Last Little Family Vacay

This past weekend we decided to go to Austin for one last hurrah before the arrival of the new baby.  We didn't get much sleep because the kids refused to sleep in, but we managed to have a blast!

Here are a few highlights:

1. Mayfield Park--We went to check out the resident peacocks at this park.  There were SO many just hanging around, up in the trees, squawking loudly.  It was kinda crazy.  The minute we walked through the gate, a peacock squawked and Evie immediately started to bawl.  Wow.

Then she calmed down and we walked around to check out the peacocks and all the lily ponds in the park.  The highlight was watching a male peacock court a female peacock.  He put up all his fancy feathers and whenever she came close to him, the short feathers behind the display would start rattling to make the fan of feathers shake around.  It was amazing to watch.  Although his technique wasn't too impressive to the lady because she soon ran away.  Poor guy.

2. A Little Date--J and V agreed to watch the kids for us one night so that we could have a date of our own.  We went to eat food at our favorite restaurant, Austin Land and Cattle.  The filet mignon was to-die-for!  And if you can believe it, B says that their steak fries are the most perfect fries he's ever had.  Actually, they WERE pretty amazing!  Then we hung out at a bookstore for a while and afterwards, we went to see "The Amazing Spiderman."

3. Sno-Beach--Of course no Austin visit is complete without a trip to Sno-Beach for yummy sno-cones!

4. The Greenbelt--We went back to hike on the Greenbelt to go swimming since B didn't get to go with us last time.  Luckily, it had rained all week, so it wasn't dry...but the water definitely wasn't as high as when we went last time.  But the kids had lots of fun swimming with B.  B even jumped off their little cliff into the water.  Elina really practiced skipping stones with B and she managed to get 3-4 skips in!

5. Deep Eddy--We went to Deep Eddy pool, which is a pool fed by natural springs, for their family movie night.  You get to swim around while watching a movie on a big screen.

Unfortunately, lots of thunder rolled in and everything got canceled.  Boo!  The kids were SO looking forward to watching "Puss in Boots" there.  To make it up to the kids, we made ice cream sundaes at home and watched a movie.  The kids went to bed LATE that night!

6. Baby Shower Brunch--My sisters were nice enough to take me to Jack Allen for a yummy brunch on Sunday.  It was incredibly delicious!  Amazing pancakes and apple pecan strudel!  Yum!!

7. IKEA--While in Austin, we also had to go buy some much-needed furniture.  We got some shelving for the playroom and we got a new bed set for our own bedroom.  We've been sleeping with our mattress and box spring on the floor ever since we moved in, so it's nice to have furniture again.

We had such a wonderful stay in Austin!  It's always so much fun!