Rylan's Birth Announcement

Now that I have finally mailed out Rylan's birth announcement (better late than never, yes?), it's time to share it on the blog. 

I absolutely love how they turned out…thanks again to Jesse Leos Photography for the fabulous pics!

Summer Trip to Austin | Part Three

The final weekend during our trip down to Austin in August was a busy one. Josh flew down to join us, and his parents drove up from San Antonio on Saturday morning so Papa could finally meet Rylan.

After some naps, we headed over to my Dad's house for the evening.

Ava was quite obsessed with Aunt Hannah's new kitty, Betty. 

And since we hadn't been able to catch up earlier in the week, the Arnolds joined in on the fun as well. Ever the gentleman, Henry showed up with a flower for Ava.

The kids (and the dads) spent the majority of the time in the pool.

It was such a fun night. And all that swimming completely wore the kids out.

This picture of Henry and Ava kills me. Can you tell she was over the date by this point ;)? (In Henry's defense, it was waaaaay past Ava's bedtime.)

Finally, to round out the weekend, Mimi, Ryan, Laura, and Isabel joined us for lunch at my Mom's on Sunday.

These pictures of Mimi with the kids make me so happy.

Love. 

After a wonderful week in Austin, it was time to head back to Dallas via a ridiculously traffic-filled, six-hour drive. Blerg. 

A stop for milkshakes at Health Camp was clearly necessary. 

Second Sunday Brunch Bunch | Vagabond

In September, Jill, Erin, and I visited Vagabond for our monthly brunch meeting. 

The restaurant is on Lower Greenville in the old J. Pepe's location. It has a huge patio, and they filled in the pool with sand to create a bocce ball court. The patio (and weather) was great, but for some reason there were tons of flies buzzing around...no bueno. 

However, the mimosas were delicious and cheap. 

We started with some Apple Stuffed Doughnuts for the table, because clearly they had to be ordered, and they were quite tasty. 

Jill is trying to eat healthier these days (yay for being healthy; boo for no fun brunch food), so she stuck with the Flank Steak Salad as her main course. 

She said the salad was just okay, but the Avocado Croutons were an interesting addition. 

Erin and I couldn't decide, so we split some entrees. First, the Fried Chicken and Belgian Waffle, which comes with honey butter, bee pollen, and cheesy polenta. 

I thought it was really good. The chicken was really crispy with a slight kick to it, and I can never pass up cheesy polenta. 

We also ordered the Sourdough Bacon Grilled Cheese Benedict. Yes, you read that right.

The dish sounded absolutely amazing; however, the cheese wasn't completely melted and the eggs were basically hard boiled.

As they would say on Top Chef, the dish was good in theory but poorly executed. Nevertheless, I will give them props for extra crispy bacon and a yummy smoked tomato hollandaise. 

Rylan joined us for brunch as well. He was so good and slept in his car seat for most of the meal.

Such a good little brunch bunch buddy :). 

I might go back to Vagabond for brunch, but only because it is within walking distance of our house. Otherwise, I will probably stick to visits for happy hour/dinner due to Jill's promise that she has had much better experiences during her prior visits. 

Summer Trip to Austin | Part Two | The Thinkery

During our week in Austin, my Mom, Charlotte, the kids, and I spent a morning at the Thinkery - Austin's (relatively) new children's museum. My friend Madeline and her kids, Lucy and Jack, met up with us as well. 

The Thinkery is amazing and it offers activities for kids of all ages. Ava loved exploring all the exhibits, and was sad that we couldn't stay all day. 

She loved playing with the magnets…

Drawing...

And painting on the giant Plexiglas wall with Lucy...

We also checked out the farmers' market. 

Only in Austin would the fake market sell all 100% natural and organic produce. 

And have a chicken coop.

We spent some time in the "Currents" exhibit as well, which is basically like a giant water play table. Note that because it is essentially one huge splash zone, your kids should come prepared to get wet (despite the aprons provided by the museum). 

It was all so fun, but Ava's favorite room by far was the Light Lab. She was enthralled by the giant Lite-Brite-style installment. 

She seriously could have played with it for hours. And I don't blame her...that thing was freaking awesome.

The shadow-creation station was also super cool. It was hard to get a good picture due to the lighting, but basically, you stand in front of a screen while a big flash goes off, and then you can move and see the shadow created by the light. Ava and Lucy loved it. 

Rylan was so good and slept in the Moby wrap nearly the entire time. 

Speaking of Rylan, the Thinkery has a nursing room, which is so wonderful (and so Austin). However, since it was occupied, I fed him at one of the tables in the snack area while Ava burned off the last of her energy on the playscape outside. 

We had such a fun morning. If we lived in Austin, I would totally get an annual pass. There is also a free park across the street that looks like a lot of fun...something to try out on our next visit.