Road to Hanover: Day THREE

DAY THREE: Austin, TX


The third day sort of blended in with the second after the overnight drive to Austin.  Jesse, being the trooper that he is, somehow managed to stay awake all night and get us there safely.  One of the benefits of driving overnight was that the one radiator fan managed to stay cool all night and we didn't have any problems with the engine overheating.

In J's words: As the Texas dawn breaks, the black knight has risen again!"

My dad welcomed us with open arms to his apartment that morning and we all tumbled in looking semi- ragged, tired, and definitely smelly.  After a nap for Jesse, and baths for our entire troop we felt somewhat renewed and were ready to take a drive around town to see his stomping grounds.  It was fun to see where he worked, downtown Austin, and the pretty trees everywhere {I did snooze off for a tiny bit of the tour.....sorry dad, I promise I was just really tired}.  All of the children were exhausted and also took great naps in the car during the same drive.  That evening we had a great dinner with Dad, ate some yummy ice cream and took the kids on a small walk around the apartment complex.  That evening was slightly rough trying to get the children to all go to bed.  The naps from the earlier car ride gave my children enough energy that they did NOT want to go to bed.  We ended up having Eli sleep in his pack and play in Dad's bedroom and then M and R shared a twin blow up mattress and J and I slept on the blow up queen mattress.  Dad's apartment was literally bursting at the seams with all of us! Robby and Maddie wouldn't stop their kicking wars with each other at bedtime, which about drove Mommy crazy.  Finally I ended up having Robby sleep on one side of me on the queen mattress, while M went to sleep on the twin. Lets just say that I am slightly looking forward to arriving in New Hampshire and getting separate sleeping quarters once again.

{M, Rubba and E, eating ice cream....thank you Grandpa!}

E with his delicious, dripping, sticky ice cream cone

Eli's "cheese" face

{Dad's fabulous balcony/porch at his apartment---he actually moved from this apartment complex only a few weeks after we visited}

All in all, day three was the perfect break from the monotonous all day driving we had experienced the two days prior.