Vacay with the Roush's

After talking about going on a trip together for some time now, we decided to make use of the long holiday weekend, and planned a vacation with Rich & Megan.  We all took Friday off from work and headed to Austin, TX.  Since the drive from Dallas to Austin is not a short one, the Roush's headed to Waco after work on Thursday.  They spent the night with us, and we hit the road Friday morning.  Our first stop was the Outlet Mall in Round Rock.  So many stores and sales... enough to make a girl happy for hours!  We all enjoyed bargain finds and left with goodies like new sunglasses and clothes.  We then headed on to our hotel to get settled in and soak up some rays by the pool.  We showered and headed to dinner at Z Tejas.  To finish off our first night of vacation we enjoyed a cool treat at an Austin favorite, Amy's Ice Cream. 

Saturday morning we had breakfast at the hotel and headed to Zilker Park for some outdoor recreation.  We rented kayaks and enjoyed some time paddling around the lake.  It was a great workout!  You know with Joey along there had to be some competition.  So, the Roush's and the Hance's duked it out racing a part of the way back.  The stretch we chose to race was a bit long, and the Hance's took the win.  It was a good time.  After turning our kayaks in, we enjoyed a picnic lunch we had packed in the shade, and then headed to the Barton Springs Pool for some more fun in the sun.  The natural spring stays a refreshing 68 degrees, so to say the water was cold is quite the understatement.  We laid out on a big hill with a couple hundred other people and then cooled off in the spring.  I could only last for about 5 minutes at a time in that water, but it was a neat experience and definitely cooled us off fast in this ridiculous Texas heat.  We each got a snow cone on the way out of the park that totally hit the spot!

Then, we headed back to the hotel to get ready for dinner with Rich's sister- Michelle, Meg's sister and brother-and-law- Kristen & Matt, and new baby- Georgia, who all live in Austin.  We ate downtown at The Iron Cactus and had a great time seeing how big Georgia has gotten.  After that, we went to Cheesecake Factory to get yummy dessert to-go and headed back to the hotel to watch a movie and eat our cheesecake. 

Sunday we slept in a bit, had breakfast at the hotel, and packed up.  Our hotel was right across the highway from a Marshall's, so you know we couldn't leave without shopping it.  After Marshall's we made a stop at one last Austin favorite, Thundercloud Subs, for lunch.  With full tummies it was time to hit the road.  The Roush's headed back to Dallas and we went on to Sugar Land for the rest of the weekend.  It was an awesome vacation with great friends!  It was fun to be reminded how much we are alike and how blessed we are to have close friends.  We enjoyed catching up on couple time together and look forward to many more memories with the Roush's!