Lady Bird Lake and the Congress Bridge Bats

(^^^Doesn't this post title sound like a great name for a band?) 

We strolled the boardwalk at Lady Bird Lake and took in the beauty of the downtown skyscrapers. Plus a lot of the walk was shady too, which made this pregnant lady very happy! We then had a picnic dinner right next to Congress Bridge and waited and watched the bats fly out from under the bridge. It was a fun night!

Cool art installation along the boardwalk - belts that have these funny inscriptions on them!

We had a lot of "cheese" at our picnic at the Congress Bridge

A Future Lawyer in the Making...

I'm still not too sure how this situation started. Addie just started pointing at the paper and pushing it back to Alex across the table, and it was so hilarious that we decided to go along with it. Maybe we have a good negotiator on our hands?

A Tough Negotiation from Aggen Family on Vimeo.

4th of July 2015

Our 4th of July this year was filled with cute little pigtails, breakfast tacos, a nap, playing on a playground, a BBQ, cake decorated with blueberries and strawberries to look like the flag, Addie learning how to do a somersault, glowsticks, patriotic symphony music, and watching the fireworks (which Addie wasn't the least bit afraid of and instead just laughed at them).

At the Long Center getting ready to watch the fireworks with downtown Austin in the background

Somersaulting! from Aggen Family on Vimeo.

Caught mid-somersault

The skyline

Dashboard Confessional Concert

Anyone else have a list of bands/artists they want to see live in concert in their lifetime? I totally do, and to get on my list the band in question is:
A) an artist I consider to have shaped my taste in music (and so has been a favorite of mine for a good long time)
B) I must love the majority of the music they have produced and know most of their songs (no fleeting one hit wonders or summertime anthems for this girl, I need to own at least one of their albums and have listened to it regularly)
C) anytime I hear a song from them out of the blue I get really excited to hear it and sing along and have little problem remembering the lyrics no matter how long its been and
D) I have very specific memories associated with listening to their music.

Now based on that criteria you may be wondering who exactly is on my "must-see in concert" list. Well, I'll tell you. In no particular order, the following bands who make my cut are...

The Backstreet Boys

Shania Twain

Michael Buble

Taylor Swift

Simple Plan

Dashboard Confessional 

 (Ingrid Michaelson was also on the list too at one point, but I've been lucky enough to see her twice in concert now!)

(Kelly Clarkson also narrowly misses the cut as she meets criteria B-D, but I'm still not quite sure about A yet)

 

Now, some of the bands or artists on that list are still touring regularly and so I'm not too worried and think that at some point I'll be able to see them live in concert. But some of these bands haven't toured in years or were broken up, and (until recently) Dashboard Confessional was one of them. (And don't even get me started on The Backstreet Boys. They toured Summer 2013, which is when we had Addie and so couldn't go. And then I didn't find out until after the fact that I could have had a chance to see them in concert Summer 2014 in Kansas City. I'm still in mourning...) 

I thought that I'd never be able to see Dashboard in concert, but still kept them on the list because they are the band whose lyrics I love the most. I still get goosebumps listening to "The Places You Have Come to Fear the Most", get internally pumped up hearing the opening 30 seconds of "Hands Down", and think the lines from "Age Six Racer" are totally fitting to how I'm feeling about going back to Michigan next week (although replace "Lexington" with Ann Arbor).

But nevertheless I was not deterred. I decided to follow them on social media and wistfully hoped that one day I'd hear about Dashboard getting back together to do a reunion tour or something. And this past spring I did! I literally let out a girlish yelp when I read that they'd be going on tour this summer and bought tickets for Alex and I to see them in Austin. And the icing on the cake? I got an email a few days before the concert that I had won a Facebook contest and so was going to be able to meet the band after the concert! 

The concert itself was awesome! I totally got a raspy voice from singing along much too loudly, and they played a great set. Meeting the band afterwards was great too. Chris, the lead singer, was a totally chill and nice guy and we got his autograph and pictures taken with him. We even got a mini-concert and he played the group a couple of songs. It was a fun night, and I'm glad I got to cross off one of the bands on my list. 1 down, 5 more to go!

At the meet and greet

Getting autographs

Shirts and Gloves.Dashboard Confessional from Aggen Family on Vimeo.

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"