Easter Weekend

Lewis had to be in Austin Wed-Fri last week.  I had originally had a race on Saturday but we were supposed to be in Rockdale on Sunday for church with his brother anyway (which is an hour from Austin) so it didn't make sense for Lewis to fly home Friday then drive right back to where he was on Saturday.

Plus there was the hotel room to consider!  Kids love hotels.  It's like a truth universally acknowledged.  So we decided we'd make a trip out of it.  And I drove down on Friday morning with the kids.

We walked around Austin in search for baby shoes.  Julia managed to somehow lose one of her shoes.  Which was upsetting because they were the only pair I'd brought for her.  So we were looking around downtown Austin for any kind of anything I could put on her feet so she could "walk please! walk please! walk please!" because she is miserable if she has to be carried everywhere.

I ended up spying a baby boutique on the way to Amy's Ice Cream (first we checked St. Bernard Sports.  This particular one didn't have a kid section.  *eye roll*).  We got some very Austin like moccasin shoes and she loved them and could now "walk please!"

she will probably never wear them again and they will now be passed down to Miss Molly!

Part of the impetus for the entire trip in the first place is this particular colony of Mexican bats that live underneath the Congress Street Bridge.  We were all set and we stood on the bridge in our perfectly staked out spot and guess what ... no mass flight.

If you look closely you can see the bats flying in circles and darting back underneath the bridge.  But for reasons unknown they did not fly out from the bridge at sundown.  Or even half an hour after sundown.  It probably worked out for the best because see previous post about cameras being broken.  I wouldn't have been able to get the shot I wanted.

The boys were disappointed.  But we had seen two sleeping under the bridge and we saw them flying right underneath the bridge.  And we can always go back.

*the idea of driving on 35 again gives me heart palpitations - please fix that road!*

The next day I promised we'd go pokemon hunting on the Capitol lawn.  So we did.  We caught two new things.  He didn't get to battle at a gym *eye roll* so it's never enough.  But.  There was an easter egg hunt happening!

We had originally thought it was a mob of protestors protesting something really important like rights for cats, or lead free drinking water *wait* ... but no!  It was much nicer.  It was a children's Easter egg hunt.  And they gladly let my kids participate.  Since we were so late and I didn't want to get bags I said they could each collect as many eggs as they could carry (TWO - in most cases).  G ended up grabbing like five or six, but poor sister was too slow.  So he dropped two of his eggs and she *found* them!  And was well pleased.

From here we went to ... I can't remember ... but it may be the original Torchy's.  I dunno.

We love Torchy's.  They are across the street from Lewis's office so we eat there a lot for one of those "I only have 40 minutes for you" kinds of lunches.  But ... added benefit.  There was a poke gym right there!  So the promised gym time was procured and I heard about pokemon much less after that.  Thank goodness.

From Austin we drove up and over to Matt's house and the kids ran around outside and trampoline time and we played baseball and volleyball and they played video games in the time after outside time and when we had to leave.

And the next day was Easter.

The easter bunny found us!  It was a dinosaur and doll themed easter.  I found some eggsellent (see what I did there) dino pajamas for sister and she got a dino book.  But the big hit was the baby doll with the eyes that open and close.  The boys got science kits and dino book and volcano book, respectively.  The group got new dinosaur bath toys.  Because bath toys get disgusting after seven years.  Ewww.

Sister loved baby doll.  Pictured is baby doll being fed breakfast (bananas) and baby doll walking to church.  That was slow.  And brother helping with baby doll.

After a lovely church service at Matt's church we went back to their house for an Easter Egg hunt.  The big kids (of which there are many) seem love helping Julia find eggs.  And she loves letting them help her find eggs and then enlisting their help to open the procured candy.  I think she ingested about twenty pounds of chocolate.

This made me think of Megan.  She was trying to crawl inside the cabinet.

Pictures at Matt's church with their cousins.  These are a  very nice group of kiddos.  And I like how I do holiday dress up, personally.  Cargo shorts, tennis shoes, and a nice shirt (which I did iron).  Even miss J in athletic shoes and ruffle socks because that's what kids like.  And are comfortable in.  And I've had enough blisters on my feet to think that dress shoes might just be the devil.

It was a lovely weekend get away.  I like Austin.  I know.  Shocking.  Not many people don't.  But happiness is a hotel stay in which your husband has so many points the hotel staff pretty much gives you run of the place and are so very nice.  There aren't many perks to the constant - constant - travel but the perks we get when we travel are nice.

We do a lot of traveling in April.  My time hop was littered this past week with beach trips, Disney and my trip to Italy.  Now I'll see trips from our lovely little get away to Austin.  My next plan is Disney in a few weeks and now I'm trying to add a trip to San Antonio at one of the lovely hotels Lewis has points at.  So fun.