Austin Kite Festival

I got wind (pun intended) of the Austin Kite Festival about a week ago and decided it would be a great way to kick off our week of Spring Break. It was on Sunday from 10-5 so we decided we'd leave right after worship and head to Austin. Shawn and I had high hopes for an exciting and fun afternoon. We had planned on riding the free buses down to Zilker park since parking was $7 but after seeing the lines for the bus and realizing that we'd be in line longer than we'd be at the festival, we decided on the $7 parking....that was a bit of a mistake....okay really there was no good answer. We parked and asked the attendant about how far the park was and she said it was about a mile....enter contractions. I was told last week by my dr to take it easy and stay off my feet as much as possible. A one mile walk while pushing Ava in a stroller was not dr's orders, but we didn't really have another choice. The traffic within about 2 miles of the park was HORRENDOUS! So, we just started walking and I started praying that I wouldn't send myself into labor....give me a few more weeks and I'll be ready, but not quite yet. We got there and as we were entering the park, others were leaving and handed us 16 tickets that they didn't use. You needed tickets for all the drinks, and such. So it was definitely a site to see...hundreds of kits at all different levels and different colors and sizes all flying in unison and none getting tangled. We have no idea how that was possible, but somehow people were doing it. First order of business....try out the porta potties. I am proud to say that after about a 30 minute wait, both of my children can now successfully say they've used a porta potty. I still get shivers thinking about it, eww eww eww. Also, Ava learned to breathe out of her mouth when something smells bad. Okay, onto the next thing. Then we went to find water....every booth was out...really? Really. So we had to get Dr. Pepper...another first for the girls. They both got to drink Dr. Pepper and I'm pretty sure they have fallen in love. Too bad, because that won't happen again if there is water anywhere around. But, they were so excited about it and couldn't stop talking about what a treat it was. They also got to eat cotton candy which Ava ate in the same manner that Cookie Monster eats cookies...never seen anyone eat it quite like that before. We then went to get popsicles because it was burning up and of course...they were out, but expecting more within the next 30 minutes. We went and sat for a while and watched all the kites and then headed back to the popsicle place. We waited a little while longer and finally more showed up. They were an all natural type and the girls and I got a Watermelon one....it was almost weird how much it tasted exactly like watermelon...like they had frozen a chunk of watermelon on a stick. Amazing! All of these foods and drinks came up to $15...or 15 tickets, just what we had been given so we ended up not paying a single penny for all the yummies. Then we headed back towards the car because I was walking so slow, we knew it would take us a while to get back there, get out of Austin traffic and get back to our house in time to clean up and head back to worship....we ended up with 30 minutes at home before we had to turn back around. We were exhausted. Shawn and I have learned a very important lesson from this "fun" day. Adults have a VERY different idea of what makes an event successful. To our girls, the fact that they got to drink some Dr. Pepper, eat some cotton candy, and have a popsicle, made this successful to them. Shawn and I are learning to change our perspective when we are doing things that are more for the girls than us....if they are happy, even if what they did was mundane to us, then it was great and yesterday was a great success! We can now mark that off the list of things to do!

First taste of Dr. Pepper...Elle should be on a commerical for them.

Ava was proud of her cotton candy beard.

The Austin skyline and all the kites.

My high point...popsicles. It was so hot and these just hit the spot.