FREE Events in Texas

Looking for something to do this summer?  Try the following free events!


July 24
Free Admittance to the Ladybird Wildflower Center in Austin, TX

July 31
Paint a Thomas Train in Austin, TX  (must reserve a free ticket)

August 8
Free Museum Day at the Mayborn Children's Museum in Waco, TX

Now Through August 30th
Get a Free Ticket to McKenna Children's Museum in exchange for school supply donations to the Communities in Schools of South Central Texas.

ANYTIME
Find more free events in Austin at Free Fun in Austin!

If you know of more free events going on in Texas (or California) please let me know and I'll post them!

Go to Museums and Gardens for Free!

Want to visit a museum for free?  There's lots of California and Texas museums and gardens offering free admission in May!

• Admission is free  the Mayborn Children's Museum in Waco, TX on May 1, 2011.  (I really recommend this one...you can spend the whole day there and not see everything there is to see!  The pictures above are from there.)
  
  
• Free Museum Day lists days you can visit museums for free.  Currently their list includes museums in these California Cities:  Los Angelos, San Diego, and San Francisco.
  
  
• Today is the last day to enter for a 4 pack of Tickets to Sea Life Aquarium in Carlsbad, CA (plus get a $50 Froots gift card).  Only 8 people have entered this!
  
  
• Get free admission to local gardens May 6. They have gardens from all over the country.

A New Photo Site Supporting Cameron Park Zoo

I love Cameron Park Zoo here in Waco. Its a small zoo, but well taken care of, with lots spots for kids to stop and play in.   We always enjoy visiting.  And we always take lots of pictures when we go.  Here's one we got of a napping lion.

I just learned that Cameron Park has opened a photo site, Cameron Park Zoo Photos, where you can make photo gifts like posters, cards, and photobooks, and 25% of the profits go to support Cameron Park!  And, now through April 22, Big Photos will donate one dollar for each new user that registers on the site!  Since Cameron Park is a non-profit that sometimes struggles for funding, I'm glad to have another way to help them out.

The coolest thing about the Cameron Park Photo Site, in my opinion, is that they have galleries with wonderful pictures from Cameron Park that you can use alongside your own pictures.   So, say you took a picture of your child with a giraffe in the background...

...but you didn't get any good close-ups of the giraffe to go along with it.  If you are making a photo book through CameronParkZooPhotos.com you can pick out one of their great giraffe photos to use alongside your own photos.  

All the photos in their galleries are of Cameron Park animals, so you can feel happy knowing the pictures you choose are of the actual animals you saw at the zoo.  And it's easy to move and resize pictures, change the layout, or add text, too!

You can also get $5 off Photo Books with coupon code HOLSM.

Visit Cameron Park Zoo Photos

Lego Building Contest for Mayborn Museum Tickets

The Mayborn Museum in Waco, TX is one of my favorite places to go with my kids. There is so much there to do--there's hands on science experiments, history exhibits, and lots of places for kids to dress up and pretend, from a miniature kid city, to a mock weather station. You can spend all day there and not see everything! Right now they are holding a Lego Building contest, and the prize is a ticket for up to 6 guests to the Mayborn Museum. Even if your kids don't win, they'll have fun using their imagination and ingenuity to create their entry.

What's Hot - What's Not Hot

Decided to join in on a meme I stumbled on: What's Hot/What's Not Hot Wednesdays (even though technically it's not Wednessday anymore.)

HOT

A trip to Austin with no kids...first trip we've taken without any children since our oldest was born. And might I mention that Austin is the most un-Texan city I've been too. It's sort of like the artsier places in California...without as much of the Hollywood fake glam.

HOT

My husband, for various reasons!

HOT

My in-laws for taking the kids. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU.

HOT

The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. It's GORGEOUS! Check out the picture my husband took below.




HOT

Stumbling on the same little Mexican restaurant we had eaten at but forgotten the name of during our last trip to Austin (Curras Grill), and feasting on unique food the kids would have turned their nose up at.

NOT

The parking at Curras. They really need more parking...though I suppose it does keep the place from getting overcrowded.

HOT

Google maps on I-phone. Saved us from much mis-direction, traffic jams, and other frustration.

HOT BECAUSE IT'S NOT HOT

The weather! It's been wonderfully NOT HOT and NOT COLD! It's been gorgeous!

NOT

My living room, bedroom, bathroom, etc. They're a disaster. No, you can not see pictures.

NOT

The quantity of posts on this blog...sorry I've been slacking here. It's because I've been not slacking other places. Check out my Art Blog (and yeah...I did the hot/not hot meme there too, with a few changes).