Austin Weekend

June 24th - 26th we made a trip to Austin.  Michael had to go for work over the weekend and the girls and I tagged along.  Traveling with 2 kids solo was a bit tricky, so I totally flaked and didn't take pics, but there were a lot of 1st over the weekend that I wanted to capture. 

• Ella's 1st road trip that wasn't beach related.  She did great, slept nearly the entire drive both to and from Austin.
• The 1st weekend we slept in a hotel room as a family of 4.  Addy loved it, had a big huge bed to herself.  I'd say Ella was luke warm.  Once she got settled at night she was OK, but Saturday night there was a long period of screaming that I thought would never end.  Turns out both girls were completely fascinated just standing and looking out the window in the hotel room.  We were in downtown Austin, so there were tall buildings and all kinds of neat things to look at.  
• 1st time Ella met the Tilson family.  We had a fabulous time hanging out with Gabe, Sawyer, Lexie and Lyndon.  The girls had a blast playing in the pool together and just playing together in general.  And catching up with Gabe was great.  Always makes me sad though that we don't live closer and can't hang out more often!  
• 1st time both Addy and Ella met my friend Lauren.  Not sure how exactly it has been 4 years and Addy and Lauren haven't met.  Guess Lauren and I tend to hang out on girls weekends and adults only weekends. Very glad to be able to hang out with Lauren!
• 1st time I took both girls to the Children's Museum alone, and actually it was Ella's first time to a Children's Museum ever.  Fortunately the Austin museum isn't huge, so it wasn't too hard to chase after Ella and still keep an eye on Addy.  Pretty sure that I don't want to try the Houston museum with 2 of them and just me anytime soon though!  
• Michael might have a somewhat different version of this story, but I think that after this weekend I can say that Ella officially said her first word.  There has been discussion about how "da" was her first word (interpreted as "dad"), but there are a lot of things that are "da".  In my opinion (this is where we might differ a bit!) But this weekend, I'm claiming she officially said "dog" and was actually talking about a dog.  Good ol' Austin, there are dogs everywhere, walking along the street, hanging out at restaurants, you name it.  Every time we'd see a dog, Ella would say "dog" and point and get very excited.  The dog obsession has continued too and she of course gets a lot of practice with Star in the house.  I also learned that I need to keep a watchful eye on her when we are around dogs, especially small ones, because she is not gentle.  One of her favorite activities at Gabe's house was going to lay on the dog bed, with the dog in it.  Ella is a lot bigger than Pudge and he was not real happy to have a toddler plopping on top of him.  I don't blame him!

It was somewhat of a tiring weekend because Michael was working most if it, except Sat night when he got to join us at Gabe's for dinner, but it was also loads of fun.  When we were leaving, Addy told me she wanted us to move to Austin.  (Gabe - don't get your hopes up!!)