The Traveling Maddi!

This weekend, the Maddi 4 loaded up in the Swagger Wagon for our first family vacation!  Just the 4 of us,  and we had a blast!!!

Beckett's birthday is this week so we decided to take a little weekend vacation and head to the Hill Country to let them spend A Day out with Thomas!  We talked about it quite a bit leading up to our trip and Beckett didn't really seem to know what was going on, but Emery was super excited!

Our first stop was in the beautiful city of Bastrop at the famous Buccee's.  We've never stopped at Buccee's before, so of course we had to see what it was all about it- and you know what- it's all about everything!  We shopped, we ate, we threw temper tantrums- we've now Buccee'd.  Moving On.

Once we made it to Austin we (I) thought it would be fun to let the kids see the Capital Building.  Emery's been saying the pledge at school and learning the difference between the American flag and the Texas flag so I thought she might like to see what the Texas Capital was like.  

I can remember going when I was little, but I didn't remember just how impressive all the architecture is.  It's beautiful!  And full of so much history.  They've done an amazing job of preserving and restoring the building.

We had a beautiful tour guide who took us to all the different elevators and stairs (yes, that was the best part for her).

But, really we looked at all the chambers and libraries and court rooms.  It's amazing!

We also went into the Chapel and I saw this sign.  It's beautiful.  I kept thinking at any minute Rick Perry was going to walk in and need some consoling words from a kind 4 year old, but this in fact did not happen.  :)

This guy also got his chance to play tour guide.  He just wanted to dance.

We left the Capital Building and got half way to the car when we got caught in a huge downpour!  Austin is in the middle of a major drought and I know they were glad to see the rain, but we were SO close to being back at the car.  Oh well!  We settled in under a tree and hung out for a little while.  I think the faces sum up how we were all feeling.

We finally got a (small) break from the rain and bolted for the car.  Our next stop was our home away from home for the weekend- our hotel! We got checked in and settled and then needed food- we are not a people who do hungry well.  Since it was Friday we decided we needed some pizza.  We found the closest pizza place and it did not disappoint.

We ate, we drank, we laughed, we played on the playground.  Not bad for a trip out to a restaurant!  We tried to get everyone in to bed at a somewhat reasonable time- the big blue engine was calling our name first thing in the morning!  

Stay tuned...