Austin, Tx.

One word. WOW! When they say everything is bigger in Texas, they are soooo not kidding. And the resemblance to Nashville is uncanny. When Ben and I got off the plane and drove toward the office, we thought maybe we did a loopty loop around Nashville for 2 hours, but then as we kept driving we saw a cactus and said "Nope, we are NOT in Tennessee!". Then when we arrived at Northstar, we were even more astounded with their hospitality! (I will save that for another post). We spent most of the day Friday there but the next two days were a glimpse into a new life! Saturday we went around to a few neighborhoods in the Leander and Cedar Park area. Beautiful homes! We meet a couple of people in those neighborhoods whenever we would grab a letter out of an info box from a home that was for sell or when Ben finally stopped and asked for directions. And like here, southern hospitality is still in existence. (Thank goodness!). Most every subdivision we went into had a HUGE playground and pool on the grounds. Walking distance from your house! And sidewalks!!! Here, we don't have sidewalks. Ashton can finally ride her bike without us having to drag it to a park or her grandmothers! Or we can get Nicholas a Big wheel! WooHoo! Did I mention there is a school on every corner? Big schools! Amazing! I know that Ashes is going to fall in love when she gets there. After we looked at a few hundred homes we went out a little further to Lago Vista. It too was amazing! We know now why they call it "The Hill Country". (Pics below) After driving for hours looking around we stopped off at a restaurant near the hotel called Sam's Boat and had a few drinks. Green Appletini's is my new drink of choice :)! We left there, took a late nap back at the hotel. and then headed toward downtown Austin. Again, AMAZING! Again, like Nashville! But what caught our eye was the state capital. It was gorgeous! We even walked around the building just staring at it in amazement. The history was overwhelming! The details were incredible. We left there and continued our tour around and saw this place called the Triangle (one day I will become a regular in that scene!). A very upscale community that reminded me a lot of the Greenhills Area. After all this we were tired and hungry so we went to Taco Cabana (owned by an Indian?) and went back to the hotel and went to bed. The next morning we woke up, checked out and continued on our mission to find our future residence. After several hours of searching (and finding some possibilities) we went to lunch at Chili's and then went toward downtown again. Along the way we got to look over Lake Austin! On the lake were the biggest homes we had ever seen! (Later we found out that Mr. Dell, of Dell computers lived in that area and again, pics below). Ben has a new goal and that being owning one of the houses over looking Lake Austin. (He dreams BIG!) After I dragged Ben away from a place that he calls heaven we went further in and finally got to the downtown area, grabbed some coffee and walked around and viewed some of the most wonderful buildings. The Saint Anne's Church was what I was drawn to. Again, Beautiful!!! (again, pics below), after about an hour we decided to call it a day because:
1. We were so overwhelmed we couldn't concentrate on anything else
2. Exhaustion had set in.
3. We had a lot of planning to do.

So we headed to the airport. On the airplane we met a really great kid that went to Vanderbilt. He was from Austin and he also played football for Vandy. Poor kids, Ben talked him to death about Austin and football (mostly football). I will have to admit, he too talked a lot. It was a great trip home! But the best part of yesterday was seeing my babies when we got back to Dickson. What happiness they always bring! Big hugs and kisses were waiting for us there!