Pease Park Splash Pad.

Have I mentioned lately how much I love all that Austin has to offer for families with young children? Seriously, this was an amazing city when I was a single, childless individual with a partying agenda, but it's even better now that I'm a grown up. Most of the cities dozens of public parks and playgrounds have added splash pads in recent years, including the awesome, centrally located Pease Park. We took it upon ourselves to suit up and go cool down yesterday in the blazing 103 degree heat - well worth it! Ava was so cute, dashing from fountain to fountain and trying to figure out where the water went when they'd turn off. We did, however, keep her shoes on since the pavement gets a bit slippery!

Wordless Wednesday - New Button.

I have a new button! Thanks again to the marvelous Chelsey over at The Paper Mama for all of her help - I highly recommend her for your header/button/photo editing needs!!!

Not sure why it's duplicated on my sidebar, but when you grab it, it won't be :D

Zilker Botanical Gardens!

Alternatively, this post could have been titled, "How I've Lived in Austin Ten Years and it Still Surprises Me With These Hidden Gems Because it is the Single Most Awesome Place Ever."

Seriously, folks. How on Earth have I lived in Austin for ten years and have never been to the Zilker Botanical Gardens? They're amazing!!!

Seeing as how it is summer and S was scheduled for summer camps all summer but flat out refuses to go, I've been on a mission to come up with fun and novel things for us to do to keep busy - and cool. Enter the Zilker Botanical Gardens. Check out the gorgeous scenery!













If we didn't have friends getting married here in November, this could have been a major contender for the spot we're getting married. That being said, the place we've chosen is absolutely perfection. And if you haven't heard of our new wedding plans, check out my last post :) So EXCITED!!!

An Exciting Announcement!

Remember how I recently said the wedding was off, and that we'd be eloping to an island somewhere the three of us?

Well, after much perusal and discussion, we just couldn't get into it. A lot of the places that did destination elopements seemed generic and manufactured, and that's the last thing you want for your wedding, right? We explored New York City in detail, as a piece of my heart remains there and I'm dying to share it with David and Ava, but passed on it due to the sheer expense of a hotel for a handful of days. Having found the loveliest woman alive to marry us in New York City, though, I started thinking. Perhaps there was an Austin counterpart to the NYC woman who married people wherever they'd like - be in in Central Park (my choice, obvs!), the Brooklyn Bridge, or any place of your choosing. And, as it turns out, there is!

So, here's the big news. The wedding? It's on, baby. We're combining the best of both worlds: we'll be married in my ideal location in Austin, Texas, our true home and somewhere we felt a bit odd not being married at, considering our true love for and history here. After talking to the City, we're able to do a ceremony on a first-come, first-serve basis, and are choosing to do it on a weekday afternoon, so we'll have free run of the park. And as such? We won't have to pay any rental fees for the venue. We're just paying a nominal fee for the officiant, and even such, it's extremely reasonable!!!!

The best part? Our families will be there. My family (including mom, dad, sisters, aunt & uncle and four cousins and grandparents) will fly in from California for a few days, and we'll do it up bridal party style with pedicures and a hair appointment. David's family will come up as well, though it's only the three of them. And, understandable to anyone who knows me, the D's and the girls will be in attendance as well <3. Perfection. Afterwards, we'll do a reception with lunch, cake and champagne at a local restaurant in a private party room. And Ava? She'll be our flower girl in her gorgeous dress.

Friends, I could NOT be happier. I'm sure we'll have some friends who are disappointed, as we're doing a no friends ceremony (none at all, mainly because if you invite even one, suddenly you're listening to a plethora of "why them and not me?" complaints and it's just DRAMA). But to me? My little family of three joined eternally in front of our families (including the D's) in a most beautiful Central Austin location? Seriously, perfect!

As for my dress....oy. That's the only part of this nonsense I had originally figured out, and now it's the only part left hanging. So, not to sound all bridezilla, I've decided I don't like my original dress. Actually, I decided that almost immediately, but only just have decided that if I am getting to have the wedding I want, I should have the dress I want too. So the search continues. As for my ordered dress, since I obvs can't cancel it, if you know anyone who wants to buy a size 4 gown with a lace-up back, beaded bodice, ruched skirt and long train, let me know (haha. seriously, though!).

San Antonio Zoo Revisited.

We took Ava to the San Antonio Zoo back in October, right as she started walking and while it was still cool. While she enjoyed it then, and was really interested in all of the animals, she was WAY more into it this time. Check out the awesome time we had:

Checking out the hippos and fish:

Staring down the cats:



Happy baby!

Kanga:

Petting Zoo...she was swarmed by bees because of the popsicle. Chaos.

Warthog:

Elephant (obvs):

Okapi:

Trying to cool my poor baby down with a giant popsicle:

Ostrich:

Wild Dog:

We really liked the kangas:

Getting ready for a dip in the baby beach:


Such a fun trip - can't wait to go to the Houston Zoo later this summer!

New Design.

I recently changed my blog background (thanks for the recent compliments, ladies!), and now have my new header up and running. Check back for a new button to match soon! Let me know your thoughts! :)

The very talented (and exceptionally patient - lol!) Chelsey at The Paper Mama gets major props for the header design - isn't she awesome? Go tell her so!

Wordless Wednesday - Post Gymnastics.

Austin Children's Museum, The Sequel.

We recently went back to the Austin Children's Museum, and while I still think it's one of the single most chaotic places in the world and leave feeling insanely overstimulated, I also enjoy myself more every time, especially when I'm able to go just one-on-one with A - a rarity until recently!

Here are some pics:
Piggytails!

Snack time:

She was fascinated by the balls going around and around:

Seriously, she could've watched them all day.

My little hoarder in the making

I love this shot!

Getting the hang of it!

It's a very hands-on place (thankfully!)

Is it just me, or is she nearly as tall as I am?

Getting a hug from her friend, Sofia!

The Wedding is Off.

Okay, okay, so maybe that was a dramatic post title...

To clarify, the wedding is not off in its entirety. We're still getting married. We've just opted - likely to the chagrin of our family and friends - to forgo an enormous, money-hounding ceremony and reception for an intimate affair just the three of us.

I'd thought about this before. Long before we got engaged, I seriously kicked around the idea of running off the three of us to the islands or some similarly beautiful locale to tie the knot in peace. Lord knows weddings are expensive. Just HOW expensive, however, I had no clue about! I mean, several grand? Sure. Twenty to thirty grand? You crazy!

Another friend of ours is getting married. Actually, several, but one in particular got engaged around the same time and is planning a wedding around the same time. She's referred to her "budget" and stress in the same sentence a lot, which is understandable, except her parents gave her a LARGE chunk of money to spend on the wedding. While I don't begrudge her that, it's hard to hear considering that the total contribution both of our sets of parents have made is the astronomical sum of...$0.

Ouch.

Whomp whomp.

I always knew this would be the case, but it still super sucks. And while we've managed to put money into savings, I cannot justify depleting it for the sole purpose of one days worth of memories. Sure, a fancy wedding would be lovely, but I'm not that type of girl who is going to care that much when all is said and done. If someone else was paying, I'd love it. The reality, however, is that they're not, and I cannot justify taking out a chunk of our savings that should be put towards Ava's college fund, her own wedding so she isn't screwed over by our poor choices in the future, or towards the terrifying possibility that one of us could lose our income. It's just not worth it to me.

So, we'll be forgoing a wedding. I know it's disappointing, but know this. There will still be a ceremony. I'll still wear a beautiful and fancy white dress - and it will not be dumbed down per our intimate and likely informal ceremony. It's magnificent, let me tell you. We'll likely skip town for either the islands or some tropical beach, and after saying our vows, we'll sit on the beach as an official family of three, two of us sipping champagne and all of us nomming on delicious (vegan for A) cake and basking in the glow of post-wedding bliss.

And, to me, that sounds perfect.

Ava's First Ice Cream Cone!

After Father's Day fajitas tonight, we all chowed down on some delicious ice cream cones. Or, in Ava's case, a passion fruit sorbet cone :)

She LOVED it!

Croup.

Ava has been cracking me up lately. She just pointed to her nipple in the bathtub and squealed "boobeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee". Ha! I can't tell if it was even more hilarious because of her doped up look (more on this in a minute) or what, but it was awesome.

Unfortunately, A is sick :( She woke up with a barking cough in the middle of the night, and was coughing to the point of having labored breathing. Funny (?) story: I took a muscle relaxer last night because I slept wrong the night before, and literally, it was so bad I couldn't even check my blind spot. No joke. Anyhow, I'd never taken one before, and so after making sure it was nursing compatible (it was) I took one, expecting nothing to happen. An hour later, I was SOUND ASLEEP. Two hours later, A woke up with the coughing fit, and I was so insanely out of it. Seriously, I had no idea what D was talking about. Add to that the fact that he's a chronic over reactor, and his exclamation that he thought her windpipe was closing (such a drama king!) had me hysterical until I finally came to and realized she was not, in fact, dying a quick, asthmatic death. What an idiot.

Anyhow, long story less long, we hauled A into the doc this morning to find out she had croup (which we figured last night at the sound of her cough), as well as a touch of laryngitis and bronchitis. She doesn't get sick often, but when she does, geez does she ever go all out! Ten days of antibiotics to go :(

Thankfully, aside from her watery, running eyes and nighttime cough, she seems to be feeling decent enough now, so David's playing hooky tomorrow and we're taking a day trip to San Antonio. Woohoo!

Wordless Wednesday - Spencer.

Vacation!

It's the week that I spend all year looking forward to: my summer vacation.

Now, let me clarify. I keep getting well-meaning questions asking where we're vacationing. HA! By vacation, I just mean that I don't have to go to work for an ENTIRE week. Booyah! It's, in short, amazing.

Now we all know that stay-at-home mom's bust their tails. Being a mom is hard work, and being the one putting out the fires day in and day out can wear on you - I'll be the first to admit that. So I'm using the term vacation loosely, since now I'm only wearing one of my usual SAHM and working mom hats. It's just so nice to be able to go do things in the mornings without having to worry about if I'm messing with our afternoon schedule and how that's going to impact how my day goes at work. Also? Great to be able to make morning trips out without having to think of making a second trip downtown and the eleventy trillion dollars in gas all of it will cost me.

Bliss.

So far, we've played it a bit low-key. Yesterday we had A's gymnastics class (Mommy Brag Moment: Ava can now walk across the thin-ish balance beam, pick up the bean bags, and turn around WITHOUT holding anyone's hand!!!!!), and before that, we explored the library for an hour or so. Oh, and we took a trip to Target yesterday morning, where I spent $100 on nothing. And by nothing, I mean sheer awesomeness. Man, I love Target.


Today's agenda includes a super fun outing with my mom's group, followed by some swimming this afternoon. I may also nap with A when she takes her nap, seeing as how my eyes are shutting as I type this. Turns out our new blackout blinds make everyone sleepier!

Anywho, back tomorrow for Wordless Wednesday. Until then, enjoy your Tuesday!

Cleaning Out My Phone Camera.

These have been on my phone for varying amounts of time over the past two months or so - enjoy!