Our first family vacation

February 5^th we took our first official family mini vacation to Austin, TX. We have only stayed away with the kids over night a couple of times and it has always been at the Dallas’ family reunion. Since the kids are older we decided we really wanted to get out of town with them and see how it went.

Dallas had acquired quite a few reward points for Marriott hotels over the 2 ½ months he was out of town. He is a silver class member and it has definitely paid off for us. We ended up staying in a two bedroom suite in downtown Austin for $50 out of pocket. You just can’t beat that.

Dallas was already staying in Temple for work that week. We decided the kids and I would swing by and pick him up rather than him drive home and then right back by Temple. It worked out well but it was a lot of driving I am not used to. At least it saved Dallas from having to drive yet another weekend. We arrived Friday morning around 11 am and headed into his room to let everyone stretch their legs. I have to say the drive with the kids was great thanks to Melissa letting me borrow her two portable car DVD players. The kids not only liked being in the car for a long time but also did not want to ever get out.

By the time we checked Dallas out, dropped his truck at the shop and got to Austin it was almost 1 pm. The kids had ate a bunch of snacks but really needed to eat some ‘real’ food. We checked in the hotel and went downstairs to the restaurant. Thank goodness there were not many people in there because our kids were tired. Ethan was literally hanging upside down from the booth by the time it was over.

We got back in our room and it was almost 2:30 pm. We decided to lay the kids down even though it was really late and hoped for the best. Next thing I know Dallas and I wake up and it is 5:30pm! Whoops we all fell asleep. We all felt so much better and were ready to start the fun.

We met Dad, Betty and my little brother, Brandon for dinner at a cool restaurant downtown. It was the perfect environment for us; lots of people, good food, kid friendly and loud enough we did not have to worry at all about our kids disturbing anyone. Dad and Betty graciously bought us all dinner and it was delicious. Afterwards we talked them into coming back to the hotel to hang out for a little bit longer. The kids had a good time showing them around the room and reading the books we had brought from home.

We put the kids down for their first night in a hotel and they did so well. Dallas and I decided to take turns going out with my brother while the other one stayed with the kids. We were literally two blocks from 6^th street and the music was inviting. It was a great night until I tried to go to sleep. Ethan was sleeping with Dallas in a room across the living room from me and Paige. I opened the doors so I could hear him if he woke up but lay there worrying if I would hear him or not. Dallas returned shortly then I felt like I could sleep. I was so wrong. I will never sleep with my daughter unless I have to ever again. She rolled all over that bed. I had her feet in my face at one time. Her legs propped on top of me and I caught her before she fell off the side of that bed at least once. Paige’s restless sleeping combined with the noise outside just made the night unbearable.

The next morning we barely could pull ourselves out of bed. The kids had woke up early because they were excited. We went downstairs for lunch and headed to the pull to swim. Paige is a little fish and she proved what she will go through to be in the water. It was a painfully cold negative degree in that water even though it was an inside pool. Ethan was literally turning blue and shivering before long but Paige did not care one bit. Daddy and Ethan stayed in the hot tub most of the time and Paige wanted Mommy to swim in the cold side with her. Lucky Mommy was freezing her butt off! We finally made her leave and go back to the room. She was not happy and could have swum all day.

Next on the agenda was a late lunch with Dad and Betty. We met them at Ghatti Town by their house. The kids did well until Ethan fell out of the booster seat trying to get up and landed on his fingers. We took him in the game room to distract him from the pain and that wasn’t a good idea either. We decided to head back to their house and attempt to get them to nap. Dad and Betty got the rooms all ready and it did not take long for them to crash out.

Dad and Betty said they would keep the kids so we could have some time to ourselves. We were thrilled! The sad part is that as soon as we left we went back to the hotel and passed out. We slept until the alarm made us get up. We ended up getting dressed and going out to this Brazilian place around the corner for an amazing dinner. We had never dined at a Brazilian buffet before and it was a very interesting fun adventure. They walk around with fresh prepared meat and bring it to your table as much as you want. Safe to say my husband was in HEAVEN. While we were having dinner Dad and Betty brought the kids back to the room and got them all ready for bed for us. They were exhausted from a long afternoon of playing at Grandpa John and Grandma BB house, at the park and at the duck pond. They played their little hearts out. Dad and Betty stayed in our room so we could go out for a while after dinner. We walked to 6^th Street and listened to some band before we headed back to the room. It was really nice to get to spend some alone time together. We can not thank Dad and Betty enough for taking the kids for a while.

Saturday night went much better. Dad let us use one of their sound machines and it really drowned out a lot of the outside noise. I slept with Ethan and he doesn’t move at all. We cuddled up and slept hard until after 8:30 that morning. We got up and ate breakfast then started packing up our stuff. Honestly one of the kid’s favorite things was riding in the ‘elebator’ as Ethan called it. He would hold his arms out and say “Wooo” every single time. I can’t tell you how many people got a smile out of him that weekend.

We checked out and could not decide where to go. I had called Dad and they were still in church so we headed out towards home. It was nearing nap time so we knew we needed to eat quickly. We ended up at Joe’s Crab Shack in Round Rock and we could not have picked a better place. The kids were so crabby (he he) and the loud music and decorations kept them happy while we ordered. After we ordered they started to lose it again and the waitress suggested going to the playground. I had totally forgotten they had a playground, YES! So we bundled up and went outside. They had an amazing set up with a huge playground with slides and all in a big pile of sand. The kids played on the equipment until we had to drag them in screaming for lunch. The wait staff did one of their dances around us and saved the day. After we ate we went back outside for an hour almost. We built sand castles and all kinds of stuff. We had to strip the kids before we put them back in the car. It looked like they had been to the beach but they had a fabulous time.

We headed out with only one small problem; Daddy left Ethan’s stuff on top of the car. We had to turn back around and dart through traffic to retrieve it. We then dropped off Daddy and made our way home. It was such a perfect first trip out of town!

This is too long for even me to proof read so sorry if there are any errors…