blessings Blessings!








We filled 20 boxes with all sorts of goodies - cereal, pasta, canned goods, peanut butter, snacks and so much more!!!

Here's the boxes all lined up in hallway - blessings, blessings, blessings!

The girls and I will begin making the ornaments to sell this week. That should be a fun time! We are going to raise money for the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering.