Touchdown!

We have a new college football fan in the house... Owen has definitely taken a likin' to it. As you can see here in this picture, he can't be without his new Texas Longhorn Football. Oh, don't you fret, we are asking Santa for an LSU Tiger and PSU Nittany Lion football to balance out our household.

Happy Halloween

Well... Owen loves dinosaurs. We thought that that would be the perfect costume for his second Halloween... but all they had was a dragon, so we improvised, he was a "dragon dinosaur" and played the part quite well! He was adorable and roared all day long. ROAR! Halloween was busy - we had three parties - one at our office, one at Owen's school and one at our friend's, Jack, Nicole and baby Kate's house. It was quite the day! Here are some pictures...

Owen's First Field Trip to the Pumpkin Patch

For my 29th birthday (Owen's mom), I joined Owen's class on his very first field trip to a nearby pumpkin patch - it was the best birthday! Owen and his friends enjoyed climbing on pumpkins, running through the straw maze and singing songs with the singing pumpkin (don't ask, it was kind of strange, but the kids loved it). Here are some photos...




Here is Owen with his friends - Ella, Liam, Greta, Rocket, Jake, Simon, Helene, Esme, Amalia, and Cole.


We had such a great time exploring and playing!

Hanging with my peeps...

We had some friends over last weekend for some football, food and fun... here are pictures pictures of Owen with his friends - Connor, Hayes, Pierce, Kate and Addilee.

Christy came into town

We were lucky to have Christy come into town for a long weekend. As you can see from the pictures below, they loved spending time together and playing with the multiple cell phones in the house.




Owen has really excelled lately with his communication skills. Not only can he say words, he can now associate what they mean. For instance, can pick out animals and colors in books and things around the house. It is blast to witness... Come of our favorites are "Mama Dada," "Bye Bye Water" (following his bath), "More Please", "Blue" and "Truck." The house next door is being remodeled and Owen is really enjoying seeing all of the trucks and tools over there everyday, and what is even better, his bedroom window faces the construction activity so he has a front row seat!

Labor Day in San Antonio

To celebrate the end of the hot Texas summer (yeah right), we drove down to San Antonio for our first family Texas road trip to visit the San Antonio Zoo, the famous RiverWalk, the Alamo and to enjoy some time together. Here are a few pictures of our trip...

Us at the zoo...

Owen loved the Hippo!

Owen would have jumped in with the Crocs if I wasn't holding him.

So happy! Maybe he will work with animals one day.

Us at the famous RiverWalk and the Alamo...

Texas Pride.




Saturday night after dinner, we walked the entire RiverWalk and discovered this plaza above the RiverWalk, at street level, with a live Mariachi band and this fountain that Owen had a little too much fun in. He was completely drenched!

"Hi Mom and Dad, do you dare me?"

"You can't see me."

"Yes! I get to ride in my stroller back to the fancy hotel naked! Yes!"

We had a great trip. Owen had a blast playing with the speaker phone button in the hotel room and seeing a new City, and one that is so close!

Our future Picasso

Owen decided to paint himself at school, instead of the construction paper. What an artist! He was inspired by Braveheart.

Fun Summer Days

Here are some pictures of Owen in the interactive fountain at Town Lake Park. Owen loves cooling off in the water! Michael Phelps, watch out!

4th of July

We had a wonderful July 4th holiday! The Provost family drove over to Austin from cajun country and we had a blast... we went for a hike up Mount Bonnell, rented a boat on Lake Travis and drove out to Spicewood in the hill country to swim at Krause Springs. We are really enjoying all that Austin and the hill country has to offer! Here are some pictures...

Hiking Mount Bonnell...


On the boat on Lake Travis. Ironically, the water reminds us of the ocean in Fort Lauderdale... The rocky limestone bottom makes the water a beautiful aqua color.




Swimming at Krause springs. We loved this place! The water was so cold, but it felt so good in the hot Texas sun. Owen swam with some baby turtles, luckily none of them bit him!


Check out Elliott on the rope swing at the Krause springs...

May Pictures

Here are some pictures of Owen in the backyard, one of his favorite places...

Getting Settled

Well we finally feel settled after 6 weeks of living in limbo. We are having a blast exploring Austin and the surrounding area. We went on our first family hike last weekend to Mt. Bonnel and plan to go out hiking as much as we possibly can. It feels so great to be outdoors and explore...



The top of Mount Bonnel looking towards the Westlake area...


Looking down Lake Austin...


Owen keep amazing us with all of the new little things he does and says. He is up to 9 words now - mama, dada, baba (bottle, come on it's a word), hi, bye, dog, goat, book and duck (his absolute favorite). He has started saying hi to people as they pass, it really is adorable. Since I haven't started work yet, Owen and I have lots of time to explore all the various parks and areas in Austin. He loves to climb on anything right now - steps, boxes, play equipment, me - and loves to get dirty. Tabasco and Avery have been keeping their distance since Owen typically throws things at them, poor things, they are so gentle and passive with him. I hope they soon will become friends. Owen does try to throw the tennis ball with Tabasco, although it doesn't go far, he is so cute trying. This was dinner tonight - spaghetti and sausage... yummy. Most of it was thrown on the floor, the dogs loved it!



Funny guy...

Moving to Austin

The Doerle caravan headed out of South Florida on Friday, April 11th for the three day trek across the country to Austin, Texas! We spent the weekend in New Iberia with family, which was such a wonderful break from the road. We had a great visit and of course ate too much! Owen had his first crawfish boil experience and Avery and Tabasco exhausted themselves running wild...

We arrived in Austin on Monday and have been unpacking since. Here are some pictures of the big move. Please notice Owen strapped in his high chair in the photo - the only way we could keep him contained as we unloaded the Uhaul and the POD (yes we had both)...



The boys putting together Owen's crib in his new big boy blue room...


We had our first social gathering on Saturday. We were invited to a toddler's birthday party on Lake Travis. It was a beautiful day on the lake...