Hannah and I are back home after a little trip up to Grand Prairie to visit Michael and Melody. It was a quick getaway and fun to be out of the routine for a couple days. I forgot to take pictures, but luckily Melody caught this one on her phone.

Hannah’s word for Uncle Michael was “Batu” and Aunt Melody was “Minny/Menny/Mennenney.” The dogs, Ella and Tatum, are always a big hit.

We went to the high school where Michael is an assistant band director, and Hannah was introduced to several new instruments. Drumline was a little overwhelming, but she seemed to enjoy the low brass sectional. I thought it was funny that kids were calling my little brother “Mr. Jordan.” A fun lunch stop up there in Carrollton was the Rainbow Grill. It was like a time warp – low prices, friendly staff and a high chair unlike anything I have seen. It was beyond vintage. I should have taken a picture, because I tried to do a search online to find a similar image to post, and I can’t find anything close.

So it was a fun little trip – thanks M&M!

Six years ago, we drove a moving van into Austin, the start of our Texas experience. We were (and are) so thankful to be here that we designated June 3rd as the family holiday of Austin Day. Traditionally, we try to do something Austin-y on that day and also eat at Whataburger, where we ate our first night as Austin residents.

We had planned a surprise excursion with some friends for today, but it fell through. Brett had taken a half-day off work, so we needed to come up with something fun. It was supposed to get up to 100 degrees, so we decided something with water would be good. A famous Austin place is Barton Springs Pool, and we have never been, so we loaded up and headed that way. Nearing the entrance, we could see a line of about 40 standing outside. We could only imagine how many people were already inside if they were making people wait like that. Not a good option with a 1-year-old who is already begging “water! water!”. So we drove back down to the public pool near our house, not very exciting but no lines expected. Well, there were no lines because it was closed!

By this time, Hannah was in meltdown mode. She was ready for water and was now chanting “sad, sad, sad” from the back seat. We hurried home to make our own water fun. I recently got a “water table” which we pulled out along with the kiddie pool.

The water was cold, but this kept her happy for almost an hour (an eternity given the toddler attention span). After getting dried off and cleaned up, we headed to Whataburger. Hannah recently learned how to dip, and tonight she discovered the two-handed dip.

Usually, during our Austin Day dinners, we recall our first night here and talk about all the Austin things that we love. It seems like much less talking happens when you have a toddler at the table, so we didn’t have a very deep discussion this year.

For another summer treat, we tried out a snow cone place near our house for dessert. I got raspberry lemonade, and Brett tried cafe latte. Hannah got some of mine; maybe I shouldn’t have picked something red.

We should have taken an “after” picture; let’s just say it required a bath and some serious scrubbing to get off all the sticky red coverage.

So Austin Day 2011 was a success and we look forward to many more!