Sometimes, you just need some Rudy's BBQ. And since the Seveys live in driving distance from one, we figured we'd go invade their house for a while in July. It was a relatively uneventful flight out, mostly thanks to the fact that our flight left an hour after our kids bedtime. So except for getting some serious muscle cramps from serving as a pillow to one child and a bed to another one, we got to the house relatively unscathed.
Our first day in Texas was the 4th, so we pretty much just took it easy and watched the kids and men play (meaning the men worked on the Harry Potter closet). That evening we went to downtown Austin for the symphony and fireworks show. Couple of things I noticed:
- Texas can get REALLY humid. Not St. Louis-type humid but way worse than Phoenix. I know - we're spoiled.
- There were a LOT of people out and about in Austin that night. I don't think I've been in a crowd that size since Disneyworld. And it's possible the Austin fireworks crowd beat the Disneyworld crowd. Possible but I'm not sure. I'm a terrible estimator.
- I should never leave the house with fewer than one water bottle per person. No matter how much I'll tell myself the kids will just share, it won't happen. They will always be thirstier when I think they won't be. So if my initial thought is to just bring one or two, bring ten.
- People in kayaks and canoes on a river after dark with no lights on them seem about as intelligent as people who ride motorcycles with no helmets.
The symphony concert and fireworks were fun. The kids were really surprised when they started shooting off the cannons during the one song (1812 Overture, I think??) so that was funny.
The next day, after a hurried trip to the grocery store, we were off in the rental van to Galveston.
***Rental Van Backstory***
When we first planned this trip, and the included trip-in-a-trip to Galveston, we decided to rent a 12 passenger van so we could all drive together for most of our excursions. That and the fact that Knutti's seriously dig large capacity vans. Seriously. When Jacob went on the website to check out the van prices they were all sold out. So he checked another company. And then another. Among all 5 or 6 rental car companies he checked, ALL of them were sold out of vehicles that could hold more than 8. Then he got on the phone to his favorite company to find out what the bleep was going on. All we could find out was that there was a "government event" in Austin that week and they had taken all of the higher capacity vehicles. Lovely. After Jacob worked his charms on the nice rental car lady, she said she would make SURE we had a car. She basically pinkie-swore.
Coming up on our trip, he called the company about every 3 weeks to make sure we were still good because there was no way to put the car rental in the computer (don't remember why this was - I think it was how she kept our van for us). Thankfully everything worked out and when Alex went to pick up the rental van the day we were getting into town (so he could pick us up from the airport at 2am with it), there it was. In all of its still-stickered, 54-mile odometer glory. Oh yeah - they bought a new van for us. :) And when the rental person heard we were going to the beach, she asked if we could leave the stickers on the outside (over the chrome stuff) and the covers on the carpet. Can do, rental car lady. Can do. So here's my little plug for our favorite rental car company who pulled mega strings to get us our van - next time you see an Avis employee, give her a high-five.
***End of Rental Van Backstory***
Our hotel (Hotel Galvez) was seriously cool. I'm being literal - first thing I did in our room was turn the thermostat WAY up. Also, it was all historic, which was fun. After we got stuff dumped in our rooms, we headed down to check out the beach. First thought: that looks like mud, not sand. Second thought: who cares, that water is as warm as my pool! The kids were all having a great time running around. After a bit, we decided to get cleaned up and go find some dinner. We decided to not deal with parking the car since everywhere but the hotel parking garage cost money, so we walked down Seawall Blvd looking for dinner.
Considering we started our walk at 9pm it was perhaps, not the best idea ever. The kids were troopers though, especially poor Noah, who ended up being up so far past his bedtime. After a LOT of walking, we decided to try a place called The Spot. The food was really good. Fresh seafood is SO awesome. I did manage to miss the giant soda spill that would have drenched me by getting ketchup at an opportune moment, however, I did end the evening with several various substances staining my clothing. Thankfully, I'm married to a genius and he got EVERYTHING out with just stuff we had in the hotel room. (Toothpaste on chocolate syrup. Who knew.)
That night we turned in (relatively) early. Jacob and I took a quick walk around the hotel before retiring. Unfortunately, they had already locked the ballrooms and the only other things open were the bar (too bad we had already eaten - the food looked delicious) and the museum. The little museum in the basement was really fun. That was where we learned more details about the historical nature of Galveston and our hotel specifically. Apparently it was the pre-Vegas Vegas. Mobsters and illegal gambling even. So naughty.
The next day was a full beach day and it was super fun. We did take a break for lunch and naptimes for those who would nap. Then back to the beach for more fun. Jacob and Alex caught a cool hermit crab far out in the waves that they brought back for the kids to see.
After we'd had enough beach fun, we cleaned up and headed out to an early dinner. Alex picked that night and he decided on a place called the Salt Water Grill. As I typed that, I started salivating. I'm not kidding. After Jacob's AMAZING parallel parking job on the 12 passenger van (People on the street were clapping. Someone may have cried.), I was a little worried that we wouldn't get a table AND that this place wasn't super kid friendly. Thankfully, I was wrong on both counts. We did have some VERY tired/sorta sick kids on our hands but they were pretty good and let us enjoy a delicious dinner. Almond Crusted Coconut Salmon. Yummmm.
Once we were all stuffed, we decided we could use a little bit more beach fun. I even went out in the waves with Jacob for a while. This is kind of a big deal for me since I'm still getting comfortable in the water, especially salt water. I didn't get so deep that I had to swim the whole time, but deep enough that I had to jump or dive under for each wave or I'd get swamped. Then we headed over to the big souvenir shop right by the beach we were on for a little bit of shopping. I only found one beach towel that actually said Galveston on it. One. For shame.
One of the two nights we were there (I think it was Saturday night) we stayed up late playing a LONG game of SmallWorld. I especially remember this because I was so tired, I actually napped when it wasn't my turn. We were playing on the floor for lack of better playing space and I would just doze off between. Come to think of it, perhaps the game was so long because we were ALL dozing off between turns. That would certainly explain some things. :)
The next morning was the usual pack it up and out. We stopped for breakfast at McDonald's - which was showing Food Network at a TV in the dining area. Ironic much? The drive back was nicely uneventful (from what I remember - I may have slept through most of it).
The rest of the week was a lovely blur of good food, games, playing and talks. We went out for some truly awe-inspiring food: Uchi (my new FAVORITE RESTAURANT EVER), Rudy's BBQ, Taco Deli, Torchy's, sigh. So. Much. Yumminess. Okay, enough drooling. We played a bunch of board games and WiiU games (Puerto Rico, Power Grid, Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate - the usual suspects really). Unfortunately, we forgot to bring 7 Wonders from home, so that one got left out.
We also planned several activities to involve the children around all of the delicious food and napping that went on. We stole Alex from work a bit more to go to the Austin Nature and Science Center, which was pretty cool. The kids seemed to really like the inside part with all the fossils and bones. Silly kids. It was interesting to see which animals they had in the little zoo part. So many "injured" animals....ahem.....just saying. The same day as the ANSC (yeah, not a very cool acronym) we also headed over to ride the Zilker Zephyr (a little mini train ride that goes through one of the downtown parks). It ended up being really good that we did things in the order that we did because they were closing the train for maintenance after the ride we went on. So we would have either missed or have needed to busy ourselves for an extra 90 minutes. The kids were pretty excited for the train and though they weren't blown away, I don't think they were disappointed either.
One of the days Nicole and I took the older 3 kids out to a place called Kiddie Acres. Now, I do want to give Kiddie Acres props for trying. And for being not insanely priced. And for existing. And honestly, the kids LOVED it. But a little paint goes a long way. As does some landscaping. And seatbelts. And seat cushions....okay, okay, I'm done. It was cool that they had all of these little kid-sized rides and actual ponies to ride on. Most of the rides worked out to be about $1.50 per ride for us (we bought a lot of tickets and had a coupon so we got discounts), which was pretty decent. Especially considering they had 1 or 2 employees for each ride. If I had to guess, I would say the favorites were the ponies for sure, closely followed by the airplanes. It was really fun to see the kids run around and be so excited. Definitely one of those places where you go because it's fun to watch your kids, not because it's fun for you.
Later that same day, Nicole and I left Jacob with all the kids (he's so good like that) and went to go do girly things, like get Nicole a perm. Wow - those chemicals are SMELLY. But it was fun to have some time with just the two of us. And her hair looked SO good when it was done. I'm sure we looked like total noobs shopping for curly hair products at the Sally's afterward but hey, who cares.
We also had another night (seriously I can't remember which night we did which thing. Nicole keeps track of those details and she's already asleep as I'm writing this so I'm just gonna give it my best shot) when we sat everyone down and watched Despicable Me in anticipation of...taking everyone out to the theater on Saturday to see Despicable Me 2. First off: love the movies - no complaints there. However, taking all of my children to the movie theater at this age: never again. Hazel did awesome as I knew she would. Her aunt had already taken her to a movie before so I knew she'd be fine. Speed was okay. He got a little fidgety at certain parts but he was interested in the movie so he sat pretty well. Noah even did pretty well, though if I remember correctly, he did NOT love his seat. Zizah was....well...a one-year old. Jacob was nice enough to take her out when she cried, which was a LOT.
The airplane ride home was rather awful. Several of us had picked up a small cold in Texas which made the pressure changes of the flight just painful. Plus it was past bedtime but Zizah had a hard time sleeping...yeah, not the most fun. Ah well. We survived and I only cried twice. It could have been worse.
Overall, this was likely the most fun week and a half of my entire year. It's always fun with the Seveys and extra fun when no one's counting calories or dollars. :) Thank you, the Seveys, for letting us disrupt your lives and share our chaos. It was pure awesomeness. Enjoy the pictures! And here's a link if the slideshow doesn't work: click here for pictures
Our hotel (Hotel Galvez) was seriously cool. I'm being literal - first thing I did in our room was turn the thermostat WAY up. Also, it was all historic, which was fun. After we got stuff dumped in our rooms, we headed down to check out the beach. First thought: that looks like mud, not sand. Second thought: who cares, that water is as warm as my pool! The kids were all having a great time running around. After a bit, we decided to get cleaned up and go find some dinner. We decided to not deal with parking the car since everywhere but the hotel parking garage cost money, so we walked down Seawall Blvd looking for dinner.
Considering we started our walk at 9pm it was perhaps, not the best idea ever. The kids were troopers though, especially poor Noah, who ended up being up so far past his bedtime. After a LOT of walking, we decided to try a place called The Spot. The food was really good. Fresh seafood is SO awesome. I did manage to miss the giant soda spill that would have drenched me by getting ketchup at an opportune moment, however, I did end the evening with several various substances staining my clothing. Thankfully, I'm married to a genius and he got EVERYTHING out with just stuff we had in the hotel room. (Toothpaste on chocolate syrup. Who knew.)
That night we turned in (relatively) early. Jacob and I took a quick walk around the hotel before retiring. Unfortunately, they had already locked the ballrooms and the only other things open were the bar (too bad we had already eaten - the food looked delicious) and the museum. The little museum in the basement was really fun. That was where we learned more details about the historical nature of Galveston and our hotel specifically. Apparently it was the pre-Vegas Vegas. Mobsters and illegal gambling even. So naughty.
The next day was a full beach day and it was super fun. We did take a break for lunch and naptimes for those who would nap. Then back to the beach for more fun. Jacob and Alex caught a cool hermit crab far out in the waves that they brought back for the kids to see.
After we'd had enough beach fun, we cleaned up and headed out to an early dinner. Alex picked that night and he decided on a place called the Salt Water Grill. As I typed that, I started salivating. I'm not kidding. After Jacob's AMAZING parallel parking job on the 12 passenger van (People on the street were clapping. Someone may have cried.), I was a little worried that we wouldn't get a table AND that this place wasn't super kid friendly. Thankfully, I was wrong on both counts. We did have some VERY tired/sorta sick kids on our hands but they were pretty good and let us enjoy a delicious dinner. Almond Crusted Coconut Salmon. Yummmm.
Once we were all stuffed, we decided we could use a little bit more beach fun. I even went out in the waves with Jacob for a while. This is kind of a big deal for me since I'm still getting comfortable in the water, especially salt water. I didn't get so deep that I had to swim the whole time, but deep enough that I had to jump or dive under for each wave or I'd get swamped. Then we headed over to the big souvenir shop right by the beach we were on for a little bit of shopping. I only found one beach towel that actually said Galveston on it. One. For shame.
One of the two nights we were there (I think it was Saturday night) we stayed up late playing a LONG game of SmallWorld. I especially remember this because I was so tired, I actually napped when it wasn't my turn. We were playing on the floor for lack of better playing space and I would just doze off between. Come to think of it, perhaps the game was so long because we were ALL dozing off between turns. That would certainly explain some things. :)
The next morning was the usual pack it up and out. We stopped for breakfast at McDonald's - which was showing Food Network at a TV in the dining area. Ironic much? The drive back was nicely uneventful (from what I remember - I may have slept through most of it).
The rest of the week was a lovely blur of good food, games, playing and talks. We went out for some truly awe-inspiring food: Uchi (my new FAVORITE RESTAURANT EVER), Rudy's BBQ, Taco Deli, Torchy's, sigh. So. Much. Yumminess. Okay, enough drooling. We played a bunch of board games and WiiU games (Puerto Rico, Power Grid, Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate - the usual suspects really). Unfortunately, we forgot to bring 7 Wonders from home, so that one got left out.
We also planned several activities to involve the children around all of the delicious food and napping that went on. We stole Alex from work a bit more to go to the Austin Nature and Science Center, which was pretty cool. The kids seemed to really like the inside part with all the fossils and bones. Silly kids. It was interesting to see which animals they had in the little zoo part. So many "injured" animals....ahem.....just saying. The same day as the ANSC (yeah, not a very cool acronym) we also headed over to ride the Zilker Zephyr (a little mini train ride that goes through one of the downtown parks). It ended up being really good that we did things in the order that we did because they were closing the train for maintenance after the ride we went on. So we would have either missed or have needed to busy ourselves for an extra 90 minutes. The kids were pretty excited for the train and though they weren't blown away, I don't think they were disappointed either.
One of the days Nicole and I took the older 3 kids out to a place called Kiddie Acres. Now, I do want to give Kiddie Acres props for trying. And for being not insanely priced. And for existing. And honestly, the kids LOVED it. But a little paint goes a long way. As does some landscaping. And seatbelts. And seat cushions....okay, okay, I'm done. It was cool that they had all of these little kid-sized rides and actual ponies to ride on. Most of the rides worked out to be about $1.50 per ride for us (we bought a lot of tickets and had a coupon so we got discounts), which was pretty decent. Especially considering they had 1 or 2 employees for each ride. If I had to guess, I would say the favorites were the ponies for sure, closely followed by the airplanes. It was really fun to see the kids run around and be so excited. Definitely one of those places where you go because it's fun to watch your kids, not because it's fun for you.
Later that same day, Nicole and I left Jacob with all the kids (he's so good like that) and went to go do girly things, like get Nicole a perm. Wow - those chemicals are SMELLY. But it was fun to have some time with just the two of us. And her hair looked SO good when it was done. I'm sure we looked like total noobs shopping for curly hair products at the Sally's afterward but hey, who cares.
We also had another night (seriously I can't remember which night we did which thing. Nicole keeps track of those details and she's already asleep as I'm writing this so I'm just gonna give it my best shot) when we sat everyone down and watched Despicable Me in anticipation of...taking everyone out to the theater on Saturday to see Despicable Me 2. First off: love the movies - no complaints there. However, taking all of my children to the movie theater at this age: never again. Hazel did awesome as I knew she would. Her aunt had already taken her to a movie before so I knew she'd be fine. Speed was okay. He got a little fidgety at certain parts but he was interested in the movie so he sat pretty well. Noah even did pretty well, though if I remember correctly, he did NOT love his seat. Zizah was....well...a one-year old. Jacob was nice enough to take her out when she cried, which was a LOT.
The airplane ride home was rather awful. Several of us had picked up a small cold in Texas which made the pressure changes of the flight just painful. Plus it was past bedtime but Zizah had a hard time sleeping...yeah, not the most fun. Ah well. We survived and I only cried twice. It could have been worse.
Overall, this was likely the most fun week and a half of my entire year. It's always fun with the Seveys and extra fun when no one's counting calories or dollars. :) Thank you, the Seveys, for letting us disrupt your lives and share our chaos. It was pure awesomeness. Enjoy the pictures! And here's a link if the slideshow doesn't work: click here for pictures
2 comments:
Good times, good times.
Thanks for sharing. I really enjoyed all of the post
Post a Comment