The Driskill Hotel, Austin

Since we were in Austin for Melody's wedding last weekend, Greg and I decided to splurge and go on "vacation" by ourselves. We haven't been on an official vacation since well before we had kids, and it was high time! We booked a night at the Driskill Hotel downtown and shopped til we dropped. Fun!

We ate at Freebirds, (yum!) shopped at the Round Rock outlets (scored some sweet deals!), Tyler's (because it's cooler than Racket and Jog), Garden Ridge (disappointment!!!!!), and World Market (for wine and other fancies), and ate at FuddRuckers. Those places were all on my list for being "only in Austin" things, or "because Tyler doesn't have it" things. I am totally satisfied with our trip and don't feel like we missed anything. We even swung by the new Concordia University campus, and saw the remnants on the old campus. Sniff, sniff.. the place where I spent a huge chunk of my time from 2002-2005 is completely gone! Like, it's a huge hole in the ground now. The new campus is pretty, but it holds no meaning to me. I'll always remember those stinking old buildings and driving past the panhandlers in search of a parking spot.

Here are some pics from our hotel:

The staircase on the main floor


The floor


The ceiling


The mezzanine level


Looks ancient, but is sturdy and soundly built


Historic Painting of the hotel back in the day


The walls were covered in these ornately framed paintings, I think t his one is neat because it was near the cattle baron's suite and looks like a big gathering of the cattle barons.




Acting silly on the furniture. There were lots of fancy little sitting areas in every corner.


The details in the hotel amazed me! Look at how neat the flooring is!


There were also a ton of random bookshelves around the place. This one is in the tiny elevator lobby at the end of the 12th floor.


And even the rooms had neat details. I love how the molding on the ceiling creates a visual effect of an even higher ceiling, and they painted it orange! Who would ever think?


And here's us at the wedding, glam huh!

Melody's Wedding

Why you should replace the fridge filter more than once ever.

Because it can make a huge mess! And be very expensive! And make you look like a fool to the 8 plumbers you call to repair a hot water heater that isn't broken!

Apparently, changing the water and ice filter on the refrigerator isn't so much of a suggestion as much as it is completely and utterly necessary. Greg found a puddle around the water heater in the garage early Saturday morning, and assumed it was leaking. After some investigation and making the connection with some recent musty smells, we discovered the carpet under our dresser in the master bedroom was soaked, which is just on the other side of the wall from the water heater. The tile grout in our two pantry areas was also wet-looking. So we called around to several plumbers, trying to find someone who was 1) working on Saturday and 2) wouldn't cost three arms and two legs. We ultimately decided to buy our own heater and get the hourly plumber out to install it for maximum money savings. His first available was Monday morning, so we unplugged it and turned the water off to it and attempted to drain the water out. That evening we noticed MORE water by the back door, and figured the water heater was still leaking somehow. We traced the water to the fridge. Greg pulled it out from the wall and discovered a huge puddle under it! STILL thinking it was from the water heater, but wanting to be safe, we unhooked the water line from the fridge and mopped up the water. By that time it was time to get packed and ready to leave for Austin early the next morning. No time to mess with it anymore.

Skip forward to Monday, the heater gets installed while we are living it up in Austin, and we come back home to dry floors and hot water. Yay! So Greg reconnected the water line to the fridge. Couple of hours later there was more water. HUGE puddle under the fridge, and wet carpet in the bedroom again. Just great!!!!!! This time the investigation showed us the filter was leaking when attached, and when he unscrewed it, the water stopped. Awesome. The filter was apparently clogged and full and spewing water onto the floor. So, today I picked up a new filter for $40ish and we have a brand new hot water heater that was totally unnecessary. I'm going to tell myself we preformed preventative maintenance on the water heater to keep myself from having a money meltdown. Argh!

p.s. In regards to preschool (see previous post), we've decided not to send him. One more year with my boy getting to be a little boy at home with his mama is the right decision for our family. Thanks for the comments on here and on Facebook. I respect each and every one of you and am thankful for wonderful friends!

To go or not to go?

That's a lot of Os!

We might have the opportunity to send Caleb to pre-k in the fall. I just found this out last week, and now my universe has been altered. I had it in mind that Caleb would be at home one more year before starting Kindergarten, since we really can't afford preschool. But this opportunity has come up, and it's very hard to say no. My only hangup is that it's 8-3 every day. For my boy that still takes a 2 hour nap every day, 8-3 is going to be hard for us. I'm sure they will get a rest time, (they better, if they know what's good for them!) But that is not 2 hours in bed at home = not top-quality rest.

I am torn. Send him or not? I still have to apply and be approved, but I think the mama in me is the only one here that isn't ready. I'm sure he would do fine, and probably excel beyond my expectations. But he's my baby!!! When did this growing up business happen!?

Grandpa's 75th Birthday party

When my mom's side of the family gets together, it's always a huge occasion, simply because there a LOT of people. My mom has 3 siblings, all of which have at least three kids. I am one of 13 first cousins and most of us live within a 2 hour drive to Grandma's house. Last weekend we got together to help celebrate my Grandpa's 75th birthday. It was definitely a full house! There were my 2 grandparents, my mom, two aunts, two uncles, my brother, 6 cousins, one cousin's boyfriend, one cousin's best friend, my great-aunt and -uncle, one family friend, my little family of 4, one dog, and one cat. That's 23 humans and 2 animals.

Since Caleb seldom sees paper plates at home, he had no idea what to do with it! I joke, I joke...


Grandpa always has time for a tractor ride.


Driving the little tractor out to the barn to get on board the big tractor


It took quite some time in the kitchen to get food ready for all those people! I helped a little.. I made the brownies.


Carly entertained herself with some games. Grandma was fascinated that a 2-year old was playing games on my phone.. and that she was so quiet while she was playing!


Then we had a bit of swimming. It took Caleb two days and one semi-traumatic experiece where Greg grabbed him off the steps and the dropped him in the shallow end for Caleb to realize that he could touch the bottom. Then he walked around for hours! He only slipped and dunked himself once, and that was the end of swimming for him. Silly kid!






Carly never left the steps. I remember spending hours on the steps when I was a kid at Grandma's. They built this pool the year I was born, so I have LOTS of memories here!





After dinner we had dessert...





... and singing. That was Grandpa's request -- to have Grandma play the piano and they had a list! Mom said she heard them downstairs late at night giggling at the piano all week long planning this music list! It was a very sweet time with lots of old favorites, and lot of tears. Yes, we are a family of crying singers..

Singing "Unworthy" together... beautiful!!


Three of the four siblings singing together with mom on piano


My bro on the guitar


Carly and her Unca Dodo


I just love this:


Singing "Pick up the shovel, and dig another well."


Cody again


Related much?


A bunch of the teenagers (my cousins and assorted others) in attendance


It was WAY past bedtime at this point, but Carly was hanging on in my uncle Steve's lap.


Cody and me



And I had to put this one in... I asked them to smile and this is what I got. Steve's face makes me laugh out loud every time! What a goofy uncle!! And this is typical Greg too. Never serious!