Our little compound

The "compound" -

Looking in from the driveway/gate - Ours is on left and neighbors on right

Our House -

How cute is it!!!

Our neighbors house -

There is one on the right and a small apartment to the left - Kind of fun huh! See Lo running around. She LOVES it!!!

Looking from front porch back to street -

We're tucked away in our own little world...it's great!!!

Before we moved into our old farmhouse, we referred to the area where our house is located as a "compound". When we finally moved in, it seems the neighbors referred to it as a "compound" also. Max calls it a "Amish Compound" minus the Amish people of course. Anyway, I thought I would clarify why we call it a compound....

Our house is set back pretty far from the road. There is a long driveway that pulls up to our little "compound". You walk through a gate and there are three houses all built in the late 1880s with an adjoining courtyard area. We live in the big house to the left (ignore the mess...I'm telling you...still lots to do). Our other neighbors live in the house across the courtyard. The Travis Heights neighborhood is a great community but we also feel like we have our own little community within our "compound". It's very fun/funky and very Austin.

Over the weekend, we had a chance to hang out with our neighbors more. This is one thing that is great about the "compound"....If Clay, Lo and I are hanging out in the yard, it's easy for neighbors to stop by to join us as we have an adjoining courtyard area. So, Kristen and Kevin came by on Friday and we hung out for a while. We really like them and seem to have so much in common....Kevin plays guitar, we have similar taste in music, similar political beliefs, Kevin loves to cook like Clay, they love Anthony Bourdain and can quote nearly every episode (Clay's obsession), they want to start a community garden and are serious about it (hopefully we can get this started this weekend), etc. Anyway, we really hit it off with them. Next Saturday Kristen is throwing a kid's party for a friend. Apparently, there will be a jump house, a keg and all the other party essentials. So, it appears there will be a big shindig at the compound. Hopefully it will be a great opportunity for us to meet some more interesting people....exciting!!!

Clay and I have also taken full advantage of the fact that everything is walking distance from the house. We walk to have drinks, dinner and/or shopping. It's so great!!! My mom was in town part of last week and I even made her walk to the shops and restaurant. She really wanted to drive but I didn't allow it. She did end up taking a big fall on the way back so I felt a little bad...thank goodness she was able to save the pizza though.

We're also very close to the town lake (less than a mile). Now that we have daylight savings and will have more daylight, I hope to take Lola jogging down to the lake in the evenings. She loved her new jogging stroller on Saturday. Until I find a new running partner I guess Lola will be my partner. I haven't had a chance to meet the running group yet b/c they meet in the evenings at 6:00 and Clay hasn't been able to get home on time...maybe next week. With Lola, the workout is much more intense as I don't have my arms to help give me momentum plus the hills in Austin are crazy but I guess it's giving me a better workout.

I thought I would also attach some pics of Lo playing in the yard. Her hair is starting to get really long and I don't really know what to do with her shaggy bangs. I try to put clips in but she takes them out and eats them...Nice!!! Lo is also talking away. She has her own little dictionary full of words now...some of them only she knows the meaning to like Bigda which she says over and over and we're not quite sure what she's trying to say. She'll also do sign language and tell us she "loves us"...melts my heart. I didn't realize they were teaching sign language at daycare until I noticed consistent hand movements from her so I asked...pretty neat! Oh, she started biting too....HUH!!! This is for another blog of course as I'm not quite sure how to address some of these toddler challenges. It's always something!!!