Summer Family Vacation 2014

Due to unusual circumstances - not the least of which is the baby due to join us shortly - we decided to forego a major vacation this year. But we still wanted to find a little time to do some special things as a family, and so we decided to take advantage of an Austin business trip that P had scheduled and throw in some fun vacation-type activities during his off-time. The truth is that we are still in that glorious phase when the kids think staying in a hotel is just about as exciting as it gets, so we knew that it wouldn't take much more than that for this to be a memorable trip!

If you were in the market for a "cheek massager,"
look no further than Slovecek's in West.

P made his reservations at the Embassy Suites after carefully checking to see that there was (a) free breakfast, and (b) a swimming pool. Having satisfied those two critical components, we began planning how to make the most of our one-night mini-vacation (without leaving a certain pregnant lady passed out in the wake of all the activities). It was actually pretty difficult to decide what to do - Austin has so many awesome options, many of which are free. And of course, since we both have had our share of fun experiences from our times living in (or near) the city, we had no trouble coming up with ideas. For instance, Austin still has this crazy little kids' amusement park called Kiddie Acres that I remember visiting as a kid - how fun it would be to share that experience with my own kids! But we decided to save that for another trip since (as of the Stock Show in February) neither of our kids are super excited about carnival rides yet. Besides, P will have these Austin meetings on a regular basis for five more years, so we have time. And, as it turned out, a 36-hour vacation goes by awfully fast!

Once we'd settled on a basic list of things we might do, we packed our overnight bags and set off Thursday morning - early enough for P to make it to a meeting just after lunchtime. The trip was not unusual except that this time, since we were "on vacation," we stopped in West for kaloches. The kids shared a cinnamon twist as big as Sarah's arm, and P and I had sausage rolls and shared a blueberry cream cheese pastry. I think we were all regretting the sugar overload within the hour, but it was still fun to do something special along the way. And what's a vacation if you don't give in to every fun whim that comes along?

Since we had planned plenty of outings with the kids in mind, we decided that the meal times would be 100% adult choice - after all, eating out in Austin was one of our favorite things to do when we lived there! So we started off with burgers and fries at Player's. Luke was thrilled about eating there because they not only had corn dogs on the kids' menu, but there was also a retro Ms. Pac-Man/Galaga arcade machine next to our table. The child could not take his eyes of it. At one point, he was leaning halfway over our neighbors' table, simply absorbed in the game's demo mode. Sarah and I had an interesting time navigating the restaurant's incredibly small bathroom... I suppose that's not exactly the kind of memory you want to have from your vacations, but honestly, between a potty-trainee and a pregnant woman, bathroom visits occupy quite a bit of the time frame... I will at least promise that I didn't take any photos.


After lunch, we dropped P off at his meeting downtown and then headed over to Austin's Thinkery. This was our second visit, of course, and so this time the kids knew exactly where they wanted to start: on the outside playground. Thanks, kids. Nothing like an hour and a half of Austin heat in July in the mid-afternoon (when we could be playing with plastic fruit or giant lite-brites in the air-conditioned indoors exhibits). They had the best time, though, and I managed remarkably well seated in the shade (suspiciously close to the frequently-opened door to the inside). The heat didn't bother the kids at all, of course, because they discovered that they could practically swim in the little water-play area. And they did just that.

Yes, I was horrified as well when he stuck his tongue into the fountain.
Unfortunately, I was too busy taking photos to prevent it....

We didn't have time for much of the indoors exhibits after that, which was just as well since there were several day camps visiting and the place was a madhouse. I let them play (i.e. join the plastic-food riot) in the Farmer's Market area for as long as I could stand it, and then we hightailed it out of there.

Once we'd retrieved P from his meeting, we took a much-needed refreshment break (next stop on the Eat in Austin Tour) at Amy's Ice Cream. The place was in full swing - they were even doing the toss-a-scoop-across-6th-Street thing - but all we could do was collapse in our plastic chairs and devour the sweetness with gratitude in our hearts. Maybe we'll try our luck at catching a tossed (and sprinkled) scoop on our next visit.

I want you to know that Sarah's white shirt remained spotless.
(Until we got back in the car and she downed the rest of her orange soda.)

Next stop: Texas Capitol building. First of all, let me note that a certain 5-year-old was NOT excited about this plan. Honestly, if I'd remembered how many stairs there are in that place, I would have been a lot less thrilled myself... But once we'd made it past the metal detectors, the kids changed their tunes completely. Sarah was beside herself about the huge staircases (go figure), and Luke was fascinated by the dome and the murals and just about every detail of the place - and he was especially delighted by the time we spent underground. In fact, he specifically mentioned the "underground parts" every time he begged us to take them back to the Capitol the next day. P and I made sure to stop in reverence at the spot in front of the Tyler Rose Garden where he had proposed to me 9 1/2 years ago, and then I promptly collapsed from heat exhaustion. Not really, but close. Had I been less pregnant, perhaps we'd have lingered longer - but I'm sure there will be plenty of future trips back to the Capitol. Between P and Luke, we can hardly expect otherwise. :)

Dinner followed immediately at the lovely lakeside Hula Hut. The kids were pretty worn out by that point as well, but they were well entertained by the boats, surfboards, hula girls, and endless other ephemera decorating the dining area - and the food and tall glasses of ice water were oh-so-good.

This is pre-water/food. Hence That Look in my eyes. (And Sarah's, for that matter.)

Although we'd hoped to fit in some Peter Pan Golf, it was apparent that none of our little troupe could handle much more for the evening, so instead we checked into our hotel and changed into our swimming gear so that we could check out the trip's main attraction. After a bit of a swim and a bit of chaos in the lobby and the room as the kids expressed their excitement about being in the hotel (they even made up a chant: "Where are we goin'? HO-TE-YEL!!"), we settled in for a decent night's sleep, with visions of hotel breakfasts and more pool time dancing in our heads...

P left early the next morning for his meeting; the kids and I got up just in time to enjoy the hotel breakfast. We then made our way back to the pool for another hour or so of swimming, and managed to get bathed and dressed just before our check-out time. P had returned from his meeting by that point, and we packed up and headed out to our next destinations - lunch at DoubleDave's Pizza and then the Texas Memorial Museum.

After enjoying (among other things) the tasty delicacy that is a cinnamon-chocolate dessert pizza, the kids were eager to see some dinosaurs. I'll admit that most of the enthusiasm for the Memorial Museum came from me, and some of it may not have been warranted. [I don't know why P wasn't as enamored by the 50-year-old (or older?) wildlife dioramas as I was, but for some reason he seemed okay not lingering in that section.] The truth is that I have fond memories of this museum (and its shrunken heads, no longer on display) both from childhood and from visits I made with my nephews while I lived in Austin as an adult. It is certainly no Perot Museum, but it's still worth a look, I think. And it's free - at least until August! Truly, the dinosaur level did not disappoint anyone in our crew, and Luke has continued to reference some of the creatures we learned about from the fossils on display. Sarah enjoyed the wildlife level because they have an old boat set up in the fish room, and she immediately set up house there, inviting everyone in to ride in "her" boat and watch the movie on the screen with her. I think my favorite part this time was the insect exhibit, where they had displayed a striking assortment of pinned insects (what is the term for that?). Who knew that wasps and beetles and butterflies could come together as beautifully as any Monet? Anyway, I'd gladly hang something like that on my wall, even if it was just a bunch of dead bugs!

Seriously. What's with all the stairs in these places??

And then it was time to head back north to home. However, we had one surprise left for the kids... I was hoping to make a quick stop to look for shoes at the Round Rock Outlets, and it just so happened that there was a Cinemark next door playing the new Planes: Fire and Rescue movie at just the right time. Okay, so yes, we were almost late because I took too long with the shoes (but you should see what I got! and for such a good price!). Honestly, as we scrambled into our seats during the first trailer, I began to think we were wrong to have hurried; after all, we thought we had carefully considered the ramifications of taking the kids to the movie theater for the first time: there would be no pausing for bathroom breaks... we couldn't fast-forward undesirable scenes... the kids would have to learn to be quiet (ahem, LUKE, constant commentary on every movie)... But we neglected one critical aspect: TRAILERS. As in, a trailer for the new live-action TMNT movie which was not only scary but also guaranteed to elicit a request from Luke that we go see that movie next... In all truth, that was the only questionable trailer; all the rest were sweet and made us cry-happy, and soon P and I were making silent plans to take the kids to every new kids' movie that comes out this fall (a new Annie?!? I mean, how can we not? I even want to see that dolphin movie now...).

Planes was great (in spite of all that the online world had to say about it, we liked it, so pfffbt!), and the kids munched popcorn and didn't need a single emergency bathroom break. And neither did I! I'd say it was a success. And perhaps, if we cash in the kids' college funds for ticket money, we will do it again.

Although that was the last planned event (and dinner was a very unexciting drive-through Whataburger), one last surprise awaited. Somewhere around Hillsboro, we passed a well-lit racetrack and caught a fleeting glimpse of some racecars in action. Knowing that nothing thrills our son more than racecars these days - and since we were on vacation - we took the first exit and trekked through several dirt roads and questionable paths so that we could see the race a little better. Once we finally made it to the parking lot, we even considered buying tickets and heading in, but then wisely decided it could wait for another time. Besides, a slow drive-by with the minivan windows down was just enough to enjoy the sight of those Real Racecars. And I'm guessing that at least half of our party would've lost interest pret-ty quickly.

It was good to get home, and even better to put yet another fun and memorable trip down in the books.