A Month On

Last Monday morning we went to a play scape called Extreme Fun. Anne Marie had heard of it so she rang me up to ask if I wanted to go. Its full of inflatable bouncy castles and slides and Daniel, Matthew, Thomas and Charlotte all had lots of fun, as did Anne Marie and I (the grown ups are allowed on as long as its not too busy – and we used the excuse of ‘assisting’ our children!). Unfortunately, I forgot my camera. After there we went to Ci-Ci’s Pizza Buffet. Its very similar to Pizza Hut Buffet, with all you can eat salad, pasta and Pizza except kids under 3 eat for free, and it includes all you can eat desert. So Tom, Charlotte and I ate for a measly $7 (about £3.50) and, honestly, the food was really good!

Since we signed the lease agreement we have paid lots of visits to the house, and taken the kids to the local playground, which I am sure I will become a regular at. Everybody we have spoken to in the area seems really friendly so far, and our next door neighbours have introduced themselves and welcomed us to the neighbourhood. I am hoping that the US tradition of baking pies and cookies to welcome new neighbours is well under force in our street!!

On Thursday I went shopping for some basics like towels, bedding, a kettle, a toaster, etc. Goreti took me on a tour of the decent places to buy home ware and afterwards we went for a drink at Sherlocks, which is supposedly an English style pub. I looked at the menu and was horrified by the fact that there were no big British dishes, like bangers and mash, fish and chips, a decent curry. A lot of the food was Mexican (enchiladas and such like!).

Saturday we took a family trip out to Austin Zoo. It actually right on the edge of where Hill Country begins and there are some amazing views over the area. It isn’t like regular zoos, which seem pretty cruel to me; it’s also an animal sanctuary for rescued and mistreated animals, some domestic and some exotic. Some are wild animals that were kept as pets. Obviously people couldn’t care for them so they ended up at Austin Zoo. It has a petting zoo, and a train ride with views over Hill Country.

We bought some animal feed at admissions and fed the goats, deer and llama. Well, the kids and Geoff fed the goats – I stayed well clear, as I have never been a fan of goats! But I didn’t have a problem with the Llama, and the deer were lovely. We also saw many species such as tigers, lions, cougars, black bears, pigs, porcupines, tortoises, but the Zoo was huge and we just couldn’t get around the whole of it, so we will definitely go back. It was interesting to see peacocks wandering about so freely. They were very tame and Thomas thought it would be great fun to chase one til I managed to catch him (poor bird!), but unfortunately i didn't get a good picture of them with their feathers displayed. It was a lovely afternoon and the kids seemed to thoroughly enjoy themselves. I didn’t get great pictures of some of the animals but the website address for anyone who is interested is http://www.austinzoo.org/

King of the birds

Feeding the goats

In the Reptile Education Centre

A Tarantula!

A rescued porcupine having his lunch

The views over Hill Country

Mr Llama
Feeding the deer


Cougars having a bath

American Black Bear
Bengal Tiger

Serval

Sunday morning we went back to Extreme Fun, I wanted to show it to Agnes and her parents. Again, lots of fun was had, and again I forgot my camera (I realise I do this a lot right now but I promise I will get better!)!. Then the Honeybuls and us went to Central Park Market for lunch. This is a big shopping centre with an outdoor (and indoor) eating area. You may have noticed that lots of the places we go to eat in Austin have play areas for kids and this was no exception.

After lunch we said goodbye to Tim, Goreti and Agnes and headed for Fiesta. Fiesta is a big supermarket which (allegedly) has food from every country you could imagine. It was there that, on the aisle marked British, I found Salad Cream!!!! It's funny the things you miss when you are away from home, and Salad Cream (strangely) has been one of them for me. We also found Heinz Baked Beans (the Americans idea of these is not great!), Branston Pickle, Galaxy chocolate and tea bags - again the Americans don't really 'get' tea as a hot drink with milk! I came away from Fiesta feeling very happy!

We have now been here for just over a month but it feels much longer. I feel less like I’m on holiday and more like we live here, which is a good thing. I cannot wait to get into our house, which is this week, and make myself at home properly, and I’m sure that I’ll settle into life here much more once I have.

The Next 2 Weeks

The last couple of weeks haven’t included much other than shopping for furniture for our new house – always fun when you are spending someone else’s money! We move into our house on Wednesday 16th April and I cannot wait!! I have totally had it with apartment life I’m afraid.

The weather lately has been very unsettled. Greater Austin has had a few tornado's, none of them serious, and has also had a lot of thunderstorms. Geoff still had to work quite a bit since my last post, to start with, but that has now settled down thank goodness.

On our 3rd Friday here we went to sign the lease agreement and the get the keys to the house, which was very exciting for me! Then we went to the Social Security office so I could sign up for my Social Security number (which I am still waiting to come through!). Without one of those there’s not much you can do in the United States, except as a tourist!

That Sunday we took a break from shopping. In the morning Geoff went to play football (soccer!) for a team he used to play for when he lived here 10 years ago. You have to apply for papers to play for a real team here and you get an ID card, but Geoff hadn’t got around to sorting that yet. The Coach had a few cards of players that were off etc and between Geoff and himself they picked a card where the ID picture looked most like Geoff, so he could play. Therefore, for the game that day, Geoff’s name was ‘Courtney’ (which I didn’t realise was a unisex name). The funny thing was … the card chosen happened to be the Referees! So we were just praying that he didn’t get booked! Geoff made a tackle, which got called as a foul, and the Referees gave a penalty to the opposing team, but the he can’t have asked for the card as nothing was said. Geoff really enjoyed getting back into football, I met some of his team mates who seemed really nice, and I guess he will be playing regularly from now on, on a Sunday.

From there we went to one of Geoff’s favourite diners for lunch – Jim’s. I hadn’t eaten there before but it’s a typical American Style Diner serving burgers and such, and I was very impressed with the food. And in the afternoon we went to Zilker Park, one of the biggest and most famous parks in Austin. It’s really scenic with hiking and biking trails all throughout, and is home to a nature centre, and Zilker Botanical Gardens. You can also rent 17ft canoes or huge open-deck kayaks at the boat rentals just downstream of Barton Springs, which you can also access from here. Zilker Park is often the centre of a lot of events, and even if there’s not anything happening it’s a great place to visit. There are even endangered Salamanders there - I guess that's why I didn't see any!

A statue in honor of Philosophers Rock

If you can read this it will explain Philosophers Rock!
I just liked this quote so thought I would put it on here!

As I mentioned, the other area that the park provides access to is Barton Springs and Barton Creek Greenbelt. Barton Springs is a 1,000ft-long natural spring pool, and it looks wonderful to go swimming in. During the summer it gets packed apparently, which probably has something to do with it being a constant temperature of 68 degrees all year round. That must be such a relief in the blazing heat! People have been using it to go swimming for hundreds of years, it’s a very Austin-ite thing to do! So I will look forward to that when the weather is a bit warmer. Barton Creek Greenbelt I haven’t experienced the joys of yet, but I have heard paddling in it is one of the highlights of a trip to Austin (!).

Barton Springs Swimming Area to the right (complete with lifeguards!)
And straight ahead
And to the left

After Thomas and Charlotte had run around the playground for a bit, we decided to take a trip on the Zilker Zephyr Miniature Train Ride. This was purely for the kids benefit, and the train takes a 2-mile trip round Zilker Park and Barton Springs. Thomas and Charlotte loved it! But they wouldn’t pose for pictures by it - which Geoff was very disappointed in! Oh well!

An unfortunately not-very-good picture of the Zephyr!

From there we popped across the road to the Botanical Garden which was having its annual Flower Festival. This may sound boring but it was actually quite good. There were loads of stalls selling everything from books, to jewellery, to garden ornaments and plants, to art – and we are not talking cheap tat, it was quality stuff from local businesses, much of it handmade and pretty expensive. There was an activities and craft area for kids, and a band playing (the members of the band can’t have been much older than 14/15, and they were pretty good!). We would have stayed longer but the twins were pretty tired, it was very hot and we had run out of money!

The Band

The week that followed was filled with walks around the lake, trips to Ikea, trying out mattresses and buying beds, more stuff for the house really – nothing very exciting. And then the following weekend on the Saturday we went to Joe’s Crab Shack for dinner with Goreti, Tim and Agnes. The place itself was fun. As we were waiting to be shown to our table the Macarena came on and all the staff stopped working and lined up to do their very own version of the dance - very funny!! The food was good and I had my first American fish & chips (Goreti thought I might cry when it turned up!), though I missed putting vinegar on it! We sat outside where there is a play area for the kids and while we were eating there was a birthday announced. The waiter made the Birthday Boy stand on a table and dance without spilling 2 drinks (one in each hand), while everyone nearby sang Happy Birthday! Joe’s Crab Shack was definitely a fun experience, but I don’t think I would go there for my Birthday, or any special celebration, for fear of humiliation!

Easter Weekend

Saturday finally came – my first real weekend in Austin and I had plenty of plans. I didn’t count the previous weekend as really, with Geoff working, it wasn’t a weekend. And of course, it was Easter Weekend. Easter is a bit of a big deal in Austin as we are on the Bible Belt, even though they don’t have Good Friday or Easter Monday off from work. So, after Geoff had made a conference call with work we went furniture shopping again, still just looking. We started at Wal Mart in which the kids got to sit in a trolley, which was like a car. Then we went on to Ikea, which was huge! It was really good, too, as it took the kids into mind and provided an area where the kids were safely tucked away for an hour, with a play area, a big screen with a kids movie or cartoons on, and lots of carers. Unfortunately there was a height restriction, and a toilet training policy, and the Twins didn’t QUITE make it! They had to run around the store with us after all. We had lunch there and then I went SHOPPING!!!

Highland Mall was my first experience of an American Shopping Mall. It seemed massive and I’m not ashamed to say I got lost in the car park trying to find Geoff when he picked me up. It had a huge food court, too, I’d be quite happy to spend a whole afternoon there! I have since been told that there are 2 other malls in Austin that are better, and more impressive, with nicer shops – Bring it on!

That evening I had my first night out in Austin. I met up with a pal from Plymouth who had come to stay for a few days. She is moving out here permanently in the autumn time. One of her friends and Goreti also joined us. We started at IHOP for some food, and then went on to 6th Street for the serious drinking.

The first bar we went to was The Dirty Dog, which is a ‘rocker pub’, a bit divey and basic, but it had a good atmosphere, good cocktails and they sold ‘Smirnoff Ice’, so I was impressed.

OK folks, you KNOW it had to be done ... I got talked into having this picture taken!

From The Dirty Dog we went to The Blind Pig (great names these?), which was my kind of place. It had three rooms, which played different kinds of music. In the main bar they had some live music, upstairs on the roof, where you could see down 6th Street, there was a guy with deck playing all kinds of stuff (he played Kylie when the girls asked me to go and request it, though not before clarifying WHICH Kylie!). Then downstairs there was another room, which we discovered later, I don’t know what exactly it played but when I went to have a look it was playing Bon Jovi. We stayed there for quite a while – it was a little bit busier than the previous place. To be honest the whole of 6th street only started buzzing from about 11pm. People were walking down the middle of the road as if it was the sidewalk, there was no traffic to be seen, and even the police were on horseback!

Views over 6th Street

Hello World!

Here's to the future!

Those horseriding Police

I really wouldn't ask............

All the girls together

Then we went to Maggie Maes, which is very touristy, but we weren’t sure of the atmosphere in there. It was a great night, lots of fun, and it was really good to make some new friends! Also, we wanted to prove that we Brits knew how to drink, and we drank the one girl that was from Austin under the table. Success!!! ;-)

Easter Sunday we went to Anne Marie and Stuart’s for dinner, along with Goreti, Tim and Agnes. Anne Marie cooked a gorgeous meal with a ham, split green beans and scalloped potatoes. It looked very formal but the atmosphere was very relaxed. The adults had dinner while the kids were all playing (Zoe and Agnes being ‘Big Sister’s’ again) and then we got the kids fed. We did it that way as we knew it would be hard with 6 kids under the age of 7 in the house and chocolate everywhere!! After everyone had eaten there was an Easter Egg Hunt in the garden! I was busy helping Thomas look for Eggs so unfortunately I didn’t get any pictures of this.

It was a lovely day, we sat around gorging on chocolate and sweets, and left very late in the afternoon. And we are now 2 weeks into our new lives in Austin!