Last Friday, we loaded up the car, took the boys out of school before lunch, and drove to Austin in 33 degree, rainy weather (which fortunately was not a wintry mix!). Our littlest nephew's baptism was Saturday morning in Austin, and you know this crew of mine is always up for a weekend adventure.
Family friends kindly offered us the use of their four-bedroom house in Austin, so we arrived late Friday afternoon and spent some time exploring the new digs. Before we knew it, it was time for dinner. Gene always suggests barbeque when we're in Austin and our house was literally two minutes from the County Line, so we zipped down there with Nana and Pop and filled our bellies with some delicious Texas barbeque. Here's a picture of my cuties after dinner.
Baby David's baptism was at 9:30 on Saturday morning at St. Mary Cathedral in downtown Austin.
This handmade baptismal gown was first worn by Gene and is used at all the family baptisms.
Sweet baby David.
All of us!
After the baptism, family friends invited everyone over to their house for a reception. It was wildly fun -- there were 11 kids, 10 of whom were boys, ranging in age from 3 months to 7 years. When we were all played out, we spent some downtime back at the house before heading out to enjoy a beautiful afternoon hiking at Wild Basin Wilderness Preserve. It was 70 degrees and sunny, a far cry from the cold of the previous day!
When I was researching hikes in Austin, I came across this preserve, which has 2.5 miles of hiking trails, waterfalls, a creek, and lots of scenic overlooks. It sounded like the perfect hike for our family and it was just that!
There's a mini waterfall back there!
Crossing the creek.
We went down, down, down and then pumped our fists when we finally made it back up to the top of the hill!
Snack break. Gene always packs "super secret emergency snack."
I cannot tell you how much fun we have as a family. These three are always up for an adventure and we just truly enjoy being together.
After our hike, we loaded back into the car to head a bit southwest of Austin to the Jester King Brewery. A friend of mine read about this brewery in Texas Monthly and sent me the article right before we left Houston. We needed a place for dinner and are always up for trying local craft beer, so we invited some Austin friends to join us and it ended up being the perfect evening.
Stanley's Farmhouse Pizza is located on the same property, so we ordered a few pizzas and beer and let the kids run wild in the fields. Such a pretty spot.
Live Oak Brewing Company's Hefeweizen in a Mason jar.
This big field was the perfect place for the kiddos.
Julie and Jonathan are friends from way back, during Gene's law school days, and they are some of the best people we know.
The kids found an old chain and used it to tie up Gene and then Henry.
Making bunny ears is all the rage!
See these big grins? We all had wide smiles after our afternoon in Austin. Between spending time with family and old friends and getting out to hike and explore new things in Austin, we just had the perfect day.
And now my boys are wondering when we can visit Austin again...
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