Austin, I think I love you

I am finally getting around to posting a few pictures from my recent trip to Austin, Texas. I flew back to the States a few weeks ago to attend a conference in my field and to have a bit of a girls' week with my mom, sister-in-law, niece, and a few friends from high school. As the pictures that follow might give away, I spent a bit more time visiting with friends and family than I did conferencing...oops!

Two good friends from high school both live in the Austin area. I hadn't seen either of them in almost 10 years, so it was great to catch up with them and find out what they've been up to:


Here's the whole crew; this picture cracks me up because although he's only 3, I think Kelsey's son (hiding, in the orange shirt) was still mortified to be seen with such a large flock of women!


We were lucky enough to have a nice, outdoor pool on the roof of our hotel, so we decided to take my 10-month old niece for her first swim in a big pool. Here she is all ready to head out:


"Enough with the pictures already; let's go!"



She loved it!


This trip was only the second time I've gotten to see Reagan since she was born. As you've probably already noticed from the previous series of pictures, I couldn't get enough of her! Call me biased, but I think she's quite possibly one of the cutest kids ever. More evidence to this:


Irrespective of my bias, I can tell you for sure that this little girl is one of the most easy going babies I've ever encountered. Every day we drug her all over Austin in the 100 degree weather and never heard so much as a peep out of her. She absolutely loves to be out and about, flirting with every stranger she encounters. Here she is after a long, hot day in the trenches:


Still as happy as can be:


This is her classic, "I'm getting ready to do something mischievous" look:


Maureen decided to try to give her some water out of a straw and Reagan thought it was the neatest thing ever. Look how excited she gets as the straw comes in from the top left:


Okay, enough baby pictures for now - I had nearly forgotten that this post was supposed to be about Austin! We went on an exciting adventure one night to see the Bats of Austin. Apparently, every spring some 700,000 bats migrate north from Mexico to live under one bridge in downtown Austin. Each night at dusk they leave their perches under the bridge to go feed on insects. It was definitely quite a sight to see all 700,000 of them fly out in a steady stream. You can just make out the bridge in the right of the pictures, but what you might not be able to see is that the bridge is lined with people also waiting to see the bats - now that's a little too close for my liking!


We also visited Lake Travis, a beautiful area about 20 miles outside of Austin. Aside from the weather that I'd already experienced (nice and warm with no humidity), this is where I really fell in love with the Austin area.


Having lunch with a beautiful view of the lake:


Grandma and Reagan:


And, in case you don't have the 20 minutes to drive out to Lake Travis, no worries, there's wonderful Lady Bird Lake (actually a reservoir in the Colorado River) right smack in the middle of downtown. It was surrounded with lots of nice walking paths and reminded me a bit of walking along the lake front in Chicago (minus the humidity, the throngs of people, and the expansiveness of Lake Michigan):


Needless to say, I loved Austin and I've been on a mission to convince Jason that we should definitely move there very soon. He's not sold yet, but the mission is not complete. Any ammo you might have to contribute to my arsenal of 'Austin Selling Points' would be most welcome!