Spring Break 2016

Milkshakes at American Girl

 

Perot Museum of Nature and Science

 

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

 

 

Zootopia 

 

 Bluebonnets at the Wildflower Center

 

private concert by Red Yarn

Austin City Limits Fest 2015

Family Nature Nights at The Wildflower Center: Bats

Storytime (Ding Bat and His Happy Flying Friends)

Create-a-Bat Mask

Mexican Freetail Bat and Flying Fox Bat

Children's Day Art Park at Symphony Square

The Biscuit Brothers

Instrument Petting Zoo

 

Note: They "sanitized" the mouthpieces between children.  Fingers crossed we don't get sick.

 

 

 

Rodeo time

Also known as State Fair Light. 

I was really looking forward to taking everyone out to the Rodeo for the BBQ competition.  Even with the unseasonably cold weather and gale force winds, we loaded up and rolled out to the Travis County Expo Center.  It was colder and windier once we got there and Erinn let me know about it.

We hopped from tent to tent.  The first stop fortunately for Simon was the Kids Tent with the petting zoo.

After a heavy lathering of hand sanitizer, we headed across the parking lot over to the BBQ setup where we saw some sweet rigs, like this one:

Plenty of hospitality, but in the end it was too windy to continue.  So we headed to the see the world's smallest cowboy, Whiplash.

Simon and Erinn waiting for Whiplash.

Whiplash is a monkey that rides a dog.  And when I say ride, I use that term loosely.  He's strapped onto the dog.  Whiplash corrals some sheep and gets all the credit.  But honestly, the dog's doing all the work.

I couldn't get a good shot of Whiplash, so here's one the Dallas Morning News took.

The deliciousness hits Northwest Hills

I'm so glad I don't have to drive down to campus now to get my Torchy's Tacos queso fix.  Turning left across traffic into that parking nightmare is gone.  Now Torchy's has a new parking nightmare where the old Burger House used to be at Spicewood and Mesa.  There's only about 6 spots there, but fortunately, when we eat out now it's always with all the old people and people with kids.

 

Always get the queso.  Always.  Even if you're eating alone.   You get that.

 

While the pictures of the tacos don't scream "eat me,"  maybe the description will.  This here's the Trailer Park: 

"Fried chicken, green chilies, lettuce, pico de gallo, and Cheese served on a flour tortilla with poblano ranch.
Get it Trashy! Take off the lettuce and add queso!"

Or my personal favorite, the "Double Wide":

"Chicken Fried Steak & Bacon, Green Chili Queso, Pico, Queso Fresco on a flour tortilla"... Yeah, buddy.  Too bad that was just for the month of January.  This month's taco is called "The Situation."  I don't watch Jersey Shore so I didn't order it.

 

Simon, you can have applesauce.  Sorry.

New 'cue in town

Had read good things about Franklin BBQ on the interwebs and knew it needed to be vetted out.

It's basically another trailer, but with picnic tables.  The pit has its own house, as you can see here, which allows for some basic cover when it gets windy.

Pit's off to the right.  Pop is chewing the fat with the owner, literally and figuratively as the owner hands out burnt ends to sample a la Louie Mueller's.

Standard set up.  Ribs, brisket, potato salad, pickles n onions.  It was all really good.  Actually I'd put it at the top of what's available in Austin.  But that's more an indication of a lack of excellent barbecue within the city limits.

 Simon digging into the brisket.

I'm including this shot mainly to show Erinn that we still use the bib and placemat when Simon and I go out together.

Franklin BBQ is on I-35 at Concordia St (~32nd Street) and open Wed-Sun from 11am until they run out of food, which is about 2pm.

ACL Fest 09

There was a pretty good break in the rain yesterday, so we headed down to our first ACL fest in seven years. It was a lot more crowded than the first time we went.

Saturday's daytime lineup wasn't very impressive, so we spent most of it at the Austin Kiddie Limits stage where there was a lot for Simon to do... until the rain came.

Simon on the dance floor.

We met up with Will and Hansen under the big tent while it poured. Will and I caught a little of Bon Iver while Erinn and Simon waited for another break in the rain so we could head home. It never really came, so we broke for the foot bridge under Mopac.

Soggy and tired, we finally made it home where Simon proceeded to puke everywhere. I'm sure he wasn't the only festival goer to do likewise. He's feeling much better now. I'm sure it was a combination of too much free yogurt and too many red grapes at lunch.