McNeil Bats

My brother and his family have some friends currently visiting from Germany. They have been all over Texas taking in the sights and just having a wonderful vacation. The other night we tagged along with them to see the Round Rock bats. Every evening from March - October, people gather at the underpass of IH-35 and McNeil to watch as millions of bats emerge at sunset. It's definitely mesmerizing to watch.



As the time approaches, you can hear their little squeaks and see them flying under the bridge. Unfortunately, you can smell them too ;) They slowly start to form groups and head out into the night in search of food in the surrounding pastures. We've been in our backyard BBQing several times and seen them fly over our house. When you see them up in the sky, it looks like billows of smoke floating in the air.



We overheard one lady comment on how they looked like the smoke monster in LOST. That definitely made us giggle. Mystery solved, LOL. From November-February the bats migrate and live in Mexico. The Congress Avenue bridge in downtown Austin is also a very popular place to watch the bats come out!!

Town Motto

Okay, is this just a Texas thing?? We laugh every time we drive down to my parents house because we pass through a bunch of tiny Texas towns. What makes us giggle is they have these signs welcoming you to town and they have their motto painted on there. So the last time we took a road trip home, we made sure to bring the camera and snap a few shots. First up their is Smithville. Now I can't make too much fun of Smithville. First off, my parents both grew up, met and got married there. Next check out their sign, they are the home of Hope Floats. Yep, the movie was filmed in and around town and I love that movie!! I've been told the first sign was stolen, so they now have it really high up in the air, LOL. Now this is where we start to laugh. We come up to Moulton, which is a spec on the road. Seriously, they don't even have a stop light, but they made sure to put out one huge sign on the highway! I can't say I've ever stopped in Moulton, so I don't really know if they are as friendly as they claim. I do love that picture though. Look behind the sign and you can see the rolling hills. It really is a pretty area!! Next up we come to Shiner. Ever heard of Shiner beer, welp this is where the brewery is. Now their sign sure is colorful, but could they not come up with a better motto? Cleanest Little City in Texas ... I just don't have any comment for that. Finally we come upon Yoakum. They kept their sign short and sweet: Land of Leather. There are a bunch of cattle farms around there. They even have a complete cattle topiary scene downtown. I'll have to try and get a picture of it sometime. Edward Scissorhands would be quite impressed. Anyhow, I know there are many more towns that have these signs so I will be on the lookout for them.

Superstar

Welp, we had one more exciting moment on the way to the bagel shop this morning. We walked out of the hotel and found ourselves behind a lady with two kids. The little girl turned and looked at me at the same time the mom started speaking and I recognized them immediately. It was Molly Shannon with her kids, Nolan and Stella. I always see their photos on Celebrity Baby Blog. Ross ran ahead and got a picture of them when we stopped at the corner. I controlled myself and didn't yell out Superstar while striking the pose, LOL. She seems like a wonderful mom. She was chatting up a storm with the kids and walking at their pace. Kinda cool, huh? We are heading to the airport so wish us a safe and smooth flight. Hugs.

Lights, Camera, Action

We hit the streets full speed ahead this morning. It was our last full day here and we definitely got a lot of last minute stuff in. First thing we did, was ride the Staten Island Ferry so we could pass by the Statue of Liberty and Elise Island. We also got a great view of the tip of Manhattan. When we returned, we headed to the Myrell Lynch bull and found a surprise. All of the Indy 500 racers were posed around it taking a picture with the huge trophy. I swear that thing came up to my shoulders. It was HUGE. I only recognized 2 racers: Danika and Helio, but there were a ton of them down there. They went on top of a tour bus for a photo op and we started yelling Helio and Dancing With the Stars and he looked right at me, gave a huge smile and thumbs up. We then walked down to Wall Street and saw the New York Stock Exchange and then headed over a few blocks to visit Ground Zero. It's hard to explain that area to people if you haven't been to the city before because it's an entire block that is empty. There are no empty blocks in NYC!!!! There were 10+ cranes in the middle of it and that's it. One of the big things we did today was get around riding the subway and yes we saw rats on the tracks! I'm very proud of us though because we took it all over the place and only got confused once. We decided to stroll through Central Park and were surprised when we came upon a movie in the process of being filmed by Tavern on the Green. It's called When In Rome and we saw Anjelica Huston and Kristen Bell filming a scene. How cool is that?? It was neat to see how they do things and all the behind the scenes stuff. Can't wait for it to come out now so we can see that part! After watching that for an hour, we stopped in a pizza shop for one last NY slice. Man it was good and wouldn't ya know there was a cupcake bakery 2 doors down so of course we had to stop there too! With full bellies, we then went and saw the Chrysler building. It was beautiful and had these massive silver eagles on all the corners. We then went to the top of Rockefeller Center and saw some amazing 360˚ views of the city. Finally we road over and saw Bloomingdales, Serendipity and Yankee Stadium and to finish the night off we strolled through Time Square one last time. It was a full day and I'm just so amazed at all of the stuff that we have seen on this trip. We head back to hot Tx tomorrow. It was 54˚ here today and my brother said it was 96˚ back at home. UGH. So thanks for reading about our vacation. I'll be back to crafting soon. I can't wait to use the new stamps I bought yesterday. Hugs!!!!

Omigod You Guys

What a day!!! We woke up and headed to the library. Melissa, Ross got a picture with the big lions :) Then we went over to Grand Central Station. Dang that place is huge. Two of my LOSTie friends from SCS, Jess & Edie, came into the city to meet us. It was so nice spending the afternoon with them and finally meeting them face to face. They are both just so sweet and cute. They took us on our first Subway ride and we ate at a wonderful Italian place. After that we hit up The Ink Pad, a stamp store here in N.Y. OMWord, it was full of stamps and such a great little shop. We then went to a cute, little bakery and had some yummalicious cupcakes. That icing was so good! After they left, we went and hung out in Times Square and got tickets for Legally Blonde. Omigod, Omigod you guys. I can't stop singing that song. All of the songs were great, but that one is stuck in my head. I'll have to get the CD now. The show is playing in a theater right off of Times Square and it was soooooooo super good. The characters were perfect and it followed the movie story line pretty good. It was definitely funny and had some great lines! The girl that played Elle was wonderful and they all had such great energy. The sets were beautiful too. We got out around 9:30 and Times Square was packed, but we loved it. It's so hard to describe that area to y'all. There are so many lights that you can't even tell it's late at night. There are tons of people everywhere, but you still feel safe. It's like an adrenaline boost because there is so much excitement going on around you. We walked around down there for about an hour. Just taking pictures, and staring at everything. The guys stopped at some street vendors and got roasted mixed nuts (those were good) and some chicken kebabs. We have 1 more day to go. My feet will never be the same. We have walked so much, but it has all been worth it!! Hugs.

Sight Seeing Galore

We saw a ton of stuff today and I wish I could show y'all the many pics I took, but that would take forever because I took 145 photos. The weather was gorgeous and absolutely perfect. So let me just start listing stuff. As we were walking to the bus stop this morning, we passed by The New York Times. We saw the Soup Nazi's kitchen from Seinfield, Trump Towers, and we went inside Ulysess S. Grant's tomb/memorial. At the Plaza we got out so Ross could visit the new Apple Store on 5th avenue. Notice he is wearing his Apple hat :) Gotta represent, LOL. FAO Schwarz was right behind it so of course we had to go check it out. It was neat to see all of the employees dressed up and playing. The baby doll section was set up like a nursery at a hospital and you go pick out your doll, then talk to the "nurses" and officially adopt your baby. They also had a ton of Harry Potter stuff. I was nervous about which house the sorting hat would place me in! We saw Hagrid, Ron, Hermione, R2D2, Chewbacca, and Darth Vader all made out of legos. There were some employees who put on a little show using the floor piano from the movie BIG. They were really good. We got back on the bus and drove through Soho. Found the apartment where I Am Legend was filmed! Also drove through the financial district and saw where Ground Zero was. We hope to go see that again before we leave. For lunch/dinner, we ate at Carnegie Deli. Geez those sandwiches are huge. We didn't order one that big but I just started taking pictures of what the people around us ordered. The guy next to us got this gigantic BLT with turkey. Notice the ketchup bottle compared to the size of the sandwich. Eek. Me and Ross split the Milton's Smorgasbord which included Shrimp Salad, Chicken Salad, Tuna Salad and Egg Salad. They were all delish! Finally to end the night, we went up on top of the Empire State Building. It was so neat to see everything lit up and pick out the places that we had seen on the tour. Can you tell that my parents were really excited? I blinded them with my camera, but this photo made me giggle. It was definitely a great day. I really loved driving through all the different districts and seeing how the architecture changed. I also love seeing all the American flags hanging on a lot of the buildings. They are everywhere!!! Okay that was a long post, sorry. I warned y'all that we saw a lot!! Can't wait for tomorrow!!! Thanks for stopping by.

Singing in the rain

Welp we have experienced a chilly, rainy day here in the big apple. It rained all day long, but that didn't stop us any. We woke up and walked down the street to a bagel shop. I could live there and be a very happy person!!! After that we hopped on a bus and found a Trader Jo's to go into. I got some tea that I can't wait to try it. We actually saw a lot on the bus tour, but it was so rainy that I couldn't get any great pics. We passed by Trump Tower, The Late Show, Central Park, 5th. Avenue, the hotel where John Lennon was shot, Ulysses S. Grant tomb (wanna go back to that!), Harlem, Juliard ... a ton of stuff. We got out and saw the Waldorf, St. Patrick's Cathedral, Rockefeller Center, also went into the NBC store. Around 5, we decided that we were sick of the weather so we headed over to the Met. Gosh I love museums and I have never been in one that huge. We went through the Egyptian area, the Arms and Armor, Roman/Greek Art, American wing, European art and Modern Art. My fav. was the Egytian area and the art. I was so excited to see some pieces from Picasso, Cezanne, Van Gogh, Monet, Warhol, and Pollock. I took way too many pictures there. Ok you Grey's Anatomy fans. As we were walking through the Roman/Greek art area, I had to stop and do a double take. Doesn't this marble head kinda look like McSteamy, LOL. Tell me I'm not crazy. We spent a little over 3 hours in the museum and didn't see half of it. I road in my first ever Taxi tonight. We passed by the Apple store, Ross so wants a picture of that. So that was our day. My feet are killing me, but it was so worth it. Can't wait to see what we find tomorrow. Hugs!

New York, New York

Okay I'm going to try and be quick because I've almost been up for 24 hours. We left at 3 a.m. and drove to the airport in Houston so we could fly out to New York with my parents. WooHoo. Our flights were very smooth and we only had one small delay in Charlotte. Got here around 5 and survived the drive from Newark. OMGoodness, the driver was cutting people off like crazy!!!! There is no way I would be able to drive here. We checked in, threw our stuff in the room and headed out to explore. Our hotel is right around the corner from The Empire State building and Macy's. We walked a couple more blocks and checked out Time Square. WOWZERS. I've never seen so many people in one place and it is super bright at night. We went into the M&M store. I controlled myself and didn't lay under the dispensers with my mouth gapping open, LOL. We saw a bunch of theaters where Broadway shows are playing. Gotta pick one to go to now! We ate our very first N.Y. pizza. Dang those slices are huge, but it sure was good! And just for the record, all 3 of those slices aren't just mine :) I had the mushroom one, YUM! We got tickets for the double decker buses that drive you around town. So after we ate, we hoped on the night tour and saw so much. The Empire Stare Building was lit up red, we drove through Greenwich and Soho, LIttle Italy and then China Town, over the Brooklyn bridge and back to Time Square. We got back to the hotel around 11, peeled the contacts out of my eyes and we are about to hit the hay so we can get up early and get going again. BTW I'm going picture happy. I've been here for about 6 hours and I've already taken 100 photos.

Trail of Lights

We decided to go into Austin last night and visit the Trail of Lights. We've always heard about it and seen pics on the news, but this was our first time to visit it. The Trail of Lights is set up in Zilker Park in downtown Austin. It began in 1965 and has grown more and more each year. Basically, several business' in the area sponsor a little space and decorate it. The bus dropped us off right in front of the tunnel of lights. I think that was my favorite part. It's this HUGE tunnel that you walk through and the lights are so pretty!!!!! We saw a lot of families taking their holiday pics here. It was neat to walk through too. There were two more little tunnels like this along the way. The last one was done in stars!! Several of the trees were covered from the base to the very tips. It was so pretty and makes you realize all of the hard work that went into this. I read somewhere that about 300,000 lights were used. Not only were there lights, but several displays and themes. I liked this one. Perfect for Texas!!! I also loved the little penguins. They made me giggle. After walking about a mile along the river, the trail ends with a huge Christmas tree made out of lights. I didn't get a pic of it because it started pouring down rain. We got drenched waiting for the buses to arrive and getting everyone to pile on them. We just stood there laughing and soaking wet. I mean what else could you do,at least it was in the 70's. When we got back to the Jeep, we drove down Congress and it was so beautiful to look back up and see the lights hanging across the street and the capitol at the end. Wish I could have gotten a pics but it was still pouring. So that was our evening. Hope you enjoyed the tour. I heart Christmas lights!!!!

Roadtrip to Stomp

I just had the best Saturday!!! My darling hubby got us tickets to see Stomp down in San Antonio. That means we got to take a roadtrip. We use to live in San Marcos where we attended college and since it was on the way, we decided to stop at one of our favorite Mexican food restaurants - Herbert's! Now the outside might look a little questionable..heck so does the inside, it's an old house that has been added onto several times. Where else can you go and get your drinks & appetizer before you are completely settled at your table.
We timed it too, our meal arrived 4 minutes after we ordered. Nice huh? It is always packed! The chicken guacamole chalupas are scrumtious! We got to San Antonio a little early, we are known for getting lost so we were kinda surprised that we made it in one shot, LOL. So with time to kill we walked down to the Alamo. It was a beautiful day and plenty of people were down there, but it is always so neat to see. After walking around inside and out in the gardens, we decided to go stroll along the Riverwalk . I LOVE the Riverwalk and it's just what it sounds like. A river runs through downtown and you stroll along the edges where there is plenty of shopping and places to eat. You can also take a boat tour. The hotels and buildings are gorgeous!!! It's especially pretty at night because everything is lit up. I'm so excited that we got ticket's to see Stomp. We've been wanting to see it for several years now and it was soooo worth it. We went to the Majestic theater which is so pretty on the inside. If you have ever seen the movie Selena, J.Lo sings Dreaming of You here. We had excellent seats and the cast was so great. They used not only their body (clapping or tap dancing), but ordinary objects to create different percussion rhythms. The items included: brooms, plungers, matchboxes, sinks, zippos, newspapers, metal chairs, various lids, trashcans...etc. It was so cool!!!! If you click on the Stomp link, there are some audio clips for you to listen to. At the end they even got the audience to participate by clapping different ways. I would definitely recommend seeing it. That's another one to cross off the list. So far we have seen: The Phantom of the Opera, Cats, Riverdance (2x), Chicago, and Rent. On the way back through San Marcos we stopped at the outlets malls. We use to work there so we have a love hate feeling every time we pull into the parking lot but it is a great place to shop and find awesome deals. There are two sides: Prime and Tanger and I swear every time we go they add on to it. It's huge!!!! We ended the day by stopping at Starbucks for a Peppermint White Chocolate Mocha. Total bliss!! Sorry for the long post, but I wanted to share our trip with ya! Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Friday Night Lights

Does anyone watch the T.V. show Friday Night Lights? If you do, then you will recognize the place that we ate at for lunch. We went to EZ's for the first time. It's located in Austin. Now take a close look at the front of the building. This is the diner they film at for the show. You can tell by the colored tiles. The food was good and Ross said that their Oreo milkshake was fantastic.
The high school they film at is less than 5 minutes from our house, we always passby it when we are on the tollroad. We just watched the first episode over the summer and got hooked on recognizing the local places they film at, then we got sucked into the storyline. We quickly caught up so we could start watching Season 2. It's just kinda neat seeing where they filmed a show!!