As I previously stated, we headed to Austin this past weekend to visit Diane’s brother. It was so much fun! I must say that I was surprised to see so much greenery during the whole drive. I didn’t mind it, though; it was beautiful. We spent Saturday shopping at San Marcos’s Prime and Tanger outlet malls. We tried to be prudent, but somehow we still spent a nice chunk of change. :O

Wanting to beat the heat, we all headed to the Guadalupe River for a nice float down the river. It was pretty wild keeping Josh and Trevor in their tubes. It was even funnier when we hitched a ride back in the Texas Tubes-sponsored bus. We had a bunch of drunk college-aged people yelling, screaming, and “singing.” Talk about a wake-up call for the boys. To top it off, we gorged ourselves at Rudy’s. If you haven’t eaten there, you definitely should. I personally love the lean brisket w/ BBQ sauce and creamed corn.

Hearing about the famous Austin bats, we headed over there Sunday evening. I think we arrived a little early because we really get to see much. Diane and I saw lots of bats swarming around the bridge columns, but we didn’t experience a countless number of bats flying out from underneath the Congress Ave bridge like we saw on the Travel Channel.

Since Hurricane Gustav turned into a lackluster hurricance (for Houstonians, at least), we had to return home on Monday. I was secretly hoping for another hurricane “vacation” day. However, we still had one more fun activity planned: Austin’s Park. It’s a family fun center that’s comparable to Boomers (in CA) or Trafalga (in UT).

Even with a 3-day weekend, time flew by so quickly. We didn’t even scratch the surface of things to do in Austin. We hope to make it back there on a semi-regular basis, especially since we have family there.

Sun Block. Does a body good.

Guadalupe River

State Capital

Where are the bats?!

Beautiful Sunset

Uncle “Fer Man Do”

Awaiting the bats

You want a piece of me?

Getting wet on the bumper boats