Alyce Jane

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Travel to Texas!

The crew of five! Thank goodness for family boarding on Southwest!

It was going to be our first big adventure since baby arrived! I am always one to take advantage of time off to travel, so we decided to do a maternity leave trip while Southwest was running a fare sale. We were going to head down to Texas to enjoy some warm weather and see the Foley's!

We barely managed to fit all of our crap into the Pilot and headed to the airport. Paul dropped us off by the door where we managed to haul in two kids, a stroller, car seat, five bags of luggage and three carry on bags! It was quite the site! Haha! Luckily, we had a direct flight to Dallas, and our first flight went well! The little guy and the big guy were both champions!

The friends and now fathers! Baby’s first Texas BBQ!

Once we got to Dallas, we waited for Paul to grab our oversized rental and tried to put all of our bags in like Tetris. Lovis was crammed in the back between the car seats tending to the boys and replacing pacifiers. We started the road trip to Austin and rolled into the Foley residence late in the evening. Within minutes the pack and play was assembled and we were all in bed.

Ahhhh…. my favorite people. My boys!

The Anderson Crew by all the delicious meats…

We spent the next few days exploring the area and going on long walks. Lovis and I went for walks around the neighborhood with the double stroller enjoying the weather and buy one get on free Starbucks drinks.  We also toured the small stores on the main street and walked to Allen's Boots to check out their large selection of cowboy boots. I have great taste - my favorite pair was only $750+. So, that was unfortunate.

The other days we went up to the Capitol building for a free tour, and we also went out to a neighborhood free kids park. There we walked around, saw a few rehabilitating animals, and Drew was able to dig up some dinosaur bones in the sand pit.  Foley and Paul also went for a run around the city and met up with Drew at the swimming hole. We were clearly from the north - as we were one of the few swimming in the fresh water pool.

Little man exploring the sand pits!

Other Texas activities included FOOD!  We went out to a BBQ on the outskirts of Austin which was phenomenal! Open pit BBQ is where it is at, finished with a trio of cobbler and pecan pie.  I cooked a few dinners to give the Foley's a break from our invasion of their house, and we went out for a nice Mexican dinner and gelato on our last night.

Poppa and Boomer in Barton Springs!

It was such a treat to have the opportunity to visit the crew in Austin, and it was nice to be able to vacation with the kids in the comfort of a house and not hotel room!  We could let the kids sleep, I could pump and feed the little guy in privacy, and we could cook meals so we didn't have to drag the crew out for every meal!  Basically, we were super fortunate that the Foley's were willing to open up their house to our growing family! Nothing like invading with a post partum wife, newborn, toddler, and au pair! We have awesome and brave friends!  First we were roomies in Wisconsin, then we visited the crew in Boston, then Chicago, and now Austin - where to next?!?

The gorgeous Capital building, although not much compares to Wisconsin!


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