an Austin weekend

A few weeks ago, Will's water polo team had a tournament in Austin.  Austin is a really cool city and even though we knew that most of our time would be spent in the UT natatorium, we decided to make a quick family weekend out of it.  These are a combo of instagram photos and camera photos.  I really love instagram.  It is probably my favorite form of social media right now.  You can follow me on instagram here.

So we drove into Austin and I saw this painted wall.  I made Dave pull over to take photos.  This is when my kids moan and groan and loathe having a shutterbug for a mom:)  None of us were really in the mood for pics but this wall is so cute.  I think it would make a great backdrop for an engagement shoot or a wedding shoot.

You can just see how excited they were to do this for me;)

One of the kids took an instagram of me and Dave....



So the reason we were in Austin was to see if Will's high school water polo teams could qualify for the Junior Olympics in California this summer.  And while his particular team did not do too well in Austin, his school qualified two teams.  So in a few weeks, Will gets to go to California to compete in the Junior Olympics.  We are really excited for the teams.  We are told they will probably not win any games.  Will's school has some of the best water polo in Texas.  They have won the State title a year or two ago BUT the California kids have been paying their whole lives and our kids have not.  It is a great experience nonetheless and they have so many fun things planned.







I really enjoy watching water polo. It is fast paced and exciting.  And the games last about 40 minutes max! There is literally no time to get bored. The tournaments all run precisely on time and most are indoors.  I have best friends who sit outside here in Texas in 100 degree heat all weekend for baseball tournaments.  That would likely drive me nuts.  I do not tolerate the heat that well. I am not knocking baseball at all but this sport is much more my style for spectating.  It is hard to photograph though especially without a good telephoto lens (hint hint honey).

Since, the tournaments run so efficiently, you can leave and come back. So we had a few things on our list to try to squeeze in while we were in Austin. One of the places we went was Barton Springs.  These are natural cold springs. And they were COLD!  But very refreshing...











Will and Kate had a lot of fun here.
 Dave, Harry and I went in too but I guess I did not get any snapshots of us.

After this we got to go see my niece's house.  She goes to college in Austin and so we got to see her very cool house and take her out for tex-mex and margaritas.  I cannot believe my niece (who was the flower girl in our wedding) is of legal drinking age now!  I did not bring my camera and have no photos which bums me out but we had fun!

The next day brought two more water polo games and then when we had a break we escaped for more family fun. One of Harry's new obsessions is rock climbing and he had researched a rock gym close to the natatorium n Austin.  So, we headed over there for an hour of rock climbing.








Look at the muscles in her back!





 An instagram of Katie Ru bouldering.
  She amazes me.  As girly-girl as she is, she can totally hang with the boys too.
  And she is wicked strong from all the gymnastics conditioning.

She has spent all summer hanging with me or the middle school boys that are always around (Harry's friends).  She even goes to the middle school chess club with all the boys!

That pretty much sums up our weekend in Austin.  We also ate a lot.  Like Houston, Austin had GREAT places to eat.  We had fabulous Tex-Mex, awesome frozen custard and one of our faves, Kerbey Lane.

And we stopped in a regional favorite place too...



{pronouced Bucky's}

What is Buc-ee's?  Well it is apparently the world's largest convenience store (67,000 square feet).  This place has everything.  And some really good Texas gourmet food too.  It is so much fun to wander around inside.  They also have the nicest and cleanest bathrooms.  Here are a few of my instagrams from inside....





If you ever go to Buc-ee's you need to get a kolache.
 I also hear the fudge is really yummy too but I am not a fudge person.

Hope y'all have a fabulous 4th of July!  I am sure I will be back with some pictures.
We have a hodge-podge of plans.