Texas - Austin + San Antonio

We found the best deals on flight to Austin in November, so we took a spontaneous trip in November (flights were $15 each way + taxes).  I was impressed with my packing job, since we only paid for one carry-on and everyone had a personal item (backpack).  When we flew in, we had a very long delay at the small airport waiting for Air Force One.  Apparently, President Trump was leaving Austin and we were coming, and his entourage shut down everything - including the shuttles to the rental cars.  So we bought some snacks out of the vending machines and tried to be patient.  

We went to Barton Springs and saw a couple people swimming, so we got on our swimsuits and headed down.  We should have felt the water first because it was freezing - none of us even got in!  We also "hiked" (there were stairs) Mount Bonnell to see the view from above.  We also went to Blazer Tag so the kids could play arcade games and laser tag - no surprise that they had a great time with that.  We also took them to a children's museum in Austin.  

Since we had the kids with us, we couldn't really enjoy the food to the fullest.  We bought groceries, so we could easily eat at our Airbnb.  We did introduce the kids to Whataburger, while mom and dad ate some good BBQ food.  We also enjoyed some yummy donuts and Blue Bell ice cream.  We also ate at a cute, little diner and the group next to us was celebrating a birthday and ended up sharing a huge cake with us - they were so nice.  

We drove to San Antonio and saw the Alamo and River Walk and shopped for souvenirs - ugh!  We should have never started buying the kids souvenirs on trips because it takes a long time shopping and getting them to decide what they want!  Rachel picked a beanie, Andrew picked a boomerang, Kendall picked a stuffed animal and Carson picked a harmonica.  The harmonica is actually absolutely adorable and he loves it.  

We were only gone 3 days, but Brandon and I did struggle a little bit with keeping the kids entertained 24/7.  One night at 9:40p, we were letting them stay up late and be a little silly.  The neighbors came and knocked (it was a condo, so they were the neighbors who shared walls) and said that we were being too loud - they were clearly bitter that an Airbnb was next to them.  

Overall, it was a great trip for our family and we made some really fun memories together.