Weekend in Austin

Last weekend, Dave & I headed to Austin for our last getaway before Baby Rinn is born in October. Our last weekend in Austin was wonderful, and so we were both looking forward to this a lot. We left as soon as Dave got home on Friday afternoon and headed down 35. Of course, our first stop out of town was Dairy Queen. I was so excited that their featured Blizzard was Girl Scout Thin Mint...but my excitement faded when they were all out of the Thin Mints. (Mint cookie dough sufficed, though.)

On Saturday morning, we rented a tandem bike near downtown Austin and spent nearly the rest of the day riding around Austin's beautiful hike & bike trail. The man at the bike shop told Dave to ring the bell "liberally" to warn other walkers/bikers/runners that we were coming...and Dave took this instruction very seriously. We truly had a blast riding around, & I don't remember the last time either of us laughed that hard! We were so impressed with how well the trails were maintained, and the cool breezes off the water felt so good. Not to say that we weren't hot, though....by the time we returned the bike around 3:30 that afternoon, we were both BEAT! We grabbed some food, headed back to the hotel, and crashed!

Dave had made reservations for us that evening at the Oasis on Lake Travis. We had heard rave reviews from many of our friends of how gorgeous the sunsets are at this restaurant...after all, it is the "Sunset Capital of Texas." We didn't get to see quite a picture-perfect sunset since it was partly cloudy, but the sky did still turn a gorgeous color of pink. We had a great time eating & talking on the decks above Lake Travis....we'd be lying if we didn't say that most of our conversation centered around how excited we are for Baby Rinn to be home with us soon!





The highlight of the weekend (for me, at least) occurred on Sunday when I beat Dave in Scrabble. We played on the decks of Mozart's Coffeehouse on Lake Austin....the coffee & and the view were both wonderful. (If you zoom in, you will see that I only won by 1 point...but a win's a win!)



Now we're on a downward slide until October...and we can't wait! Hope you're all enjoying the final days of summer, too!

Rinn Summer Fun

Wow! It's hard to believe that it's already the middle of August. In some ways, this summer has gone so quickly...but at other times, it seems like we are barely inching our way to October. We have had a lot of fun this summer, though. Here's a quick photo summary of what we've been up to!

We have spent a lot of weekends enjoying Mom & Dad's pool with family & friends.

My cousin Anna was here for a month from Minnesota! We had such a blast with her! In addition to lots of fun in the pool, she also helped my mom & me paint Baby Boy's nursery! After a lot of deliberation on color, we finally decided on "Dancing Green." There were a few moments of sheer panic when we thought it might end up being neon green; but, once it dried, we loved it!



We also went to our first Fort Worth Cat's game with Mom, Dad, Uncle Jon, and Anna. Though we had a lot of fun at the game, the best part of the night was the ice cream sundaes at Braum's after the game!


We spent an afternoon mini-golfing with Anna. Though it might not have been the nicest course we've ever seen (let's just say that their only "landscaping" consisted of overgrown weeds), we still had a lot of fun. The following day, the three of us, along with my cousin (and Anna's brother) Nate, went to Hurricane Harbor for most of the day! We had taken Anna there last year, but this was Nate's first experience, and we all had a blast! We definitely agreed that our favorite ride was the Tornado!




And, Emmy came home for a weeekend from camp! We spent most of the weekend doing what my family does best: eating Swedish pancakes, swimming, and going to Pappasitos. Hope you're all enjoying your summer days as much as we are!

Snore Extinguisher?!?

For about ten days now, Bethany has been running on an average of five hours of sleep per night. The reason, you ask? Me. Involuntarily, of course, because I am a snorer. It used to stop with a little nudge in the night, but we've progressed to all-out midnight warfare. Every night now I don my 'breathe right strips' (rather ineffective) and have a very specific sleeping 'position' in order to promote a peacefully quiet atmosphere (also ineffective).

Today, however, Bethany went on an all-out offensive against her insomnia-source and purchased 'SnoreStop': Throat Spray EXTINGUISHER... And it even looks like a mini extinguisher, though I'm still trying to figure out where the small plastic hose goes. For any of you frequent readers, no, this was not a part of the late night "drug run" to Wal-Mart. Bethany said the advertisement on the top of the package was what sold her on it: "You saved my marriage. Thank You!" (Carol O., a real customer)

Hopefully it saves OUR marriage! :)
(Or at least Bethany's sanity)