Yee Haw, Y'all!

As I mentioned I went to Texas recently.  Holy frijoles, Bat Man! It. Was. Hot. I don’t like hot. At all. I like moderate temps to cold. Because, yanno, legally you can only take off so many articles of clothing when out in public. 

We did go to a local pool twice during my trip.  Because it was hotter than Hades during the day, we couldn’t keep Madelynn outside during the afternoons.  That means no pooltime then.  OK with me.  One of the times we went swimming was during Maddie’s birthday party.  Their community has a wonderful pavilion next to a swimming pool area (with three pools). 

It did cool down a bit while I was there, with temps topping off in the low 90s instead of 103.  Still too warm for my likes, but doable.  We spent a lot of time indoors – shopping for Madelyn’s birthday party, music time with Mr. Will at a local boutique shop, eating yummy food in great restaurants, and just general wandering around stores in the area.

She does not stay still.

Seriously.  She was all over the place!

One night my sister, our mom, our Aunt J, Madelynn and I went to a steak house for a late dinner.  Every night they have live music on the patio.  Madelynn was enthralled by this. Completely captivated!  She wouldn’t sit in the high chair until we turned it towards the stage.  When out of her chair, she wanted to stand on the dance floor and would dance and sing…or just stare in awe.  The performer heard it was her birthday and sang “Happy Birthday” to her.  We caught most of it on video. (Click to see it).

"What's going on, Mommy?"

Just singing and dancing to the music.

On Madelynn’s birthday we went to the Austin Zoo and Animal Sanctuary. While a lovely setting, the paths are hilly and unpaved, making it very difficult to push a stroller.  The zoo’s animals are nearly all rescues.  Madelynn seemed to particularly like the lizards!  We attended a little storytime there and took Maddie on her first train ride.

Look at that lizard!!

Madelynn's first train ride

That night we all went to one of the many fantastic BBQ joints in the area.  So delicious!  While you can buy wine (and I think beer) there, you can also bring your own.  We did both.  Madelynn seem to think that the individual servings of wine were juices for her.  

Don't worry. We only take photos of underage drinkers. 

 

We took some birthday photos - mostly with my sister's camera.  Once it started to get dark we went inside for some delicious Texas BBQ.  We ordered a lot, but didn't bring much home. That was my last night in Texas.  The next day I flew back to Ohio, where it was also 90 degrees that day...but only 60 two days later. I'll take the 60s.

Grandma and her girlfriend Maddie.

Mmmm.  Yummy meat.

Goodbye daily themed posts. Hello randomness.

I had hoped that having a different theme for each day of the week would equal more posts.  That obviously didn’t work.  I will still use the themes from time to time, but I am going to return to my regular random style.  Will I be posting more?  Only time will tell.

Until then, here is a sweet photo of my niece Madelynn.  I took it while I was in Texas last week.  I can't believe she is a year old already!