Thursday, August 20, 2009

What is the sound of a lone bear clapping its butt-cheeks in the woods?

This past week we have all been enjoying this last bit of summer as much as we can. Olivia's Dad, Paul, has been home from Iraq for a visit for about a month now and during this time, we have enjoyed visiting with him and Olivia's mom, Polly. We had Olivia's parents and her sister, Virginia and our nephew, Jason over for dinner last night and even though Olivia thought she burned the potatoes, we had a really good time and everything turned out great. Unfortunately, we didn't get any pictures, we were too busy burning, I mean cooking, dinner. Madison has also really been enjoying time with her Papa while he is home. We made an unplanned trip to Krause Springs, a really nice resort area just west of Austin in Spicewood Springs, Texas, last week. Krause Springs is a resort/park area with huge cypress trees, a spring-fed swimming pool (more on that later), a cliff covered with ferns, and just below the cliff are swimming holes and a creek. It's privately owned by nice folks and very well kept. We were really surprised at how beautiful this place was.
Madison and Jason just as we arrived...

ready to cool off! You might remember this picture of Madi from our post, she wears impatience nicely earlier this week.

The pool area from afar...

A view of the swimming holes from atop the cliff....

One of the many beautiful Cypress trees that have been soaking their roots in the springs for hundreds of years...

A view from the rocks beside the swimming holes....

Madi, Jason and I are in the far corner exploring. We had it pretty much to ourselves and found turtles, squirrels, and minnows all enjoying the springs.

Here's the waterfall...

It was a little crowded during our visit with others eager to get out of the 100+ heat for a little while. Jason and I really wanted to try out the tire swing but, the line was too long to wait. Looked like these boys enjoyed it though...

Next, we headed up the cliff walls and back to the pool at the top. This man-made pool is also fed by the springs and let me tell you...it was really, really cold! It couldn't have been above 65 degrees and it took a lot to not scream like a wee girl when I worked up the courage to finally jump in.

Olivia wouldn't get in but, I did convince her to put her feet in for a bit. Jason, Madi and I got out and headed up to the butterfly garden with Olivia before anything permanently froze off. We were again surprised at how beautiful the garden was and Olivia really enjoyed the chance to see soo many butterflies and flowers.

Unfortunately, very few of the butterflies were patient enough to land for a picture but, she still really took some nice pictures to share, I think. By the way, if you laughed at the zen-like title of this post, congratulations...you are learning, Grasshopper. If you found yourself confused and more than a little frightened, open your mind and spirit, seek harmony, or consider buying a summer vacation version of Mad-libs. Madison picked hers up a couple of weeks ago and gems like this are waiting on every page.

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