Tea Party Extravaganza

The other week we were able to fulfill one of Violet's wishes: to have a Fancy Nancy tea party at which Clark and I would be the guests of honor.  Apparently the Fancy Nancy books are very popular with little girls, teaching them about what kinds of things can be deemed fancy or not.  Thus, everything prepared for this party had to be fancy.  We prepared desserts and drinks from cook books Grandma Jan and I had previously given the girls.  Funny thing is, the recipes in both cook books were nearly identical. Violet and Janet selected fancy yet realistic desserts to prepare for the party. 

 

Setting up for the tea party the next day. Janet and I thought it would be safest to lay down a pink table cloth under the table to prevent any huge messes.  Very smart idea, indeed.

The mini butler holding his own private tea party. No boys were invited to the tea party.  To keep it simple, Violet and Lucia were each allowed to invite one friend. 

The big butler and the mini butler looking so fancy.  Clark said the holes in his socks really complimented his fancy attire. 

Janet and I also got all dressed up for the occasion, princess crowns and all.

The "guests of honor" / help. More help than honored guests in my opinion. ;)

The Fancy Nancy tea party in progress! The girls waiting to be served their tea.

Sparkling drinks.

Fancy open faced sandwiches.

The crowning jewel of the party: the pink princess cake.

Fruit tarts and decorated ice cream cones.

The mini butler taking a play break.

The big butler looking so dashing in his bow tie.  

Clark the big butler serving the tea. Lucia liked it so much she finished her first cup before everyone had been served.

This is how Lucia does fancy.  Kitty cat ears and a bow tie, winter gloves, and a gator purse.

The girls sipping tea at the same time.

The butler now serving the first course of open faced sandwiches.

The mini butler now taking a snack break.

Violet was so happy! She looked so fancy in her peacock dress with bright red lipstick all around her lips!

Yeah, this butler really didn't help at all, but he sure looked cute!

The girls admiring the bright pink princess cake.

After all the food and drinks were served, Janet helped the girls decorate butterfly wands.

Awwww, the girls had so much fun!  I hope that Violet and Lucia can come to appreciate all their mother does for them in the years to come, as they mature into teenagers/young adults.  Janet makes so many occasions super special just because she loves her kids that much! 

It was fun to participate in this event, but Clark and I were exhausted afterward.  It's possible that we took a little nap that afternoon.

Cutest little kittens

Janet came home from the dollar store with some fun accessories for the girls one day.  The girls immediately put on their ears, bow ties and tails, and transformed into the world's cutest little kittens!

Giving the camera some kitty sass.

Now really getting into character roaming the tile on all fours.

MEOW!!!!!! Luckily, this did not turn into a kitty fight. There could have been major tears.

 

 No joke, I think Lucia wore her kitty ears for two days straight.  And today, she even wore her ears and tail to school.  Maybe the best $2 Janet has ever spent at the dollar store?

But the best part of the kitten transformation was when the girls started licking our faces completely unprovoked.  Clark and I put the kibosh on that pretty quick even though it was hard to tell the cute kittens to stop.

Gosh, they're cute.

Austin

The only time I'd ever been to Austin was way back in my track days at Ole Miss when we competed at the Texas Relays.  I can't really remember much from my stay 10 years ago, and since Clark had never been, we planned a short getaway to Austin with the Chad Tobler family.

This is Buc-ee's. The massive convenience store/gas station on the way to Austin.  Chad calls it the Wal-Mart of convenience stores. This is no lie.  Whatever you need, you'll probably find it at Buc-ee's.  But not at Wal-Mart low prices.  Just sayin'.  They were not giving away those cake balls I kept eying.

The beaver statue got a lot of love.

 

A welcome sign.... at the entrance to the bathrooms, which were huge I suppose in large part to accommodate the large Texan population here and also because it's Texas so THE BIGGER THE BETTER.

Janet and the girls getting a little grocery shopping done at Buc-ee's.  We all left with drinks, as well as some other items that we didn't know we had to have until we entered.

 In-N-Out stop #1 in Austin.  Thank goodness a few cities in Texas have this chain. Ahhhh, it's always a delicious reunion.

 

I had booked hotel rooms on priceline, and the Springhill Suites was definitely a winner! Benicio, as a true Texan wearing cowboy boots, was able to get some work done at the hotel room office desk.  A little George W in the making?

The best part about the hotel was the buffet breakfast, complete with a Texas-shaped waffle maker!

After breakfast we headed down town to walk along the Colorado river. 

Paddle boarders and kayakers were out in abundance, taking advantage of the great weather.  

Lucia was rocking the Florida cheer-leading outfit.

Was Clark already thinking, "I'm underwhelmed with Austin," by this point? Just kidding....kind of.  If you want to hear our overall thoughts on the city, we'd love to share them with you.  We're not hating on Austin, but we're definitely more neutral that we thought we'd be.

Shortly after our very brief walk along the Colorado, we met up with my college roommate from Ole Miss who now live in Austin.  We met at the Botanical gardens and walked around there for a bit.  A childhood friend of hers was also visiting her, so don't mind pictures in which strangers appear.

Violet got nervous on these stepping stones, so Uncle Clark assisted her along the path.

Then Uncle Clark kept Benicio safe and from falling on rocks/into water.  

We ate lunch at a hip little food truck stop.

 

The truck where Clark got his lunch...

 Then after lunch we checked out the Barton Springs pool, a natural spring that remains a chilly 68-70 degrees all year long.  It's so neat that this spring is right in the city, but it would be even better if the water was like 10 degrees warmer.  

No, we did not go swimming. 

Chad and Janet left after the kids burned off some energy at a park near the Barton Springs, so Clark and I took the opportunity to tour the Capitol and the University of Texas campus, and watch the bats that come out at night under the Congress Street Bridge. 

Here Clark is testing a public water fountain on the Capitol grounds.  Apparently back in the day there used to be metal communal cups attached by a chain to the fountain.  So gross.  Glad that's been done away with!

Fun Texas themed murals by the university.

A fountain and the university clock tower on campus.

Burnt orange longhorns everywhere.

The name of this store seems right up our ally.

After walking around we drove down the the Congress Street Bridge to watch bats emerge at dusk.  I guess there's like 1.5 million bats that live under this bridge and come out every night.  Pretty awesome, but it did not trump the huge fruit bats we saw flying around the botanical gardens at dusk in Sydney, Australia. Now that was a sight to behold.

And then #2 stop at In-N-Out happened.  Whoops.  It's just too good to resist.

We spent the second night in Austin at my old roommate Danielle's home in an Austin suburb.  The next day she invited us to come along with them to a brewery out in the middle of nowhere, as well as a well known bbq joint also in the middle of nowhere.

We couldn't resist getting a picture with this cute gate at the brewery.

The Salt Lick BBQ establishment a ways outside of Austin.  I defeated all urges to get a meat platter and I actually ordered a meal of side dishes--all vegetarian.  I did try Clark's ribs and yes, they were delicious!

Mmmmmmmmm, so much meat!

Old roomies!

We had a great time in Austin, with Chad, Janet and the kids, and with Danielle and her family/friends.  It was so good to see Danielle; it's actually been almost 10 years.  She's from California so the last time I saw her was when she came to see me run at an outdoor nationals track & field championship in Sacramento in 2005.  She now has two adorable children and a hilarious husband.  I'm so happy for her and that we were able to catch up!  Thanks so much for letting us stay in your beautiful home and for being willing to hang out with us!