The Move

 The time had come.  We had all our going away celebrations hosted by our precious friends and neighbors.  We packed every bit of our belongings and loaded them up.  We did all the physical preparations it takes for a move, and tried our best to cover all the emotional preparations for the move.  Now, it was time.  We have loved our time in Cedar Park.  We have made irreplaceable friendships.  We bought our first home where we brought our two precious sons home.  Kevin invested his time, heart and love into thousands of students at Leander High School.  I earned a Master's degree in a field which I love, worked in a job that I loved, then became a stay-at-home mom to sons that I love.  We both had the opportunity to minister together, to love and be changed by special groups of kids in our church youth group.  We spent 11 years here, growing up, learning, changing, and trying our best to follow God's lead for our family.  God's lead is now taking us somewhere new.  It's not easy, but oftentimes the right choice is the one that's not easy.  Now it's time to grow, learn, change, and follow God in Richardson.  Here we go...

Mayfield

 Mayfield Park is one of the many wonderful places in Austin, and a great place for adventure.  What's not to like about picnicking with peacocks, searching for fish and turtles, and hiking through the beautiful nature...

Go Express!

 Another thing we couldn't miss before the move was an Express game!  Luke was not shy and loved the freedom of running around on the berm.  He also made fast friends with one of the workers who was nice enough to give both boys baseballs...

Gotta love baseball in the summer!

Thinkery topped with hamburgers

 We definitely had to make one last trip to the Thinkery before moving especially because even though Jake, Luke, and I had been there several times, Kevin had never been, so it was fun to enjoy everything as a family of 4.  It's always fun to paint...

 Luke showing off his messy painting hands...

 The boys loved the water room!

 and the amazing outside area...

 After a fun filled morning at the museum, we thought we'd top it off with some hamburgers at In-n-Out.  Yummy!!

 Luke really liked his hat (well, at least for the first 15 minutes)...

Aledo

 We headed to Aledo for a visit over my birthday weekend.  I love Babe's Chicken, so my parents treated me to dinner at Babe's for my birthday...

One of the boys favorite things at my parents house is the upstairs game room with the pool table and miniature train set.  They love to play on the pool table...

 We also went to a fun place for kids in Weatherford with indoor games and a batting cage.  Luke was trying it all out while Jake hit...

Williamson County Park

 We'd never ridden the train in Williamson County Park, so now was the time.  Luke was a little scared at first and wouldn't leave Daddy's lap...

Then he got more comfortable and enjoyed the ride...

 After the train ride, there was another train to play in.  In this one, Luke was the conductor...

 We then headed to the splash pad and sand pit, where Jake wanted to become the sand castle!!

Children's Day Art Park and Pizza!

 In more Austin Summer Fun, we headed to Children's Day Art Park downtown.  If you live in the Austin area and have young children, you should definitely check it out.  It's sponsored by the Austin Symphony, so they always have great music, and there's free crafts after the performance.  It costs 50 cents per child, but it's a dollar worth spent for us...

 Plus, after the activities, we got to wade in the stream...

 Since we were already downtown, we decided to make it a truly Austin day and head to S. Congress for some Home Slice pizza.

 The boys got dough to play with while we were waiting for our pizza.  Luke didn't quite know what to think...