Austin Days 4 and 5

Yesterday was another hot day in Austin - I think it was about 34 degrees and very humid. My hair is suffering badly here - it's dry and frizzy and totally unruly and not in a I-meant-for-it-to-look-like-I-spent-no-time-on-it kind of way. I've completely given up on my hair here. I have very long, big, curly hair. It is not suited to humidity. To put it mildly. If I lived in an extremely humid climate full-time, I would have one step short of a brush cut.

We stayed around home yesterday morning. Kate and I used a cereal box and some toilet paper tubes and a paper bag to make her an awesome space jet pack and space helmet and then we played Astronaut Kate. I was Mission Control. Her bunk was the spacecraft. It was just a little bit fun.

After lunch we all - Beth, Graeme, Owen, Kate, Henry and I - went to a local outdoor pool that was open for the season. We pretty much had the wading pool to ourselves. The water was chilly at first but the kids all got used to it quickly and had a great time. It was Henry's first time "swimming" outside of a bathtub. He wanted to ease into the pool but after a bit he couldn't get enough of it.

After the boys' afternoon naps (we've relished in the boys having the same daytime sleep schedule), we went to a pizza party at friends of Beth and Graeme's. There were a few families there - they have a habit of getting together for pizza nights every so often - the kids had a great time playing, we all sat outside and had wine and good food and laughed, laughed, laughed. Given that we pushed well past the normal kiddie bedtime, the kids did great. The evening ended on a high note with a sing-a-long of The Gambler with guitar accompaniment. You know it's a good night when it ends with The Gambler.

Today was hot again. And humid again. While Henry slept this morning, I spent a lovely hour and a half doing our taxes. I rewarded myself with a noon-hour spritzer mixed by Beth and a lunch of cowboy steak grilled by Graeme. After lunch we loaded Kate and Henry behind the bikes and made our way to the UT area for a small (and extremely cool) craft show that Beth's friend was part of. All the vendors were Etsy sellers from Austin who had been handpicked for this show. There was lots of cool jewellery and vintage clothing and kitchen stuff. I found a really pretty glass necklace for myself for seven - yes, seven - dollars and a stocking stuffer for each of the girls. From there we biked onto campus to make a stop at the turtle pond, right behind the UT Tower. The pond is chalk full of turtles of all sizes and about 3 or 4 different breeds. It was very cool. Emily and Hope would have loved it. It is on our list of stops the next time they are here. After the turtle pond, we biked home for the next nap. While Beth and I were inside settling the boys into their beds, a weather front blew in that made the temperature drop about 15 degrees in as many minutes. Beth knew this was coming... she'd read about it in the forecast. Apparently this is not unusual in Austin when a front comes in. It is really something to experience. Beth says even Austinites find it crazy.

Crazy, yes, but oh, so refreshing to sit on the front porch in jeans and feel cool. I will enjoy sleeping with the windows open, no fan on, and shivering.

Tomorrow is my last full day in Austin. We don't have any big plans but I'd like to bike some more (I'm really enjoying biking around town, which I've done lots of times before in Austin... I forgot how much I loved it) and maybe do some cooking or baking for Beth for the week.