Austin Children's Museum & Round Rock Express

On Saturday we ventured to Downtown Austin to visit the Children's Museum. Alexis had a GREAT time, there were lots of fun things to see!

This is Lexi playing the guitar in the ever-so politically correct Latin American section.

Here she is swinging like a bat. Apparently there are over 1 million bats that congregate under the Austin bridge during the summer months. We actually saw a bat at the park the other day hiding out in one of the tire swings, kind of cool and gross at the same time :)
Here is Dad helping Lexi prepare a parachute for take off.


On Monday night they have $1 hotdogs and drinks at the local baseball field, so off we went.

The good old Round Rock Express. The are called the Express because the field backs up to a train track, and you can hear the trains go by a couple times during the game.

We site in the grassy area where you just bring a blanket and spread out. Alexis made some great friends and ran back and forth all night long.

Course she did get tired and laid in the grass and watched the game for a little while.

We're staying busy and having lots of fun here in Texas! And hey, the weather cooled down to a reasonable high of 90 today, I can certainly handle that for the rest of the summer...but I wont hold my breath :)

Beating the Heat

It has been really hot around here this last week, the news keeps talking about how we are breaking records every day, and expecting to for the next week as well (at least that means it is not always this hot right?). But there are plenty of ways to beat the heat, we hit the library, we go to the splash park, and of course swimming with Dad is always a favorite.

Swimming

Welcome to Texas!

10-Day Business Travel Forecast for Round Rock, TX (78665)	Weather for your life Weather Related to... Aches & Pains Air Quality & Pollution Allergies & Pollen Boat & Beach Cold & Flu Fitness & Exercise Flights & Business Travel Golf Weather Health Home Improvement Interstate Driving Forecast Lawn & Garden Outdoor Recreation Pets Schoolday Weather Ski Conditions Skin Protection Sporting Events Vacation & Travel Guide Wedding Planner
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Forecast Conditions High °F Low °F Precip. Chance High Temperatures Low Temperatures Precipitation Wind Speed Tonight Jun 20 Mostly Clear 96° 73° 10% 96°F Check Flight Delays Sun Jun 21 Partly Cloudy 97° 74° 10% 97°F Mon Jun 22 Sunny 99° 75° 0% 99°F Tue Jun 23 Sunny 101° 76° 0% 101°F Wed Jun 24 Mostly Sunny 101° 76° 0% 101°F Thu Jun 25 Mostly Sunny 102° 77° 10% 102°F Fri Jun 26 Mostly Sunny 102° 77° 0% 102°F Sat Jun 27 Mostly Sunny 101° 78° 0% 101°F Sun Jun 28 Mostly Sunny 102° 78° 0% 102°F Mon Jun 29 Scattered T-Storms 99° 76° 40% 99°F Check Flight Delays

ABC'S

Whenever we are doing something to Lexi that she doesn't like (brushing her hair, shampooing her hair, putting rubber bands in her hair, etc) we make her sing the ABC song and tell her when it's over she can be all done. It's been great, and she's got that ABC song down :)

This Week

My camera has been out of batteries since the last blog post, and I know we have some around here somewhere, but where is still the question... So no pictures of this week's activities, but this is what we've been up to anyway:

Monday: First appt with new doctor. Love her, love the hospital, did not love the scale though... Also managed the 3 mile walk to the lake and made friends with the local youth pastor and his wife.

Tuesday: Story time at the local library, Lexi loved it! Got some good books and checked out a Dora movie for Lexi, which she continuously asks to watch, maybe that was a mistake?

Wednesday: Had dinner with the North's, our one contact in moving to Austin. Lots of great food, good laughs, and crazy kids running to and fro.

Thursday: Discovered Brushy Creek park, it is half way from our house to Matt's work, so he met us there for lunch. It has a splash pad, great park and lots of lots of kids to entertain Lexi. Also survived our first Texas storm, I've never lived anywhere that has tornado warnings or seen thunder and lightening as extreme as it was that night, but Matt found the whole experience to be rather exciting, all part of the Texas package :)

Friday: Went to the Round Rock Express baseball game, (the local minor league team) with a couple from Matt's work. Lexi hit it off with their 2 year old, as well as the other 15 kids running around the grassy area where we were sitting. Fireworks were the highlight of the night!

Saturday: Spent the day at the Round Rock aquatics center. They have a lazy river, smaller slides for the kids, and plenty of chairs to lounge on. We came home for lunch and a nap, and then went back for the evening. Matt got a much larger bonus check than expected, so we splurged on dinner at a place called Razoo's Cajun Cafe. We shared the Cajun platter special, which included gator tail and fried catfish, actually everything on the platter was fried, so we went home way too full and with our arteries about to bust.

All in all it has been a great week. We are finding lots of great hangouts and new friends. And although I desperately miss my walking group and thought of my 'girls night out' club more than once on Thursday, I know we will be very happy here. I'll find some dang batteries and get some pictures of all these events, as I feel confident we will be doing all of them multiple times this summer!

Our House

I've had some requests of pics of our new home, but I keep thinking, I'll do it when the house is clean...course the house is never 100% clean, so I'm just gonna do it and you can see what our house looks like on any given day.


The backyard, complete with a Lexi pool and Dad's grill. We've already used it twice this week, and with this heat, I have a feeling we'll be using it a lot more!

TA-DA! My bathtub, in my very own bathroom, just what I've always wanted :)

Lexi's room...messy as can be.

The living room. We've decided to put the computer in that little nook, instead of the spare room. So far I've liked the easy access. Down that hallway to your right is our master bedroom/bathroom and walk-in closet.


Another angle of the living room. Down that hallway are the other 3 bedrooms and bathroom.

The kitchen. We're digging the island in the middle, and I'm convinced we need a larger table to fill that space.

This is the entry way, exactly what you see when you walk through the front door.

Last night I went to take out the trash, and this bird was just hanging out on the window. This window is above our front door. He just kept tilting his head back and forth looking at Matt and I while we took his picture. Even the birds are friendly in Texas :)

Disneyland

Lots of Disneyland pictures...not much explanation required. We went with Grandma Kate, Aunt Lisa, and cousin Steven. Both kids did awesome, and loved all the rides. I think Lexi's favorite was the teacups, which cool Aunt Lisa was the only one brave enough to take her on :)



















































We left St. George on Memorial Day, a very bad idea to try and drive to LA with all the Vegas traffic heading home after a holiday weekend. After too much stop and go traffic, we stopped at State Line for the afternoon and spent the night. Lexi and I spent all afternoon hanging out by the pool, then most the evening watching TV in the hotel. The drive Tuesday morning was much more bearable.

We made it!

After a combined travel time of 55 hrs (Matt did 25; Lexi and I did 10 to Cali, and 20 more to TX), the entire Hall family has made it to Austin, Texas! Although the closing of the two homes has been a little more hectic than anticipated, we were fortunate enough to have a seller who has allowed us to rent the house by the day until closing could be completed. Speaking of which, it still hasn't happened, we've heard our Utah buyers will close today, and funding will probably occur on Monday, which will make all the buying and selling official, whew!

Our home here in Texas is so wonderful, I wish all our friends would come down here and just see what the same $$ will get for you here. Course, it's true what everyone said, it is hot here, and humid! But Lexi and I are still getting out for our morning walks, and enjoy her splash pool in the evening.

Matt's job is great! He is very excited to have a corner office with a window (big step up from his cubicle), and he feels like he really gets to contribute at work. We'll have a great summer settling down before he starts his MBA in September, not to mention the baby that is due to arrive at the end of August :)

I'm looking forward to attending our new ward on Sunday, hitting up the library for story time, and possibly volunteering at the hospital. I wish I could go work there, but I doubt they will take me with a maternity leave looming over my head in 2 months time!

And lastly, but by far most important I owe a huge THANK YOU to my mother-in-law Katie. We were able to stay with Matt's family in Cali for the week of transition time (and had a fabulous trip to Disneyland while there-pics to come). Katie then drove with us the 20 hours from Cali to TX and stayed for a few days to help me shop, clean, and make this house our new home. I would have been totally lost without her, and can NOT thank her enough!

I'll post some pics from our trip, as well as the new house in the next couple of days...stay tuned!