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.

Austin Days 2 and 3

Yesterday, Day 2, was all about hooping, hula hooping that is. In the morning after brekkie we walked over to the local bakery, Quarks, and got treats before heading to the local park. I did my usual, chatting with friendly local Austin parents. In the afternoon while the boys slept, Beth, Kate and I hooped. I still have some skills but now there are tricks! And lasso moves! And twirls! And booty bumps! On my list of to-dos when I get home is to build 3 hoops for the girls and me.

Beth arranged a babysitter from 5:00 to 7:00 so we could go out for happy hour. We went to a great Mexican place that we biked to where we had Mexican martinis that had a jalepeno stuffed inside the olive, jicama sticks, incredible chicken wings, grilled cactus and lots of other taste sensations.

Today was THE BIG DAY. Beth and I were in front of the computer at 5:00 watching Kate and Wills tie the knot while scrutinizing the fashion choices made by the guests. Biggest fashion criminal was Princess Beatrice with her antelope fascinator.

After the wedding we dropped Kate at preschool and walked along dried-up Shoal Creek. We stopped at my favorite Austin bookstore, Book People, where I bought several gifts to take home and then made one more stop at Whole Earth Provision, my other favorite Austin store before heading back to get Kate.

Thus afternoon was chillaxin and trying to make it to supper without passing out due to exhaustion.

Beth's friend Laura Sue (Kate's surrogate grandmother) joined us for dinner at Julio's for Amazing roast chicken and wickedly strong Mexican martinis. Needless, there was a lot of loud talking and laughing. Henry dumped a glass of ice water in my crotch and I didn't flinch. I was feeling that good.

Tomorrow: swimming and a pizza party?

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Austin Day 1

I won't go into my travel day to Austin. As usual it was riddled with flight delays and a baby unwilling to nap on the plane. However, Henry remained in a great mood throughout and entertained everyone around him on the flight. And due to a long delay in Chicago I got a workout in as I walked every concourse multiple times. If you know that airport, you know that means I had some serious time on my hands.

Yesterday was my first full day here. Kate went to preschool for the morning while Beth and I and the two boys hung out around home. We washed the car, got the boys to nap and went and picked up a minivan for the week. The rest of the day was playing around home. In the evening we went for a walk to the Intramural Fields with the dog after all the kiddies were asleep.

Today we plan to take the kids to the library by bike and go to Happy Hour sans kids later. That will likely be my favorite part of today.

And for all those of you in the great white north, it was 34 degrees C here yesterday. Heh heh.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Austin Day 4

Yesterday was another beautiful day. We largely spent the day around the house - playing in the sand box, everyone napping, doing some housework, sitting in the sun, and then Olympic Fever began right when the puck was dropped around 2:15 Texas time. After that it was all Olympics, all the time. That was followed by an amazing steak dinner - ribeye cowboy steak, which means about 3 inches thick - to celebrate and then we watched the weird closing ceremonies. I suppose they aren't proper closing ceremonies if you're not left shaking your head and saying how crappy it was.

This morning while Kate was at preschool, I did some shopping - gifts for the girls etc. It's a rainy day in Austin. Really rainy. No sitting outside for me. I did start making Mulligatawny Soup for supper until I realized there wasn't any curry so now I'm knitting and watching Owen sleep.

I finally uploaded some of my photos from the week. A small selection is below:

Austin Day 3

After lunch yesterday, I sat outside and knit and drank tea until I felt my cheeks tingling from the sun. The mirror told me that I had just enough pinkness to make me feel like I'd been on holiday. While Kate was napping, I took control of Owen so that Beth could have a good nap.

In the end, everyone had a good nap - Beth, Kate and Owen and they were all ready to head out for barbecue at Rudy's.

Can I just say that the only thing that I really must do when I'm in Austin is go out for proper barbecue? If I do that, everything else is just gravy.

I hadn't been to Rudy's before (they have 3 locations here). I'm pretty sold on Salt Lick but Rudy's, I was told, was really laid back, cafeteria style, with picnic tables and lots of room to run outside. Also, great brisket, nice and fatty.

It was all true. It was really good. I think it was the best brisket I've had, really juicy turkey, and decent ribs and sauce. Salt Lick's are better. However, I did get an "original" Dr. Pepper made just up the road with cane sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup - thus the "original recipe." It came in a cheeky little glass bottle too.

The rest of the evening was spent watching the Canadian men kick ass in curling. What a great way to end the day. And in a minute we'll be watching the Canadian men (hopefully) do the same in hockey. Oh Canada!

Of course, the continuing gorgeous weather may call me outside again for a tea party with occasional breaks to check the score.

Austin Day 2

While snow covered most of Ontario yesterday, the weather in Austin was beautiful, especially since I started the day with a delicious black bean, egg, cheese and bacon taco with salsa from a new place that Beth recently discovered. I hope to have one more of them before I leave, this time with Chorizo sausage and maybe some avacado.

Kate had preschool yesterday morning so Beth and I did some grocery shopping at my favourite Austin grocery store: Central Market. I bought some dried chilies to take home with me.

During Kate's afternoon nap yesterday I took the dog for a walk to the Intermural Fields, what I refer to as the parrot colony (there is a large colony of parrots who live there) but by the time I reached the fields, the weather had changed to windy and cold and me without a coat. Westley and I headed home and drank tea for a while.

Two of Beth's friends, Howard and Laura Sue who I think are great, brought over some great pizza and we watched the Canadian women curl to the silver. The Swedes were playing better so I wasn't surprised. I hope the men play better today.

The day ended with lemon puff pie made by yours truly. In other words, my day had book-ends of great food.

The weather is gorgeous this morning on Day 3. I've already played in the sandbox with Kate and we'll be going to the park soon. I want to be outside as much as I can today.

Stay tuned for more updates!

Austin Day 1, part 1

It is only part-way through the day but I have some time to sit and write so I thought I'd give an update on my trip to Austin thus far.

When I checked my flight status yesterday for my flight from Buffalo to Atlanta I found out that everything going in and out of Atlanta was delayed due to weather, although when I checked the weather in Atlanta it was sunny and cool, so colour me confused. John and I decided to head to the airport in Buffalo to find out what was happening.

In the end my flight out of Buffalo was only delayed an hour but my flight out of Atlanta was delayed by 2 hours so I had the pleasure of sitting in the airport in Atlanta for 4 hours. If you were there and you saw a rotund woman reading and yawning and ripping out a day's worth of knitting, yeah, that was me.

I arrived in Austin finally around 8:45, luckily I had a great sleep last night and awoke refreshed and ready to entertain my niece, Kate.

We've played a lot, we went to their play group this morning, had lunch, made brownies, and played in the backyard. After Kate was in bed for her nap, I reknit the sweater I was working on while drinking tea in the spring sun WITH NO COAT OR MITTS OR TOQUE ON.

I love Austin.

Back home we have about 15 cm of snow. Here, the sun is warm, it's about 15 degrees celcius and I have no plans to leave for at least a week so BRING ON THE SUN.

Time to head back out there while I can.

Heading to the snowy (?) south

Right after school today we're all headed to St. Catharines so that tomorrow morning I can catch a flight from Buffalo to Austin. I'm excited to get there although three things have put a minor damper on my excitement:

1. I can't stream CTV Olympic coverage there. Only available to Canadian IP addresses. I'm hoping my tech-saavy brother-in-law can find a way by this because I do not want to have to watch NBC coverage and I am just way too into curling to miss out. (That was not sarcasm by the way.)

2. It's snowing in Austin today. I had planned on no boots, no mitts, no toque. I still plan on no boots but I'm bringing mitts and toque because I refuse to be cold in the mornings. I hear it will still be warmish in the afternoons. Maybe a sheltered spot in the sun will allow me to take off my coat.

3. John's back is wreaking havoc. He's walking all crooked. I feel a little bad for him - I'd have more sympathy if he'd take my (and my chiropractor's advice) and go and see my chiro or his sister who is a massage therapist but he's stubborn. Real stubborn. And not to be hyper-critical but what is up with people who complain about ailments but don't follow sensible advice or try all the options to make the pain period way, way shorter? I honestly don't understand it and that is when my sympathy flies out the window at about 100 kms/hr. However I do feel bad that the girls don't have their dad totally on his game. Hopefully he'll have a miraculous recovery. (Guilted into going to the chiropractor yet, John?)

On the up side:

• bbq
• warm sunshine
• snow that will not be around by the time I get there in contrast to here when we have about 15 cm on the ground right now and more on its way
• only 1 kid that I will be catering to
• sort-of a working vacation
• on an airplane BY MYSELF for 5 hours each way - reading, knitting or whatever I want to do with no one asking me for anything!
  

Home

Home safe. Tired. Accidentally stole Beth's flip flops.

More tomorrow.

Outlet shopping, hot weather: Austin Day 7

This will be a quick one.  Last night was much better sleep-wise.  I kept the girls up later, which helped Hope go to sleep quickly but Emily was beyond tired; that meant meltdowns.  They are still sleeping now and it is heading towards 8:00.  Hope was only up once and I didn't have to get out of bed to get her back to sleep.

Yesterday we went outlet shopping in Round Rock, a suburb of Austin.  I bought a lot of clothes at the Carters outlet.  We also stopped at Ikea.  We spent the afternoon at home.  It was stinking hot yesterday and too hot to play outside.  At the end of the day I cracked pecans on the front porch and that was that.

Today is all packing and getting ready for the big plane ride.  The kids are so excited to see John.  Me too.

Hiking, burgers, swimming: Austin Day 6

My kids wore me out to the point last night that I had no energy left to write. The kids, no, the kid, has been really hard to put to bed the last two nights. Emily is consistent as usual: stories, bed, look at books on her own, go to sleep. Hope is a pain in the ass. Last night it took me an hour and a half to get her to sleep and with Emily and Hope in the same room it presents some serious challenges and frustrations. Hope jumps in her crib, talks or yells, cries, screams. Emily, after about 30 minutes of this was screaming at Hope and it all just sucked. After all that, I was done. No energy for anything except some wine and t.v.

Yesterday morning I grabbed Beth's big red bike, my favourite bike in the world, and went out to get milk and some treats for breakfast. Afterwards I took the kids to the park and we let Kate have a good morning nap. After Kate was back up we went to Turkey Creek for a hike. I had no idea how Emily would fair on a real hike that wasn't flat and root free and would require her to actually walk instead of ride in a stroller. She did so well. She walked almost the entire way only requiring to ride on shoulders for the last five minutes or so. The creek was really cool. We walked in the creek for a good way. It was a limestone bottom so it was easy to walk on and the water was really clear and shallow. It felt so cool on our feet. As we walked in it we found a lot of tadpoles that were pretty big. Emily loved finding them camouflaged against the bottom.



After the hike we drove over to a local hamburger joint in the area. It was right on the "lake". It's actually a river but everyone here calls it a lake. Odd, that. Lining the lake were huge, enormous houses. Seriously big. And parked in front and all around the restaurant were the big ski boats owned by the Richie Riches who own the houses. The restaurant seemed like the place to be on the river and the food was pretty good. I went local and ordered a basket of fried okra. Way better than fried zucchini by the way. Hope was really into the onion rings.



Oh yeah, and Beth dyed her hair purple. Ta-da!


After filling ourselves with hamburgers, pizza and okra we then drove over to the bigger part of the "lake" and swam at the park. There were tons of families there who clearly parked themselves there for the day. I saw one family who had brought their giant baby swing with them. Most families were having serious barbecues. There were lots of Mexican families cooking amazing-smelling food. Every kid in the place was in the water. It was fun but Hope thought the water was too cold so I couldn't really enjoy myself in the water with Emily because Hope was in my arms the whole time. If I put her down, she made a run for it.

There were some opportunities for people watching. I had to take sneak some photos because.... yeah.



We were all pretty spent after that. All three kids fell asleep in the car. Kate woke up first but my two kept sleeping in there long after we'd arrived home. The rest of the evening you already know. Kate is essentially making Hope look bad by being easier to put to bed and staying asleep longer, at least last night. I think Hope has also scared Beth and Graeme into being a one-kid family. She's funny, cute, a real character but also AGH! makes a person want to drink.... a lot. This post kind of reads like a slam on poor Hope. I love the kid to death.... you all know that. She's just proving challenging the last two days and nights. Right now though she is happily playing make-believe in our room with Emily and life seems just right.

Today is going to be lower-energy: some IKEA shopping, the Carter's outlet, maybe take Emily's kite for its first flight if the winds are right. Beth's friend, Marlene, is coming for supper. Should be a nice day. I have a new plan for sleep tonight too: no naps today, later bedtime, and if necessary, solitary confinement.

Mini-putt, a nap (!) and barbecue: Austin Day 5

Today started off a bit rough.  I may have tripped over the power cord of Beth's laptop, sending if flying off the coffee table and crashing onto the floor.  It is dead.  I killed it.  Apparently it is repairable but.... oops.

After that things got better.  This morning after a beautiful walk to Walgreens and through the Intramural Fields, we all, and by all I mean Graeme this time too, took part in a competitive game of mini golf.  And by competitive I mean no scores, balls thrown by hand through various hazards, Hope eating raisins on the greens, the usual when playing any sport with children.  Yes, I just referred to mini golf as a sport.

Emily and Hope had a lot of fun mini-golfing.  The grown-ups did too.  Graeme and I particularly liked watching Beth attempting to get her ball anywhere remotely near where it was supposed to go.  Okay, she had a couple of holes in one but so did Emily.  

After a few holes Hope got tired, gave up her stick (what we aficionados call the golf club) and her ball and sat down for a mid-round snack.  Luckily no one was playing behind us.  We may have irritated a few people had that been the case.  

The course was heavily used by families with young children.  I almost beaned a couple of them with my wicked swing.  I did have to intervene at the end when I saw two boys peering into the ends of some PVC tubing that is the exit point of the balls on the last hole.  I think I saved them some expensive reconstructive surgery.

After a sno-cone, which caused great friction between my two girls, we headed home for lunch and naps.  Yeah, right.  Naps.  I live in such a delusionary state.  However, today Hope napped!  It took  thirty minutes of persistence on my part but it paid off today.  Emily stayed in her room over an hour so at least I got a decent break.

After everyone was awake, a few of Beth's friends joined us and we all headed en masse to the official barbecue captial of Texas: Lockhart.  Specifically, Kreutz's Barbecue in Lockhart.  Lockhart is a small town known for two things: barbecue and the filming location of that blockbuster hit Screen Door Jesus.  Yeah, I'd never heard of it either.  Actually, a lot of films were made their according to the Lockhart website, including What's Eating Gilbert Grape and Waiting for Guffman.  All the others I think are in a similar category to Screen Door Jesus.  The category of "WTF?"

During all my other visits to Austin we go to the Salt Lick for BBQ and we love it.  But this place kind of makes every other BBQ joint seem a bit bush-league.  The BBQ pits at this place take up an entire room.  The room is smoking hot.  The open fire is right near your feet.  The meat is carved on a middle table, weighed, laid on butcher's paper and handed to you.  No utensils, no sauce, just meat.  In their words, they have nothing to hide so they don't give you sauce.  But, you don't need it.  The meat is seriously tender and full to the brim with smoky charcoal flavour.  You know it entering the place.  You step out of the car and your nose is filled with the smell of charcoal and burning wood.  Your mouth begins to water immediately.  Well, unless you're a vegetarian.  Of course, if you're a vegetarian it is unlikely you'll find yourself in Lockhart.  Or in Texas, for that matter.

We filled ourselves with meat.  Well, most of us did.  My girls filled themselves with Wonder Bread and pickles.  And strawberry ice cream.  I mean, why eat succulent ribs when you can eat spongy white bread?  I guess it was a treat for them since I deprive them of the stuff.  Emily once asked me: what's white bread?  At that moment, I felt I'd succeeded in parenting.  Emily did eat some pork ribs.  She really liked those.  Mostly she liked the ice cream and bread.

That's it for our day.  It was another great one.  I know it was because the kids were filthy by the end of it.  Have no idea what's on for tomorrow but you'll hear about it here.   

Dino dig, Amy's ice cream, lack of sleep: Austin Day 4

Hope only got up once last night and briefly so thanks for your good wishes. If only it would extend to naps. There must be some invisible force field around Texas that wards off naps of any kind. It's working on my kids.

This morning we went to the Nature and Science Center in Zilker Park. It's an animal sanctuary for rescued animals (small and medium-sized) and has a lot of hiking trails and preserved areas to encourage the snake, turtle and fish populations. It was great. The kids loved it. There were lots of animals to see and great trails that led us around the Center. At the end of our tour we ended up in their Dino Dig area. It is a large series of sandy pits in which are buried replicas of dinosaur fossils and bones. There are plastic shovels and brushes laying everywhere for the kids to use to uncover and discover the fossils. Emily LOVED it. It was hard to get her to leave, in fact. Hope had fun too but wasn't as effective at unearthing the fossils. The Center had an added bonus: admission is free.




From there we went to Amy's Ice Cream, an institution in Austin. We went to the location with a playground. By the time we got there Kate and Hope were sound asleep so Beth stayed in the van with them while Emily and I had some alone time eating ice cream and playing on the climbers. Okay, she climbed, I sat.

After that it was lunch at home, the ongoing struggle to get my kids to nap (I'm failing miserably and I don't know why) and then we walked to Central Market for groceries and some more playground time. There is a big playground right beside Central Market so parents can grab a glass or bottle of wine, sit on a bench and watch their kids climb. Seriously, the patio is fully licensed and the playground is pretty much part of the patio. A sweet, sweet deal and one that definitely needs to be replicated in Ottawa.

Our only firm plan for tomorrow is barbecue in Lockhart. We still have to discuss other ideas. My idea for the rest of the night is a bit of knitting and a lot of sleeping.

Ladybird's flowers, taco time, storm cleanup: Day 3 in Austin

There was a crazy storm here last night. I woke up around 3:00 to lots of thunder, lightening, wind and lots of hail. It lasted a while. I didn't get out of bed to have a good look but I wish I did, since I was out of bed trying to coax Hope back to sleep anyway. Beth went out to the porch and saw a piece of hail the size of a baseball. This morning there were big branches down in the back yard and all over the streets nearby. Leaves are covering the streets like carpet. We didn't have internet access all day. I told Beth we were living like pioneers, no internet and all that. I mean, how did they cope? Turns out we were better off than 10,000 other people in Austin who were without power most of the day. 8,500 people are still without power and some people had drifts of hail two feet high in their yards. Crazy Texas storms.

Anywho, this morning we went to the Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center. It was really great, better than we expected. Beth and I both expected meadows of wildflowers but it was actual gardens that were very naturalized. There were some really interesting flowers, all native to this area of Texas. The butterfly garden was devoid of butterflies today. I think they were still in hiding after the storm. We did see a bunch of very cool caterpillars though. Emily ended up seeing most of the garden in her socks because she has so many mosquito bites on her feet that it hurt to wear shoes. It was a bit funny actually apart from the nerdy tragedy of it.



From there we headed to Maria's Taco Express, Beth's and my favourite taco place in Austin. Hope spilled juice all over herself. Emily and Hope ate nacho chips and sour cream for lunch.


Neither of my kids napped today. After I tried in vain for an hour to get either of them to sleep, we went out and cleaned up the damage in Beth's back yard and then cracked open pecans on the front porch. From there we went to the playground nearest Beth's house. It's a great playground. It's fairly small but it rules. It's completely shaded, the climber/equipment thingy has 4 slides. Four! Both my kids love it. It will probably be our routine at the end of each day before supper.

I made ugly rice paper roll-ups for dinner but they tasted good. At about 4:00 things went a bit awry around here after another great day. The kids, after pushing through missing their naps, started to get whiny and squirrly. Emily stayed in decent mood but decided to contribute to the growing mayhem of Hope and Kate by asking me for something, anything every 15 seconds or so until she went to bed at 7:30. Let's just say that by bath time, I was feeling a bit testy. I tried to be understanding with Hope seeing that I discovered two canines popped through during the last 24 hours. Seriously, I could use one full night of sleep though. That would make this vacation perfect.

I'm not sure what we're up to tomorrow. It's still under discussion but be rest assured, it will be great!

Dentist, Children's Museum and Farmers' Market: Day 2

This morning Beth had a dentist appointment so I was on deck with all three kids and you know what? Not so bad. In fact, it went great. Granted it was only an hour but still... it was actually fun although I don't think I actually sat down the entire time and I may have forgotten to put on deodorant in the midst of the activity and running between kids. It did give me a glimpse of what life would be like with three kids albeit for a short time. Hope would be the typical problem middle child: jealous, cranky, just out of sorts. With two kids, she's gold. Not sure what that means for our future but it was interesting anyway. I spent the time playing train, singing train songs along with a Kindermusik CD I had with me and then feeding them snack. Under me, Kate's breakfast was Mum Mums and Veggie Booty. She seemed to like it though.

After Beth got back we went to the Austin Children's Museum. With a membership to the Science and Tech Museum in Ottawa, we all got in free. With parking the entire morning cost us three dollars. Sweet deal all around. The Children's Museum was just the right size - not too big to be overwhelming but big enough to give the kids lots to explore. They LOVED it. There was so much to touch and push and pull and bang. It had the best craft area I've ever seen; even Mr. Dressup would have been jealous.

From there we came home for lunch. Hope and kate took giant naps. Emily refused and drew, played, lounged and then she and I played outside for a bit. After everyone was up, we walked to the Farmer's Market. I love that place. We went last fall when I was here after Kate was born and I was happy to find the ice tea people were there again. I stocked up on my stash of Hibiscus Mint tea to take home.

There is a sprinkler pad in the park where the market takes place. I stripped Emily and Hope down to underwear/diaper (I forgot the bathing suits) and they went to town. Well, Emily went to town. Hope didn't like the big spouts of water. Emily? She went berserk for it as you can see from the action shot. It was great. It wasn't as great that we also forgot towels. Ah well, with the hot weather, she felt cool anyway as she drip dried.


After the splashing, I bought ice tea, tacos and rotisserie chicken and bread and we had a picnic. Kate didn't get any of the chicken, at least not until later, but she went kooky for the ice tea. After eating we walked back home. Our transportation arrangement on foot is Emily in the Chariot, Kate on Beth's back and Hope on mine. Needless to say, I sweat a bit. The market was really fun. I loved today. I loved it as much as yesterday. And, Hope and Emily successfully fell asleep a few minutes ago in the same room. Same room! I only had to go back in twice. Some kind of record for this wee family.


Tomorrow we're thinking of making it an adult day and dragging the kids along and making them thing it is all for them: Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, Maria's Taco Express, and yarn shop. Ooh aah.

Flights, delays, arrival and Day 1

We're here. It took almost 10 hours, instead of 5, but we're here. We got through security and customs easily this time, unlike last time, although Emily was freaked out by walking through the metal detector on her own. After that it was just big adventure for her. Hope was put out, to put it mildly, that she didn't get her own seat like Emily did. She got over it when she discovered the in-flight magazine. She loved that thing.

When we got on board we sat on the runway for a long time. When we finally took off, Hope had a full tantrum in my arms. She had fallen asleep for only a few minutes but woke up with a start. That sent her over the edge. She was scratching me, hitting me, throwing my glasses. She hated that I was holding her through her rage. She wanted down; unfortunately we were going up so I had to hang on to her. When we finally were done the initial take-off, I put her on the floor between my legs and within two minutes or so she was done and watching a DVD. She was asleep in another five. She slept on me for the next three hours. My ass was so sore and numb that I was biting my lip to divert the pain. My arm was killing me from propping up her head. Having a 20-month old on your lap for a 3-hour flight sucks. On the way home, I'll be looking for an empty seat and carrying that extra car seat wherever I have to go to get that seat. It will be so worth it. Yeah, and then we all slept like crap last night because I accidentally turned off the ceiling fan and it is damn humid here.

And now the complaining will end because today was great. Really great. Really, really great. After a leisurely start to the day, we headed to Zilker Park and rode the Zilker Zephyr, a little train that runs through the park. The kids, but mostly the adults loved it. Emily even brought her own train whistle with her which completely tickled the train driver guy. I hesitate to call him an engineer. He steered.

From there we shared the biggest snow cone I have ever laid a spoon on. After that sugar break, the kids played on the expansive playground and then we walked down to the Creek (Barton, to be exact) to see the turtles. After scaring them into the water, the kids stripped naked and splashed around for a long time. It was amazing to watch them and their white little bums frolicking in the water.

After that it was lunch at home, naps (although Hope refused that) and then off to Beth's local park for more play before supper. Everyone is quiet now; Beth and I are knitting and I may have a glass of wine at some point before heading to bed to catch up on the sleep I missed last night.

I did take a bunch of pictures but my card reader is in the suitcase in the bedroom where the girls are sleeping so I'll post them tomorrow instead as an edit to this post.

Tomorrow is supposed to be rainy so we'll probably go to the Children's Museum and then to the Farmer's Market at the end of the day for a picnic. All is well in Texas. And hot. Beth says this isn't hot but coming from Ottawa, this is damn hot. My hair is all frizzy, Hope's is adorably curly (more than usual), Emily's curls are back, I'm always sweaty, the air smells like blossoms and barbecue. Life is good.

You may all go to Hell and I will go to Texas

Davy Crockett knew what he was on about. I have similar feelings saying goodbye to Ottawa for a week and hello to Austin. Beth, best sister in the world, is flying me and the girls to Texas. We leave on May 12 and I am so so so excited! Beth has many adventures planned for us. I'd be satisfied if we never left the porch, the teapot and the pecan cracker. But I'll be even more delirious if we do half the things Beth has lined up for us. Now I just have to figure out how to get two kids, two car seats and carry-on through the airport on my own.

Austin: Final thoughts

The last few days have been a bit of a blur since I've been home, so much so that (you may have noticed) I've barely spent any time here but I have a few posts that I really need to get out: my last day in Austin and things I want to remember from the 10 days there, the weekend at the cottage with the Walsh family just before I left for Texas, Hope's first year and Emily's 3rd year. Three of those posts are getting long in the tooth but I'll get them up anyway, hopefully this week. For now, I'll just reflect on the last day in Austin, my atrocious trip home (actually worse than the trip there) and things I'll remember from my time with Beth, Graeme and Kate.

I did manage to do a good amount of cooking on Wednesday. At the end of the afternoon we met Graeme at the Austin Farmer's Market at The Triangle, very close to Beth and Graeme's house. It was a very cool mix of vendors, decidedly part of the Keep Austin Weird movement. We had some amazing hibiscus iced tea, I bought a few gifts and had a chicken taco - supper was on its way but it was my last chance for a proper taco before returning to The Land That Cannot Produce a Taco to Save Its Life.

That night Beth's friends, Marlene and Will, joined us for our meatball and linguine supper. Hope was in bed early again - she was routinely going to bed between 7 and 7:30.

The next day, after Westley's walk, I started packing and cleaning. Hope had a nap and then it was time to get to the airport with a quick stop at HEB for fresh tortillas to take home with me. I put 60 tortillas in my suitcase. We made pretty good work of one pack already. Can someone please explain to me why no store makes fresh tortillas here? There just isn't a sufficient explanation.

Everything started off well for my trip home. The flight leaving Austin was on time and to top it off I had a Salt Lick brisket sandwich while I was waiting to get on the plane. Everything was going according to plan. Then we approached Chicago and due to bad weather were in a holding pattern for almost an hour before the pilot felt it was dangerous to continue to do so and flew us to Peoria, Illinois to refuel. I have a feeling the Peroira airport doesn't get a lot of action (aside from some military flights). We were the only plane there. The pilot lightened the mood by announcing "we were first for take off." At least it got him a few laughs. We were back in the air and were supposed to have a landing slot. Turns out O'Hare changed its mind again so we circled Peoria for another 40 minutes. Beautiful area, very agricultural, got to know it well.

Finally we started back to Chicago. When we got in landing vicinity we were again put in another holding patter, for another 40 minutes. It was at this point that Hope started to get agitated. She started her intermittent screaming that is her way of entertaining herself when she is annoyed or bored. By this point in the never-ending flight from hell, I had fed her twice, read her every book I had brought - twice, breastfed her, sang her every song she liked - twice, and taken her to the bathroom - twice. So, when the woman in front of me turned around and asked me if there was anything I could do to keep Hope quiet, I was pretty damn close to committing air rage and in fact would have been happy to have been escorted from the aircraft at that point had I not been 20,000 feet or so in the air. My response was controlled but I told the woman with the horrendous hair squishy to shove it in pretty polite terms.

I later heard her ask the attendant for a Tylenol. I stewed and steamed about Hair Squishy the rest of the flight. I couldn't believe she had the nerve to tell me that Hope was screaming in her ear and that it was annoying when she was completely oblivious to the fact that I'd been keeping her from screaming for the previous two hours. Hope did extremely well considering we were in the air a full two and a half hours longer than we should have been, pointed out by a really friendly, non-hair squishy group of Texans deboarding after the whole debacle was over.

When we did finally land at O'Hare it was 7:15. My flight for Ottawa left at 6:00. I got on the next flight for Ottawa which was supposed to leave at 8:55. It was delayed as was everything leaving or coming into The Airport Which Shall Not Be Named. Hope climbed up and down her carseat while I ate really brutal pizza and chatted with a group of Canadians who had flown down to be on The Oprah Show. My flight finally left at 9:55. We landed at 1:00. Again I got flack for not having a letter saying I was allowed to leave the country with Hope on my own. The Canadian Customs Guy was really nice about it, a much different approach than his American counterpart, but he had to go out into the arrivals area and ask John if he had permitted me to leave Canada with Hope. John said Customs Guy seemed embarrassed that he had to do it, like he thought the whole system was ridiculous. You know what? It is. Why would I need a letter to bring Hope back home? Completely fubar.

From now on I'm going to have a letter saying I can accompany Hope just when I leave the house, just in case I run into someone who asks.

I was in bed at 2:00. Emily was in our room around 7:00 and it was an awesome reunion. I snuck up behind her. I'd been feeding Hope. Hope was crying and I heard Emily saying to John: What's that noise? I tapped her on the shoulder and she jumped into my arms. We snuggled in bed and have pretty much replayed that every morning since.

It was a great 10 days in Texas. There are lots of things I'll want to remember when I think back to my time there, in absolutely nonsensical order:

• walking through Beth's humid neighbourhood every morning while Westley explored everyone's yards
• picking up groceries at FreshPlus almost everyday
• jumping off the bed to catch the on-off switch on the ceiling fan/light in my room
• the morning wake-up: Hope would come into bed with me to breastfeed then she would explore the bedroom while I tried to sleep a little longer
• iChatting with Emily and John every night while Hope ate her supper
• Hope beelining it to anyone using a laptop and banging the keyboard
• Hope putting all the laptop cables over her head like clothes and being so proud of herself while she did it
• helping to get Kate to sleep using the Chinese Bum Pat
• Kate swaddled and asleep on the Boppie
• Hope always stealing Kate's blanket
• Hope constantly poking, kissing or touching Kate if Kate was in the vicinity
• how Hope and Westley got really comfortable with each other as the week went on
• Westley finally kissing Hope's nose every time he walked by her
  
• Losing my wallet off the top of the car at REI and the very nice woman, Laura, who returned it
• Hanging out at the Austin Farmers Market, drinking ice tea and watching Hope pour the ice on Kate's head.
• Beth and Hope dancing together at the Austin Farmers Market
• getting really good dark chocolate almost every day
• tea with Beth
• helping Kate have her first bath at home
• Hope's jealousy while I would hold Kate
• watching the Up Series with Graeme at night
• being a mummy with Beth. That's just very cool.
  
• buying a suit with Graeme at Neiman-Marcus that cost more than my first car
• eating granola and yogurt for breakfast every morning
• getting wicked blisters from my new shoes
• Hope emptying Beth's Tupperware drawer daily, sometimes a few times daily
• cleaning out Beth's fridge
• Graeme yelling "HELP" while Kate's poop sprayed all over the diaper change pad
• the possum. Enough said.
• Hope turning Westley into a dog who looked for people food after she fed him yogurt off her spoon
• watching the turtles swim behind The County Line BBQ
• the rain and rain and more rain.
  

It was a great 10 days. I'll think about it often for a very long time.

Having said all that, it's good to be home.

Tuesday in Austin

Somewhere along the way I've missed a day or something because based on my previous posts yesterday's event should be titled Austin Day 7 but actually it was my eighth full day here. So we're going to days of the week instead.

Last we heard from our heroine, she had deposited a possum carcass on the side of the road. Unfortunately, the City of Austin completely let me down. By 5:00 the carcass was still sitting there. By 6:00 another animal had dragged it upu the lawn and gutted it. By 6:15 there was a nasty odour and exposed entrails.

By 6:30 Graeme was digging a hole in the back yard.

This morning I did the usual walk with Hope and Westley and then while Hope was napping, I rode Beth's awesome red bike - huge fat tires, no gears, coaster brakes, giant seat - to Central Market for groceries. I'm making some stuff for the freezer today and meatballs for supper tonight.

On with the cooking!

Austin Day 6

I walked a different route through Hyde Park yesterday on my morning walk with Westley and Hope. I'm really getting to know Beth's neighbourhood well, which will be great during future visits. It's nice to feel that everything is familiar and that you can step out the door and be confident that you won't get lost. Of course, having the streets in a grid helps, too.

After Hope's (short) nap yesterday all of us loaded up to go buy a suit for Graeme who has to go to a funeral this week and, turns out, has never owned a suit. He found a great suit, an Armani suit, the most beautiful men's suit I've seen. Let's just say you get what you pay for.

After that, some friends of Beth's, Matt and Heather, brought over a yummy supper. During their visit, Westley tried to run head first through the patio door. I figured he must have seen another possum, Austin's answer to other cities' rats. They are truly vermin with rat-like tails and big furry bodies. They scavenge for anything and this particular one seemed to have been interested in Westley's pig femur that he left in the back yard. I spotted the possum near the back gate. He was shuffling backwards and making weird yakking motions with his mouth. Matt said he was about to play dead, a possum's well-known defence mechanism. He did just that. He keeled over on his back and lay there. I checked back thirty minutes later and he was still laying there. I suggested he was actually dead. Everyone laughed at me and said that I'd been taken in by the possum. Check out the photo and you be the judge. Are you taken in? Do the flies on his face maybe just a little bit make you wonder?

After confirming with the experts that he wouldn't move if I approached him, I took a couple of photos. I noticed a few flies on his mouth. I mentioned it to the crowd inside. Matt said: "Pretty convincing, isn't it?" I still was suspicious that this possum was not playing possum. Really, why would the flies be in on the ruse?

Two and a half hours later Graeme started to see my side of things. He went out to take a look and (against my advice) took Westley with him. Westley beelined it to the possum, shook him around and flung him back on the ground while Graeme was yelling at him to let it go.

Graeme agreed. The possum was dead.

He's still out there this morning and most definitely dead. We have a number of theories on what did him in. I think he choked on something . He was doing that weird backing up, yakking motion. Maybe it was a heart attack when he saw Westley run into the door. Now we're presented with an opportunity as I see it. Late last night Graeme and I were googling Fried Possum. It's amazing how many recipes are out there. Tomorrow is Wednesday after all and I'm on the hunt for a new recipe.

Edited to add: I just called the City to remove Beth's dead possum. I had to carry said possum to the curb. I feel so distinctly Austonian right now and just a little bit Texan.