80 degrees and Sunny

Austin was a big deal. Mainly because it was completely spontaneous. Mason and I never travel spontaneously.... never. Disney was as close as it got this year ... but I had 6 weeks to plan it all... plenty of time.
But this Austin trip was totally spur of the moment and I only had 2ish hours to get everything together to go. We did it though. We scrambled around and threw a bunch of stuff in a suitcase, loaded the pack n' play in the car put the dogs in the back yard and got on the road. The only thing that was done a head of time.... meaning before we got in the car was the hotel reservation... which was also done on the fly.

We had no guidebooks, only 1 map and no Internet.

It was an exercise of letting go, and allowing us to experience the now-ness of it all. No planning means no perceptions of how it 'should be'.

From the road I called my neighbor to see if she could watch the dogs... she could
I called my dad who googled "in-room hotel baby sitters in Austin"...Mom's Best Friend Nanny Agency. I called the hotel to make sure we could have connecting rooms. And that was it.

We totally winged it. We ate at Taco Cabana about 30 minutes out of Austin proper. Got to the hotel, got our room, set up the boys and popped a bottle of wine.

Saturday morning Mason took the boys to breakfast at the hotel while I got to take my time getting ready. I joined them up on the 18th floor fishbowl restaurant at the breakfast buffet.
After that we headed down to Zilker Park to play and ride the Zilker Zepher. Then it was lunch at Chuy's. Mason and T took naps while Braden and I walked around 6th street and SoCo. We check out tattoo parlors, kitchey souvenir shops, high-end thrift stores, the Driskol hotel. Dinner was at the Meadowland shopping area at this huge playground area. Boys to bed, baby sitter arrives - Mason and I head off downtown to dinner.

Sunday was breakfast and shopping at Whole Foods. While T took a much needed morning nap I packed while Mason and Braden watched the classic car auction on ESPN. Lunch was in Round Rock at the IKEA store and by 2:15 we were back on the road. Just in time to get in to Abilene around 5:30 for a light dinner and an early bed !

It was the perfect beginning to 2009!