Austin: Day 1

Two things are certain about my husband:

1) Andi loves adventure.

2) Once an idea creeps into his head, there's no turning back.

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With only two weekends left before Andi's whirlwind month(s) of work travel, we're trying to make the most of our family time together. On Wednesday, Andi mentioned taking a trip somewhere fun this weekend. I'm all for spontaneous vacations, but where to? We considering going snowmobiling at the cabin, but most of the trails are closed from lack of snow this season. We thought about visiting friends in Northern Minnesota, but they already had weekend plans. So, Andi checked the weekly airline sales and found buzz-kill deals to Detroit, Chicago, San Francisco and Austin, Texas. Austin? Eh, maybe. Our flight wouldn't arrive until 5pm Saturday so we'd only have Sunday and a half-day on Monday to explore the city. Would a trip to Texas really be worth it? We decided against it.

On Thursday, we poked around for another deal on the Internet and came up empty-handed. "Let's just go to Austin," I said, but the deal was already gone.

On Friday, Andi woke me up before he left for work and told me the Austin deal was back. "Let's do it," he said. And so we did.

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Austin: Day 1

On Saturday morning, I packed a suitcase and we headed to the airport. Gone are the days of stuffing a few newborn diapers and wipes into my suitcase. This trip, I added baby food, formula, rice cereal, bibs, a HUGE pack of size 3 diapers and toys to the mix in addition to Tory's clothes, onesies and blankets. Good thing mama packs light.

At the airport, en route to Austin

Once again, Tory was a gem on the plane ride to Austin. She slept for the first half of the 2 1/2 hour flight and was content to play rattles and toys the remainder. It always makes me feel good when the passengers around us comment on how well behaved she was during the flight. Even if I spent the entire flight wrangling a wiggly baby and constantly staying one step ahead to keep her entertained, no else saw me sweat it.

By the time we landed in Austin, it was 6:00pm and nearing Tory's bedtime. To avoid a full-on baby meltdown, Andi dropped us off at the hotel and ran out for take-out while I conquered our bedtime routine. It turns out, feeding a baby in a hotel room with no high chair gets a little messy. Good thing there was an endless supply of towels and a bathroom sink for quick cleanup! So glad I brought her hooded towel, a wash cloth and baby body wash along (add that to the list of must-have baby travel accessories).

Once Tory was asleep in the hotel crib, Andi and I devoured a glamorous dinner from Zax Restaurant. We curled up on the couch in our pajamas and dined on crab cakes, an olive and cheese plate and split a South Texas Burger. Paired with a couple of cocktails from the hotel bar and we enjoyed a fine date night together.  



We had a blast exploring Austin the rest of the weekend. Gotta run, so I'll recap the rest of our trip later!