Austin fun!

Hello everyone!

Many apologies for the long absence. We have A LOT to catch up on. First, I need to post about our trip to Austin back in April. I know it's almost June, but since this is the closest thing I have to scrapbooking right now, I want to make sure everything is covered. Coming up later...Mother's Day, play dates, first bike ride.....stay tuned!

In April, after tax season and in between semesters for Joni, we took a long weekend trip to DFW and Austin. On these extended weekends, we fly into DFW since we have a lot of friends there now and it's a lot cheaper! We spend one night there and drive down to Austin. It was a great trip as usual, but much too fast as usual. We miss all of our friends and family down there dearly and really cherish these trips that we try to do twice a year. Thanks to everyone for their hospitality and good fun!

On to the pictures!

I had to post these first two because they were just too funny. Poor Taylor, she was over-tired after the flight (past her bedtime) and became really upset because Daddy was in her car seat. Al was installing it and sat in the seat to make sure it was tight enough and she was not happy. She kept saying, "Dada out!" and swiping at the seat. She started bawling....so what do good, kind and sympathetic parents do? They take pictures of course!

Our first night there, we headed over to our good friends, Keith and Suzanne's house so Taylor could see her buddy Nicholas. Suzanne was still out of town, but fortunately we caught her at the tail end of our trip.

Here are the two little monkeys trying to break their way into the staircase:

The next morning, before we headed to Austin, we stopped by our friends Shane and Whitney's house for breakfast. Their sweet boy, Austin, was very kind to let Taylor take over his toys that morning.

Here is Taylor trying to find a way to get closer to their cat, Max:

Taylor thought it was really exciting that Austin had the same barn yard magnet toy that she had!

Taylor and Austin sharing a puzzle:

On our way to Austin, we stopped at an outlet mall and hit up three different kids-clothing stores. Our best buy? A $2 purple baseball cap that Taylor insisted on wearing backwards. She was practically strutting! She still loves it and will say "Puple hah" when she sees it. Such a funny little girl:

Once we were in Austin, we met Kolin, Alexis, Kevin and Amanda at Chuy's for some good Tex Mex. I noticed after this trip that we didn't get many pictures of other people besides the kids. Partly because Taylor was being shy around EVERYONE and partly because we just plain forget when we have a clown to keep our camera busy!

Here's Taylor checking out the menu:

I think she liked what she ordered!

And even shared a bite with Daddy!

On the way back to the Bradley house (Scott, Tanya and Samantha's place) we stopped by Shady Grove to meet the Bradley fam for a few minutes of live music on the lawn. Al took Taylor up to the front and she was mesmerized by the singer/guitarist. He even gave her a little shout-out!

The following day, we headed to Dripping Springs to visit with Mimi and Mawlene (Al's grandma and great-grandma). Taylor with one of her only pictures WITH someone else. And she smiled! ;)

On Friday evening, we had a really fun night planned. Kolin's family was all in town including his mom (Karol), dad (Steve) and brother (and our other great friend), Kacey. They were celebrating Steve's 60th birthday with a crawfish boil. It was both mine and Taylor's first time and it was a lot of fun! We both tried it and actually liked it. That's a huge deal for me especially since I hate shellfish!

Miss Taylor Jean in her skull & bones outfit (from Kolin):

The Howell boys, Momma Howell and Alexis preping the crawfish that was going to be frozen for future use:

It was such a treat to see all of them for the first time in years. Aside from Kolin, none of them had met Taylor yet so that was pretty special. Al and I consider them our Texas parents/siblings so it's always great to spend time with them. It's one of the many things we miss about living there. :)

Cute shot of Taylor and Samantha primping in the morning:

Playing around at Austin Java Co. after brunch:

We decided to take Taylor to Eeyore's birthday festival. This is a shot of the drum circle. I don't think she was really into it (even though there was a live donkey there!), but now we can say she's been once. ;)

Saturday night we met our great friends Jon, Michelle, Mike and Ann Marie for a nice night out. Mike and Ann Marie just had a baby girl, Gracie, this past November. Again, no pictures of anyone else except the babies...and Al of course.

This is another classic torture picture. For some reason, Taylor was NOT happy about bath time with Samantha. I don't know if it was too deep, or she was cranky, or what, but I had to take a picture of course. The best part is Samantha having a good ol' time in the background, ha!

Brunch our last day in Austin at one of our favorite places, Hickory Street, with a little live music action:

Back in Fort Worth Sunday night and we met our old neighbors, the Overman's, my cousin Ryan, and Keith, Suzanne and Nicholas for dinner. Here's a picture of Nicholas, Evrett (Taylor's old buddy from daycare in Minneapolis) and Taylor. Not pictured, Brenden, Evrett's new baby brother.

Hey, there IS a picture of me and Taylor with someone else! Me and Taylor with my cousin Ryan. He, his wife Angie and 2 daugters live in San Antonio now, but Ryan just happened to be in Dallas for a month while we were passing through. So great to see him! Hopefully next time we'll see the whole family. :)

One last time to play before we leave in the morning. These two were having a good ol' time before bedtime!

Hope that helps give everyone a fix for a little while. Mother's Day photos are next!! :)