Stop #2 - Austin (Part 1)

Our next stop was Austin, the city where I lived for four years after college. We had lots of places to see and people to visit, so we stayed in town for five days!

We stopped at Sarah's house first to hang out and have some lunch. We went out to a fabulous place by the UT campus where I had the BEST pad tai EVER. It was SO good, it deserved to be in a picture. :-)

For the rest of the weekend, we stayed at my friend Kate's apartment in south Austin. Here's Barrett having his breakfast on the patio by her awesome cacti collection.

Kate's shower curtain was a huge map of Texas, 

so it was only appropriate that Barrett take a picture in front of it!!

For St. Paddy's day, we spent most of the day waiting for Barrett to wake up from an epic four hour nap. Once he finally woke up, we headed up to north Austin to Emma Long Park. It's a beautiful place, right by park of Lake/River Travis, and it was the perfect day for a picnic!

Aunt Katie came with us and enjoyed helping Barrett eat his delicious lunch of sweet potatoes and carrots. He was orange for the rest of the day! :-)

At the park with my baby!

My friend and coworker in Austin, Jennifer Niestradt, also came out to join us with her son. Gabriel is 18 months, but he and Barrett still "played" pretty nicely together.

It's me first St. Paddy's day!!

Sarah, Aunt Katie, and Kate: our hostesses for the weekend!

Posing with Aunt Katie

Niestradt was one of my best friends in Austin, and it was really good to see her again. We coached volleyball against each other in our school district and coached together with our club teams. You might recognize her as one of the members of my wedding! She is still teaching math and coaching volleyball in Austin, as well as raising her cute little boy.

The next place we stopped by on the way home has some very special significance for me. It's a random empty lot in the middle of a neighborhood with a set of stairs leading up to a balcony that overlooks the hill country and downtown Austin. It is absolutely beautiful, and at night, the view is amazing. I found it randomly one weekend while I was looking for a place to see the stars.

This place has a special significance to me because it is the place where Travis first told me that he loved me. :-) I was so delighted that the lot was still empty and I could take Barrett there to see it!!

Looking over the view of downtown Austin and the hill country

After the park, we headed home for some green beverages! (We also stopped at McDonald's for one of their green milkshakes, but it was less than impressive...)

Barrett changed into his second St. Paddy's day outfit for dinner.

Kiss me, I'm Irish!!

For the first time ever, I ate corned beef and cabbage on St. Paddy's day. Kate is a great cook!

At this point, Barrett is still very eager about eating and feeding himself, and he makes HUGE messes! Kate's kitchen floor, cabinets, and walls were covered in food after breakfast on this morning...