Austin - Day 2

The morning started off with cute smiles, laughs and playing with stuff animals. There was reading in the morning, then Lola fed the twinkies, and began to prepare for lunch.

Cow says moo! And is a little warm with that sweater on.

Big hug!

Lola also got a clip in B's hair!

We ate breakfast!

Then we played. Lola was playing peek a boo while preparing lunch. This window is so much fun!

Omelettes were made! And everyone was very happy to eat!

No leftovers or food on the floor after this meal!

Oh forgot to mention that AA and Devin were fixing the light while Lola made lunch... Obstacle course while cooking omelettes, but no accidents and the food turned out!

After lunch the boys went back to Lowes to get another ballast (as Lola suggested before they went) but wouldn't listen. Maybe they just wanted another excuse to leave the house. But wow, improving the light really makes a difference!

After lunch we backed up to go to Zilker Park. Plan was to swim and take the train. Twinkies wanted to swim instantly when they saw the life jackets... So they tested them out in the house.

Into the van and off to the park. We missed the turn in to get to the part of the park we wanted, but with an easy u turn headed to the parking lot.  

Why do we need to go to the park.... We have a jungle gym vehicle?

To the train ticket booth, then to the park while we waited. Twinkies went on the swings for the first time... B loved it, turner not so much, but at least he tried.

T making sure B is enjoying it!

Hanging on!

Giggling away!

From there we headed to the play structure.. T really loves to climb so he had a great time. We only had about 5 minutes there as we didn't want to miss the train.

To the train... When the horn blew T really got excited. We had a great time, although a little disappointed that we came back the same way we went.

It was a good ride! Showed us how big the park was and what it has to offer. 

Since it was like 40 degrees with the humidity we thought we would go swimming. Got to the water to find it was closed. The water level wasn't high enough.

So to the van, and off to the brewery, we tried to go to a wadding pool but it was also closed. So no swimming equals beer.

Off to Austin Brew Works we went, a family friendly place.  $10 for 3 pints of beer and a free glass.

The twinkies made some friends, played with a dog, and had fun with the beer drinkers. Although by beer 3 they were getting hungry, so drink up boys its time to get to the outback.

Say cheese!

Walking around with the pony tail to try and keep cool.

That beer condensation tastes so good!

Outback steak house was pretty uneventful, boys had more beer and we ate some food. The crew enjoyed the onion bloom and turner really enjoyed the tv.

The only photo a the resturant, not very good.

After the meal, we headed back to Mell and Devins to put twinkies to bed, and play some games.

Yahtzee it is! We were in game 4 and Devin decided we had to get all the way to 6.. AA said "tonight?" But yes tonight!  Especially after Lola got a chip by getting 2 Yahtzees in one game! Luckily she did otherwise it would have been a lot close 6 game total between her and Devin.

There was some throwing of the dice rolling tin, dice flying on the floor, and lots and lots of laughs... Oh and more beer.

The famous chip ( ps Yahtzee rules are really hard to understand when you get 2 Yahtzees in one game)

The final scores..

After the finally 6th game, it was VR time. Adam went first and then Lola. Lola enjoyed her play time until she had a little incident.  She may have ended up hitting her  head into the corner of the wall, banging her knee on the power source and resulted in ice and a little head ache. All it well, but she was pretty embarrassed that she actually felt like she was falling off a the second floor onto a robot.

Devin tried to save me...

That ended the night.

Let's Explore Austin - Day 1

At 10:01 Lola heard some noises, so into the twinkies room she went.  B had a big grin while T was still waking up, changed some bums, took the first Twinkie selfies and to the play room we went while others were sleeping.

We were all happy to see each other and excited to play with the toys.  Not sure if this is what they usually do in the morning, so maybe that is why they were excited?

But all stopped when AA came in..

Someone froze and wouldn't move, and for T we know that isn't very often. Once he continued to hear his voice and distracted him, we all had a good play in the morning!

We ate some breakfast, and then played some more.

Eating some lunch from a taco place down the way, we packed up and headed out into the mini van.  The Toyota is pretty nice, we all fit pretty good! Devin is happy we can all travel together!

I guess Lola was excited too.

This is no baby anymore, looking like a little boy!

Off to Owlchemy Labs,a short drive from their home, but a nice lobby and nice office space. 

He showed us some cool stuff, like the kitchen... It was nice... but D did show us some neat stuff they are working on, B and Lola strolled around and love sitting in the couch!

After the visit to the office, we headed downtown, to check off some of the sites Lola found she wanted to do. The State capital has a beautiful grounds, but first things first, Mell had to pee, to the visitor Center. Lola gave the self guided tour which she found with the map at the visitors Center (glad she had to pee) because we all know Lola loves maps! We walked around enjoyed the grounds, and chatted and enjoyed each others company and getting our step count up!

Ready for the adventure!

Neat memorial, but couldn't figure out how the people's names were engraved... Would they really do it randomly? 

The pedestrian gate! Tip toed so you could see my face. There were sure a lot of stars.... We are definitely in Texas.

The sixth statue was missing, so Lola filled in as a school child.

The building is massive, and under restorations. I wonder how any people work there.

Family photo!

Listening to the self guided tour!

The state capital building with the grand entrance.

The fence borders the whole grounds and is on a granite foundation.

Mell decided we should walk to the next place as we had a good parking spot, it's only .9 of a mile... As we got half way, Devin decided that the boys should go back to the van, and the girls (and twinkies) should keep walking. That isn't a bad idea. So we split, and by the time we got close to the next place, the ladies decided they needed some air conditioning so found a bagel shop. It closed in 10 minutes, but got some drinks sat down, and got the boys to meet us there.

Off to the neat art wall at Bayler and 11th. What a neat site, a development that went under, so became a place for graffiti to be displayed. Layers and layers of art, those deciding to cover up and make new. Glad we went there, it was a very neat thing to see.

Lola even took a family photo of another family:)

From there they ventured back to the van. The hills are so pretty, never knew what the topography of Texas or Austin was, but it does remind me of San Fransisco.

Mell had an idea for supper, to take us to this place they had been before. By the end of the meal, Devin had complimented Mell in what a great idea it was, like in the top 8 ever. Lola didn't enjoy it as much, the sausage was alright, the salad was good, the beef jerky was a little too spicy, but the twinkies Okra was really good. The other adults had "the German" bratwurst, pretzel, and beer cheese.

Easy tiger resturant 

Lola's meal

Then we went down 6th street to check out the sites. There were lots of people and clubs with live music and games. Devin was telling us how the street shuts down for this area. It was pretty neat.

After the walk we went back to the van to head home. Bed time was approaching, but B and T decided to nap on our walk. B fell alseep hard, didn't wake up to be put in the car seat.

We did some playing when we got back, and had baths (mostly the twinkies).

Once the twinkies were sleeping. The adults enjoyed eachothers company, played a few rounds of Yahtzee, the the boys played VR, while the ladies picked out some photos to finish my Mells decorating.

It was a great day. Can't wait to see what the next day will bring.

Love Lola

Ps, weather here is so humid. 29 feels like 39. Drinking lots of water!