Papa and Grandma's summertime Austin trip

We always have a fun filled weekend when Dave and Cindy come down! We try to show them new places, and we were successful with 3 new ones on this trip!

Our Friday night hangout spot for dinner was at Stanley's Farmhouse Pizza. There was another lively environment tonight with plenty of people and music. Nico enjoyed digging in the sand most of the time, while we watched him and enjoyed pizza and beer.

We took a dip in the pool on Saturday before it got too hot out. Nico was obsessed with jumping on and off of his boogie board.

 

He also challenged Papa to a couple races.

 

Nico had to show off his hitting skills with a little family game of baseball. He cracked up every time that he slid into Dave's feet to avoid a tag.

After naptime, we ventured up to the Oasis on Lake Travis. It was nice that the lake level was finally high enough to enjoy the view!

We enjoyed a few drinks and some appetizer nachos. (I always gotta make fun of Dave for his passion for nachos!)

We stopped by the Rusty Mule on the way back to relax, listen to some music, and let Nico run out some of his energy on the playground!

Both nights we came home and sat outside on our deck to end the night. We watched a little fireworks display one of the nights that was coming from just down the street. Very relaxing.

Another successful weekend in the books!

Freescale Showcase

I went with my parents to a really cool exhibit tonight that really blew me away. The Marriot downtown housed a Freescale Exhibit this week to showcase all of the products and real world applications that use their technology. We are all so proud of the hard work that my dad has put into the behind the scenes Freescale success, so it's cool to see what the company really does.

This truck drives around nationwide during the year to show off the products of the present as well as ideas for the future. One concept that stands out in my mind is being able to wirelessly monitor and adjust utilities in your home based on the feedback that it generates. There were a lot of different applications for this "smart" technology. They were as simple as turning off a light bulb from your phone, or as complex as supplying you with feedback for the hue of the light that you prefer when you arrive home from work. I joked that I could receive alerts on my phone when David leaves the closet light on or has the AC running too much in the house, so I could then harass him! (As if he needs any more of that.)

The products within the actual exhibit were just as cool. I almost felt like I wanted to pursue an engineering degree again. Another smart technology product was a bed that contained sensors to monitor your sleep habits. A lack of movement assumed an ideal sleeping environment. If the sensors picked up on movement, then various conditions (light, sound, mattress firmness, etc) were analyzed and then adjusted to achieve a fully rested state again.

By far, the coolest and most inspiring product out there was the Sam car. It is named after a former racecar driver that became quadriplegic after a car crash. Technology was created to allow him to drive again, and he actually took the car out earlier this morning at the F1 track here in Austin. I felt privileged to get to try out the simulator! The sensors were attached to the hat. Speed was controlled through exhaling and inhaling through a straw, and driving was controlled through subtle head rotation.

After our guided tour throughout the room, the remainder of the night was party time! Robert DeLong and Cake performed a private concert @ ACL Moody Theature for Freescale employees and guests of the weeklong event. It was really fun and both of them were better than expected!

 

Daddy's hockey game

I usually don't like to admit this, but David was a badass tonight. I hadn't been to a hockey game of his in a couple years, and I was pretty impressed. The highlight was when he totally schooled the goalie on a penalty shot. Nico really enjoyed watching the game too and loved when players got slammed into the boards or when the puck was shot up into the glass infront of us!

Happy Father's Day!

For Father's Day, my day was spent with the two of the greatest fathers that I know, my dad and David! After we picked up Nico, we had the intent on going to a nice breakfast, but Nico adamantly wanted to go to McDonalds. David really didn't mind and said sure, what the heck.

Nico and I went all out this year and got David a new Xbox video game console! He joked that I have outdone myself and am cleared from any responsibilities or gift giving for the next few Father's Days too! (The irony here is that, on occasion, I have complained about his Xbox playing and now am enabling him further. What?!) I also made the picture art on the right, with a movie quote from The Hangover that we often jokingly say about ourselves. It reads, "And we're the 3 best friends that anyone could have."

We hung around the house for the remainder of the day until it was time to meet up with my parents for dinner at Texas Land & Cattle. This was about the best picture we could get out of the 10+ other attempts.

I am so appreciative of everything that my dad has done for me and continues to do! He's simply the best, and I am glad that I am finally at a point in my life where I can understand and really embrace that. Thanks for the patience, the constant interest in my schooling and activities, long days at the softball field, fun vacations and activities, and being my #1 fan.

I'm not sure how David continues to stay sane with being a stay at home dad to a strong willed toddler. Nico has had just about the most fulfilling and fun childhood so far that I can imagine a kid having, and a big part of that is because of the opportunities and quality time that David gives him! He is so easygoing, patient, and always puts Nico first with new experiences and keeping him active. The house is clean, meals are on the table, and we have a happy home. Thanks for being an awesome dad (and husband too.)

And a Happy Father's Day, in particular to two other favs: Dave and my grandpa!

A different kind of date night

I've gotta give us a pat us on the back for continuing to make a point to establish monthly date nights! And if we are lucky, it's even a few times per month. Thanks to my mom and dad, as always, for letting Nico have a sleepover! We still haven't had to use a random babysitter yet.

We tried out a new place tonight that David had been wanting to go to in East Austin called Xian Sushi and Noodle House. They are famous for their hand pulled noodles. The sushi did not disappoint either!

We had to laugh at ourselves for having a completely sober date night. I ordered hot green tea to drink, and I think he had a water. Between David's recent GI issues and upping our efforts to get pregnant, we decided we should back off on the boozing for a while!

We will definitely come back to this place! Everything was happy hour pricing too, so we ate wayyy more food than the $20-25ish amount that the tab reflected. As if we didn't get enough to eat there, we did walk around the Mueller shopping area and had some frozen yogurt. We were productive and  bought a few bday gifts for Nico for next month. We then went home early and watched tv! Quite the old, boring couple we were tonight!

Roundrock Express game

As both Rangers fans and fans of baseball in general, we couldn't make it through the 2015 baseball season without going to our second annual Roundrock Express game! Tonight was Willy Nelson night, so there was plenty of his music playing between innings, and we were given a free Willy bobble head!

His first cotton candy experience.. and based on the sticky mess, I'm hoping his last!

Nico had us all so proud (and also cracking up) with his high level of interest in wanting to keep score! I ended up watching him and my dad converse for a few innings rather than keeping track of the game. He has such a curious mind and wants to know everything that was going on! After every pitch, my dad would explain what happened and what he was to mark on his scorecard. Ofcourse, he doesn't know how to write letters and numbers yet, so that's what made it even cuter! This went on for a majority of the game!

Classic 7th inning stretch dancing.

 

The Express wasn't looking too good. Even the rally caps didn't help.

This was one of the best baseball game experiences that I have had, just because it was so enjoyable to watch Nico's excitement and learning! We can only hope that he grows up to understand and love the game of baseball like the rest of us do!

Girls' trip to the Frio River

One of our good neighbor friends, Aeryn, invited a group of girls down to Concan to stay at her family's river house on the Frio River!

I didn't really know many of the girls too well besides her, but I still managed to have an absolute blast! Most of them are stay at home moms who were given a few days of complete freedom, so there was plenty of partying going on!

We arrived late Friday afternoon and had a low key night at the house. We had to be well rested for our marathon day on Saturday with a river floating trip AND a TX country music concert that night, Cory Morrow!

For living in TX most of my entire life, I'm not sure how I have yet to float the river. I have totally been missing out! We floated for about 3 hours and could have gone all day long.



We headed back to the house to relax, listen to music, and get some lunch. Some of us eventually ended back in the river, just to sit and people watch there. It was a happenin' place to be this weekend, since the recent flooding helped the water levels rise to allow for smoother tubing.

The Cory Morrow concert rounded out our day. It was held at a cute little venue down the road. I practiced my two stepping and danced the night away with my newly made girlfriends!

 

Playa del Carmen vacation!

When my parents started thinking about a 2015 family vacation, it didn't take long to finalize the decision that the Iberostar Playa del Carmen was most definitely where we needed to revisit! Our Mexico trips are ones that we continue to speak of for years down the road. They are some of our best and funniest family memories!



I can honestly say that this was the best one yet, because we had Nico with us this time! It was a blast watching him have the time of his life. It was on this trip that he wanted to stop using his floaties and swim all by himself. We were all amazed to see how fearless he would jump into the pool, get thrown around high into the air, and also swim fairly long distances!

Our days usually started out on the beach. We lounged in our chairs while Nico played in the sand. He enjoyed burying items in the sand and making racetracks for his tractors. We occasionally got in the ocean, but it wasn't really too much for his fear of sharks and also the high tide flags. (I was totally okay with him not wanting to be in the ocean too much!)

We ventured down to the pool every day about mid morning or lunchtime and basically stayed down there ALL day until it was time to have to get showered up for dinner! David and I switched out days on taking Nico up for a nap which was crucial to allow him to make it up for dinner! Ryan, Jessica, and I also played a few of the competitions in the afternoon like throwing a football through a tire and hitting a tennis ball in the spa. Ryan actually won the basketball shooting contest!

There was a kids' zone with a giant pirates' ship that was one of Nico's favorite parts of the trip (and the adults possibly had just as much fun here too...)

 

I love Nico's reaction in this picture below, as Ryan was just dumped on by the large bucket of water on top of the ship.

Buying him this dolphin may have been his #2 highlight...

When dinner time came, we usually met for a drink beforehand. We had dinner as a whole group for 3-4 of the nights, and we split up for the remaining nights. The snake bar was a popular hangout spot.

David is showing some nice enthusiasm with the "PROSIT" toast that Nico often asks to do...

 

This picture below makes me chuckle every time, thinking about the dinner story of Ryan and Jessica's airport experience in Mexico. Ryan basically dropped some luggage on the ground for Jessica to carry just because he didn't want to violate the number of bags that he wrote on his official form. He was so serious about not wanting to mess around "in another country." We were cracking up for most of the dinner listening to them both go at it. (This was the one night that Nico did NOT make it to dinner. David attempted to bring him down, and it was a total fail.)

My favorite group dinner was probably the hibachi night. Nico's amazement at the chef's ability to throw the utensils, catch shrimp tails in his hat, and play with fire was priceless to watch.

David and I had a nice date night at the steakhouse restaurant one night, and another night, we went to Italian with Jessica and Ryan. Nico had a sleepover with Grandma and Grandpa one of those nights, so that we could stay out late listening to some live music at the snake bar, followed by the infamous Discotec! I had to get my one night in! While there, Jessica and David spent their time watching Ryan and I dance like fools on the dance floor! Neither of them opted to join us (or even claim us at that point!)

We didn't stay out like party animals for any other night of the trip. I'm going to attribute that to the fact that Nico slept right next to me (and sometimes halfway on top of me) and once he is up in the morning, he is UP and ready to go! I know that my family appreciated not having a Frank sighting! We did go to a couple of the 9 p.m. shows that the resort put on. One night, Jessica got called up the stage and had to lay on top of someone doing a pushup competition. Pretty funny.

Since we had all of these dinners to dress up for, my goal was to get just ONE nice picture of our little family of 3 that I could display. This one is my favorite.

My guys. I am one lucky girl to have these two.

 

Ryan's Go Pro waterproof camera allowed us to take a serious amount of pictures to remind us of the fun times we had......

Nico sure loves his future Aunt Jessica. He kept telling her that she was pretty and stylish, and he always wanted to know where she was!

This picture of my mom is greatness, as she is exclaiming, "that kid just knocked down my effing drink!!!" during the tennis competition. (Sorry mom, had to share! Ha!)

And that about sums it all up! We are all so fortunate to be able to go on fun vacations like this! Thanks to my mom and dad for making this possible. You guys are the best.