2nd Birthday Celebrations

We celebrated Addie's birthday over a couple of days and did a lot of fun stuff!! The Saturday before her birthday we decided we'd take her to her first movie at a theater and went to a matinee showing of "Inside Out." She LOVED it! She sat and watched the entire time, was laughing along with us, and enjoyed eating her popcorn. When it finished she kept saying "big girl" and "pop-pop" (popcorn) and talked about it the rest of the day. It was so much fun to see her excitement.

Later on that day we rode the Zilker Zephyr, which takes you on a 20 minute train ride throughout Zilker Park. This girl has been super interested in trains lately, so it was a dream come true for her. She pointed stuff out that we saw throughout the park, kept excitedly saying "choo-choo!" and had the biggest smile on her face the entire ride.

Riding the train

Zilker Zephyr from The Aggen Family on Vimeo.

On the day of her actual birthday we had decorated the house while she was sleeping the night before so she would have an exciting surprise when she woke up. I'm so glad we captured her reaction in the video below! She loved playing with the balloons all morning, especially the helium princess one. At lunchtime we picked up Alex from work and ate at IHOP. Addie was thrilled that we got to see Daddy in the middle of the day. She also opened her presents, and at the end of the meal got a special birthday ice cream sundae (which she happily shared with Mommy and Daddy- yay!). We then dropped Alex back off and headed home for a nap, and then in the afternoon talked with family and friends. That evening after dinner we did singing and cake, and Addie knew exactly what to do this year when she saw the lit up candles on her cake - she just didn't have quite enough lung power to blow them out by herself!

Birthday Morning from The Aggen Family on Vimeo.

Lunch at IHOP

Singing Happy Birthday from Aggen Family on Vimeo.

Eating Cake from The Aggen Family on Vimeo.

A Scene from a Sunday Walk

Alex (holding Adelaide in his arms): Addie can you give Mommy a kiss?

(Addie kisses me)

Alex: Can you give Daddy a kiss?

(Addie kisses Alex)

Alex: Can you give Addie a kiss?

A fleeting look of affirmation shows up, then deep toddler thought, furrowed brow included as she contemplates how she would manage it, then confusion as to why her parents would invite her to do an impossible thing, then a coy little smile as she realizes we are being silly and she is in on it.

LBJ Presidential Library

This summer a Beatles exhibit opened at the Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential library and on opening day they offered free admission to the entire library. We decided to go check it out and the line waiting outside when we got there was incredibly long! I think they said that people were waiting for 2+ hours to get in. But luckily, since we only wanted to go to the library itself and not to the Beatles exhibit (although that would have been cool to see too), we got to cut that long line and get into the library as soon as we got there. Yay! The library has two main parts to see - one level is all about Lyndon Johnson and his life and presidency, and the other level has a replica of the oval office and of his wife's office. The rest of the library is archives that the general public does not have access to, but you can see them all displayed which was neat. When we were finished looking at the library and went back outside we also got to enjoy a Beatles cover band concert for a little bit and Addie danced her heart out.

Replica of the oval office when LBJ was president

A shot of all the archives

The only thing that interested Addie in the entire library was this picture of Sesame Street....

....and this creepy animatronic LBJ that talked, moved its head back and forth, and raised its right arm only.

She even blew it kisses goodbye when we left...

Blowing Kisses to LBJ from The Aggen Family on Vimeo.

A piece of rock from the moon

Umlauf Sculpture Garden

The Umlauf sculpture garden was a pretty and small outdoor space we explored one morning. We had fun together enjoying the garden as we walked around it, and Addie got in some big sister practice pushing her dolly around in her stroller.

Addie with a rhino

Pushing her baby up the hill. She wanted to do it all by herself!

Having a rare quiet moment

Children's Day Art Park

Another event that we attended was put on by the Austin symphony called "Children's Day Art Park." It was held at this really cool venue called Symphony Square that had staggered outdoor seating and then the stage was separate across a water canal on the other side. There were free balloons, an instrument "petting zoo" (where kids can touch and try out different musical instruments), face painting, crafts, and a live mini concert. Addie was totally enthralled by the music, loved her balloon and was sad to find out that when she took it off her wrist later that it floated away and we couldn't bring it back, and thought that the face painting was cool but wanted it on her arms instead of her face.

Waiting for the concert to start

The stage where they performed

Making a tambourine

Showing off her "face paint"

The Texas State Capitol

We visited the Texas State Capitol one morning and this place was so cool! We decided to go on a guided tour of the building, and while we learned lots about Texas history it honestly wasn't conducive to a 2 year old tagging along. So, Alex and I did a lot of switching off between looking after/chasing Addie around as she refused to sit in her stroller and each only caught bits and pieces of information from the tour- but at least we had fun comparing what we each learned at the end! There are also sculptures around the grounds that we looked at after the tour, and we even managed to snag some fun pictures of Addie with them.  

The rotunda

The door hinges

I think this was the only time she was sitting still...

Looking up at the Capitol from the underground part

Baby Liberty

So cute - she wanted to hold the "kids hand"

Saturday Fun: Texas Memorial Museum, Murals, and a Cool Playground

One of my favorite things about living in Austin is that they have a website that you can subscribe to where they will send you updates about free things that are happening throughout the city. So it's been rather nice to be able to refer to that as we plan our outings for the weekends, and we have saved a lot of money on admission to a bunch of different places. I found out that the Texas Memorial Museum had a free day one Saturday, so we decided to go check it out! It was a lot like the Natural History Museum in Ann Arbor (it even had an identical exhibit about genes), and we had fun looking at the dinosaur bones especially. They even have a spot outside where you can dig for dinosaur bones in a sandbox and sit on dinosaur bone stools. After the museum we jetted a couple of blocks over to a mural that I had heard about and thought was super cute. There was a big group of teenagers taking pictures so we took a couple of pictures for them and then asked them to take some for us. One of the girls got the BEST smiles and giggles out of Addie, and I am so happy that we captured it on camera. We then ate dinner and played at a playground over by The Thinkery. This playground has the coolest swings that were saucer-shaped, and so Alex and I even joined in on the fun too!

Texas Memorial Museum

I decided to play peek-a-boo chase with Addie and she could not stop giggling!

Playing Chase from The Aggen Family on Vimeo.

Addie loved sitting in this boat and looking at the fish on the screen

Colorful butterflies

Hmmm...this looks familiar! It's the exact same one as in Ann Arbor!

Sitting on the dino bones outside

Cheesing for the camera

A paparazzi shot walking to the playground

Playing on the swings

Zilker Park and the Splash! Exhibit

Zilker Park is so fun to explore! One day we went there to go to the playground and checked out a indoor science exhibit they have about water. The playground gets a thumbs-up in my book for having lots of shady spots, and it got a thumbs up from Addie for having an old fire engine that you could climb up and play on. The Splash! water exhibit is decorated like a cave, which made it extra fun to walk though, and there were plenty of buttons on the interactive exhibits that Addie enjoyed pushing.

The fire engine!

A turtle we saw at the playground

A statue in Zilker Park that Addie likes to see and in this case, sit on.

Splash! Exhibit

Learning about rainfall patterns

Pretending we are in a submarine

Watching the rain fall on a little town and seeing how it interacts with the landscape