Last Monday, Tommy got asked to go to a few meetings in Austin during SxSW. He'd been planning to just drive down for some meetings on this Monday and come back Tuesday, but then they asked him to do some stuff on Friday too. So we decided we'd make a trip of it! Most of our hotels were paid for, and the gas to get down there, so it was an almost-free vacation for us. Of course, "vacation" is a misleading term--because traveling with these two kids is anything but relaxing! It was a LOT of fun but also a ton of work. But at least we didn't have to clean up the food Graham threw onto the floor for a few days, so I think it evened out.
On our drive down, we stopped in Waco and went to Magnolia Market, the store owned by Chip and Joanna Gaines from Fixer Upper. I've only watched a few episodes of their show, but I love it and it's given me some great ideas for things to do to our house (starting with planting some flowers in our yard this weekend!). And also, it was a rainy day and we wanted to stop and get out of the car halfway to Austin, and this was the best stop! We didn't buy anything at their store, because it was $$$, but it was fun to stop. Then we also went to the Dr. Pepper museum just down the street, because why not? It didn't blow my mind but it was fun to explain how they make soda to Dane.
A horse made out of Dr. Pepper bottle caps.
Graham did NOT want to nap in the car. But he was sure happy to get out and help drive! (Just kidding, this is just waiting in the hotel parking lot while Tommy checked us in.)
It was still rainy when we got to Austin, so we changed our plans and went to the Texas State Capitol to do a tour. Dane and I went here when we came last year, but Graham wasn't born yet and Tommy hadn't been! It was fun to do a tour, and we even got to go inside the Senate Chambers, which was really neat.
I have a picture of Dane sitting on this exact cannon exactly one year ago when we came.
We love Texas!
Tommy calls this the "Daddy sandwich."
We drove to San Antonio the next day, because we were dying to hit up another major highlight of Texas history. Just kidding, but it was fun to see the Alamo and learn about the story of it some more.
The best we could do with all four of us and a stranger taking the picture.
Then we went down to the Riverwalk and got to ride on one of the riverboats for a tour!
We were definitely the worst people on the tour. Both boys were crying/trying to sleep by the end.
I was sad because I wanted to spend more time walking along the Riverwalk. It's so pretty! We will be back sometime and plan better for it.
After we got short naps in at the hotel, everyone felt much better. We went to the big city park and got some delicious popsicles to enjoy together on the grass.
And then we got to ride on the San Antonio Zoo train! We were the first people on our train, so we got to choose where we wanted to sit--at the very end facing the back, of course!
So, so cute. Dane was so, so happy.
Then we went across the street to the Japanese tea garden there, which was surprisingly gorgeous and really fun to wander around. This picture obviously does not do it justice. I don't get it--when I ask someone to take a picture of us and we're standing in front of a waterfall, why are you not getting the waterfall in the picture??
We found a restaurant for dinner that had an enormous sandbox for kids to play in in the back, and we were all very relieved. They were so happy. And so were we.
While we were at the gift shop in San Antonio, Dane saw this semi truck with the Texas flag on the side and immediately WANTED IT and talked about the "Texas truck" nonstop. We said no, but then saw it was only $6.
So we got him the Texas truck and gave it to him the next day. He was SO SO SO SO HAPPY and the Texas truck became his best friend. He puts it down for naps when we leave the room and talks to it like it's a human being.
Graham so happy to be able to stand and look out of our hotel room window.
Dane and his nighttime friends all sleeping next to him.
We drove to see the San Antonio temple as we were leaving town. Of course the gates were closed. Why are the gates always closed when I want to just walk around the grounds?
We went to a sculpture garden and somebody was very happy to be there.
Dane's favorite sculpture in the sculpture garden.
Graham's favorite sculpture--the baby sculpture.
We went to see my cousin Scott and his family that live in Austin. They just moved there a little over a month ago, so we got to see their cute new house and see them for the first time in a long time! Their two boys are the same exact ages as ours. It was a lot of fun, and Dane has been asking to go to Elliot's house again since we left.
The cousins with our babies!
Dane and Elliot are only six weeks apart, and Graham and Oliver are only a few months apart. They all played great together.
Monday morning, while Tommy was at meetings, I took the boys to the Austin Botanical Gardens, which were SO pretty and peaceful. I really was glad we went.
They had (another!) beautiful Japanese garden, with this awesome stream going for a looong time to walk along. It felt like we were all alone too. I loved it. And I loved pointing things out to Dane, like the spiderwebs and the koi fish. This is my favorite part of parenting--teaching him about the world and about things.
During Graham's nap, Dane and I snuggled on the bed and he played games on the Kindle while I watched a show on my phone. We had to be quiet, right? It was fun to do something like that in the middle of the day.
Then we went back to Scott and Kate's house to play with them a little more while Tommy was at more meetings. Dane was thrilled to play with Elliot's trucks some more.
Then we drove back home on Tuesday morning. No stopping in Waco this time, because Tommy wanted to get to work for the afternoon. It's so nice that Austin is only 3 1/2 hours away! It feels like almost nothing--except when the baby won't nap for that whole time. I cannot even FATHOM doing a drive to Utah this summer like we did last summer. It would be so absolutely miserable with Graham at this age. These 3 1/2 hours is almost the max I want to do with him for a while. But all things considered, the boys were so nice and happy despite missing naps and sleeping all together in the same hotel room. We have just learned that even on vacation while staying in hotels, it's generally worth it to slow down for a few hours to try and let them get a nap, or else we will all be angry and frustrated by 3 pm. It's made our trips a lot less stressful to make that a priority and to keep their needs in mind instead of just trying to sightsee as much as possible. And we still got to do and see quite a lot in the short time we were there! The great thing is I am sure we'll be back to both of these cities sometime (as long as we keep living here), so I don't feel pressured to see everything. I'm glad we went though!
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