our trip to texas {san antonio & austin}.

I apologize for the slight absence this past week from the blog. we unplugged & enjoyed the past week on a family vacation to TEXAS y’all!

it was great to have some family time to explore new cities & to hang out with friends. the entire purpose of the trip was to attend Jess & Cale’s wedding (Aaron was a groomsman), but we went down early to visit my very good friend Meg & her family (we have known each other since we were 12 & have been friends ever since! i also know her husband from high school, so it was a little reunion of sorts!).

{san antonio}

{eloise loved looking at the planes from the gate while we waited. she even waved at the ground crew guys, but I am pretty sure they didn’t see her!}

{eloise was catching up on some reading during the first part of the flight.}

{after lunch, eloise napped. hooray!}

{we had an amazing lunch at Bird Bakery & I wish I could go there every day. they have amazing sandwiches & cupcakes!}

{eloise & violet (Meg’s daughter). it is hard to believe there is only 8 months between them (Vi is 6 months)! they are BFFs already.}

{we headed down to downtown san antonio to the Riverwalk we had heard so much about. Meg suggested we take a river cruise & it was awesome! we learned so much about the history of the Riverwalk & the city, & it was so gorgeous!}

{#imonaboat}

{there was beautiful architecture all along the Riverwalk.}

{a group shot! eloise’s morning nap was a no-go hence the pacifier in the middle of the day!}

{& then we ventured down to the Alamo. I had no idea it was in the middle of downtown.}

{there was a gorgeous old & huge tree right near the Alamo.}

{the obligatory family shot in front of the Alamo.}

{the girls weren’t too keen about the fur trapper hats, but they sure were cute!}

{we hit up Bakery Lorraine for lunch & I had to try the French macarons. they had an Earl Grey flavor, so it was pretty much my favorite thing ever!}

{Meg & I took the girls to the DoSeum which is the brand-new children’s museum in town. it was such a great place & even though the girls are little, there were things for them to do. there was a little town & eloise had fun exploring all around. she loved putting the mail in the mailbox!}

{we played a few games of Settlers of Catan. it was fun to play after a few years & it makes me want to play at home!}

{I had my dresses for the wedding (I had three sent – one back-up size & one back-up style which you will see below) sent to san antonio so I didn’t have to do an eight-day rental. I was a little nervous since I would have had just one day to find a dress if none of the dresses fit, but Rent the Runway did not disappoint!}

{austin}

{this little one was so good at the wedding rehearsal & so ready for lunch!}

{picking up aaron’s wedding suit. it was a formal wedding, but no tuxes. the guys looked great!}

{we watched the first half of the huskies vs. ducks game, but it was too late to stay up for the entire thing! it was a sad loss, but I am proud of UW for not letting it be a blow-out!}

{shenanigans with eloise. those are her shorts on her head!}

{this was the outside of the chapel at the venue. “A” is for Anderson!}

{after being with just mama all day while papa was celebrating pre-wedding with the groom & the wedding party, eloise was so happy to see aaron after the ceremony! she had seen him thru the window as he was waiting to walk down the aisle & was pretty disappointed when he had to walk right past. she did pretty well during the ceremony with her pacifier & a stolen set of crayons (from the little boy in the row in front of us) that she used to make really pretty artwork all over the inside of my satin clutch… but she didn’t scream or cry, so no complaints!}

{the wedding party’s table. the bride & groom sat in that little settee in the corner! the dinner menu was BBQ, so we stripped all the kiddos down to their diapers for dinner, & I tucked my napkin in like a bib!}

{this was our family photo from the guest book. I love instant photos!}

{we asked the pro photographer to take a family photo (hence the great lighting!) & then we filmed a little bit for Jess & Cale’s video photobooth! my dress was this Marchesa from RTR & I was so in love! We still aren’t sure what was going on with Aaron’s hand!}

{one of my favorite new photos!}

{I had the BEST wedding dates y’all!}

{we made sure to get a group photo with the new Mr & Mrs Anderson!}

 

{this is one of me, Hailey, & Carmen. yep, that’s a booster seat in my hands; we shared it between eloise & lily for dinner!}

{my back-up rental dress – which was this Monique Lhuillier – was a twin to the dress that I made for Eloise for the wedding. & we had to get some photos in our matching dresses before I had to return them!}

{you can see the back of Eloise’s dress here – a huge bow!}

{we went to Torchy’s Tacos for lunch & it did not disappoint!}

{we made our way to the “greetings from Austin” mural & Aaron set up the timer on my phone for a great family photo!}

{& there just happened to be a French patisserie right next door to the mural. So we wandered in & found ourselves with a half-dozen macaroni to-go!}

{Austin is a really young town & very hipster. I feel like this picture is a good representation somehow – a huge aloe vera plant & a silver airstream!}

 

{downtown Austin.}

{this was a great mural right down the street from our rental house: living the good life in Austin.}

{we learned at the Alamo about how there was a Mexican cannon in our possession & we basically said “come & take it” & then they did… this was a nod to that great act at Frank’s.}

{our cute little rental house. In a bit of an up-&-coming neighborhood, but so nice on the inside!}

{we drove out of Austin to The Salk Lick for some BBQ lunch. It did not disappoint!}

{my two lunch dates hamming’ it up!}

{posing with the BBQ pit. That thing was impressive!}

{we had a few hours in Austin before our flight so we headed to the Thinker which is a children’s museum that focuses on science, technology, engineering, arts, & math (STEAM). Most of the museum exhibits were too old for Eloise, but we did find a few that were perfect! It was nice to get some wiggles out before the flight.}

{a giant light-bright! I was in love.}

{Eloise loved the lights too!}

{Eloise & Aaron running round with our buddies Andy & Lily (who were also on our flight!)}

{Eloise fell asleep almost immediately on the flight – & we had the entire row again, thank goodness – but after the flight attendant announced that the fasten seatbelt sign was off & then om & then off (a billion times), she woke up… she was really pretty good the entire flight & only fussed when we tried to put her in the Ergo to sleep. She was awake the entire time we de-boarded, got our bags, & walked to our car. As soon as we got her buckled into her seat she was out!}

except for the piping hot weather (it was in the mid-80s!) we LOVED Texas. seriously, it was a really fun place to visit. luckily we had a rental car (which you absolutely need) & got to explore all over san antonio & austin. if you ever get a chance to visit, we highly recommend it!

eloise did really well traveling, & we were super (super) lucky to get the entire row on both flights! it helped tremendously to have a bit more space for her to wiggle; aaron & I sat in the aisle & window seat (respectively) & eloise bounced around between sitting on the seat, climbing up & down, & standing. the hardest part of the trip was that eloise slept terribly the first three (out of four) nights we were in san antonio. like the worst she has ever slept. I think part of it was the time change, part of it was sharing a room, part of it was teething, etc., etc. even though she wasn’t sleeping well at night, she napped fairly well (even with one nap per day on some days) & wasn’t really grumpy from lack of sleep. when we got to austin for the second part of the trip, we all slept so much better! we rented a house on AirBnB & it was perfect. we wanted a kitchen, two bedrooms, & close to downtown & freeways, & it met all of those requirements. I also set up baby gear rental which changed my life! we brought down our own car seat & stroller (both check for free on the plane) but didn’t want to worry about bringing other gear down, especially since Meg had a highchair & Pack N Play for us in san antonio. so I searched before we left & found I Love Baby Rentals in Austin & set up a rental for: a Pack N Play, audio monitors, booster seat, & activity table. it was delivered & set up at our rental house, & then picked up by the owner – so awesome! I highly recommend this if you are traveling with littles!

thanks for having us Texas!

M