So out we did go. After church we drove down Congress and parked in the SoCo district. I think my hubby is trying to give me more opportunities to get to take pictures. So I did:

And I’ve always wanted to wander in here. Costumes can be so much fun. Not the best picture but it’s hard to get all the detail in this facade.

Random splash of color:

Actually, around SoCo color is everywhere. My baby was so patient and let me take his picture:

I don’t remember the rest of the sign, but this made me think of the Golden Rule (active, not passive):

After our all-too-short walk, we headed home for lunch and the kids had a blast running laps in the back yard. Then they played with their scooters. Then they ran. Then scooters. They don’t hesitate to take advantage of good weather!

Our dear neighbors had walked Sprocket for us and hung out for a bit after they dropped her off. It was nice to have them visit (we don’t get enough of those!) and I took some snaps of their boys. This one’s Max and I love his fur because of the visual texture:

This little guy is TJ and he’s a rare white schnauzer with lots of schnauzer spunk:

Our day was very blessed and we had a great time. Am rethinking how we do school since we do so much “working for the weekend” that we are failing to see the blessings of the week. Prayers, please? Thanks.

We took Abba to see the Bob Bullock Museum of Texas History. Verdict: FUN! Since we wanted to get gas, we opted to take the longer drive through down town on Congress Avenue.

Congress: one of my favorite street views. Well, I can’t think of any other so it must be my favorite.

The terrazzo of the foyer in the museum:

Yes, that is a campfire surrounded by peoples who were a part of Texas history. Nope, no photography allowed of the museum exhibits because they are all from private collections. But this was part of a quote from Stephen Austin, I think:

The kids had a great time. The don’t enjoy the very early history except perhaps the conquistador armor. They really like the third floor the most and that houses the artifacts of more recent history: oil and its discovery, mercury mining, cattle industry, air and space, etc. They have a real thing for NASA going right now.

It was very cold that day, around high 30s when you count the wind chill. So this was taken while the others were rushing back to the car:

On the way to lunch, caught this Honda, heavily influenced by Italian car design, yes?

We had lunch at Kerbey Lane Cafe. And there was waiting but it was all patient. But NM didn’t want his picture taken again.

J didn’t care. The little containers of half-and-half were more than enough entertainment because they doubled as space ship parts.

By the way, the pear and bacon sandwich they had was good, but could have used more bacon. Mind you, I’m not a major bacon fan but it needed more bacon punch than it had. The sweet potato fries were awesome as usual.

Saturday

No photos to share, really. We spent the day at the Happily Ever After Marriage Conference that was put on by our church for the greater Austin area. We were able to attend this year because there was child care. Woohoo! The kids had a blast, too. We received an agenda that mentioned they could ride scooters so I had them bring theirs just in case. Turns out they were the only ones who had them! And how fun is it to get to ride indoors? SO fun. They were sweaty and all smiles when we picked them up. The conference itself was such a blessing and it was great to see pastors and their wives share from the bible and their experiences.

Sunday

Friends from church invited us and a few other families to their house just so the kids could play and we adults could fellowship. That was an awesome time! I felt bad because we arrived earlier than they had planned we would but that just gave our kids more play time with their friends. We don’t get to enjoy each others’ company nearly enough. Just makes me look forward to that One Day when we’ll have all the time in eternity to hang out.

Monday

More fun! We took Sprocket to the botanical gardens for a walk. The only sad thing was that the Japanese garden was closed so there was no chance J could fall into the koi pond. I kid, of course. It did give me more time to play with my birthday present and hubby played a little bit with it, too.

Hubby, in a wool hat (did I mention how cold it’s been?):

He took one of me that ended up with neat spectral aberration:

The boys, albeit with the “normal” lens:

They were actually still for a bit so I could do this. They’re good boys!

Sprocket was beside herself most of the time. I thought this was a funny shot considering what she’s doing and what the sign says:

Needless to say, we weren’t out for very long. The weather has kept us indoors but today we’re seeing lots of sunshine. Hopefully, this keeps up so that we can get out a little bit before we see more rain. My NM is missing soccer very much! They have missed all their practice days since the season started about two weeks ago.