7 Quick Takes Friday-Our Trip to Austin

1. Yesterday we packed up the kids, the dog, necessities for 4 days away from home, and our sanity, and we drive to Austin, TX to visit my sister in-law, brother in-law, niece and nephews. We haven't been here since April 2012, so we were long overdue for a visit.

2. I really like Austin. My SIL and BIL live in a nice, safe area with beautiful homes and a great school district (and affordable housing!), the city has a lot to offer, there are delicious Mexican restaurants on every corner, and there's a certain level of crunchiness that appeals to me.

3. One thing I don't care for...the traffic. We lived in Boston for a year and a half, and I'm convinced the horrendous rush hour traffic permanently raised my blood pressure. We discovered last night that Austin rush hour traffic isn't much better. I sent my SIL a text when we were (somewhat) near her house. The kids were losing it, the dog was whining, Will was trying not to curse at the drivers who insisted on slamming on their brakes for no reason, and my SIL sent me a text back that read, "yeah, Austin is #3 of the worst US cities for traffic. Probably should have warned you about that."

4. We pulled into their driveway last night, and spilled out of the car with an abundance of hugs, fussing, barking, kids running around, etc. chaos, but good chaos. After we (finally! miraculously!) got the kids to sleep last night, Will, Aimee, John and I stayed up way too late watching silly TV shows, drinking, laughing, and catching up.

5. My goal over the course of this weekend is to drink a really good, strong margarita. Such lofty aspirations.

6. I think Will and I can be declared legitimately insane. This weekend, it's Austin. At the end of the month, we're flying back to Wisconsin for two weeks to visit my family. Two weeks later, the Army is packing up all of our worldly belongings and we're moving to Georgia. Insane, I tell you.

7. Am I the only one who can't fall asleep unless I'm listening to Gregorian chant? Will seems to think so. I remain unconvinced.

Happy weekend, everyone!