Big Texas howdy and happy 4th from Len and the Texas Mitchell's. Hope ya'll had a fun and safe holiday. Even though we didn't do the cow chip throwing contest this year, we had a blast!!! See details below:

4th of July, 2005 with the Texas Mitchell's

We had a great 4th of July celabration at the Mitchell's. We did things a little different this year. The daytime high was forcast to be 101 with humidity >85%. So we decided to avoid the heat of the day (and the crowds...) So, here's what we did in a nutshell (see pic's below):

• 04:30 up and travel to downtown Austin to watch the sunrise over the city
• 07:00 over to Barton Springs for a swim!! 68 degree water year round!
• 08:30 to the Zilker Park giant play area
• 09:30 to IHOP for brunch
• 11:00 back home for a "siesta"
• 15:00 start watching movies
• Deli sandwiches, chips and ice cream for dinner
• Fireworks at 21:00

It was a great day. All of the kids commented that at 11:00 in the morning, it felt like 3 or 4 in the afternoon....

Our 4th of July started EARLY!!! We got up at 04:30 and headed to downtown Austin to watch the sun rise over the city from one of the bridges over Town Lake. It was an awsome scene! We had a blast the rest of the day. Check out the pic's below to see some of the other fun things we did to celebrate Independence Day!

This is a shot looking west, up stream on the Colorado River (yes, Texas has it's own Colorado River...) There is a very large dam about 3 miles upstream. About 2 miles downstream is another smaller dam. This body of water in between the two dams forms what is called Town Lake, right in the middle of downtown Austin. Town lake is a popular spot on the high speed boat racing circuit. We like to take things a little slower... We like to go canoeing here as well as up the small tributaries that feed it.

Here's another shot of Town Lake looking back towards Mansfield Dam. There is a nice park and swimming area just up stream from here. The water here is usually in the high 50's as it is the water that is released from Lake Travis through the bottom of the dam. The water down there is usually very cold for these parts!

As you can tell, everyone was thrilled to be up so early to watch the sun come up and experience the quiet nature of early morning! 

We watched this cute family of swans as they paddled up stream, under the bridge we were on. We also saw lots of large turtles and other wild life. 

Next we went swimming in Barton Creek. This is a natural spring. The water is very clean, clear and is 68 degrees year round. This picture only shows a small part of the swimming area. It stretches for about 100 yards and is a few inches deep at the one end, progressing to 18 feet deep at the other. It's about the only place around here, deep enough, where a guy can go diving! 

After swimming in Doug and Diana's pool on Memorial day where the water was 85+, Spencer is having a hard time "getting into" this spring water at 68 degrees. These kids need to go swimming at Higgin's Beach where the water is usually in the low 50's!  

Before we left Barton Springs, the kids found a friendly squirrel who happended to like Gold Fish crackers as much as they do. This squirrel would eat right out of the kids hands. 

After swimming, we went to the big play area in Zilker Park. There are tons of great equipment, a train ride, canoe rentals, etc. We had a blast playing on the playscapes. Here is Spencer giving Julie a push on the hanging slider. 

Of course, no day in the "wild" is without it's ups and downs! Julie skinned her knee when she fell off the railing separating one playground from another. A quick clean-up and a bandaid and she was hard at it again! 

After our fun filled morning in Zilker Park, we went to breakfast at IHOP! Wow, if you haven't tried their Hearty Grain'n Nut pancakes, you need to go and try them, yum, yum! Anyway, we got there about 9:30 a.m. and got right in. By the time we left, the lobby was full and people were standing outside waiting to get in. You know what they say... "The early swimmer gets the pancake"

Here's Spencer eyeballing his triple cheese and ham omlette being delivered.

After a fun filled morning, we came home and took naps so we could stay up late to watch the fireworks! Here are the, now all happy, kids on my "treasure" bench, under the globe willow. 

And we finished up with some traditional fireworks. I combined several individual pic's to make this one.