Take us out to the Ballpark.

Free tickets? Why, yes, we'll take 'em! It took a lot of hustling to escape the church sound booth, change clothes and get on our way, but we managed to make it to the Ballpark just in the nick of time.

Turns out that the Rangers are quite the hot ticket these days with their winning ways. We nearly panicked when we saw the mobs of people outside and the mile-long lines at the ticket booths. Fortunately, Brett was able to find our ticket source, and we were on our way to our seats.

It was a gorgeous day for baseball, that's for sure! After Saturday's gloom, we were loving the sunshine. (We were loving our sunscreen, too.) We were hot, though. It was hard to believe it was only 72 degrees. Granted, the game started at 1 p.m., but still. If we were that warm and it was only 72, we couldn't imagine how miserable it'll be in July.

Yes, the "check it, chicken look" plays ball, too!

During one of my cool-off breaks, I spotted this little vista. (As a matter of fact, I do have an unhealthy obsession with the Titan. Why do you ask?)

After six and a half scoreless innings, the Rangers finally got a run! WOO-HOO!

Katie and Ryan were just about to go cool off but stuck around just long enough to see the RBI. (Too bad she was gone when Josh Hamilton made this amazing play, though!)



Rangers sweep the Angels! We loved it when the grounds crew brought out the brooms! It was a great game and a big win for the home team.

Bonus feature: The final out. "Sweep! Sweep! Sweep! Sweep!"

The "check it, chicken" look.

Lately Ryan's been giving me this look when I've caught him eating chicken strips at a restaurant.
I call it his "check it, I'm eating chicken strips again" look.
Doesn't matter what else is on the menu. The boy loves his greasy, fat-encrusted poultry.
But as he reminded me today, this look is not new! In fact, he traced its origin back to Sept. 11, 2007, when he first made this face at Dos Gringos in Fort Worth:

That's my boy!

Bowled over.

Cold and windy Saturday + family itching to get out of the house + coupon that expires soon = perfect day for bowling!

Katie redeemed some arcade tickets she'd been collecting.

And Ryan bought himself a chicken strip meal!
(Yep, that's the look!)

(I liked the bowling themed bag.)

Brett checks the score.

It was a fun morning at the ol' alley!

Blue Friday.

Brett and I have long considered Blue Mesa one of our favorite local restaurants, and we head there often when we get a date night. But this week, as we considered our Friday Fun Night destination, we decided it was time to introduce Ryan and Katie to this New Mexican cuisine.

Katie's first taste of sweet potato chips

Her meal

Brett's

Mine (Churrascarita Sampler... Mmmm!)

And then there's Ryan's meal:

Complete with his trademarked "check it, I'm eating chicken strips again" look!

Austin's greatest hits: Barton Springs Road.

We began our Saturday at our hostess's house, greatly entertained by her dogs, Max and Riley.
Isn't he precious?
The two of them together were such a hoot! We had fun watching them play and get ready for their morning walk. As C got their leashes ready, they went nuts, barking and turning in circles.

We were pretty excited about our own morning walk, too (however, with no leashes or barking involved). From C's house, we were off to Zilker Park for a little hiking.

We walked the Barton Creek Greenbelt, a trail that was popular among joggers and bikers on this gorgeous spring day.













This fallen branch looked like a monster's claw, and I really freaked when the kids started to touch it. Ew!

Ker-plunk!

Skipping stones

After our little hike along the greenbelt, we headed toward the playground area for old times' sake. In fact, it was around this point in our day that I had a little breakdown. The kids had gotten ahead of us, and as we were looking for them, we thought we spotted them near a certain statue. The little brown-haired boy in the striped T-shirt alongside his little blonde sister looked just like our babies—about six or seven years ago! When I realized that our kids are much bigger and way older, I just couldn't stop crying! It's crazy how quickly they've grown.





In storage I have multiple photos of my babies on this fire truck.

After our morning at Zilker, we drove down Barton Springs to one of our favorite Austin restaurants:

It's not on the menu anymore, but I was glad they could still make my bean and cheese stuffed sopapilla with tomatillo sauce: heaven on a plate!

Brett got his usual enchiladas, and the kids? Well, you KNOW what they ordered:
And yes, that is Ryan's official "check it, I'm eating chicken strips again!" look.

Fat, happy and already a little tired, our Friday was just beginning!