Canyon of the Eagles--Lake Buchannan

Last Thursday, to celebrate school being out, we loaded up the trailer, hooked up the jet-ski, and headed for Canyon of the Eagles up on Lake Buchanan.

Lance pulls the trailer with the Burb'

and I pull the jet-ski with my baby...



After setting up camp, we head up to the restaurant there.

It has a beautiful view over-looking the lake


...yes, we were the largest party in there....that is until the party of 33 came...THEN they were wishing they had just us again....


Here's some shots from just outside the restaurant





I'm sick of getting my picture taken... I'm pretty sure the camera adds 25-30 lbs....oh wait...that was my peanut M&M's that did that....


Chase out on the hunt for...ticks and chiggars probably...
cutie pies :)

The next day we spent the morning at the pool. Of course, while I was collecting as much cancer as possible...the rest of the gang had a "dive-off"...they got some good diving skills...and splashing skills...

Later that afternoon, our good friends the Stouts met up with us, and we took the jet-ski out for some fun! The kids always have a great time just jumping on and off the tube together...again..we had a "jump-off"...literally...
Wyatt made great progress this year!! He did the knee board ALL BY HIMSELF!! Lance started out doing it with him, but was quickly told to drop off and let him do it himself! He didn't get up on his knees, he just stayed on his belly, but he held on the whole time, and had a blast...begging to do it again later!...pretty good for a 4 year old...

Later that night...much later!...we drove up to the Eagle Eye Observatory. It's one of the top observatories in the nation...and it was SO COOL!!

Here's Julie and Madi looking through one of the scopes...

Lance and Conor are looking through the other scope they had there.

..and here's pictures of what we saw!

Maybe I'm just stupid...or maybe it's because this was my first time looking through a telescope of this size, but I was amazed!This is M-13 a cluster of stars...in a galaxy far, far, away.... :)

This is Mars...blurry...not as impressive...but redd-ish none-the-less

the moon ...obviously...However, I saw no evidence whatsoever of a man living in there...nor did it look like cheese...

This was everyone's favorite...Saturn...It didn't even look real to me! It's like sure, you see pictures of Saturn and it's rings in National Geographic all the time...but to just be able to look through a telescope and see this?...AMAZING!!!
I've never seen so many stars out...advantages of being away from city lights.
I felt so small.

My kids really enjoyed it as well...I highly reccommend going there! The observatory is only open certain nights though, so call before you go.
HERE"S the website.

The next day we were all so sore and tired, we decided to take the "Vanishing Texas River Cruise"

It's a two hour tour (not three...thank heavens) that travels 7 miles up one of the Canyons nearby. There was some beautiful scenery

Fall creek falls

I like how the rock looks like it's flowing off as well...probably was...once...

We saw lots of wildlife...as well as livestock, since the ranchers all own the property lining the river...no Eagles though...You have to be there between November to March to see the Bald Eagle colonies...guess we'll have to come back...

Wyatt got a hold of the camera...

There were MANY interesting pictures of strangers' feet & heads...also lots of just water, and the sky...and a cow, I decided to just post a few of his better pics....

..of course, like any true artist...a self-photo...mostly

I think this is when Lance was saying, Hey! Give me back that camera...

As usual, we had a great time, and look forward to more of the same this summer! Lance is now OFFICIALLY on Sabatical! Hooray! He's got June and July off work--paid! Ya-hooo!