Austin 2016

We were able to turn a conference for Bronius into a fun vacation for the whole family! On Day 1, we swam in the hotel pool and then went with Bronius' co-workers for a fun team-building event at iFly. The boys LOVED this experience of "sky diving" without having to fall thousands of feet from a plane. The smiles on those faces were bigger than I have EVER seen. :)

Day 2, we enjoyed some family fun at Peter Pan mini golf, and headed back to the pool for more swim practice!

Our hotel had a lovely shaded area with some outdoor games for kids who got tired of swimming. :)

Then we left to meet friends for dinner at a fun Italian restaurant! I love how Austin has playscapes and live music at so many restaurants. We would live there in a heart beat - if it weren't for the traffic! :) I was super proud of myself for navigating Austin solo while Bronius was at his conference!!!

My first friend in College Station who was also my roomate while I worked at St. Mary's and was engaged to Bronius is Catharine way on the right and Josie, one of my first new Mommy friends in the middle. I treasure these dear friendships and their sweet families!

On day 3...we had some intense cartoon-watching.  Then we mobilized and headed down to Laguna Gloria for a free art class.  The boys enjoyed building lego cities beforehand!

They were sweet to take a picture of little ole me!

Their underwater cities, hand-painted, drawn and stamped by them!

Back to the hotel for - you guessed it - more swimming! They were so wiped out! Bronius took a break from his conference to sing at a special ceremony with the Schola Cantorum.  We wanted to come, but we were clear across town and couldn't make it in time. :(

So I took the boys to Mass the next morning at St. Peter the Apostle which was blessedly right across the freeway from the hotel (which was music to my ears after all the crazy driving I had been doing!) We packed picnic lunches and headed to the Bob Bullock museum for some neat exhibits and Texas History right afterwards.

Later that evening, we had dinner at one of my dearest, oldest friends' home, Kate, who grew up with me in Florida and has lived many places since, and has now landed in Austin with her wonderful family and many pets!!!!

Karen, another of our childhood friends, also recently moved to Austin to work for the university. It was a very happy reunion!!! What a wonderful trip!