Mother's Day Adventures

I decided to take the kids on a "mini vacation" for Mother's Day, so we drove down to Austin yesterday and stayed the night. We spent some time at the hotel pool (of course!), but I did manage to get the kids out to explore the city a little as well.

Saturday night I took the kids to a new restaurant because I read somewhere online that they had a playscape for kids there, which I thought would alleviate some of the stress of taking them out to eat in public (which I never do... for a reason)! Plus, the website said it was on the water so that sounded pretty cool, too. It turned out to be SO much more than cool. It was a really kid-friendly, low-stress place to take the kids, and they loved it! It was literally right ON the water:

The kids had a blast waving at all the boats that passed by, and they loved the water skiing, jet skiing, etc.  They made a friend, too... a giant turtle that kept swimming up to us to say hi (or maybe just to beg for food).  The place did have a playscape area, too, which we explored for a little while before heading back to the hotel.

The restaurant was called Ski Shores Cafe.  I highly recommend it!

Afterwards we walked across the street from our hotel to see the bats at the bridge on Congress, which Chase totally loved.

He begged me to take a video of it.  This was taken toward the end, so the swarm had died down a lot by this time.  A little ways into the video I lowered the camera so you can see Chase's excitement as he watched it.  Click the thumbnail to view it:

Chloe had fun as well:

Yes, I had a little fun with photo editing there.  When Chase saw me do it he wanted to do some editing of his own:

Awwwwwww....  Works for me!

Today when we got up the kids were so excited to give me their fabulous Mother's Day gifts: a magnet, a couple hand-made crafts and the sweetest card in the world that Chase wrote for me at school, complete with a story of our life together.  I'll do my best to translate.  Anything in parentheses is my own commentary (enjoy!):

"I love you Mom.  Mom is the best thang (yes, I know it's supposed to be "thing" if I'm really translating, but I LOVE it when he writes "thang!").  Thank you for the game, Mom.  I would let you borrow the game, Mom.  I would let you play your piano, Mom (I'm so glad I have permission!).  Mom and me would watch TV together.  My mom loves to do homework (not true).  My mom loves to sleep (true).  My mom loves to go to school to teach.  My mom bought a new light bulb (I had no idea he was so easily impressed!).  My mom loves flowers so she can smell them.  Me and my mom love birthdays (oh, yes!).  My mom loves cookies and donuts (oh, my child knows me so well!).  My mom loves cards.  Me and my mom love balloons and we like to buy "boolse" (I'm hoping that's supposed to be "balloons" and not "booze").  My mom loves summer to go swimming.  Me and my mom went to my dad's house and played a video game (ummmmm... we did?).  Me and my mom won the game (well, at least I won!).  My mom told me to play the game all by myself.  My mom cheered for me since I won.  Hooray for Chase!  Mom said "laoodleye" (I do yodel, after all).  My mom loves to go to the zoo to see her favorite cat (ha ha... he must be thinking of the zoo we went to in Bastrop where they had household pets on display!).  His name is Boom Boom (for the record, my cat wouldn't last one day at the zoo).  Mom hugged her favorite cat.  At my mom's house me and my mom built a sand castle (I have no sand in my yard... maybe he's thinking of the ant hills).  My mom loves rainy days because it makes her flowers grow (he's thinking of the weeds.... Man, I really need to get my lawn under control, huh?).  Me and my mom love to hug each other (Awwwww....  TRUE!).  Me and my mom like to color my favorite crayon picture. I use my favorite crayon.  Me and my mom got the biggest flower in the world.  I picked the flower.  My mom picked it too.  It was the best day.  Me and my mom played with my favorite bear."

I think he was required to write a full page because he was stretching it a bit at the end....  I see it all the time as a teacher!

I had to pause multiple times while reading it aloud to cry, which you could tell he loved.  After I pulled myself together we had a good breakfast, went swimming, and explored Zilker Park a little with a picnic lunch.  We were all excited to go on the train ride...

...but we got about 10 feet before the train broke down.  That was very sad, and everyone around us felt very bad for Chloe, who made it known to the world just how upset she was!  I tried to make it up to her with ice cream, which I think did help a little (at least it helped me)!

Chase took a ton of photos on this trip. To see them, click here!

Happy Mother's Day, Mom!  I get all my best donut-loving, flower (weed)-picking, sand castle-building, light bulb-buying, yodeling skills from you!