Austin!

I'm currently in Austin, celebrating Christmas for the third time with Larry's family. We got here yesterday after a fairly hideous start to our trip by driving through heavy rain in Houston. Visibility was practically nil on our way out of town. I'm a bit of an anxious driver at the best of times and so Sara and I were very relieved when the skies cleared around Brookshire. We managed to make up a bit of the time we lost and I was happy to see that my mom's old 1991 Toyota Camry (which I was driving, having grudgingly agreed that Larry could take the Mini), has quite a bit of pep in it still. No wonder Sara and Emily have named that car Apollo. It does take off.

We made it to Austin only a little bit late for lunch (okay, 30 minutes), at my mother-in-law Mildred's house. After lunch w/ the family, we sat around chatting and some of us watched some football game (obviously not me). Then we headed over to my sister-in-law's house. This time I took the Mini and introduced Mildred to its charms. Present opening, game playing (Sequence!), and munching on chips and queso ensued. I have a feeling that I'll be buying an attachment for my new KitchenAid mixer with at least one of the gift cards I got. The big question is going to be which one? I'm currently leaning toward one of the pasta making attachments. Feel free to give me input on this decision.

Today, we're going to an exhibit at the Blanton museum on the UT campus. I've been wanting to go to the Blanton for years, but it seems like most of the time when I'm in Austin, I'm moving my children from one spot to another and never find the time. We are also heading out to Cafe Adobe at some point for dinner (I think). And who knows what else. The good news is that so far we haven't scared my nephew Kevin's girlfriend Katie (who is lovely and fun). The bad news is that we do miss nephew Jonathon (in Egypt) and Michael and Sarah (doing wedding stuff w/ one of their friends).