Grandparents' Weekend

Spring Break is drawing to an end.  I'm not surprised that I feel like it wasn't enough time.  It never is.  I keep replaying it all in my head so that I can feel like it was enough, but it just wasn't.

Even though it wasn't enough time it was a tremendous amount of fun.  But how could it not be?  One week with your whole family together, having adventures and traveling to see the people that you love.  That was our Spring Break.

We took a trip to see my folks.  During our time there we scheduled a visit to Poppa Jeffery's shipyard.  The kids really liked it.  They got to see the water and throw rocks in it.  They got to see a tractor and a travel-lift and many different kinds of boats.  The sun was hot and the sky was just beautiful.  It was a great visit.

My mom is a teacher.  It's her last year before retirement.  Her Spring Break did not coincide with ours, but we still managed to squeeze in some Mamita Donna time.  We were treated to Chick-Fil-A and a small shopping trip to Target where we got our new flops for the upcoming spring/summer.  We also got to run some errands with her and just enjoy her company.  It's strange how you miss doing the seemingly mundane things together.

My kids really love when we go to see my parents.  And it makes total sense.  Toys that they haven't seen in a while, food that they haven't eaten in a while, ice cream cones, big screen TVs with more channels than you can shake a stick at, dogs, and grandparents.  That last one is surely the best part.

I'm not sure what it's like to be a grandparent.  I imagine that it's almost as good as when you first became a parent.  I mean, a baby is born and it is a joyous time.  You share in that joy, but in the end you go back to your house, away from your grandkids.  That part can be good, but I imagine that it's a little sad too.  It must be hard to go long amounts of time without seeing your grandkids and when you do see them, their changes must be so evident and that must make time seem like it's going so fast.  But new babies in the family offer hope.  It must be so wonderful to see your creation just keep on going.  I do look forward to the day when, God willing, I get to see my own grandkids and enjoy their company.  But I'm in no hurry.  The last thing I want to have happen is that I get to the point where my kids have kids and I feel like there just wasn't enough time.  But c'est la vie.  I'm just glad that I'm on a ride that I'm enjoying. And I'm thankful that I have parents to share it with.  We love you Nonna and Poppa!

The Evolution of Our Trip

Our trip began as a desire to see the bats in Austin.  Austin is home to the largest urban bat colony in the US and every night between March and October (about) some 1.5 million bats fly out from under the Congress Ave. Bridge.  They emerge just after sundown and go out in search of food, consuming some 10,000 to 30,000 pounds of bugs per night.  The narrow but deep openings in the bridge have created the perfect home for these bats, so people congregate on the bridge or under, to catch a glimpse of what can appear to be black smoke flowing along the river.  Here is a glimpse, or two, that we caught.

During the planning of our trip we picked up a few family members.  Vacation isn't complete without seeing some family that we don't get to see often enough.  

We saw the Bourg parents.

We saw the Bourg cousins (Aunt and Uncle too!)

We saw the Theobald cousins. (How did I manage to not get more photos?!)

Much of the family time was spent by the pool.  That was a-okay by me since Austin was HOT.

And in our typical Becker fashion, much of the trip was planned on the fly.  We managed to squeeze in a fair amount of things. 

Like the Texas State Capitol.

And the Austin Children's Museum.

The SFC Farmers' Market-Downtown.

The 23rd Street Artists' Market.  (Not much to see because many vendors don't come out in the heat.)

 And of course there were various trips to local eateries and stores.  And we can't forget our adventure to the original Whole Foods Market (which, by the way, is too big and too busy for any actual shopping to get done).

We had a great time celebrating the 4th of July at our state's capital.  I've made a mid-year resolution to celebrate the next 4th of July at our nation's capital.  We'll just have to see how that one evolves.

Cliché-Fil-A

I love it when the stars align, so to speak.  When things go better than you could have ever planned.  

Speaking of planning, we are going on a mini vacation tomorrow.   We are headed to Austin, TX to see the bats!  I call it mini because we will only be gone for three nights.  I call it a vacation because while I am gone I will not be cooking meals, washing diapers or clothes, or picking up after my wild things (although I can't see the hotel staff being all too pleased if I just leave the place without straightening up somewhat...).  I can't see into the future, so I don't know what the stars have in store for us.  But when I do find out, I'll let you know.  

This evening the stars did align, if only for a moment.  Or a meal.  

Since we are taking this mini trip, we decided to head out for dinner tonight.  Leftovers are in short supply around here and Mama doesn't feel like doing any more dishes (I wish for once that I believed in buying paper plates)!  Since we had a coupon to Chick-Fil-A for a free kid's meal and Chick-Fil-A is one of the only places that uses canola oil to fry their french fries (which contain no soy), we decided to head on over and grab a bite to eat before shopping for supplies for our mini roadtrip.  

Our kids love Chick-Fil-A.  When I say "our kids", I really mean Orry and Isaac.  Sure Annie loves the nuggets and dipping sauces, but the boys love the indoor play gym.  Oh, the indoor play gym.  Land of germs, sweat, and stinky little feet.  So we went for the food and got the added bonus of letting our kids get out their wiggles.  But the story doesn't end there, oh no.  As we were eating we noticed a nice young lady setting up various board games in another section of the restaurant.   We asked her what was going on, to which she replied, "It's Family Game Night.".  Awesome!!  You know we love games, so this was fortuitous.  

We decided to stay a while longer and play a game of Hi Ho Cherry-O, Connect Four, Kerplunk (Toy Story style), and Chutes and Ladders.  It was awesome to revisit some of the games that I played as a child.  And it was great to learn a new game along with the kiddos.  Another one of the great things about this event was that we were the only family taking advantage of such a great offering.  Our kids really had fun playing some of the games all by themselves.  Annie sure loved to fill the whole Connect Four board and bang the dominoes on the table and chair.  

By chance I had my camera in my purse, so I get to share some photos with you.  Lucky you.  All in all it was a win-win situation.  We got some game time and Chick-Fil-A made a couple more bucks off me (I just had to buy an Icedream cup).  We were all pleased as punch.  And we thanked our lucky stars.