Flugtag Flopped

This weekend Cody and I attended Red Bull's Flugtag event in downtown Austin. We've always seen the commercials and thought it would be a really fun and interesting event. We knew that parking would be a nightmare, so we headed down to Barton Springs early in the day to guarantee a parking spot and to recreate the fabulous experience from a couple of weeks ago. Barton Springs certainly did not disappoint! This time we arrived at Barton Spings with two floats..... this was the missing piece of the relaxation puzzle. We could have laid there all day! We planned the day perfectly.



We read online that the Flugtag was going to open the doors at 5 pm and the first contestants would go on at 6:30. We arrived at Auditorium Shores at precisely 5:00, only to find that they had been letting people in for hours and it was absolutely packed (strike one). Cody and I managed to find a little spot to sit with a pretty good view and were well prepared for the hour and a half wait in 95 degree heat. We packed sunscreen, hats, water, and an umbrella. They had a huge jumbo-tron set up to supplement the view, as very few could see the platform and the water, but they set it up on the West side of the park just as the sun was going down. We pretty much had to look directly at the sun to see the TV (strike two).


(Our awesome view before it was ruined)

At about 6:15 people started to file in and stand on top of people's blankets ruining the time of those of us who planned accordingly and arrived to claim our spots early. We were quite annoyed (strike three). But, the event hadn't even started yet, and though we were hot, crowded, and annoyed, we had waited this long and we weren't about to leave before the event even started! They introduced the judges--some guy from Desperate Housewives, the Mayor of Austin, and some other local celebrities. The national anthem was sang by Perry Farrell from the band Jane's Addiction (awesome!), too bad his mic was out the whole time (strike four). Soon after that everyone around us started lighting up, even though this was a non-smoking event, I started feeling sick from the heat and smoke.... but we waited this long! We were going to stay here until at least one person jumped off the ramp! Well, eventually they did jump off the ramp (after they played the wrong music twice)... and it would have been pretty funny if it wasn't for the fact that we couldn't see at all. We packed up our stuff, and left. At least we were able to rescue the evening by some awesome Mexican food at Matt's El Rancho (One of our favorite Austin restaurants).


(Matt's saved the day!)

We learned an important lesson this Saturday. Free outdoor events in the summer in Texas are to be avoided. They estimated the crowd at 85,000!

Sunday night made up for it all. We were treated to a fancy dinner by Cody's Mom and her husband Kevin. They took us out as payment for picking up the boys from the airport and watching them overnight. We went to the fanciest Italian restaurant in town! The food was amazing! It was nice to get dressed up for dinner..... I can't remember the last time we did that!

Cody always makes an effort to plan a really fun activity every week.... and this was one of the few that have been a bust. Luckily we had Barton Springs, Matt's El Rancho, and Vespaio to make this a really great weekend!

Le Garage Sale

Last Saturday was the annual "Le Garage Sale" here is Austin. It is a really cool event where all of the local boutiques get together at the events center downtown to take advantage of tax free weekend and deeply discount all their stuff! I think you all know how much I love a good discount, so of course I went. I couldn't find any girlfriends to go with me, so I was just going to go by myself. At the last minute my adorable husband said that he would go with me! He is so sweet. He not only went with me, but he also helped me find good deals, carried all my stuff and told me how great everything looked on me! I had a fabulous time and found a couple of steals. I was digging through one rack when a couple of ladies around me pointed to Cody and said, "Look, that poor guy got dragged here." When he offered to come with me, I knew he would be a good sport, but he really went above and beyond! I really am the luckiest girl in the world to have such a wonderful husband.



Check out my awesome buys:


$12!


$5!

The perfect day!

You may have noticed, but Madelyn and I have been going out of town almost every weekend for a month. Although seeking adeventure outside of Austin is fun....We decided that this weekend we were staying in Austin.... and we were rewarded. On Saturday we had "The Perfect Day". We decided to head down to Barton Springs in downtown Austin for some "Swimaxation" (swimming and relaxation). Barton Springs is a natural spring located in Zilker park, which stays at a chilly 68 Degrees year round. It was at least 100 degrees outside with at least 80% humidity, so 68 degrees was sounding pretty dang good. After finding a nice shade/sun spot (shade for me, sun for Madelyn) we headed down to the water.


(Better picture of the spring)


(The Hill)

The water is FREEZING! We sat on the side of the spring for about 20 minutes drenched in sweat because we were scared of the cold water. Once we jumped in, and numbed up, we were in heaven. The water felt SO good! Madelyn was a little freaked out at the algae, leaves and moss floating around. She kept telling me to protect here from "the nature". The spring was amazing, but it felt even better getting out of the water and laying in hot sun. We had the most relaxing experience..... it was like going to the spa (I've never actually been to a spa.... but I assume it feels good), except this only cost us 3 dollars a person. Everyone who comes down to Texas will be visiting Barton Springs with us..... even in the winter (It's open year round).


(The Hill and pool/spring)


(Laying on the towel after the dip in the pool)

After we dragged ourselves away from Barton Springs we headed over to the Alamo Draft House (our very favorite movie theater) and finally saw Ratatouille, where we shared chips and salsa and a pitcher of Diet DP. One of Madelyn's favorite things about Texas is that most places you go have Diet Dr. Pepper on tap. The movie didn't disappoint.... but our perfect day was far from over.


(Maria with her arms open to South Lamar welcoming the hungry)

We then headed over to Marias Taco Xpress for some of the best taco's you will ever taste! And for $2.00... the price can't be beat. mmmmmmmmmmm.... I think there might be a correlation between the tackiest atmosphere and the best tasting tacos.

Then we came home and watched our favorite weekend show "The Soup", and re-runs of Law and Order. Madelyn then had a craving for Sopaipillas and we headed over to a Mexican restaurant for dessert. They were SO good and the perfect end to the "perfect day"

SimpsonizeMe!

Well, Cody and I jumped on the SimpsonizeMe train that is all over the internet and it is really fun! This is what we would look like as Simpsons characters.

Pipe Creek

Last weekend Madelyn and I embarked on another crazy adventure, to another crazy place in Texas. We headed down to Pipe Creek (about 30 minutes from San Antonio) for a weekend at Corby's mom's new house with Corby's girlfriend Heidi and their friends Jenn and James. It was a little strange to visit Corby's moms house and not drive down the street I grew up on, but her new house is just as exciting.

We had a really great time, but the best part was definitely the creek that runs past their house. On Saturday we spent the day jumping off boulders, hanging out in the water, and floating down the river. At one point Madelyn thought she was going to die on the "rapids", and my attempts to save her didn't work. She now has a couple of scratches and bruises... battle scars from the white water rapids of Pipe Creek. The worst part of our weekend at Pipe Creek was the Daddy Long Leg Spider Nest.....the picture will terrify you. There were tons of these nests at Pipe Creek, it was kind of creepy.





On Saturday night we drove 30 minutes to the nearest theater to see the Bourne Ultimatum. Madelyn was ecstatic that the theater not only had free refills, but also served Diet Dr. Pepper.....watching Matt Damon for 2 hours didn't hurt either. When Madelyn and I were dating I decided it would be funny to take a picture of me and her at Lagoon and put Matt Damon's head in place of mine. The other week when we were going through our pictures we found the picture I made her. In commemoration of the Bourne Ultimatum I thought I would post it on the blog.




We had a really great weekend in Pipe Creek, and are definitely looking forward to visiting again. Enjoy the pictures.