My Texas

So I'm just about the most inconsistent person when it comes to blogging, but I'm working on it. And I have a good reason for why I have put anything up in a couple weeks (sort of). 

So on July 1, my sweet boyfriend flew to Texas to stay for a week. We packed as much as we possibly could into those seven days - there is no shortage of fun things to do in central Texas, especially when you're showing it to someone who isn't familiar with the places. Here is a little recap of Mike's trip and all that we did, with plenty of pictures.

~ July 1 ~

Mike flew into Austin (after a little delay) around 9pm. My mom, dad, sister, younger brother and I were all there to pick him up. It was so great to see him. We were both so excited - it had been exactly 2 months since we had seen each other, in person. We took him for a late dinner at the Hula Hut, a fun Austin restaurant right on the lake that we've been going to for years. We turned in early because the next day would be a long one.

~ July 2 ~

Being the Ausinite that I am, I wanted to show Mike my hometown (even though I haven't lived there in 15 years...shh). We started the day at the beautiful Texas capitol. They have tours about every 15 minutes so we took one. Although we did wish we had waited for a different guide, ours was very difficult to understand. 

I absolutely love the Capitol building - it's just so beautiful, and there are so many little details you notice after years of visiting (and getting the yearly capitol Christmas ornament). I loved sharing these easily unnoticed things with Mike.

After the capitol, we ate lunch at Magnolia Cafe on South Congress - known for it's eclectic vibe and delicious food. We explored South Congress shops, including the coolest candy store, an amazing, color-coded antique shop, and a huge boot store. 

Of course, while on South Congress we had to stop by this sweet piece of graffiti and take a picture.

We spent the heat of the day at Deep Eddy, a spring fed pool. The water was so cold but it was the perfect place to escape the hot afternoon. 

We had planned to watch the bats fly out of from under the South Congress bridge - a unique Austin experience I hadn't seen before - but I got tired, and hangry, so we came back early and met my parents and sister for dinner. I wish we had stayed to see the bats but it was still a really great day.

~ July 3 ~

After meeting my grandmother in San Antonio for lunch, Mike and I headed downtown to see Texas' most visited landmark, the Alamo. 

It was SO HOT waiting in line, but we mad the best of it by snapping silly pictures of each other.

I hadn't been to the Alamo since a 4th grade field trip so it was fun to go and see it again with Mike.

We then headed to the San Antonio riverwalk - just a few blocks away - and took a barge tour down the river. It was so fun and a really neat way to see downtown San Antonio - plus our guide was funny and really knew his stuff!

We spent the evening at a street fair my town has every year on July 3rd. And more importantly, Mike got to meet my sweet friend Sara and her boyfriend.

~ July 4 ~

I've said it before, the Fourth of July is my favorite holiday, and it was even better this year. Mike joined my family in all of our usual holiday activities. 

 We went to the parade downtown, and barely avoided becoming very sunburned. 

How cute is this robot - made out of air conditioning ducts that our friends had at their business (where we watch the parade every year)?

After the parade we went to the house of family friends who host a party each year, for lunch and swimming.

We finished off the day a little sunburned, and a lot tired, at a party some relatives throw. They live on a hill and have the best view of fireworks from the city park below.

~ July 5 ~

Sunday was really relaxed. We went to church in the morning. That afternoon we met some friends for swimming and dinner at a lake club (also the place where I'm working this summer) that my family belongs to. 

~ July 6 ~

I used Mike visiting as an excuse to go to Six Flags Fiesta Texas, because I hadn't been in years and we both love roller coasters. The day was perfect and we hardly had to wait in any lines! I don't know if it was luck or because it was the day after a holiday weekend, the park was pretty empty, especially when we got there after it first opened. We made a loop around the park first, and were able to ride all of the big, popular rides. We only really had to wait in line for the new batman ride. We both agreed it was overrated. 

We cooled off at the waterpark after lunch, then headed back out into the main park to ride some more rides we skipped that morning. 

This was the only picture I took in the park, when Mike was being silly. I wish I had taken more, we were just too busy having fun and that's perfectly fine with me.

We stayed for the laser light show at the very end of the day. Gotta say, when I was a kid it was so much better, and Six Flags should definitely switch back to the old version. It was a great day regardless.

For dinner we went a little out of the way to go to In-N-Out burger, because Mike wanted to share a little California with me. I now understand why everyone makes a big deal of it, it was SO GOOD! And cheap, always a plus.

~ July 7 ~

Worn out from going and going the past few days, we relaxed a lot of this day. I made some delicious chocolate chip belgian waffles for breakfast that tasted more like dessert. Mike, my younger brother, and I went to a movie in the afternoon. We saw Max, which is such a sweet movie about a military dog, set in Lufkin, a tiny east Texas town, of all places. I definitely recommend it.

That night, Mike and I went to dinner with my mom - after we had to run around my neighborhood in search of my dogs, who might as well be certified escape artists with the number of times they've gotten out. We went to the touristy town on Gruene, which isn't too far from my house. We had dinner at the Gristmill, one of my favorite restaurants with delicious food. Then Mike and I went dancing at the Historic Gruene Hall, which was one of Sara and my favorite high school hangouts.

~ July 8 ~

With Mike leaving that day, we spent a lot of the day just hanging out and enjoying our time together.  We met one of my lifelong friends Krystal for lunch (she had to give her approval haha). Then we spent the rest of the afternoon getting Mike all packed up and baking cookies for him to take with him on the plane.

I'm so glad we got to spend a week together, and that I got to show Mike all of my favorite Texas places. It was without a doubt the best week of my summer and now we're counting down the days until we're back at Clemson. We have just under a month!!!!