This past weekend we realized that for the first time all summer we did not have anything planned on Friday or Saturday night. For the fun of thinking out loud I said something along the lines of, "It would be great if we could just go explore somewhere and come back Saturday night." To which Nat replied, "Let's do it!" Let me first say that I was thrilled at willingness of my wonderful husband to take a bit of the afternoon off and for the opportunity to just go exploring. My next response was panic! Where were we going to go? How much could we afford in our budget? How am I going to get the four of us packed up and ready to be out of the house within 3 hours plus make whatever plans we needed to make? I love love love the idea of being spontaneous, I really do - it's fun (!) - but... I like to plan and figure out the best place to stay for our money, where we should go for the amount of time that we're able to be gone, do the grocery shopping so we don't have to buy tons of food out, clean the house so that it's restful to come home, and have a list of everything that each person needs and double check it to make sure nothing is forgotten. Thankfully, everything worked out just fine - I think we packed enough for a long weekend, didn't worry too much about the food (just grabbed a cooler, the pb&j, and any snacks I saw in our pantry), and made the decision that we were going to Austin, TX and the surrounding area. We really had a great time exploring as a family! Here are some of our pictures :o)
It has been very hot... we thought of camping, but decided against it because of the heat!
Graham and Kate's first (memorable) hotel experience. We were thankful for a good deal (on hotwire) for our hotel, so we were able to stay right downtown within walking distance to the Capitol building for super cheap! G was amazed by the special trick that turned the couch into a bed for them :o)
For dinner we went to Stubb's for some BBQ... it was delicious!!! And a really neat building too -- lots of character.
At the Capitol... it was impressive!
I was reminded as we walked through security that we were in Texas when I asked the security guards if there was anything we couldn't take a picture of and they answered that we could photograph anything but the security equipment! It was strange to be able to walk all around the building (and at 8pm) and not have security all over the place... we were allowed to just roam!
In the center...
...And the floor from a few stories up
Davy Crockett
Sam Houston and Stephen F. Austin... both originally from Virginia, I must add :o)
The next morning we started exploring... we started by sneaking a peek at the Longhorns stadium, had brunch at a park, and then headed west.
We did most of our exploring in small towns around Lake Travis and really enjoyed a hike in the woods at a wildlife refuge. It was nice to have a slightly overcast day under a canopy of trees :o)
Poor Nat ended up with a thumb full of these (he removed most of them before I took the picture)...
from one of these! We had to stay on the trail for sure!
I am thankful for our little family and the time we were able to get away to spend with one another!
1 comment:
That sounds like so much fun! Glad you guys did that.
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