Fabulous Austin Adventure

 This past weekend we drove down to Austin. We had not been there in quite some time so it was a nice break away from Houston to go hang out in my hometown. I'm not sure if its because we got to spread our time out and see so many people or if we just felt more relaxed being able to have a little of our own time but this was by far one of the best weekends in Austin I have had in a long time! 

We started out Friday night at The Campbell house, where they cooked us the most amazing meals and had homemade sangria and cold beer greeting us as we walked in. Jane has three beautiful kids and the youngest, Hutch, is just 2 weeks older than Jack! Though we are in different cities now we have always remained close with each other and I was so happy for the boys to meet up again. We promised each other that we would continue to do this, because having life long friends from birth is pretty darn special! 

Jack quickly warmed up and found the play room...and that clean room was torn apart in seconds by the kids have a ball!

 The next morning Jane and I woke up to go have a nice walk (with major hills to take my breath away) around her gorgeous hill country neighborhood. I loved our chit chat and just spending the morning together.

We came back home and the boys were up and ready to go!

Hutch asked Jack to bring his helmet with him..and we were sure glad we did...because of the fun that was had on this little firetruck. 

 And I think Jack is big for his age... check out Hutch! ha love it!

 Do you believe that I am standing in their backyard? Well I am! How amazing is this paradise that the kids get to explore in whenever they want!

 Natural springs just steps from the house! AMAZING and the water is cold too, perfect for a warm day! Wild ferns growing makes my heart pitter patter!

 

We had only a brief time back here but what we got to see was awesome and I can't wait to return when we have more time to explore even further!

 Thank you Les, Jane, Hutch, Cannon & Neely for having us over to your beautiful hill country retreat!

After we said our goodbyes we packed up and headed for downtown Austin to check into the Hilton. 

We spoiled ourselves with a hotel stay and really enjoyed it! 

 We relaxed for a little while and got cleaned up to head down to south Austin for my best friends daughters 1st birthday! Our friend Maggie turned one and we can not believe how fast this year has gone by!

 It was a Minnie theme so we of course sported some Disney attire! Trish had the place decorated so cute and she was so creative and resourceful making just about everything!

 Grandma Carolina and Maggie

 We had to wake Jack from a nap in the car after about an hour and he was not a happy camper at first... we tried to make him smile with a lady making balloons.. face painting with our friends...and even pictures with our besties.....but none of it was working...

 until Mickey came in for a visit!! He was giving him high fives and the smile was on his face!

 After our visit with Mickey we went outside for a Minnie candy pinata

 Yay for a wonderful 1st birthday celebration for the princess Maggie!

 We had a little time on our hands before dinner so we checked out the park at Shady Hollow

Yet another reason we were happy because it was our 5th year wedding anniversary on Saturday! 

I don't know about you but I'm pretty easy to please with food, so a margarita with chips at Trudy's was the perfect way to celebrate with my family and friends! 

Happy Anniversary to my amazing husband of FIVE years!  

Now that's something to smile about!

 The next morning we woke up and kept the celebration about us going :)  We took Jack to our favorite breakfast spot, the original Kirby Lane Cafe and then took Jackson on a tour all about Mommy and Daddy.

But of course not before we rode the escalator a few times at the hotel...ha

 On our tour around town we showed Jack the best state capital there is! Lonestar proud!

Then we took the short drive to Mommy's old college house that was just two blocks away from Daddy. Mommy @ 38th and Redriver

 Daddy @ 40th and Redriver

 After our house tour we took him to our school tour. 

(Daddy's undergrad is Vanderbilt but he attend law school at UT)

 We would be proud parents if Jack chose to attend school at UT!

 But we will be proud no matter where you choose baby boy! There are so many options!

We of course had to stop by Mommy's school, though much smaller in size St. Edward's University was a perfect fit for me and I loved this beautiful campus!

After all that walking around we worked up another appetite...

No friend of mine could ever say no to Mr Gatti's pizza! 

Lucky for me my best friend loves it just as much ad I do!

So we celebrated Maggie's actual birthday at the Mommies favorite spot!

 

Jack of course loved the arcade and could care less about pizza but eventually he did eat a huge plate of spaghetti and our favorite cinna stick for desert!

 

 

 After all the ticket collecting we checked out what we could get in the toy vault...

 bugs it is!

 We said our final goodbyes to our friends and the city and lucky for us Mommy and Daddy will be back again next weekend for a wedding while Jack has fun with Mimi in Houston. We had one tired little boy on the way home, he watched about 20 minutes of video and then was out the entire way home! 

We loved every minute of our adventures in Austin.