Our friends that we ate with had purchased their tickets together a while back so we were in different sections but after the first intermission we snuck to their area and were able to finish the concert with them. The show was pretty much everything we hoped it would be! Some of our favorite songs of our youth with Salt N Peppa stealing the show! Words can't do justice to describe the great time we had! I danced my booty off (I do NOT dance, I have zero rhythm) and had the best time!
After the show we were thinking of going out to a local karaoke bar but decided to go home instead. When we woke up we were so thankful we made that decision! We were already sore and still tired so we were happy to not wake up hung over too.
When we woke up we realized that we had nothing planned for the day. Not a bad thing by any means but pretty rare for us. We stay very busy most of the time. The thought of having nothing down in the planner and all chores done was kind of exciting! Before we got out of bed Orin crawled in with us and we snuggled him and decided that we would go downtown today. We live in a suburb of Austin so it isn't far but we don't venture downtown very often, especially with all of our kids in tow. As long as we've lived here (24 years total, moving away for college and to Florida for a few years-other than that I've been here pretty much all of my life) I've never driven to see some of the murals and art work that is part of what makes Austin so unique and the incredible city that it is and today sounded like a great day to do it. The weather was beautiful and there was no way we wanted to spend the day inside. Everyone got ready for the day and we were on our way.
We left the house at about 10:45am and started driving south toward Austin knowing that we needed to stop for lunch first. We decided to eat at Chuy's, which fit the theme for the day because Chuy's is an Austin staple. It was a perfect way to start what would turn out to be such an amazing family day!
After lunch we ventured into downtown Austin and found a place to park off of Congress, which was a small victory. Parking was a little nuts! After we unloaded our clan we found the "I Love You So Much" mural and took some pictures. Orin didn't want to cooperate at first but eventually got on board. After our first photo op we walked around for a while and eventually found the "Austin" mural. We again took some pictures that Orin again didn't want to participate in. We still were able to sneak him in some of the pictures thanks to the generosity of some strangers willing to take the shot for us. One of the things I love about Austin are the locals who are almost always willing to lend a hand for a quick favor and expect nothing in return. We of course offered to take pics for those who helped us out and were more than happy to help if they took us up on the offer.
After we took pictures the house/business next to the "Austin" mural caught Chad's eye. It was a Patisserie and something sweet sounded good to all of us! We went inside where each of us ordered one small treat. Chad bought an eclair while each of the kids and I ordered a different macaroon. They were delectable! Seriously, the best macaroon I've ever had! I had an almond one, Grace strawberry, Abby lavender and Orin had a chocolate one. They were perfect!
After our sweet treats we started to walk back to our car stopping in some classically Austin stores and farmer's markets along the way. We were in no rush and spent over an hour walking half of a mile and enjoying our time together. When we made it back to the car we decided to seek out the Austin Graffiti Park. We drove the less than three miles to our destination and spent a good ten minutes finding somewhere to park. We finally did and made our way over to the park. I've seen pictures of it before and the pictures have never done it justice. It was so cool! There was some scary climbing involved with no stairs but we all made it. When we got to the highest level I was a total nervous wreck because Orin wanted to get too close to the drop off and Abby was wearing boots that I didn't trust her not to fall in. Chad kept his hands on them both and we were able to sit back and enjoy the view of the Austin skyline. It was an experience that we will all treasure. We all sat down on the ground (another kind stranger offered to take a few pictures of us) and we all actually enjoyed sitting quietly together just admiring the view. It was really special.
After a while we made our way down the hills and back to our car. We decided to pay the capitol of Texas a visit. When we got to the capitol I was so happy to see how excited my kids were to read plaques and listen to what we had to say about Texas history and our personal connections to people who have served our great state. We all enjoyed taking our time and walking around the building and looking at all of the pictures of our Governors and elected officials. Again I was pretty nervous about Orin wanting to run around, I was scared that somehow he would lean too far and fall over the ledge down into the rotunda. He had to hold mine or Chad's hand the entire time, he wasn't too happy about that but had to get over it. We all had a great time exploring the capitol! When we left the inside we walked around the grounds for a little while, the kids were happy to be able to run around for a while and we discussed how old some of the trees on the grounds are, they were interested and we were happy to teach.
We made our way back to the car with 13 minutes to spare on our car meter, score! We headed home and started talking about our favorite parts of our adventures for the day. We all agreed that we were so happy with how our day went and are eager to do it again. I love that our kids enjoyed the day all together and are more excited about our family days together than anything else, even Grace, our teenager.
Days like today make me even more appreciative of the life we have worked so hard to have and they make me appreciate my husband and our kids individually, even more than I already do. I'm thrilled to have these experiences and that our kids tell us that "today was the best day ever!" every single time that we get to spend time together like this. We are so blessed to have so many Best Days!
I Love The 90's Concert! February 5, 2016
Family Day <3 February 6, 2016
Until next time, count your blessings! :)
Sara
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