Month: December 2013

Round Rock Rock ’ N Lights

After a lot of bad attidude today in the morning Leilani was on probation the entire day, and behaved well enough to earn back the Christmas lights tour. It is in Round Rock, a suburb just north of Austin.

She really enjoyed the 2 million lights along the 1.5-mile path drive through the Old Settlers Park, and so did the adults. I even enjoyed playing with the photos afterwards and over-edited some of them…

There are several themes through the tour. First, Christmas decorations (ornaments and light bulbs have become symbols of Christmas decorations themselves):

Then an illustrated version of the famous poem, the one that created the modern image of Santa Claus:


A winter scene; Leilani liked the fox but Andy didn’t get a good picture of it:

Then a trip to the North Pole to see Santa’s elves and their toy workshops:


Most people’s favorite displays were the Poinsettias:

The tunnel of lights was impressive, it felt like driving a space-ship through space in a movie. “Warp factor 7, Mr. Sulu:”

Last came the nativity (and Hannukah and Kwanzaa) display:

On our way home, we drove through downtown Round Rock to see their decorated water tower, symbol of the city.

Walk at Walnut Creek Park

Jim, David, Andy, Leilani and I took a walk through the Walnut Creek Park. We told Leilani that we’d try to go to the big playground, across the stream. Conveniently, all the signs had a big “P” that denotes a playground, or a parking lot, depending on who you ask. She kept running ahead to read the signs and told us which way to go. Sadly the creek was flowing too strong and too high, and we did not want to get our shoes wet or muddy, so we could not get there.

Andy drew the path on the map in red, Sonja added the big “P” on the other side.

We saw a lot of interesting critters, Jim discovered this caterpillar on the juniper.

You can see that the creek is flowing pretty nicely.

Leaf footed bug maybe Leptoglossus phyllopus

Leilani and David made boats and raced them down the stream.

There were springs in several places where the seeped out from the layers of limestone. We were fascinated by the calcification of plantmatter and Leilani phantazised about future archeologists finding these exact fosils in thousands of years.

We never reached the big “P” but found another playground at a church at the end of the trail. Andy felt bad using the private playground, but it was deserted, and it made Leilani so happy.

Rosamary picked Leilani, Andy and me up, while Jim and David walked home so Leilani could play longer. Later we cooked a nice Sauerkraut dinner.

Winter Fun in Austin 2013

Rosemary and I walked to the playground with Leilani on Thursday, Leilani remembered it from last year. She was even disappointed that there were no wild pecans this year (probably because of the drought).

In the evening we drove to Georgetown to see Peter Pan the musical. Leilani liked it very much, but Peter Pan was an older girl, which was slightly disappointing… We walked around the town square to admire the pretty Christmas lights.


Friday we went shopping at Trader Joes and at Whole Foods and promised Leilani we would go ice skating later on. She played for a while at a rooftop playground on the top of Whole Foods.

There is a year-round indoor ice rink not far from Grandma’s house.

Leilani again remembered ice skating from the trip to San Francisco 2 years ago. It took her a while to get used to the skates and find the right movement, but she could move by herself after an hour.

Christmas 2013 – Jim’s Photos

Jim took a lot of good photos with his new camera, so here is a second Christmas post:

I got beer glasses!

Great minds think alike! Andy and David gave each other the Settlers of Catan as Christmas present, and wrapped it in the same paper!

Christmas 2013

As usual, we had 2 Christmases, one at home and one in Austin.

For a change, the one at home was early instead of the same day as our flight. Several days early, in fact, since we decided to celebrate it on the solstice.

Andy and Leilani got a lot of presents because Sonja and Oma are prepared (Andy did his shopping at the last minute and has the gifts shipped from Amazon to Austin):

This was the year of Playmobil for Leilani:

The good thing about early Christmas is that Leilani had time to assemble and play with her Playmobil before leaving. She even had several friends over to play with them, they were a BIG hit.

Then we were off to Austin via Phoenix Los Angeles thanks to USAirways AmericanAirlines. We flew the red eye, and the Los Angeles sunrise was almost pretty:

Due to the cancelled and rebooked flight, we had a 6 hour lay-over in LAX. We did find good food and the airline lounge (both expensive, but worth it). Leilani got to sleep and play, and the parents rested in a quiet place with wifi…


And most importantly, we arrived in Austin in time for dinner and then midnight mass. The church was nicely decorated, and Rosemary was singing in the choir. They sang lots of Andy’s favorite Christmas songs.








Leilani was very good and listened to the whole mass (90 minutes) without even falling asleep.

The tree at Grandma and Grandpa’s house, with all the presents waiting for Christmas morning.

Leilani on Christmas morning waiting for everyone to be be ready.

Lots of energy spinning on Grandpa Jim’s chair.

First, another family picture…

… then Leilani gives everyone a present…

… and finally the opening can begin.

And very soon after, the playing, reading, and building could begin too.