Our next stop was in Waco, TX to visit the silos and Magnolia Market. We didn't stay too long, but I'm so glad we checked it out. We visited the store (and bought a few things) and then checked out the large grassy area and food trucks. I thought everything was so well thought out! They really thought of everything there. It was soo hot outside though so it was a quick trip. I had hoped to check out the bakery, but the line was outrageous, so we decided to pass on that. There was no way the kids could have waited that long in the heat. Next time!
From there, we had hoped to visit the Inner Space Caverns in Georgetown, TX, but Evan had done something to his foot the night before and it was hurting him. With that in mind, we decided we better not chance going on an hour walking tour. Instead, we headed to Austin to check out some of the murals downtown. The kids weren't super excited about it, but they put on their game faces for me, since they knew I really wanted to see them. :)
Around 3:30 we hopped back in the car and made our way to the resort so we could be there right at check in time at 4:00. After getting to our room and unpacking a bit, we went to one of the 4 restaurants on property to have and early dinner. While we were there we looked over all the fun resort activities they offered. They had bikes that you could use at anytime, a playground, giant pool area, movies every night, pony rides, zip lining, river rafting, etc. The kids scarfed their food down because they were too excited and were anxious to swim. So after dinner, we changed into our swimsuits and headed straight for the pool area. It was so fun! They had a large pool area with a sandy beach, a big slide and then a really long lazy river. The kids loved it! Evan especially loved the lazy river because he could stand for the majority of it which means we didn't make him wear his puddle jumper. The kids loved swimming around the lazy river much more than just floating a tube. After a couple hours of swimming, we enjoyed smores around the campfire before topping the night off watching The Peanuts movie out on the resort lawn.
Friday morning, Shawn and the kids were up bright and early, so they headed into Bastrop to have breakfast. When they got back, we all headed down to the pool. It was nice because the hotel wasn't too packed this day, so the kids had lots of room to swim and very little line to wait in for the slide. Evan only made it a couple of hours though before he had a bit of a meltdown. So I took him up to the room for a nap, while Shawn and Em stayed down at the pool. Evan took almost a 3 hour nap! When he woke up, we decided to venture back into Austin to have dinner. We ended up at Hula Hut on the lake. We have a Hula Hut here, but it was such a perfect location, we couldn't resist. The kids loved watching everything on the lake.
After dinner, we headed over to the Bat Bridge to end our night. Shawn had told Emily about this before our trip and she couldn't wait to see it. I was surprised how crowded it was. We had to wait about 20 minutes or so, but then all of a sudden, the bats started flying out from under the bridge. It was so cool! I think I read that there is over a million bats! They flew out for what felt like 10 minutes or so. I was so glad we got to see this!
Saturday morning, we headed back to the pool after grabbing some quick breakfast and seeing the alpacas they had at the resort. It was a bit more crowded today, but were able to still find some chairs close to the pool. After a couple hours, Evan was getting a bit fussy again, so Shawn and him headed up for a nap and I stayed back at the pool with Emily. We stayed for a few more hours to swim, have lunch and then grab some ice cream before heading back up to the room. By now, Em wanted a break from the pool, so we headed to a restaurant to have some drinks and let the kids watch their ipads. Shawn's cousin, William and his wife, Jenny and their baby, Addy, drove up from Houston on Saturday to stay at night at the resort with us. They met us at the restaurant and we hung out there for a bit before deciding to head back to the pool. Unfortunately, only about 20 min. after we got to the pool, the clouds opened up and it started storming and they closed the pools. So back to the restaurant we went for dinner. We hung out there quite a bit before finishing the night up with some more smores.
Sunday morning we said our good byes to William and Jenny and hit the road to head back home. Just a quick stop in West for more kolaches this time before making it back home around 2:00 Sunday afternoon.
We really had such a great time this trip. Shawn and I talked about taking the kids back in a couple of years. They offer so many fun activities at this resort, but for many of them, you had to be 7. Of course Em is old enough, but Evan was a little too young.
