Austin-Day 1

On Wednesday morning we headed out to Austin- it is only 3 hours away so we were excited to spend a couple days exploring the city that everyone says is awesome. It was fun to just go and be spontaneous (which is a lot harder now with a kid!), we knew we wanted to go this break but it wasn't until Tuesday we finalized our plans.

The drive wasn't horrible, if only Nathan liked car trips still...anything over 10 minutes really tests his limits...he's just pure craziness...When we got to Austin our first stop was Zilker Park, a huge park in the city that has tons of stuff.  We started by driving around and figuring out where stuff was, what we really wanted to do, and just getting the feel of the place.  We first went to the Barton Springs Pool (a naturally filling spring water pool) but decided to wait till it got hotter- Nathan loved chasing the birds around, and he was able to get really close because they were so used to people. 

We then headed over to the botanical garden where we took some pretty pictures for a decorating project we're working on...hopefully to be finished today :) The gardens were beautiful. 

Nathan took a nap, we ate lunch, and then headed over to the pool! It was so fun- and freezing! The water was so cold, it took a while to get used to it, but it sure was fun! There were a lot of people there, and let me tell you, the people watching in Austin is way better than here in Houston! There were just so many classy characters there...it was great.  We had fun playing the water, walking around, and meeting some really nice people (including the girl from England who gave Nathan her blow-up ball...or the guy who lost his goggles...or the girl who was only wearing a bra and underwear....or the man in tighty whities...or the couple making out hard core...or the girl who made the weirdest noise on the diving board...so many people!) We loved it.

We then packed up, got dressed and went down to South Congress Ave (called SoCo...very trendy, hip area...lots of small boutiques and stores) and then went to dinner at a great restaurant, Chuy's Hula Hut. (Chuy's is a great Tex-Mex Restaurant we've been to in Houston, but the Hula Hut was like Hawaiian Tex-Mex...) It was really good food and the atmosphere was super fun, but the best part was the location, we sat outside right on the lake. It was so pretty and nice! Nathan loved being able to see birds and boats go by, and Chris loved the jalapeno ranch dip...it's his favorite dip ever (I even like it and it's spicy...which mean a lot!) 

We were going to watch the bats on Congress Bridge but Nathan was clearly tired and ready for bed so we headed to our hotel and he quickly fell asleep after a chaotic bath experience (for some reason he absolutely hates slippery floors in tubs...he freaks out...makes for a fun time).  We then planned out the next day, watched a movie, and went to bed. What a great day.

---Our putting Nathan to bed story---I want to make sure I have this recorded for how insane it was!

Chris was getting all the luggage/cooler/pack n play from the car, I was giving Nathan his bath which he desperately needed but hated, so it made for a very frustrating time.  I finally finished, Chris feeds Nathan his bedtime snack, and I figure out how to get the pack n play to fit in the bathroom (We don't want to go to bed super early like Nathan, so the plan was to put him in the bathroom, we'd stay out and watch TV, plan, organize...and then when we were ready for bed we'd wheel Nathan out of the bathroom, into the bedroom area while we brush our teeth, get ready for bed...) Turns out our bathroom is smaller than I imagined (or hoped) it would be, and the only way to get it in there was to completely block the door.  So once Nathan was ready for bed I squeezed---literally squeezed, I swear if I was 10 pounds heavier I could not have fit through the opening of the door. Nathan quickly fell asleep...the fun part came when we needed to transfer Nathan out of the bathroom.  The plan was for me to go in, pick Nathan, lift up the pack n play into the tub so Chris could get in and take it down so it would fit through the door, set it back up near the bed, and put Nathan back down without him waking up...very ambitious.  I got in (Chris pushed me through), got Nathan up without any problems, lifted the pack n play and it made the loudest sounds as it crashed over the toilet and the tub...twice.  Chris comes in and starts to take it down which is almost as loud, I squeeze past him and try to get far away, Nathan totally wakes up and starts talking, Chris struggles to get it through the door in the dark making even more noise, we finally get it set up and put Nathan back in......whew