Austin. Mom. Blog. » children

Krause Springs in Spicewood, Texas

Dianna — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 14:13:02 +0000

Going to Pedernales State Park was all by chance for us this summer. We were visiting Krause Springs and didn’t have an enjoyable time so we travelled a little further and went to Pedernales State Park. I probably need to start off with why we didn’t enjoy Krause Springs. When we first arrived at Krause Springs the parking lot was full so I thought the area might be crowded. We were not allowed to see the springs or how crowded it was until after we paid the fee to enter. There also were NO REFUNDS. Since I had a good friend recommend the place, I was excited for us to go in. The fee was $5 for each adult and $4 for children ages 4-11. Under 4, the kids were free. We had to sign a release of liability. Having to sign a release should have raised red flags for us. Cautiously we walked down a steep hill to arrive at the springs. We went on a Friday afternoon and the place was definitely crowded. We were trying to manuever through people, tip-toe around people, and we tried not to step on anyone. First my husband slipped leaving his elbow bloody. Then the father of the friends that came with us fell. Both men were trying very hard to keep the kids from falling, but ended up being the ones who fell. My husband ended up being fine, but the father of our friends couldn’t move his arm. They wanted to leave immediately. Our friend couldn’t drive home because he was in so much pain. He ended up going to minor emergency, got put on pain pills, and now has to go to an orthopedic surgeon. Krause Springs was a beautiful site to see, but I honestly believe it’s not a place for small children. From what we saw, it didn’t look like there were many spots young children could wade in or stand in without the water going over their head. Our experience just wasn’t pleasant this time around.

Hoppin Hippo in Hutto, Texas

Dianna — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 18:14:04 +0000

Wow! I am sorry it has been so… long since I have posted anything. I thought I would start off with Hoppin Hippo since it was a fun and clean place to visit. I was really impressed with the whole facility. The first thing to keep in mind is that both parent and child must have socks. I was not aware of that when I went. Hoppin Hippo has socks you are able to purchase for $2.oo. The whole wearing socks thing is a great idea. It sounds a little harsh, but I think it might prevent people from getting any fungus or nasty disease. Overall the facility was clean and inviting for kids to play. When my boys first walked in they immediately went to the wooden clubhouse, climbed the stairs, and put on a costume. There were buckets full of costumes the children were able to play with. After running freely like they were the actual character both boys went into an inflatable giraffe. It was the kind of inflatable that you enter through one side, crawl through, and then end up on the other end. The giraffe was their favorite. Next they jumped on a bouncy house and went down the slide attached. Hoppin Hippo also had a large playscape with a ball pit, another inflatable next to it, and a small plastic playscape in the middle of the facility. I’m hoping the pictures I post will give it more justice. Hoppin Hippo’s website states that it’s recommended for ages 0-7. I believe that’s the perfect age group for this place. A child over 7 would probably think it would be too kiddie. Since my two sons are 4 and 6, it was perfect. We’re trying to make some time to visit again, but our summer keeps getting shorter. We will definitely try one day.

The Clubhouse

The Inflatable Giraffe

Large Playscape

Bouncy House with Slide

San Antonio Zoo

Dianna — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 04:04:11 +0000

Zoos are definitely busy in the summer. I haven’t found one day out of the week to go when they aren’t busy. We visited the San Antonio Zoo on a Thursday. We arrived at 11:00 and the first parking lot was full so we had to park in a second lot. The walk was quite far, but we were about to take a long walk through the zoo, so we didn’t mind. Fortunately the parking is free. The zoo included animals like bears, elephants, tigers, giraffes, monkeys, and the newest exhibit included hippos. The zoo had a really cool kids section. Inside an air conditioned building there was a set-up of fishing poles with magnets to pick up fish. It also included a little playhouse for pretend play and small tunnels like caves the kids could go through. Not too far from the designated children’s area is a petting zoo. The boys got to feed and brush several goats. Any interaction with animals are fun for our boys. It took us three hours to walk the zoo. We were heading to the car, but Collin (my 4 year old) saw some train tracks. We couldn’t pass up the chance to let Collin ride the train. It’s going on two years that he loves trains. Andrew (my 6 year old) at first passed on riding with us, but decided to go at the last minute. It was $3.00 for adults and $2.50 for children. It was worth the money. The train ride was actually pretty long and enjoyable. There were several areas surrounding the zoo we had never seen before. So, the train ride concluded our trip and we all had a great time. When I asked the boys what they liked best Andrew said the hippo at the zoo and Collin said the train ride. Typical!

Andrew in front of Giraffe Exhibit

Boys Pretend to Fish

Petting Zoo

Riding the Train

Toy Story 3

Dianna — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 15:38:54 +0000

Finally, I was not disappointed in a movie. Toy Story 3 was incredible. From beginning to end, Toy Story 3 is definitely a movie worth seeing. There was even a part in the movie that I cried on. My two boys also loved it. There were a few scary parts for my four year old. He’s still talking about the scary monkey from the movie. Luckily, he hasn’t had any bad dreams, but the movie is a little intense on some parts. Overall, the movie was very entertaining. To be honest, if they wanted to go see it again, I would take them. Toy Story 3 was that good of a movie!

Spring Break Continues

Dianna — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 18:06:35 +0000

I am finally getting the chance to finish our spring break vacation details. The last time I wrote, we had finished up with the zoo. We still had a lot of time on our hands for the rest of the day, so we decided to go to Six Flags. Our plan was to go the next day, but we decided to go both days. We arrived at 5:30. It was perfect. There were not any lines for the season pass processing center or hardly any lines for the kids’ rides. We left at 8:30 since we were going to come back the next day. We didn’t want to drag it out too long and have the kids exhausted. Wednesday arrives and we head out to Six Flags again. The time is 11:30 a.m. and we are in stop and go traffic to proceed through the gates of Six Flags. It took us one hour to go through the gates and park our vehicle. During the wait, my husband decided to go in and check out how long the lines were for the rides. It was ridiculous. The rides we rode the day before would now take us an hour to get on. It just wasn’t worth it. We decided not to park and head home. Luckily, we have season passes and could easily come again another time. I am happy we went the night before and got to enjoy the park for a little while. I’m not sure why it wasn’t busy that night, but I honestly believe we will not attempt to go to any theme parks another spring break. The boys were pretty disappointed we didn’t go, so we decided to visit Cameron Park Zoo in Waco. By far, this is our favorite zoo. It’s the perfect size for Andrew and Collin. Andrew is five and Collin is four. It’s not so big where it’s overwhelming. The zoo has a new area that is called Asian Forest. It includes orangutans, tigers, and komodo dragons. It included a play area for the children to climb on or hang from ropes like an orangutan. We have been to the Cameron Park Zoo before, but the Asian Forest hadn’t been opened yet. We finished touring the zoo in two hours and finally headed for home. I love being on vacation, but there’s no place like home.

Cameron Park Zoo

Inflatable Wonderland in Lakeline Mall

Dianna — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 21:51:46 +0000

Since I love to shop people usually think I’m heading to the Lakeline Mall to do that, but for the past year it’s either to visit Build-a-Bear or go to Inflatable Wonderland. We often go to Inflatable Wonderland on a Tuesday or Thursday. Their prices are half price. That makes the price $5.50. I think it’s totally worth it. Considering the boys ages I wouldn’t pay full price. I believe after a good two hours they are done. That’s what makes the half price days worth it. Inflatable Wonderland consists of several inflatables with age limits on each of them. Adults are not allowed to play on the inflatables with their children. That makes it a little hard for parents that have small children. Fortunately there is a small designated area for toddlers. They have some toys and large blocks laid out. For some reason my four year old loves the toddler section. He really isn’t allowed in this area because of his age, but likes to sneak over when he has the chance. I’m not sure exactly how many inflatables they have, but I know at the least they have eight. It definitely keeps the boys running to and from each one. They also have a snack bar with reasonable prices with a variety of snacks. It includes hot dogs, a variety of popsicles, chips, drinks, and slushes (my boys favorite). They probably offer more, but that’s all that comes to mind. One of my favorite things about Inflatable Wonderland is their washing station. I love the fact that they have several sinks, soap, and towels in an open area to get your hands clean. They even leave out step stools for the kids that can’t reach. I’m that mom that always carries hand sanitizer wherever we go. It’s nice to not have to carry it here. We always have fun here and try to go when we can.

Not Feeling Well

Dianna — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 19:05:08 +0000

We have been out a lot, but for the past few days I have been ill. As soon as I feel better I will post as much as I can. One thing to quickly mention is that we went to the Austin Children’s Museum. My boys always enjoy it and love when we take them. On Wednesdays from 5 to 8, it is entry by donation. The only downfall is parking. Once you finally find the parking space, it’s fun from that point on. It’s a nice family place that our family really enjoys.

No Room For Pets

Dianna — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 02:22:31 +0000

Anyone who has children and pets I give my full support to them. I honestly can’t do it. My boys really want a dog, but I know I can’t handle another task. It took me a whole hour to clean out a betta fish bowl and that was more than enough for me. Sad, right? It’s one little fish and I thought it would be easier to take care of. It just proves that we do not need a dog or any other animal right now in our lives. We also are the “get up and go” kind of family. We wouldn’t be able to do that with another family member that is a pet. I really want the boys to be happy, but I’m not ready. Does anyone have any advice on how to let them down gently?

Fiesta Texas Fright Fest

Dianna — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 14:14:21 +0000

Our family went to the fright fest at Fiesta Texas in San Antonio on Friday, October 30th. Since our boys were only 3 and 5 the rides they had for them weren’t too long of a wait. Throughout the summer we went to Fiesta Texas several times and that seems to be the case each time. For kids under six, the lines aren’t bad. We have season passes so we go each chance we get. I really wouldn’t recommend the fright fest for our ages of boys. It was too scary for them. Luckily, they didn’t have any nightmares or screams through the night, but some of the props and costumes were a little much for them. If you have kids that aren’t too spooked from these kind of things, then it’s a place I would recommend to check out. The rides kept us busy for almost four hours. For the most part, we focused on riding the rides and avoiding the spooky stuff.

We really enjoyed a room set up for cookie decorating and pumpkin painting. You had the option to buy, keep, and paint a pumpkin or buy a large round cookie to decorate and eat. The price was five dollars to do both. We ended up buying both. I thought that was reasonable. The boys really enjoyed it and in the end that’s all that matters.

Also, they had Scooby and Shaggy passing out treat bags. We waited in line to go on a large stage to meet them, take pictures, and receive a treat bag. It was the perfect experience for the whole “trick or treating” concept. My youngest son was a little freaked out being near them so I held him the whole time. We saved this experience to the end so it would be a final ending to our day. It worked out perfect.

The theme park had a haunted house for an additional five dollars a person that looked pretty scary. I didn’t go in, but there was a huge line for it. For older children and adults who enjoy the whole Halloween experience and in the middle of it getting to ride roller coasters, I would recommend the fright fest for them. For our family and the ages of our boys, I would not. We had fun, but next time we will wait until our boys are a little older.