Takin' on Texas: Labor Day 2015

We had an awesome Labor Day weekend! but first...a few pics

Emmalyn LOVES cottage cheese and is learning to eat by herself with her spoon

Dressed up at Brittany's

Watch out, Joe! It's a shark!!

Washing up after a meal

Mary Ann invited the kids over for a "cupcake" party. They had salad in cupcake cups, pizza cupcake, and then dessert was, of course, cupcakes. It was super cute and fun for the kids. I got Max to eat a few bites of salad but he had it dry. He doesn't like salad dressing (what kid doesn't like ranch?).

Morning ipad time

We got on the road after work on Friday. The kids did really well on the drive down to Austin.

My little road trippers

We got to Austin super late because we had hit awful traffic, put the kids back to bed and enjoyed visiting with Michelle and Richard late into the night.

The next morning we went to get these amazing waffles from a food truck. It was like having dessert for breakfast.

Both the kids quickly warmed up to Makenna and Natalie

After breakfast the moms and kids went swimming

The have multiple pools, it's a great set up!

After swimming, Michelle and Richard had a commitment so we stayed at their house, the kids got naps, and I got some BBQ from a local food truck. I LOVE the food trucks in Austin. Can't get enough.

Video - Emmalyn was fascinated with the stairs and it was a battle trying to keep her off of them. She ended up really becoming a pro at the stairs while we were there. I wished that she would go down on her belly like Max did but she wants to go down on her bottom.

The 4 were so dang cute together. It was fun just watching them interact.

For awhile the dads ditched the rest of us and went over to one of Richard's friends and hung out over there.

For dinner we went to a great place where we could eat outside and enjoy the gorgeous weather while listening to live music. There were big blocks for the kids to play with and a playground, too. I just LOVE Austin!

Love my baby girl

She really wanted to play with the big kids.

Maxwell enjoyed the live music.

Whenever Emmalyn got close to the blocks, this little girl basically ran for her and wanted to smother her which Emmalyn DID NOT want. Emmalyn kept telling her no and trying to get away from her and the little girl just didn't get it. (I wondered where her parent was after like the 5th time the girl upset Emmalyn)

Max trying to get that block on the top of the tower

Emmalyn and Richard

Since the men had their fun earlier in the day, Michelle and I went to get a reflexology foot massage together. It was so relaxing!

On Sunday the kids had a fun time playing and building a fort before Michelle and Richard went to church.

Where's Emmalyn?...

...There she is!

We went to P Terry's for lunch - yummmmm

The boys...

...and the girls

After lunch we went back to one of my favorite spots in the area - Westcave Cellars Winery. The grounds are just so gorgeous plus they've had live music each time we've been there.

How gorgeous is this day?!

Adorable siblings

(although - - to be fair, they only did this because I asked them to do it. They don't normally go around holding hands.)

Playing among the vines

She had to have her turn

There were cows on the property this time. We got Max to get sort of close and look like he was touching the cow.

Emmalyn thought the cows were awesome

...until they made noise and she freaked out

Hanging out and enjoying the music

Ready for a nap

She was so cute toddling around in her dress

We went inside where it was cooler (look at that sweaty head!) and the kids enjoyed crackers while we tried some wines. Didn't love anything this time so we didn't take a bottle home.

Maxwell really enjoyed playing legos with the girls

Michelle (and Richard) made a delicious Sunday dinner. It was so fantastic and a perfect Labor Day meal with grilled steak, corn on the cob, watermelon, etc.

Checking out the piano

Natalie was kind enough to let Emmalyn play with her

After dinner we went for a nice walk (until we heard gun shots and realized it was bird hunting season and we should probably get back to developed land and not risk being mistaken for a desired bird)

I'm not saying that Richard and Michelle ditched us and left us to fend for ourselves with all the kids....but... they are pretty far ahead. :) (Just kidding - they didn't really)

Emmalyn kept wanting to walk on her own and pick up rocks, which were everywhere but caused us to go very slowly back to the road.

Showing Natalie something

Since our walk was cut short, we walked to the playgrounds by their pools. The kids had a lot of fun playing on the play grounds and then we went into the pool area and Natalie and Makenna jumped in with their clothes on. We tried and tried to get Maxwell to do it but he absolutely refused. He wouldn't budge. He just wouldn't get in the pool without a swimsuit on. Sometimes he can be so hard-headed. I appreciate that he is such a good little rule follower but I want him to also understand that it's okay to go a little "wild" and break some of the rules. (I just reminding myself that if I can only choose one way, I would rather have him be a rule follower.)

We came across this little frog as we were walking home. Makenna totally picked him up! It reminded me of another trip to Austin where Richard caught a frog.

Tonight the adults stayed up SUPER late playing "Heads up" and laughing incredibly hard. It was a really, really fun evening.

In the morning, the men went wake boarding with some of Richard's friends. I was super proud of Peter for going and doing something out of his comfort zone. He even tried a few times to get up, but didn't quite get the hang of it.

Lazy morning with all kids on my bed watching Maxwell on his iPad

The girls liked to ride with us and sit between the kids. Emmalyn really liked it because it gave her someone to interact with.

We went to brunch at a great restaurant. It was delicious and worth a long wait in line.

We then finished off our fun weekend together by going to a cave - Longhorn Cavern. I wouldn't expect to find a cool cave in Texas because in my mind, caves are only in mountains but this one was in the ground.

Maxwell wasn't sure about going into the cave. We borrowed jackets for the kids since the cave was quite a bit cooler.

The cave was way more neat than I had expected. I find caves so fascinating!

Maxwell didn't like the cave. He didn't like how dark it was, he was tired of listening to the tour guide, and he just wanted it to be done. Luckily between us and Michelle and Richard, we were able to pass him around and distract him a bit. Emmalyn did pretty well until we let her out of the stroller and then she just wanted to walk around which she couldn't because she would fall, for sure.