Austin

We couldn't be 80 miles away from Austin and not pop in for an afternoon!  So we did.  It was a beautiful day.  The kids both slept in the car on the way to Austin, but Hadley was screaming in the car during the rush hour traffic later.  Lovely.  It was her dinner time, and she doesn't do bottles (see below).  At least she was calmed by the bjorn for the rest of it.

Anyway, we hit up Mount Bonnell, thinking that all of the stairs would tire Owen, but he hardly stayed still, leading us back and forth and up and down the park.  Our good friend, Juan, joined us for the afternoon!  And did I mention that the mountain laurels were already in full bloom and so fragrant, too?  Sigh...  It was a perfect afternoon.

Then we headed down the road to a neat little preserve on the water called Mayfield Park.  It has some gardens, koi ponds, trails down to the river, and a historic cottage surrounded by peacocks. Such a cool place, I wish I'd spent more time there when we lived in town!

The peafowl were everywhere in full plumage.  We nearly walked under one high up in a tree before we noticed him up there.  How many do you see?

Lastly, we headed to dinner with our friends.  It was so good to see them!  We definitely miss Austin this time of year.

A couple of days later, we boarded a plane for the ride home.  Our layover in Salt Lake City was only 30 minutes, and our plane was a little late, we were on the back of the plane, and our connecting gate was at the opposite end of the airport.  Needless to say, we had to run just to make last call boarding.  Owen was riding on Daddy's shoulders during the run, and didn't duck to fit through the gate door.  Thunk!  With blood rushing down his face, we still had to jog down the ground terminal to make it to our little hopper in time.  Poor guy!  We rushed onto the plane late, sweaty, bleeding profusely from the head and wailing, and with two small children.  I'm sure everyone on board was ecstatic to see us!  :)  The flight attendant got us some ice and wet napkins to address Owen's wound while we got settled and the plane took off.  Luckily, it stopped bleeding after a few minutes of compression, and Owen fell asleep on the 40-minute flight.

Hadley, too, slept on the plane.  I had to take a picture because her eyes never really shut!  After checking that she was really passed out, it cracked me up.  She was a great air traveler - woohoo!

She also held her own bottle for the first time!  This was amusing because she still doesn't understand bottles.  I think she's under the impression that they are for teething, because she sticks it in the corner of her mouth and smacks like she's got Big League Chew in there.  Oh well.  At least she managed to get an ounce or two down her throat instead of her chin!

Until next time, Texas!  (Probably next early spring when cabin fever hits, wink, wink.)