A weekend of swimming, reminiscing and R&R
Friday night as the Melting Pot was wonderful as always :o) We had the same waiter the last time we went and he remembered us! Next month they're changing the "Big Night Out" menu so we got the caribbean one last time because it's so good! We got to sit in one of those snuggle booths and when it came time for dessert, they had a sparkler in the cheesecake, champagne and italian soda for me (he noticed I wasnt boozing). Dinner was way cheaper than usual since they let us use my birthday coupon in conjunction with the military discount...yay for a great night.
The next day, we met up with Ken & Veronica at the Hamilton Pool Preserve. It's a beaaaaautiful swimming hole west of Austin with a natural grotto and waterfalls. I went there 3 years ago, but neither Steve or Ken & Veronica had ever been. It's been super hot here so what better way to cool off than to swim some natural spring waters.
On the drive there, my phone rings and it's my friend Erin! She was the first Army wife friend I ever made at Fort Hood back in '02. She calls and was like "hey I'm in Round Rock, where do you guys live?" and it turned out she was here for a job assignment at a house ON THE SAME STREET AS US! Gaaaaaaaaah. I was like "why didnt you call us earlier?" lol. She didnt want to wake us up, but now she was on another assignment in town, but said she'd be in town again next week so we'll def meet up.
Anyway, it took almost an hour to get to the Hamilton Pool Preserve and I scarfed down an entire Subway footlong sub...hehe. The park itself isnt very big and they only have limited parking so when we got there, we had to wait ANOTHER hour because the lot was full. They only let a car in when a car left and when we got there, there were 12 cars in front of us. But, we eventually got in hiked the trail to the water!
A view from the grotto
We had to hike 1/4 mile to get there, but the scenery was pretty--some swampy areas
Testing the waters--it was pretty chilly being spring water!
I sucked it up and went right in :o) It's pretty hard to swim and take pics at the same time
Me & Steve on a rock under a mini waterfall
A view
And then we swam off--that was the rock we were just at with the falls
Then it started to thunder and rain super hard so they advised us to hang out under the grotto...you can see the difference in the water where the rain is
So people packed up and started moving
Me and Steve, chillin'
I went to climb stuff...
while Steve was reading :oP
The storm was gone, the sun came out, so me and V went back to the water! We walked by a wall o' soft moss.
Me and V
I checked up on Steve and saw him trying to lay down and read
Steve eventually joined us after he got hot...dove right in!
Very reminiscent of our Aruba picture
After two hours, we decided to head home since we heard thunder again. When we left the gate, there was still a line to get in...dang!
We went home to shower and then we headed out to Buffalo Wings & Rings which had just opened up around the corner. We got an order of wings and burgers. They food was decent, and at least the wings werent all greasy like Pluckers can be.
We made it over to Best Buy since I had $10 in Best Buy bucks to spend and it was expiring that day. I didnt find anything so I gave it to Steve and he got a new country CD. Another stop at Blockbuster and we were all set for the night. We rented Charlie Wilson's War which was a pretty amazing movie based on a true story! The other movie we got was Lars & the Real Girl which I watched later on.
We ended the night with Steve giving me a 30 min massage (whoo) while watching some Margaret Cho stand up.
This morning, we woke up early and made it over to Kerby Lane for breakfast and surprise, surprise, we didnt have to wait an hour! We still had to wait for a bit so we browsed the jewelry tables that were set up outside by local Austin artists. Steve got me a pair of earrings made from a type of jasper that was my totally my color scheme :o)
pretty!
Breakfast was super good! I FINALLY got to fulfill my craving of gingerbread pancakes...YUP!
When we got home, Steve had still had a few hours to kill before leaving for softball practice so we broke out our wedding DVD! We nestled together on the couch and had a flash back to May 29, 2005. Steve wanted to watch when we exchanged vows which I *HATE* because I cried and couldnt complete my vows without a number of breaks...lol...it was embarassing. But it was fun to watch because sometimes we forget certain lil' things or we see something we didnt see on the big day. That was a great weekend :o)
Pretty soon Steve had to leave so I popped in the other movie from Blockbuster, Lars & the Real Girl. Overall, it was ok--I really wanted to like it more.
Tonight, we're meeting up with Tina and Walt for dinner at Din Ho! Tina's been emailing me from work saying it's just not as fun without me anymore...lol. Then I'm finally going to watch one of Steve's softball games. If the win this game, then they're the only undefeated team in the division! Yay!
The next day, we met up with Ken & Veronica at the Hamilton Pool Preserve. It's a beaaaaautiful swimming hole west of Austin with a natural grotto and waterfalls. I went there 3 years ago, but neither Steve or Ken & Veronica had ever been. It's been super hot here so what better way to cool off than to swim some natural spring waters.
On the drive there, my phone rings and it's my friend Erin! She was the first Army wife friend I ever made at Fort Hood back in '02. She calls and was like "hey I'm in Round Rock, where do you guys live?" and it turned out she was here for a job assignment at a house ON THE SAME STREET AS US! Gaaaaaaaaah. I was like "why didnt you call us earlier?" lol. She didnt want to wake us up, but now she was on another assignment in town, but said she'd be in town again next week so we'll def meet up.
Anyway, it took almost an hour to get to the Hamilton Pool Preserve and I scarfed down an entire Subway footlong sub...hehe. The park itself isnt very big and they only have limited parking so when we got there, we had to wait ANOTHER hour because the lot was full. They only let a car in when a car left and when we got there, there were 12 cars in front of us. But, we eventually got in hiked the trail to the water!
A view from the grotto
We had to hike 1/4 mile to get there, but the scenery was pretty--some swampy areas
Testing the waters--it was pretty chilly being spring water!
I sucked it up and went right in :o) It's pretty hard to swim and take pics at the same time
Me & Steve on a rock under a mini waterfall
A view
And then we swam off--that was the rock we were just at with the falls
Then it started to thunder and rain super hard so they advised us to hang out under the grotto...you can see the difference in the water where the rain is
So people packed up and started moving
Me and Steve, chillin'
I went to climb stuff...
while Steve was reading :oP
The storm was gone, the sun came out, so me and V went back to the water! We walked by a wall o' soft moss.
Me and V
I checked up on Steve and saw him trying to lay down and read
Steve eventually joined us after he got hot...dove right in!
Very reminiscent of our Aruba picture
After two hours, we decided to head home since we heard thunder again. When we left the gate, there was still a line to get in...dang!
We went home to shower and then we headed out to Buffalo Wings & Rings which had just opened up around the corner. We got an order of wings and burgers. They food was decent, and at least the wings werent all greasy like Pluckers can be.
We made it over to Best Buy since I had $10 in Best Buy bucks to spend and it was expiring that day. I didnt find anything so I gave it to Steve and he got a new country CD. Another stop at Blockbuster and we were all set for the night. We rented Charlie Wilson's War which was a pretty amazing movie based on a true story! The other movie we got was Lars & the Real Girl which I watched later on.
We ended the night with Steve giving me a 30 min massage (whoo) while watching some Margaret Cho stand up.
This morning, we woke up early and made it over to Kerby Lane for breakfast and surprise, surprise, we didnt have to wait an hour! We still had to wait for a bit so we browsed the jewelry tables that were set up outside by local Austin artists. Steve got me a pair of earrings made from a type of jasper that was my totally my color scheme :o)
pretty!
Breakfast was super good! I FINALLY got to fulfill my craving of gingerbread pancakes...YUP!
When we got home, Steve had still had a few hours to kill before leaving for softball practice so we broke out our wedding DVD! We nestled together on the couch and had a flash back to May 29, 2005. Steve wanted to watch when we exchanged vows which I *HATE* because I cried and couldnt complete my vows without a number of breaks...lol...it was embarassing. But it was fun to watch because sometimes we forget certain lil' things or we see something we didnt see on the big day. That was a great weekend :o)
Pretty soon Steve had to leave so I popped in the other movie from Blockbuster, Lars & the Real Girl. Overall, it was ok--I really wanted to like it more.
Tonight, we're meeting up with Tina and Walt for dinner at Din Ho! Tina's been emailing me from work saying it's just not as fun without me anymore...lol. Then I'm finally going to watch one of Steve's softball games. If the win this game, then they're the only undefeated team in the division! Yay!