Fifty hours in Texas

During our stay in California, we flew to Texas for just two nights to see my aunt (Daddy's sister) and my cousin Julie and her husband Doug, who had a baby 9 months ago. My kids got to meet their second cousin Blake.

We took a 6:30am flight from Oakland to Austin.

Look how tired they look!





We went over to Aunt Joy's the first evening for dinner. The kids played in her apartment, on the carpet. The first is my favorite photo;











We really like were Aunt Joy lives. We ate at the restaurant and the food was good. Julie had reserved a private room so with four kids and five adults, we could talk and have the little ones run around without distrubing the other diners. We ate there both evenings.















Vicky and Will stayed downtown in a hotel but we camped out at Julie's. The kids didn't want to stay downstairs so we had to improvise. Here's Talia on the couch;



The baby was cute but the kids went really wild over the dogs. Julie and Doug have two teacup Yorkies, Chloe and Ginger. They are 10 years old and Chloe has trouble walking but they put up with all my kids' antics...



See why I worry over what Ronnie eats? So skinny!























Vicky, Will, me and the kids went the next day to Barton Springs to swim. Actually, it was full of algae and very slippery.

http://www.texasescapes.com/SplashAcrossTexas/BartonSpringsTexas/BartonSpringsAustinTexas.htm















We then went to see the Texas State Capital. It hadn't rained in weeks but we managed to get quite a bit (bummer as we were only there for two nights!)









Apparently Davina was really thirsty. Too thirsty to stop drinking her water to take this picture;



On the way up, there were confederate solidier memorials.









Inside, there dome was beautiful;



Looking down to the Rotunda;



Looking down on the library;



The Senate chamber;







Lots of gymnastic photo opportunities inside!









We had dinner with Aunt Joy again and took a walk around the grounds of her complex. It's beautiful with a view of Austin.











Outside her apartment;



We made sure to get some group shots.



Left to right; Julie, Doug, Ronnie, Will, Vicky, Aunt Joy with Blake, Talia, me and Davina.





This is the lounge in her building.









The flight home, in the evening. Nice not having to wake up and we even took the kids swimming and were able to eat lunch together before heading to the airport.