Austin Nature Center

We love, love, love the Austin Nature and Science Center. I think we go about once a month in the spring and summer. It is one of those places where we have developed our own little routine and look forward to going through all of the steps every visit.

The first thing we always do is stop and take a picture by the sign. There is a lot of road noise from Mopac at the sign, so Sydney is helping Jack out by plugging his ears.

Then we wade (or just crawl) in the water. I will say that the water is much more cool and refreshing in March than it was today in late June.

Then we go to "Prince John's Backyard" which is our name for a particular overlook spot with a gate (like the one in Prince John's backyard in the movie Robin Hood). There, we change out of wet clothes and have a snack and water.

From there, we go to look at all of the birds and then the mammals. This time, while we had stopped for a bathroom break, one of the women who runs the nature center was walking around with some branches. Sydney had been eying those branches and the little spore-like flowers on them and had been told many times not to touch. When she saw the lady with them, she walked over and asked if she could see them. The lady told her they are called a "button bush." Sydney said, wistfully, "I wish I could buy one of those."

The lady told her they were not for sale, but she would be happy to give Sydney one of the branches she had just pruned from a walkway. Sydney was so excited to have her very own button branch.

Back at the main building, we always end our time by looking over all of the neat specimens they have with the magnifying glasses. This time, Sydney was able to look at her own specimen.

Which we then took home and turned into lovely home decor.

What a nice visit back to one of our favorite Austin spots.