Exploring Austin: Castle Hill/Hope Outdoor Gallery

One thing I love about living in Austin is the culture. We want to explore, see, and expose our kids to it... soak it all in. We've never lived in an area that is so culturally diverse, and I feel like it's important that we experience as much as possible. 

A few weeks ago, a friend posted on Facebook about her visit to Castle Hill, a graffiti park in downtown Austin. I remembered hearing about it, but honestly hadn't thought much about it. My friend has posted, that the graffiti park was going to be relocated, so I knew that the kids and I needed to get down there as soon as we could. 

Last Saturday, we had planned on doing all the Christmas things. We woke up early, got dressed, and headed out for our day. We had to take lunch to DJ's staff and students, so we were already in downtown, and I decided to go ahead and take the girls to the graffiti park on a whim. 

The day was gorgeous, and the girls were excited when we arrived. 

I think they were mostly excited about getting to climb around. There's something about concrete walls, that my kids LOVE! We're constantly telling them to get off the walls that they're balancing on. 

We arrived, and artists were painting, so we just took it in before making our way around. 

The colors were so vibrant. 

We climbed through the different levels, which was a bit of a challenge! Since I wasn't planning on going, I didn't wear the right shoes. 

That view from the top though. 

Saturday was a gorgeous 80 degrees here in Austin, and I realized even more how I love warm weather. 

There were more people painting. 

Had I known you could bring your own spray paint, we probably would have. There was also a man selling spray paint for $5.00 a can, but I didn't have cash, nor were we dressed to graffiti some walls. 

I loved getting to explore with these girls.

From the top looking down. 

Currently, Castle Hill is still open in downtown Austin, however, it will be relocated closer to the airport sometime this year. 

If you plan on going, you can park on the street, and parking is free. 

Wear shoes that you can climb in; the hills are slippery.

Bring your own spray paint.

While we were there, there were three police out front, and lots of people exploring so we felt safe. 

The graffiti is gorgeous, vibrant, bold. It all came together in a way that was breathtaking. It made me wonder what had been covered through the years, and the story behind each piece and person that painted it. 

North Pole Breakfast

Christmas Eve morning, the girls woke up to their North Pole Breakfast. We started this tradition years ago, and frankly I wasn't sure the girls even remembered until Gretchen said something about it Sunday afternoon. 

Usually, our elves go all out with gingerbread houses, fun doughnuts, lots of fruit, muffins....... but this year, our elves kept it nice and simple :)

The table was lined with kraft paper and wrapping paper. 

Each setting had a new Santa plate, a Christmas popper, and a mug for hot chocolate.

I found the cutest little snowflake marshmallows for the girls hot chocolate.

There were also stickers, so the girls could decorate the paper.

Our elves stuffed themselves in to a little sack and waited for the girls to wake up.

They also left a note on the table, asking them to please watch a movie quietly until everyone else was awake. Typically, we let them wake us up when they wake up and discover the breakfast, but since Adalyn was sick, we didn't want her waking up super early. The girls were wonderful and kept quiet until the rest of us woke up. I made cinnamon rolls while they were waiting on their dad to get out of bed. 

Each kiddo had hot chocolate with their snowflake marshmallow.

We serve powder doughnuts each year, and we usually have Krispy Kreme doughnuts, but you know, I don't even think I've seen one since we moved to Austin. I opted for cinnamon rolls and blue berries. 

The girls had fun cracking their poppers

Megan had a magnifying glass in hers. Gretchen had dice, and Adalyn had little playing cards.  

Bless her little sick heart. 

G was a fan of the breakfast, and even at 10, I'm thankful her little heart believes.

That's better, Addy :)

The elves also brought shrinky dinks for the girls, so they colored them after breakfast. 

Later in the afternoon, we baked them. 

Each of the shrinky dinks have a hole so we'll hang them on the girls tree upstairs. 

We love this little tradition. 

A Day of Christmas

If you saw my post on Monday afternoon, then you know that this Christmas was a bit difficult for me. There's not really a specific reason, it was just my emotions at the time. I hope you all had a blessed day with your family and loved ones. 

In hopes of getting more in the Christmas Spirit, the girls and I did some exploring last Saturday afternoon. We tried to do a few of the things that we didn't have time for earlier in the month. 

Growing up in Arkansas, I remember visiting the state capitol at Christmas time, and remembering how spectacular it was at Christmas. I wanted the girls to have the same experience this year, so now that we live in the capitol of Texas, we made our way downtown. 

There were two trees in the capitol; one in the house of representatives and one in the state congress. 

They were both ginormous. 

I loved the poinsettia's, greenery, and wreaths in here as well. 

Unfortunately, the entire capitol wasn't decked to the nines, like I remember the Arkansas capitol was when I was a child, but it was still pretty, and I'm glad we were able to go. 

Afterwards, we went to the visitor center and bought post cards. Gretchen collects them, and the little girls have started too. 

We came home to meet DJ, but then realized he had a hair cut appointment and couldn't spend the rest of the day with us, so we went to the Bass Pro Shop for their Christmas activities. The girls had visited Santa when we were in Ft. Worth a few weeks ago, and I was certain the line would be insane the Saturday before Christmas. There were a few games set up, but the girls didn't really want to play, so we headed over to write letters to Santa.

Megan wrote hers by herself, and Adalyn told me what to write on hers. 

While we were writing letters, Gretchen made this log house. 

We walked around the store, because we wanted to see the fish tank, and then Adalyn insisted we look at the grills, because DJ always wants to. 

I was really hoping this Bass Pro would be super decked out, because we always enjoyed going to the one in Oklahoma, but this was kind of a let down. 

We walked around the outside, because there was a little stream, and Megan found this rock spot and wanted me to take her picture. 

Then Addy wanted her picture made. 

and then both of them together..... 

DJ was home working on a surprise for the girls, so since we were already north of town, we drove to Georgetown to their town square. I had heard that it was pretty and had high hopes that the girls would love it, and we weren't disappointed! 

It was a gorgeous night, and there were people out strolling, musician's playing on the sidewalk, Christmas displays in the windows, and lights everywhere. 

We walked around the courthouse, and then walked around the square. 

So many lights! 

We finally stopped in a toy store and had ice cream, while Gretchen opted for a Root Beer Float. 

I told DJ that he and I needed to head here for a date night or two. There were so many restaurants, and I love quaint downtowns. 

When we got home, DJ was still working on the girls surprise, so we settled in to watch The Grinch.... around 9 pm, he was finally done so we took the girls outside to show them their trampoline that their Gee and PaPaw had bought them for Christmas! 

They were SO excited! They've basically spent all their time outdoors jumping over the last few days!