After interviewing Ava when she was three, I totally failed on the four-year interview. But I really love the idea of doing these interviews on a regular basis, so here I am getting back on track.
Ava was so thoughtful about her answers this year, taking time to think about them rather than saying the first thing that came to mind, and she also had a hard time deciding on some. It definitely says a lot about her little personality.
1. How old are you? Five and one quarter [That extra quarter is very important.] 2. What is your favorite color? White and pink 3. What is your least favorite food?
Mango 4. What is your favorite food?
Pineapple
5. What is your favorite treat?
Popsicles 6. Who is your best friend? Everybody [She's not exaggerating. Our sweet girl has the best group of friends in her class this year.] 7. What is your favorite TV show?
Everything [If I were to pick on her behalf, I would say: Sophia the First, Imagination Movers, Elena of Avalor, The Lion Guard, and Full House.] 8. What is your favorite movie? Moana 9. What is your favorite book? Girl Power [A compilation of short stories with fantastic female characters.] 10. What is your favorite thing to do with Mom? Going to the Fair 11. What is your favorite thing to do with Dad? Legos 12. What is your favorite thing to do with Rylan? Give him piggy back rides
13. What is your favorite song? Vivir Mi Vida [They are singing this song for her preschool graduation.]
14. What are you really good at? Being a nice friend [All the heart eyes for this answer.]
15. What is your favorite holiday?
All of them...except Thanksgiving
16. What is your favorite place to visit? My grandma and grandpas' houses 17. What is your favorite sport? Volleyball
18. What is your favorite thing to learn at school?
Doing projects...like doing experiments
19. If you could have one wish, what would you wish for?
The fact that it is already mid-May boggles my mind! We had a very fun and busy start to the year, and these photos definitely document that fact.
While some folks started the year off with Whole 30 or Drynuary, this is how my friends and I chose to celebrate the new year. I love Rise, and my girls, so much.
Painting the fairy house that Ry got her for Christmas.
Record-breaking room escape with my super smart friends.
This little cowboy insisted upon wearing his hat to bed.
We enjoyed many a day outside during our beautifully mild winter.
I loved receiving this sweet text from the director of Rylan's school. I am so grateful for the fabulous teachers and staff there who treat our children as their own and are just as proud of all their accomplishments.
Testing out her birthday present. Guess Who is just as fun as I remembered.
When you're at home sick with a mysterious fever, and your mom is trying to get some work done, you decide to set up our own home office. #ClosingDeals
Thanks to Bunny for babysitting so Josh and I could enjoy an early Valentine's dinner (and celebrate five years as parents) at Rapscallion.
Post five-year-check-up-ice-cream-date with my girl.
Cupid Crunch for Aunt Tori's Valentine's party.
And Valentine's fruit kabobs for Ava's class party. She was such a good helper.
Dear Texas weather: You're crazy, but I love you. #February
They insisted upon Daddy carrying them both to the car, and this is now one of my favorite photos.
A little in-town fishing on a gorgeous day.
She fell asleep mid-lipgloss choice.
I am kind of in love with the President Roosevelt that Ava made for her Mount Rushmore project at school. (And he also totally looks like Willie Nelson.)
And speaking of school projects, Ava really loved the science theme at school, and the sweet girl wanted to make a card about experiments for her teachers. I clearly couldn't give it to them. Ha!
Rylan and Avery. #BFFs
Ava at her kindergarten round-up. I'm in total denial.
"Play football me, Uh-cle Jesse?"
Stylin.
Loved having lunch with these cuties when we were in Austin for spring break.
While I was in San Antonio for Hannah's bachelorette party, the kids got in lots of fun with my parents.
And I have to brag on my sweet Dad. The night before he was going to watch the kids for the day, I showed him a Pin about a "rock box" that I thought would be fun for the kids, and when we arrived the next morning he had already been to Home Depot to pick up all the supplies to make it.
This little guy's day was made.
They also had so much fun at the Austin Rodeo with Bunny and Nello. And had their first taste of cotton candy!
When we were in Austin, we also got to celebrate Bunny's birthday. 60 has never looked better!
In preparation for the weekend, I put together bachelorette survival kits, which included sugar skull candies (found at Whole Earth), Bandaids, Shout wipes, Emergen-C, DripDrop, Pepto, Advil, cacti nail files, mini bottles of tequila, Kleenex, and hair ties in mini Mexican mercado bags.
We also stocked up on beer, wine, and paloma ingredients for the room/walking around (the Riverwalk is open carry!).
With a weekend of absolutely beautiful weather ahead of us, we were ready to go!
On Thursday after work, the bride + bridesmaids headed down to San Antonio and checked into the Hotel Indigo Riverwalk. After cleaning ourselves up a bit, we walked the very short distance to Ocho...an absolutely adorable, Cuban-style restaurant inside Hotel Havana that overlooks the river. I am still dreaming about their churros.
After dinner, we headed downstairs to Hotel Havana's speakeasy-style bar before heading back to our hotel for a little decorating.
We lucked out that Hannah's room had a patio (and had I known, we would have requested a room with a patio facing the Riverwalk), and it was the perfect place to hang at the beginning/end of each night.
On Friday morning, some more of Hannah's friends joined the fun, and we were picked up at the hotel by Cottonwood Wine Tours for a "Guadalupe River Valley Tour" of three wineries and one moonshine distillery. Since it happened to be St. Patrick's Day, we wore fun shirts for the occasion. #LuckyBride #shHANNAHgans
Our first stop of the day was at Sister Creek Vineyards, and we got a tour of their facilities before our tasting. The wine was all pretty tasty, and the staff very friendly.
The second stop was Singing Water Vineyards, which was my favorite by far. It was on a beautiful piece of Hill Country property, complete with a tasting room, huge outdoor pavilion, and a gorgeous deck overlooking the creek.
Next we headed to Comfort, Texas for lunch and the last two tastings. It was such a cute little town, with lots of fun restaurants and shops along the main road. We ate at Comfort Pizza, which definitely hit the spot after drinking wine all morning. The pizza was fantastic, and the patio was absolutely perfect.
After lunch, we walked down the street to Comfort Cellars Winery. The wine was decent, but service not so great.
But they did let Hannah up on the ladder, so bonus points for that.
Our final stop was Hill Country Distillers. That stuff was strrroooong, but it was definitely a fun experience. And the coffee-flavored moonshine was surprisingly good.
They also had a full bar, and my gin cocktail was a delectable way to end the tour.
Overall, I would highly recommend Cottonwood Wine Tours, and I really want to try their tour around the Fredericksburg area next.
After returning to San Antonio, we walked down the Riverwalk for dinner at The Luxury. Y'all....this place was so cool. The laid-back restaurant sits right on the river, with tons of patio space and a food truck feel. Also, the buttermilk chicken sandwich and fries were amazing, the green beer was flowing, and those swings!
Saturday morning we hailed a water taxi to the Pearl Brewery district for brunch. The water taxi trip was fun, but I was amazed at how few there were and how long we had to wait for a ride. [We bought a 24-hour pass, but weren't able to get one later that day for dinner. Blerg.]
The stretch of the Riverwalk between our hotel and the Pearl Brewery district was very pretty with lots of interesting and artistic features. It was also super walkable and well-lit, which was nice when we were walking around that night.
Our first stop in the Pearl Brewery district was brunch at Southerleigh, which is connected to Hotel Emma. [While Hotel Emma was a bit too pricey for a bachelorette weekend, I already have plans for a staycation there with Josh. It is amazing.]
The restaurant building was originally Pearl's brewhouse, which was built in 1894, and it has a cool, industrial-chic vibe. The food and drinks were also great, and I highly recommend the Country Ham Benedict and Pineapple Cocktail.
Jordan gets big points for calling ahead and ordering mimosas for the table plus a michelada for Hannah.
After brunch, we spent some time exploring the Pearl Brewery district, including all the cute shops and Local Coffee. My only regret is that we didn't make a stop for macarons at Bakery Lorraine. Next time they will be mine.
The San Antonio Museum of Art is located halfway between the Pearl Brewery district and our hotel, so we clearly had to make a stop in honor of our art-loving bride. And I think this may have been her favorite part of the weekend.
I mean...it wouldn't be a true bachelorette party without a little male nudity ;).
After resting for a bit at the hotel, we donned our Mexican fiesta attire and headed out for dinner followed by a Riverwalk bar hop...but not before kicking off the evening with tequila shots.
We started the night back to the Pearl Brewery district for dinner at La Gloria, which had a fun atmosphere, a huge patio overlooking the river, tasty interior Mexican food, and delicious (and strong) margaritas.
We were told the wait would be nearly two hours (seriously?!), but decided to get some drinks on the patio and take a chance (while watching our spot in line on the app they use). Sure enough, it only took about 30 minutes to be seated. Just enough time for the margaritas to really kick in :).
After a stop at nearby Stay Golden Social House, we headed to the opposite end of the Riverwalk (very much the "dirty 6th" side) to visit some more typical bachelorette party bars.
In order to protect the innocent, I will refrain from posting the photos/videos from the latter part of the night...with the exception of this one because nothing better depicts my thoughts about being on the dance floor of a slightly-sketchy club that late. #MamaOnTheDanceFloor #Old
After a recovery breakfast at Pete's Tako House on Sunday morning (including some of the best tortillas I have ever had!), we headed home. While I was very sad for the weekend to be over, I was also very much ready for a nap and a meal full of vegetables.
We absolutely loved celebrating our Hannah Banana!
My name is Catherine, but most of my friends call me Cat. I was born and raised in Austin, went to TCU, and ended up in Dallas for law school (where Josh and I met). I decided that being an attorney was not my cup of tea and pursued a career in legal marketing. I am now a mother of two attempting to balance family with a full-time job, which is always an adventure. I love: my sweet babies, handsome husband, very large family, and fabulous friends; trying new restaurants; wine; TCU football; holidays; cooking; The Bar Method; pajamas; Topo Chico; reading; coffee; Central Market; carbs; the beach; mani/pedis; Anthropologie; binge-worthy TV shows and podcasts; trivia; French 75s; Pinterest; cheese boards; The Ticket; dancing; Sprinkles cupcakes; The Texas Rangers; fresh flowers; thunderstorms; naps; Tex-Mex; the Texas Hill Country; porch-sitting; ranch dressing; throwing parties; and my job. I hate: working-mom guilt; snakes; heights; waking up early; ignorant people; stomach bugs; paper cuts; green fruit; snoring; bad hair days; the sound of people eating (Misophonia); scary movies; bad drivers; pulpy OJ; trimming baby fingernails; and Miracle Whip. That pretty much sums it up.
