fresh powder....

i've had some requests for the videos of otto and greta snow tubing...so here they are. seems crazy that all that snow wasn't that long ago.

otto says no

video of otto doing his latest trick of shaking his head 'no'. he does this ALL the time. also in the video are otto's signature slow blink/eye roll.

firefighter!

lately greta has been into being a "firefighter", which involves donning her firefighter boots, winter hat, gloves, and coat. and on this particular day, a pair of bloomers. oh, and she puts out the "fires" with a cup of water. love it.

our "burger queen princess"

having never eaten at burger king before, greta was quite fascinated with the crown....

sunday at SXSW

this was our last day in austin. we packed up the car and then headed to stubb's for their gospel brunch. we've gone to this in the past and it's awesome. real live rockin' gospel tunes while you chow down. otto was movin' to the beat the whole time...that boy's got rhythm. it was fun to see chuck (and lilia and claire) one last time....greta finally warmed up to chuck enough to give out high fives when we left. can't wait til next year!

Saturday at SXSW

so the weather in austin went from gorgeous, warm, and sunny to practically ARTIC overnight! we woke up saturday morning with an agenda full of outdoor plans and weather in the 40s with crazy crazy winds! thank goodness we packed jackets and winter hats, because we needed them! needless to say, the outdoor venues weren't as jam-packed as the previous days. we still had a good time though, and actually still spent a good amount of time outside. we started off our time with lunch at home slice pizza....we have eaten their pizza a ton but had never actually eaten inside until today. the decor is fun and the music is loud...they give you smarties candy when you pay your bill, have sweet leaf tea on the menu, and have a "draw darryl hall and jon oates" section on their kids coloring pages. awesome! because we had to wait so long for a table, we got an appetizer AND our pizza for free. double awesome!

after lunch we headed to yard dog for the 15th annual throwdown, where we saw artists including tim easton and jon langford and the far forlorn. we took turns standing outside listening to music and browsing the shops on south congress to warm up a bit.

after yard dog, we picked up some delicious cupcakes and headed for dinner at whole foods before calling it a day.

Friday at SXSW

Our second day of music was another long one. I started out the day with a 20 mile bike ride with my friend Chuck. Riding in Austin is nice as they have miles and miles of trails and bike lanes, and in general the citizens tend to be more accomodating to cyclists.

After that we headed to Yard Dog to catch some of the bloodshot records day show. We stuck around for a little while and then headed over to our spot from yesterday across the street at Home Slice. Day 2 of music and limited naps took a toll on the kids. Otto took a snooze in the bjorn (the first time in a really long time that he's slept anywhere but the car or his bed). And Greta took the opportunity to relax in the stroller for a snack. Some nice bands at Home Slice today including, Jukebox the Ghost, Wye Oak and the Lonely Forest.

After the music was over, we headed back across the street to another of our favorite spots... Guero's Taco Bar. The picture below is after a very traumatic experience for Greta. She rarely sits in a high chair anymore when we're out. This time she was kneeling on a chair with a whole in the back, and her legs slipped out the back and left her body stuck in the hole in the chair....her head on the seat, and her feet on the ground. It only took us about 45 seconds to get her unstuck, but it seemed like it was about 10 minutes... she rolled with it though and got right back up to chow some beans and rice. And Otto is saying, "did you see what happened to Greta? I told her to sit in a high chair".

And of course for being such a trooper for the second day in a row, we made another stop to Amy's Ice Cream... where Greta has determined that she should get Chocolate ice cream with M&Ms every time. Perhaps next year, Otto will get to take part in the ice cream fun.

thursday at sxsw

today we hit the ground running. we headed to jovita's around noon to hear some great music (including ben sollee and daniel martin moore) at a fantastic outdoor setting. that's the key to kids at sxsw, or at least we think so.....finding cool outdoor venues with good music. that way, you can listen and still be far enough away that it is safe for the kids to listen too. and a little bit of shade doesn't hurt.


after jovita's, we walked up to south congress to check out a few bands at yard dog and at home slice. we stayed at home slice for quite a while....there was a tent to sit under, yummy pizza, and rocks for greta to play in. there were also quite a few other families for us to hang out with....
after that, we headed down to doc's and met up with johnmark, anne,and anne's brother pete for dinner before heading back to the hotel. let me just say, our kids are troopers! they were out and about in the sun all day. greta didn't nap at all, and otto (who usually takes 3 naps) had a nap in the morning and that was it. but they were having fun and it was a great day!

planning out our day

greta and otto help joe look at the sxsw day show lineups to see where we should go tomorrow....

st patrick's day so far....

here we are having breakfast at kerbey lane cafe. remember when we took greta here a few years ago? still just as yummy....
after breakfast we headed to a nearby park with lots of play equipment and a great bike trail. otto hung out in the stroller while greta tested out her wheels in austin. we are loving this weather!

happy st patrick's day!

i bought the shamrock headband at kroger for a buck 99. greta has worn it EVERY day of our trip, and today has had it on almost all day. she is very intrigued by the fact that we are all wearing green....
and for a fun look back at our little irish lady, check out this blog post from last year and this one from greta's first st patrick's day. i can't believe how much she's grown! i also can't believe that this is otto's first st. paddy's day....

snuggle bunny

after our trip to the museum and some lunch, we dropped joe off for one last meeting and then headed back to the hotel for a nap. i was busy getting things ready for naptime when i overheard greta saying, "snuggle bunny" over and over again. i looked under the table and this is what i saw.



now, don't get me wrong. greta of course loves her little brother. but she still mostly ignores him....or gets frustrated with him when he gets her things. so to see her displaying this unprovoked affection was quite nice. even though it bordered a little bit on 'tough love'. but otto didn't seem to mind. he just sat there and let her hug and love on him. look back through those photos....she is definitely being affectionate towards him and he seems to be okay with it. maybe spending all this time together in the car has been good for them. they have been making each other laugh a ton, and "talking" to each other too. the other day they "sang" for a good few minutes, just looking back and forth at each other from their respective carseats.

children's museum

with today's rain, we headed to check out austin's children's museum. it was pretty cool, but i have to admit that cincinnati's children's museum is much cooler. regardless, the kids had a fun time!

shady grove

after playing we headed to shady grove for dinner. our friends jesse and holly introduced us to this place years ago, and we keep coming back. the outdoor dining is so fantastic and the vibe is laidback....we love it and so did the kids!

sliding

.
we've enjoyed some great weather so far in austin. well, today it rained but every other day so far has been beautiful. yesterday when joe's meetings were over, we headed to zilker park to play on their playscape. it was huge and tons of fun.

hotel livin'

we left for sxsw on wednesday morning, a little off schedule but not too bad. joe took our van in for an oil change on monday and discovered that the air conditioner wasn't working. not a good idea for a trip to the south. so they ordered the part and fixed it wednesday morning. we headed to memphis on wednesday, where we spent the night. thurday we made it to dallas, where greta discovered (both to her surprise and ours) that she could climb in and out of the pack and play. luckily, she hasn't attempted this again. :) and friday we rolled into the great city of austin, texas!!
i might jinx it by saying this, but the kids have been AMAZING! they have been such troopers about riding in the car and have slept fantastically in the hotel. i think they secretly like "living" out of a hotel. otto likes the mirrored closet doors, while greta thinks it's pretty cool to ride the elevator a few times a day. she likes to remind us to "step back and wait to see if anyone is coming off".

shiner

otto took a little tumble in the learning tower. this big bump under his eye turned into a nice shiner that is still there. what a bruiser....

gymnastics

thought i'd share this picture of greta and her cousin ellie on picture day at gymnastics. i wish i knew how to make it bigger. i love this photo...it makes me giggle everytime i see it. i'm not sure why....maybe it's their leotards. or their pigtails. or how they are posed ever so carefully on that little ladder.

anyway, we are in austin texas for sxsw....joe has been busy taking part in some of the 'interactive' sessions of sxsw, which means the kids and i have been hanging out and enjoying the beautiful weather. so far we've done lots of playing at playgrounds, shopping (and eating) at whole foods, and yesterday we enjoyed a kite festival at zilker park. we'll get back to blogging and posting photos soon, including one of otto's black eye he got the day before we left!

no pets

growing up, we could always count on our dog, smokey, to pick up any table scraps. looks like in our household, otto is our trusty companion. here he is, crawling all the way under the table and over both of those iron bars for a tiny piece of cereal.

scrapes and leotards

t

i took this photos to show greta's unique clothing choices of late. greta is able to get dressed (and undressed) with minimal help from us. she seems to enjoy practicing these skills and likes to change her clothes a few times a day. she will make up an excuse like, "these clothes are wet" or "these have pee and poo on them" so that she can change. i don't mind a bit...the educator in me loves that she is obviously driven to hone these skills. the mom in me appreciates that she can get ready independently. but i am struggling with ACCEPTING her clothes choices....some of the ensembles she comes up with are pretty fantastic. like this day....her hot cocoa shirt on a 60 degree day, blue leggings a few sizes too small, and her gymnastics leotard pulled halfway up. love it.
oh....i forgot to mention the scrape on her nose. that's her latest accessory. she went for her first bike ride of the season and i guess took a little spill. just in time for all our vacation and easter photos. :)