Texas Trip 2015, Part 4

On Monday night, Abbie had arranged for some mutual friends to come over for a potluck pool party.  It's just hilarious that we would have mutual friends in Austin, but that is how this small world works!!  It was Jess and her husband, B, and their kids.  Jess is Doug's best man's sister, so he's known her since his early college days when he first met Eric's family (they were roommates all through college).  Oddly enough, when Abbie started working at the school she is employed at in Austin, she met Jess' husband, B.  And then they quickly figured out their connections.  It was a blast to be with them and have our kids meet and play and just all hang out together.  I just love how comforting it is to have friends and connections in so many places.  It does really make the world seem like a smaller, friendlier place.  Here are the boys picnicking on the lawn (Koen was not having the "smile for the camera" and Ace was "grrring" at me!).

We eventually put our kids to bed (although we let Koen stay up til 8:30pm and he was so much fun just hanging out with the adults and I especially enjoyed some fun pool time with him).  Then the adults got a tad more time together before Jess and B had to head home to put their kids to bed too.  We remembered at the last minute to get a picture or two of this special reunion!

On Tuesday, Doug encouraged me to take Abbie up on the idea of a sister date.  I wasn't going to ask twice.  Yay!! We went out around 11:30am when Janse was getting sleepy for his next nap.  We headed over to Ab's apartment so that I could have a quick tour.  It is so sweet and charming.  Then we headed to lunch at ABGB, a great spot for lunch, we enjoyed some Italian-style sandwiches and salad sides.  Delicious!  Jansen was fighting his nap, but without a sad sound, just wide-eyed and sweet, so I had to take a picture.

He eventually did dose off and we figured we had time to squeeze in dessert at Austin's own, Amy's Ice Cream.  Abbie's been trying to get me to this spot since our first visit to Austin last February and I hadn't made it yet (not because I didn't want to).  Anyways, she thought she should take a picture of me with my "Amy's" ice cream bowl.  I'm a big fan of IC, maybe they need an Amy spokesperson (if it comes with a life supply of ice cream of course)?  It was amazing ice cream!

Sister selfie in honor of our lunch date out together.  Can't you tell we are pretty happy to spend time together?

Doug did an awesome job with the boys at home.  They mostly played in the pool all morning, took a break to rest, had lunch and then more pool time before lunch.  Here's a few pics Doug got of the 3 biggest boys loving the swimming and sunshine.

Thanks for letting us get out, Douglas.  I loved my sister time (and Abbie thanks for making sure we had some time just us on this trip, I was so thankful for it!).  Abbie and I got home in time to get Janse a nice long nap again which was great.  And then later when the big kids got up from resting and naptimes I got to take some pool pics.  The boys wanted to show off some of the stuff they'd come up with their awesome Dad that morning.

Videos too.  Silly boys!

After Jansen's nap and feeding, he joined us out by the pool (I've dipped his feet in the pool, but have tried to keep him out of the sun, so he hasn't been fully submerged yet).  He hung out somewhat happily in his "go pod" for a bit.

At this point, it's been two and half days of full sun and fun in the pool.  Poor Tavin, our little bright, white baby, just couldn't take it.  He got heat exhaustion or a rash of some sort or a combination (despite the fact we take breaks, hydrate, use a zinc oxide, non-irritating sunscreen on him and apply it many times a day).  He wanted to take a break after playing in the pool in the afternoon, so I told him to go play Legos in his room until I finished feeding Janse.  He happily went to do that.  When I went up to getting him, he was buried under the sheets, passed out, still in his wet bathing suit.  Poor bug! We tried to get him to rally in the evening and hang with us, but it was to no avail.  We bathed him, aloed him up and got him in PJ's.  Eventually he ate a little bit and then it was off to bed.  When Doug checked on him later, he was passed out (with the enormous polar bear he found at this house and has been sleeping next to every night!).

Thankfully, on Wednesday he was feeling and looking much better and even got a little pool time in before leaving for the airport.  He and Doug were flying buddy passes home, so they had to leave earlier than myself and the three other boys.  That left Abbie and I at home to finish packing up, picking up the house, doing laundry and of course, fitting in some final moments at the pool.  Check out Koen cleaning out the pool a bit (he really liked this job).

Abbie snuggled with Jansen so I could play in the pool with Koen and Penn for awhile.  He was so sweet with her!

This one is cute too, plus there's something funny in the background.

Which I had to get a real picture of.  Koen kept talking about wanting to "lay out and work on his tan."  Oh dear.  We are going to have to have a chat about this (his skin is sensitive too and he had a minor heat rash going on by Wednesday).

Well, that's the end of the pictures of our fun stay at this beautiful home in Austin.  Thank you to Abbie for arranging it.  Thank you to the generous family who let us stay in their lovely space.  And praise be to God for making this trip happen.  It was so enjoyable to see family and just enjoy the beautiful sunny days in the comfort of this pool oasis.  Just what we needed to kick off our summer.  So thankful and so blessed!

PS - There will be a blog post about our trip home.  I decided not to included as part of our "vacation" since it was THE LONGEST DAY EVER.  But noteworthy for many reasons and I'm dying to gush out the details and have everyone oooo and ahhh at our trials and triumphs making our way home!  Stay tuned!