Dino dig, Amy's ice cream, lack of sleep: Austin Day 4

Hope only got up once last night and briefly so thanks for your good wishes. If only it would extend to naps. There must be some invisible force field around Texas that wards off naps of any kind. It's working on my kids.

This morning we went to the Nature and Science Center in Zilker Park. It's an animal sanctuary for rescued animals (small and medium-sized) and has a lot of hiking trails and preserved areas to encourage the snake, turtle and fish populations. It was great. The kids loved it. There were lots of animals to see and great trails that led us around the Center. At the end of our tour we ended up in their Dino Dig area. It is a large series of sandy pits in which are buried replicas of dinosaur fossils and bones. There are plastic shovels and brushes laying everywhere for the kids to use to uncover and discover the fossils. Emily LOVED it. It was hard to get her to leave, in fact. Hope had fun too but wasn't as effective at unearthing the fossils. The Center had an added bonus: admission is free.




From there we went to Amy's Ice Cream, an institution in Austin. We went to the location with a playground. By the time we got there Kate and Hope were sound asleep so Beth stayed in the van with them while Emily and I had some alone time eating ice cream and playing on the climbers. Okay, she climbed, I sat.

After that it was lunch at home, the ongoing struggle to get my kids to nap (I'm failing miserably and I don't know why) and then we walked to Central Market for groceries and some more playground time. There is a big playground right beside Central Market so parents can grab a glass or bottle of wine, sit on a bench and watch their kids climb. Seriously, the patio is fully licensed and the playground is pretty much part of the patio. A sweet, sweet deal and one that definitely needs to be replicated in Ottawa.

Our only firm plan for tomorrow is barbecue in Lockhart. We still have to discuss other ideas. My idea for the rest of the night is a bit of knitting and a lot of sleeping.