Austin Awesomeness

About a year ago, the wives planned a mini family reunion of cousins in Austin, where we would crash at my sister, Melissa's house. Last month we finally had it. We flew in on a Wednesday night, arriving at 1am due to an hour delay. It was Alex's second time on a plane, but the first that he would remember. He loved it, and kept saying, "whoa" as the plane's engines revved up and we took off.

The first day we went tubing down the San Marcos River. Everyone really enjoyed it, especially Maddy and Alex, who both got in the river and swam around as we drifted.


Early Saturday morning, the rest of the cousins arrived and we went on the Austin Steam Train, which went through Hill Country to the small town of Bertram. The 3 hour trip gave us all time to get reacquainted.






Afterwards, we went into Austin and ate at Uncle Billy's Brew & Que and had some fantastic food.



Later, we headed back to Melissa's and the kids splashed around in the kiddie pool


Apparently Kiara and Maddy can dish it but not take it, as they pouted after Alex splashed them back and refused to get back in the pool until Alex got out.


The next day we drove through some beautiful but hot countryside to the Hamilton Pool, a collapsed rock formation which now is an old-fashioned swimmin' hole.





Hook 'em!





After the pool we went back and had some burgers and hot dogs.

A master at work


Eric thinks it's da kine.

Whitney and family had to leave after the burgers and hotdogs, so on the last day the rest of us went back for some more tubing on the San Marcos River.





After some coaxing, Nathan tries the rope swing.

Alex and me shooting the rapids.


For our final dinner, we went to Salt Grass.





Alex finished his pizza

We went back to Melissa's for a final night of dominoes and some play time for the kids.



All in all, we had a great time with the family and hope to get back to Austin soon.

Parties & More

Saturday was a busy day of parties.

Back in May, when we had Alex's birthday with kids from his class, we had no idea we were at the beginning of a wave of birthday parties from his class. Every 3 weeks since then has been another birthday for a classmate. Saturday's was Amanda and her older brother Joseph's pool party. It was held at their great-aunt's house, who happens to teach swimming to little kids--one of her students was a 9-10 month old girl who astounded us by how well she was swimming!



The birthday girl, Amanda


Lucas, one Alex's best buds at school


Amanda’s brother, Joseph, and mom, Elizabeth


Alex discovering the joy of lounging by the pool

We had to leave the party early, as Armilyn and I had to go to a wedding in downtown LA. We had an hour to get home, shower, get dressed, and drop off Alex at Oma and Opa's house. When we left, we saw Dad coming home on his motorcycle from the hardware store.


The wedding was for Armilyn's distant cousin, Carlito and his bride Mylah. We later found out it was the first anniversary of their civil marriage, so this was the church wedding. Well, the wedding was at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, the huge, new (a few years old) cathedral in downtown. We had never been there, just driven by a few times. This place was amazing. Very modern on the outside, but still beautiful and spiritual on the inside.


A panorama after the wedding, from the back of the cathedral



The beautiful cross above the altar, inside and outside


Detail of the lights in the cathedral


The happy couple posing for pics in the cathedral garden.


A panorama of the garden photo shoot. Click for a bigger picture


The Ancheta girls strike a pose

So as we were waiting for the photo shoot to end, we went downstairs to the masoleum as Justine's dad said Gregory Peck was laid to rest there. We found him.


Well, I immediately noticed that 2 spaces to the right and 1 space down from Mr. Peck is the future resting place of another (unrelated?) Ancheta girl. Cue the Twilight Zone music.


The reception was at Lumineria, a hill top restaurant in Monterey Park. Our cellphone battery was low, so no pics, but we had a great time and the food, once it arrived, was delicious.

All in all, a busy but fun day.

by David