I know, my birthday is in December, but this year Jason outdid himself and gave me a birthday present of friends coming to town to visit in mid May. I like getting to celebrate my birthday twice – pretty sure this needs to happen annually. As you saw in Toddler Tuesday a couple weeks ago, Jude was getting to play with his friend P, from Chicago and that meant that the rest of his family came to visit as well!
Monica and I ‘met’ long before our kiddos were born through blog-land. You may remember that Monica came to visit for a sewing retreat some time ago and that’s when we met in real life for the first time. I still can’t believe that we are such good friends in real life because of our blogs. It kinda blows my mind! And what blows my mind even more is that our families as a whole get along so well together. And it all started from blogging. Crazy. Technology can be so great.
Well, one of the things our families both appreciate is really good food. And you guys, Austin has some of the best food. I really, truly believe that. And when you’re in Texas, one of our food groups is BBQ so we had to show them Franklin’s BBQ - the best BBQ in the nation. I mean, it has to be true if Bon Appetit says it, right? 
I’m a huge Uchi/Uchiko fan so I was pretty pumped that Paul Qui won Top Chef Texas – he is the executive chef of Uchiko, the best sushi restaurant in Texas. So good. I wish I could eat there every day.
And a visit to Austin wouldn’t be complete without tacos. . . and our favorites are Taco Deli and Torchy’s Tacos. Oh and TexMex. OK, I’ll run through the rest of the list faster now – we also ate at Phil’s Ice House, Amy’s Ice Cream, Olivia (hear me sing “kid free Mother’s day!!”), 400 Rabbits, the Elephant Room, Contigo, Midnight Cowboy, Second Bar + Kitchen AND Austin Beerworks 1st Anniversary Party. Whew. That’s a lot. But it was all so good. I like acting like a tourist in my city if it means I get to eat like this!
And we didn’t just eat the whole time (although it kinda felt like it!), we did visit some Austin icons like Mount Bonnell, Alamo Drafthouse (the new South one), Zilker Zephyr and Playground and the All Abilities Park in Round Rock.
It was just such a good time – the kids totally occupied themselves, the parents got to relax and talk uninterrupted (who knew?) and we got to spend time deepening friendships. I’m sad that we live so far apart but so grateful for the time our families got to spend together. Best staycation and birthday ever!
Outdid myself, eh? Is that a challenge? Challenge accepted.