Road Trippin': Wimberley

On the road again! We left College Station and traveled to the hill country for a few days. On our way, we stopped in Bastrop to eat at Roadhouse, a place Jeremy heard about on Daytripper. We had actually thought about staying in Bastrop because we had always wanted to camp there, but weren't sure how the area had been effected by the wildfires. The drive was still beautiful, but we could definitely see areas that had burned. So sad!

Dinner stop in Bastrop

Dining with Mom

We lucked out and found a great little house to stay in Wimberley and were anxious to see the views the next morning. Our goal was to watch the sunrise over the hills, but our mornings were pretty cloudy. My one request for our trip was to stay somewhere with a view. I think we picked the perfect place!

Casa Cielo...where we stayed in Wimberley!

I could get used to waking up to this view every morning!

What a view!

On Monday we ventured out in Wimberley and found a great little taco place for breakfast, hiked up 200 steps to the top of Prayer Mountain (also called Mount Baldy), went on a short hike to see Jacob's Well, walked around the square, sipped on a glass of wine at the Driftwood Estates Winery, and ended the day eating on the patio at Inoz, enjoying the pretty views they offered. Luke was such a trooper through all of this! (Luke has decided that he is not a fan of traveling in his car seat and loves to throw his toys out of his seat. We spent a lot of time singing "The Wheels on the Bus" to help keep him calm. I'm not sure why that song works, but we went with it!)

On the way up to the top of Prayer Mountain...

Thank you, Jeremy, for carrying Luke all the way up and down!

The view from Prayer Mountain

 

Another view

Giving Dad a break from holding Luke

Our little family at the top of Prayer Mountain. (We cheated and put Luke's monkey paci on the tripod to make sure he looked at the camera and smiled. I would say it worked!)

Hiking to see Jacob's Well.

Jacob's Well...There were some crazies actually jumping off of rocks up above into this hole.

Enjoying the view with Dad

Playing around with Mom at lunch. (We were disappointed that the brewery we were hoping to visit was closed on Mondays.)

Driftwood Estates Winery

Crawling around the winery grounds

Part of the view during dinner

Flying baby! More of our view during dinner...

Walking around the square a little more after dinner

Saying goodbye to the gorgeous view we had at Casa Cielo!

The next day we stopped in Austin to surprise Jeremy's cousin, Tracey, at work before driving back home. We enjoyed seeing her, but were sad to miss seeing Norma. Of course we also had to stop and eat at Hula Hut before we could head home. I know it is basically the same food as Chuy's, but it has always been one of my favorite places to go in Austin.

What a fun trip! We enjoyed exploring with baby Luke and couldn't have asked for better weather at the end of July! We are looking forward to finding new places to visit with Luke as he continues to grow.

Road Trippin': College Station

We decided to take a little family road trip before I head back to school for the fall semester and took the little man for his first visit to College Station and then drove through the hill country to spend a couple of nights in Wimberley. This was the perfect get-a-way with a 10 month old! Saturday morning we drove to College Station to spend time with our good friends, Katy and Keith, and their two kids, Jack and Sydney. Katy and I have been friends since we were little, so it's always fun to be able to reconnect whenever we get a chance!

So, whenever we go to College Station, there are always a few places we have to go eat. This trip included a stop at Layne's, Gumby's, and Sweet Eugenes. These were definitely not the Weight Watcher friendly stops I needed, but they were so good!

As soon as we got to College Station, we met Katy and Sydney at Layne's for lunch. Jeremy enjoyed sending pictures of our first stop to friends who he knew would be a little jealous.

Luke can't wait to actually be able to eat Layne's...next trip, little one!

After lunch, we visited campus for a quick tour before the rain began. Unfortunately, we didn't get to see everything we were hoping to, but there will be plenty of opportunities to share the greatness of Aggieland with Luke. We were able to stop by the Association to finally join the Association, take a few pictures near the massive Aggie ring, check out the new and improved MSC (Can I just say that students are definitely spoiled now?), take one last picture of G. Rollie White before it gets torn down, walk through Rudder, and stop by the front of Kyle Field. I'd say we covered a lot of territory!

Under the Aggie Ring at the Association

Our hosts for the weekend!

Love the new MSC!

Love this picture of Jack and Sydney looking at Rudder Fountain.

In front of E. King Gill and Kyle Field

Wanting to check out Kyle Field

We loved giving Luke a small taste of Aggieland and can't wait to go back! I am sure it won't be long before he is cheering on the Aggies in Kyle Field! 

After visiting campus and grabbing a few gifts at the MSC and Aggieland Outfitters, we headed back to the Lane's for dinner. Baby Luke was thrilled to get to experience using the whole bathtub without his whale tub. He could have spent all night in there! Sydney and Jack were great helpers during bath time!

Freedom!

Sunday morning we learned that Luke is allergic (at least for the time-being) to blueberries. Thankfully I had only given him two before his entire face turned red and splotchy and started getting a little puffy. Poor guy! It's times like this when I am thankful for access to the after-hours doctors who call right back to help out! Benadryl was our best friend! The redness started to go away and by the time we left for Wimberley, Luke was back to himself. I was not looking forward to traveling in the car with a sick baby!

After church and lunch at Gumby's, we stopped by to visit our friend Ginny's aunt and uncle who took good care of us when we were in college. They loved getting to meet Luke and we loved seeing them!

Our last stop before getting back on the road was for coffee at Sweet Eugene's. This is always on my list when we visit A&M!

Someone is trying to steal my Java Shake!

Looking forward to many more trips to Aggieland! Thanks, again, to Keith, Katy, Jack, and Sydney for being the bests hosts this weekend! The kids were so sweet to baby Luke!

Let Freedom Ring!

Mr. Luke experienced his first 4th of July and had a fun day filled with family and friends. We started the day off by going to the Lakewood 4th of July Parade with the Booth's, Buehrle's, Smith's, and Griffith's. Mr. Luke enjoyed seeing his first parade, despite getting sunscreen in his eye thanks to me (I learned to not put sunscreen on little hands that often rub eyes...poor guy!). Luke's eye finally stopped bothering him just in time for the parade to end and for the heat to catch up with him and make him crash in his stroller. 

Our family waiting for the parade to start.

Loving the parade with Mom.

Red-eyed baby with Dad.

 One more family pic.

  We attempted to get a picture of all of our kiddos...

Way to go, Luke! You are the only one looking in this picture. :)

The ladies took a picture with our kiddos (Ginny helped out by holding Aaron). 

Girls and Kiddos

I love this picture of our group that Shannon had a nice Aggie who was sitting next to us take with her camera...

Our growing group!

After the parade, we headed to the park down the street to grab something to drink before heading home. Miss Lily and Mr. Luke were pooped!

Sweet babies.

That afternoon we enjoyed spending time with family who came over for dinner. Luke definitely had a fun-filled day celebrating our nation's birthday! As much as Jeremy is not much of a fan of parades, I look forward to taking Luke again next year when he can enjoy it a little more!

Hanging out with Grandad.

Hanging out with Nana and Grandpa.

Happy 4th of July! Until next year...

Sweet little man!