BBQ road trip. Go west, young men.

The President tapped the US oil reserves, not because of a political move, but because we told him we were heading to Llano in a Tahoe and needed gas to be 3 cents cheaper per gallon. While it's not usually tapped except for times of war and natural disasters, BBQ road trips also fall under the national emergency umbrella.

Llano is on the outskirts of the central Texas barbeque belt. It's actually that notch on the belt that you loosen when you want it to feel comfortable.

Mark and I have hit Louie Muellers and Snows with the boys as well as City Market in Luling with a couple other playgroupies, so Coopers in Llano is a logical next step. We fired up the Bat Signal to see if anyone else wanted to join us, but could only get Dax and Reese to come along. Good thing because he's got the wheels to seat 6.

Henry and Simon in the way back acting cool and calm... but we haven't left the driveway.

Two peaceful hours later we arrived with a short line.

Hmm, yes.  One of everything, Garçon.

One of the things that sets Coopers apart from a lot of the other places is that Cabrito is an option as you'll see in the pic above.  The brisket, pork and beef ribs were also top notch.

The great Thomas Petty once lamented "The waiiiiiiting is the hardest part."

It's even harder when it's right in front of you.

When Jennifer heard there was cabrito she made a b-line over from Burnet.

From Coopers we followed Jennifer over to go swim over at Camp with her and Tyler. Once we got there, everything was awesome for the guys (and us too).  From the golf cart:

to the lazy river

complete with waterslide that only Mark and Tyler's six year old nephew could figure out.

Dax pulling him and Reese down by hand.

Animal pettin' time.

Mmmmm... Future cabrito.

And then the quiet time bell sounded which was our cue it was time to go home.  Frankly, I'm ready to do it again next weekend.

Pics from last month's vacation

Ahh, Santa Fe.  How a city can be both artsy and fartsy at the same time must have something to do with the elevation.

You absolutely can't get a bad meal there.  Now, you can have company with you that's fussy and tired and that might ruin the meal, but it's not the food's fault.

First morning:  Coffee and rock throwing on the patio of Downtown Subscription

Socks coming off?  Like I care.  I'm the happiest baby in New Mexico.

Free ice cream on the square.  And by free ice cream on the square, I mean Simon let a whole lot of  ice cream drip all over the square.

We did a lot of hanging out at the house, which was fine by me because the place was great.

We did a lot of things that could've been done in Austin, like go to the park and go to the Children's Museum.  But those are things that Erinn does with the boys, so it was nice for me to take Simon to both while we were there.

Children's Museum:

As you can see he was like a kid in the candy store since we were basically the only ones outside.

 

Park:

Again, we were the only ones there besides some homeless folks.  Made me feel like I was back in Austin.

Oh so close...

Our nature hikes were met with disappointment.  The first hike was windy and cold.  The second hike was too treacherous, or we just got bad directions.

Wrapped up our Chimayo hike with lunch at the beautiful Rancho de Chimayo.  Miles ordered off the menu:

Great Grandson?

Miles (taken sometime in the past month or so??)

Andrew's Grandfather (taken 7 years ago at our wedding)

Same sweet disposition as well.  Now if only Miles could be blessed with his hair...

Simon Says: Yucky

Me (to Simon as he takes his toothbrush and wipes the sink basin with it):  Yuck-O!
Simon:  Is that Spanish for yucky?