Austin trip and a mini reunion

When we lived in Nashville, we didn't really have family near. Since moving here, my husband travels a lot....alone. Mainly, because I'm not the kind of person to drag 4 suitcases and snacks and formula and extra toys. Sounds painful to me....so I avoid it. When Dom turned 2, I think I finally felt free enough to pack as little as possible, and just take surprises as they came.

But now, with another baby, ugh....I'm back to square one. The hubs was able to get some days off and we decided to visit his oldest brother in Austin. His older sister was going to be there as well....it had been 5 years since they've seen each other. He comes from a big family- 9 children...and 7 of them are married and 6 have children.....it's quite a bit of people. There is a plan to have a reunion next year, but I know it will be hard to get so many people to one place. For now, we enjoyed the mini reunion.
 

Ready to go...he says.



We decided to leave at 3am, to make sure children slept...only one did. Dom finally gave up around 4:30am. We were so tired. Spencer found a bird in Dallas, and that was our halfway stop. It was nice to get the kids out and stretch our legs.

We left at 3am...so the kids would sleep.

3am and NOT sleeping

Our Dallas Stop at 7am....wide awake

Birding buddies

We made it to Austin around 12pm, and Spencer decided to get anther bird, since family was at church. Once they got home, we met them there. It was CHAOS. It's been a long time since I've been in a house full of kids....um, I wasn't ready for it. It was just pure chaos. There was tantrums, screaming, and crying. Dom was SO tired, and he cried a lot on the first day. I felt bad for him. Everywhere he went, somebody took over his toy....and he just broke down. It broke my heart, but what was I suppose to do? The next day he was better at coping with it....and eventually got much better. But after spending so much time with children...I am pretty sure I'm good with 2 children...WE.ARE.DONE.

 

He had fun with cousins

We decided the kids had a lot of energy...so, there was a lot of pool time, a lot of indoor play (since the weather was not cooperating). We did an inside bounce house. Dom didn't like it. Another day, we tried an indoor play gym...he liked that much better. He didn't take a nap any day...so he slept pretty good...for the most part.  The last day, we hit the aquarium...it was a bit smaller than expected, but Dom loved it. He liked the nemo fish and his anemone. He kept going back for it. We were able to get some food to feed the fish and stingrays and the kids liked that. The aquarium also had some bird cages and a tortoise, caymans and a monitor lizard...i'm not sure why. The lizard kept getting out because he was in "mating season" mode....he didn't hurt anybody.

Stingrays feeding hour

Loved the nemo fish and anemonies

A walk in tank

Trying to feed the sting rays

Escaping...for the third time today

Daddy trying to be funny

We really enjoyed Austin, there's a ton of things to do. From downtown, to birds and hikes, and natural swimming pools, and things that are free...and things that are not. It was nice for Dom to hang out with kids his age. He really got along with baby C. The very last day we were there, they spent a lot of time alone together (everyone else had left and her brothers were at swim practice). They read together, they played trains together, and dress up. They also thought it would be funny to jump from C's bed into the pack-n-play. Dom is all bruised up...but he had a blast. I even overheard little C say "I like you. You can sleep next to me on this bed". I wish I could have gotten it on camera. She is so sweet. Dom was probably the only kid that didn't hit her. We'll see how close they stay if we go back next year.

 

We decided to leave after four days and leave at 3am again. This time, the kids slept, but we hit a nag on the road. Hurricane Bill did a number on the TX/OK border and some rocks slid onto the interstate, so they had to close a big chunk. They re routed us way to the west....I mean we lost like 2 hours. The Washita River was about to overflow.....it was making me nervous. The water was covering most of the trunks on the trees, leaving only the canopies for us to see. So, it took us about 8 hours to get back home...but we did it. The kids were a bit annoyed, but they napped the last hour, so I rushed through the last 66 miles back home. And now...it's time to unpack and take a vacation from this vacations.....right?

Dangerous overflowing bridge