Tuesday, June 25, 2019

Keep Austin Wonderful

We finally had a swim-free weekend, so we headed to Austin to see some friends. Because we could, our first stop was The Salt Lick for dinner. It will always be a special place for us, even if our kids don't like BBQ sides! Ugh, how did we mess up that? The sides are the best part! Anyway, we enjoyed our meal, Owen enjoyed the ribs, and Hadley sulked, except for this picture.
In Hill Country style, there is a limestone patio under the oak trees and live music playing after dinner. But we were definitely shocked at the amount of development that has happened along the road to the restaurant! It used to be mostly rural with a few ranches here and there, but now there were neighborhoods nearly all the way. Kinda sad.

The kids love staying in a hotel because it's like a full family sleepover. They have gotten into Harry Potter this summer, Owen finally reading it to stay one book ahead of his sister. Hadley left her big book at home, and had already read the Easy Reader books she had brought on the trip, so she opted to read the Gideon Bible provided by our hotel room. She vowed she would read it all! She read Genesis 1, flipped to the end and declared that there were only 22 chapters in the Bible (*that is, 22 chapters in Revelation), so she was already off to a good start, and flipped back to read Genesis 2. We didn't have the heart to tell her that the chapters were by book and that there are 60+ books in the Bible...

On Saturday, we spent the day with college friends (Kim and Kristel) and their kids, eating, playing, swimming, and seeing Kristel's beautiful, newly remodeled house. Then we met another friend (Juan) at an East Austin brewery (Oddwood Ales) that had the brilliant idea to put all sorts of video game consoles and games around the place. Great idea for families! I failed at taking pictures with our friends... But we really enjoyed Mario Kart!

We couldn't resist checking in on our first house. It looks like a family lives there, but they cut down the grove of trees that J used to spend time trimming.

Finally, we snuck in a hike on Sunday morning because our hotel was right next to the greenbelt. It was a muggy morning, but we pressed on through the cedar forest.

And 3-ish miles later, we finally arrived to our waterfall destination, where we could wade in some cool water. Next time, we vowed to bring our swimsuits and park at the closer trailhead. The kids liked the water until Owen slipped and fell in, soaking his shorts for a squishy walk back. We finished off the weekend with a perfect lunch at Central Market, one of our favorites, with more live music. All in all, a great weekend!

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