Texas Hill Country weekend – my photoessay

After the A girls recovered from strep throat last week, we went on an excursion this Memorial Day Weekend to the Texas Hill Country.   We had such a great time because we planned a little, but left most of our trip up to pure spontaneity.  It IS possible with three kiddos!  Towns we hit:  Austin, San Marcos, Wimberley, Gruene, Boerne, New Braunfels and other ones in between.

Enjoy the pictures and captions below.

1.  Kayaking in the San Marcos River.  So relaxing and peaceful.  We also had a little friendly competition…I beat Christopher in a timed kayak race.  Woo-hoo!  (This is the only way I can document it, which I must do!)

2.  The girls after an afternoon of shopping in Wimberley.  I LOVE that town.  It is absolutely gorgeous.  ”Mountains” (ok, they’re big hills, but I’m from Texas), a river running through the town and the cutest little shops.   A vacation house there would be really nice.

3.  The place we stayed in for 2 nights in San Marcos.  I’ve had great luck finding places to stay using vrbo.com (vacation rental by owner).  This was a garage apartment that Barbara and her husband built.  It sure beats a hotel room!  I’m even posting the link to it, here, although I hesitate to share it.  ;)

4.  Who knew those little fish liked Pringles?  The girls loved feeding the fish.  I thought that they might refuse all that hydrogenated oil, but they knew better.

5.  On Monday after our excursion to Boerne (which we didn’t do much there since we arrived Sunday after 5 pm), we went to the Natural Bridge Wildlife Ranch, outside of San Antonio.  It’s a drive-through animal park.  It was so fun.  We loved feeding the animals.  And, I couldn’t resist this shot of the gazelle (?)  taking a poop.

6. Big A posing on the dock on the San Marcos River.  We’re getting ready to design her 7th (?!?!) birthday invitation, so we got some cute shots of her.  She loved the river.

7.  Barbara Williamson, the best hostess ever and the sweetest lady.  She wants me to write a review on the vrbo site about her place.  She said that she asked the last family to do the same and they told her “No way!  We want to keep this place a secret.”  I kind of agree.  Just kidding, Barbara!  I’ll do it. Yes, she’s so nice, that we’re staying in touch.  Oh, she’s an actress by the way.

8.  Beautiful zebra.  I took a very good close-up of its body, too, that I can use for different types of artwork in Photoshop.  Now, I officially went on a business trip!  :)

9.  An ostrich that pecked inside our car.  I would name her Hilda if she were mine.

10.  Daddy and Big A kayaking in the river.  He’s now on the prowl for a kayak.

11.  Little A swinging on the rope into the river.  I was very impressed that she got in the water (it was FREEZING!) and swam as much as she did.  I love this picture of her.

12.  This picture was NOT taken at the animal park.  I took this picture on our spontaneous drive up a “mountain” in Wimberley.  I cannot even tell you how neat it was to see these deer roaming freely, even in people’s backyards…tons of these baby fawns looking this adorable.  I really think this might have been the highlight of the trip…just seeing these beautiful animals in such beautiful scenery.   We had no idea that we would see that many deer so it was the neatest surprise.   Of course the girls loved it.

13.  Little A during our animal park field trip.

14.  On our way home on Monday we decided not to take IH-35, but rather drive off the beaten path to see more of the Hill Country.  We were so glad that we did.  Not only did we avoid traffic, but we also got to see some other neat towns – Blanco, Marble Falls and even Hico.  We really loved the beauty of it all.  I’ve been to the San Antonio/Austin area many times, but I’ve never driven through many of these small  towns in the Hill Country.  All I can say is Wow, were we really in Texas?!

One of the things I really have started to love is stopping at little junk shops/holes in the wall that are off the beaten path.  This was one of them.  I love to find a treasure (for a great deal) among all the “junk”.  I didn’t find anything at this particular store in Hamilton, but I did find a vintage baby scale – to be used for a photo prop – that I’ve been looking for, in another vintage-type store on the trip.

15.  Baby C smiling at her big Sis during our animal ranch drive.

16.  Big A enjoying the animal ranch.

17.  All my girls and me!

18.  Just a glimpse of the Hill Country.  This is Wimberley, and the mountain we explored where we found all the deer.  I can’t wait to go back!

Hope you all had a fun and relaxing Memorial Day!  I’m so thankful to live in a place where we are free to take a trip anytime, anywhere and with whomever we choose – and that we are then free to tell the world about it.   Thank you to the ones who’ve fought and died for us, and continue to do so.