Texas Trip: Austin

We arrived at our AirBnB house rental in Austin the afternoon of the 9th and settled in. Later we went grocery shopping and grabbed dinner. The description of this place said it was rustic and it was. The A/C ended up going out and had to be fixed while we were there so that was not pleasant. However, it was a 3 bedroom place with a living room and kitchen, so we had plenty of room to spread out, which I knew was necessary while Daniel had to work. After Maggie's sessions, the kids and I would find things to do. We found an awesome library downtown and spent some time there on Tuesday the 10th.

They even had an outdoor area where you could hang out. If I lived here (esp when the kids were even younger) this would be a great place to come with lunch, where they can be loud, but so many resources just inside. So cool.

Wednesday the 11th, we went to the Thinkery which is basically a science center. We happened to go on a discount community day, so it ended up being a much less expensive visit than we expected and this place was really cool as well. 

 Above are the girls playing in the market area- they loved shopping for the food and the chicken coop! The boys were off doing something else. While the girls played, I happened to meet a mom with a special needs son and told her about the therapy we were doing. The next day when Maggie went for her sessions, the lady had already called in to inquire about the program! It was all pretty neat. After the Thinkery, we walked by an ice cream shop and decided to give it a try and we all agreed it was delicious. :)

On Thursday the 12th, the kids and I went for a walk down by the waterfront and got a really good view of the downtown Austin area. Fortunately, there was a water fountain because I did not plan well and had zero water. The walk was a little longer than I expected. .

 Later that evening, Daniel finished up a little early and wanted to explore with the family. We walked around downtown and grabbed dinner at a place that is probably not used to having children/families visit given the location. One of the paths we took, led us straight to the library and the kids were so excited to show Daniel, we had to go back in. After this, we got a small peek at the Austin bats. Every night, over a million bats emerge from under the Avenue bridge downtown just before sunset. We couldn't find a parking spot, so we didn't get the full show and no good pics, but it was really neat to see and hear. 

We had a great trip! Even though we were gone most of the week- we drove Sunday and Friday- we really only spent 3 full days in Austin. I wouldn't mind going again! 

Texas Trip: Waco

Daniel was supposed to be in Austin the week of July 9th and that lined up perfectly with an available time to do therapy with Maggie. Since we were all going, we chose to drive rather than fly as per usual with our family. I also discovered during my research that Waco is literally on the way to Austin. So naturally I had to make a stop there. We left home on Sunday (Jul 8) and arrived in Waco about 10pm that night. Turns out, our hotel was right across the street from the Magnolia Table. Daniel had some work/calls to take care of in the morning so the kids and I had to go alone, but I wasn't going to miss it and he was happy to.

We arrived pretty early (to us, anyway) at about 8:30am on a Monday, the week after July 4th. I didn't expect it to be busy. But we still had an hour wait. Apparently, that's not very long, ha! Anyway, we did get in there a little quicker- about 45 mins- and in the meantime, we went to the take away section to buy some souvenirs and grabbed some lemon poppy seed bread. Then headed over to the game area where Maggie won a cookie buy guessing some trivia answers. The kids played on the lawn for a short time, then we were called in.

 The food was so good, well worth the wait! By the time we finished and went back to the hotel, Daniel was finished with his calls and ready to pack up and go. I reminded him we had to go to the silos. We explored for a little bit but not nearly as long as I would've liked (need a girls trip). However, he did need to get to Austin and finish working, so we saw everything and then left.

We spent the next several days in Austin (other post) and started the drive home on Friday (Jul 13). Daniel felt bad for rushing me earlier in the week, so decided to stop in Waco on the way home as well! Don't get me wrong, I'd still like a ladies trip, but this was awesome. I had a chance to go to the bakery, sign the guest book and take more pics. It was quite hot but still super cool. Love my hubby!!

 The bakery line looked really long (reason we didn't go earlier in the week) but it really only took about 20 minutes from beginning to walking out with cupcakes. I think the process of having the order cards really speeds things up and only allowing so many people in for a quick in-and-out. It's much smaller in there than it looks on TV! Allie got the Silobration cupcake- vanilla cake w/chocolate buttercream & sprinkles; Jake got the Shiplap- vanilla cake with vanilla buttercream; Maggie wanted a cookie and boy was it big- she chose the Silo cookie which is choc chip oatmeal w/pb chips & walnuts. It was tasty. I got one of these and a sugar cookie to go as well. And I got one of their seasonal cupcakes- Strawberry Lemonade- strawberry cupcake with lemon buttercream. So.Good. Daniel & Will didn't wait in line with us nor did they want anything, but we did share bites.

What a great trip! I'm so excited we had a chance to visit Magnolia in Waco, I sure didn't think that would be something I got to do anytime soon!! I can't wait to go back. ;)