Adventures in Austin

Saturday DH decided to take us to Austin, a short 2-3 hr drive away. I had mentioned to him shortly after UT won the Rose Bowl that the tower would only be lit up through the weekend.

As I lazed about in my pajamas late Saturday morning, a knock came on the door. It was the boy from the corner and his mom. He wanted to play with B. She quickly got changed and went over to his house for a while. DH and I got the other two kids dressed and we got showered and changed. When B came back we ate lunch and hopped in the car for the long trip.

As we prepared to depart, B and S asked for their headphones so they could watch a movie in the car. DH could only locate one pair, so I headed back in the house to find the other pair, and DH set up a DVD in the car. He had quietly said a few times during the day that it was going to be a long drive and we wouldn't get there until dark. Um, we ARE going to see a tower lit up at night, right??? So getting there at dusk would be a good thing, right?? Are you with me?

Alas, only A had napped at home, and we waited and waited for the other two to fall asleep. Meanwhile A and S were having screaming matches to see who could be loudest in the car. Great fun! At this time I was attempting to write out the last of my Christmas cards. (Side note: I discovered on Sunday that postage went up two cents, so now I have to buy more postage before they can be mailed. UGH!) We were driving northwest, so we had the pleasure of having the setting sun in our eyes for the entire trip, which also annoyed the kids, but most of all A, who screamed in protest. Great fun.

And then B woke up from her car nap and proceeded to ask us the hated question, "Are we there yet?" Every time we said "no, but soon," she'd reply with "this takes a long time" or some such. It got old real quick. Needless to say our nerves were shot when we finally arrived. As we drove near the tower I tried to snap a few quick pics with the digicam. It wasn't terribly easy to do.

Since the natives were getting restless, we decided to eat and then try to get a better shot of the tower. We pulled into one of DH's favorite pizza joints from his UT days, a buffet style place where the younger two eat for free. We found a table and two highchairs and DH went up to the buffet to get food for the kids and himself. Then he went to get drinks. I kept getting to wait until he was back before I could get my food or drink. The girls were a little nuts; B was complaining that her pizza was too hot to eat, and S on the other hand was an eating machine. Of course, A was in rare form, squealing at us and pointing to our pizza. Yet everytime I tried to hand him some, he'd push my hand away. Finally we realized he was thirsty and filled his sippy cup. And then that became a weapon. He'd launch it across the room, or at one of us. The final straw broke when he was sitting in my lap, and had just taken a sip. He wound up, and tossed the bottle in DH's direction while I tried to warn him. The cup flew across the table, clipping my half full cup of lemonade, sending that onto S's plate and drowning her pizza and the girls' part of the table. DH, being the patient man he is, said something to the effect of , "Jeanne, can't you turn him or get him away!..." which is when I yes, and stormed out of the restaurant. Being the idiot I am, DH had the keys, so I had to wait outside for him to get the girls out.

Things improved once we drove to the stadium. We found a parking spot right in front of the store and took the kids inside the packed store to purchase our national champions merchandise. Little Mr. Stretch Armstrong kept grabbing shirts off their hangers and was generally driving me nuts. S was not listening to either of us and kept disappearing, and B wanted one of everything in the store. Ultimately I had to excuse myself from the store and decided to walk the younger two outside. Then we played a game where I had S climb some stairs and come back down while trying to beat A and me. I was desperate to tire them out. Once DH had dropped a ton of money, we got the double stroller, walked past the Longhorn Band statue, stopping for the obligatory photo opp. (The statue is of a LHB trumpet player, which is what DH was.) Then we walked a little further and got some better shots of the tower. A made a lot of friends there, considering he was wearing his "#1 Texas Kid" romper and his hair nearly matches the burnt orange.

Lucky for us the kids finally fell asleep on the drive home and that three hours wasn't nearly as unpleasant.