scenes from the weekend

So this past weekend we were expecting my parents to come visit so when they arrived then a few minutes later there was another knock at the door I was so surprised to see my brother, sis-n-law and niece had come as well!
We had of course invited them to spend the weekend with us all but they had said they had plans with friends of theirs and wouldn't be able to make it.  Come to find out, it was a well kept secret that they had been planning to come visit since before Christmas!
This just so happened to be their first visit out to see us since I've lived in Austin with Allen and it was so exciting to have them in our home for the weekend.  I've always made it too easy for our family with how often we/I drive back to Dallas throughout the year so there was never a need for them to drive all the way here.  But it was so exciting to have them come and we tried to make the most of our weekend together.

On Friday night we went to a new mexican food restaurant that just opened up near our house and sadly the food & service weren't great but we enjoyed ourselves anyway.  When we got back to our house we started up a game of Tripoly (a game I learned with Allen's family) and Justin gave us a bottle of wine he and Leslie had brought as a thank you for letting them stay the weekend so we opened that up while we played.  We stayed up way too late playing and got a late start on our Saturday morning.

We finally headed out on Saturday to make our way to see the "Cathedral of Junk" because we all thought it had to be a joke.  We get there and unfortunately the man who owns the house was on vacation so the attraction was closed.  We took a few photos over the fence and decided to head to South Congress.  We walked a bit looking at the unique shops on SoCo, grabbed some salt water taffy and a fountain soda at the Big Top Candy Shop before deciding that we were too hungry to wait any longer so we headed to Salt Lick BBQ in Driftwood.  We got there at such a great time that we didn't have to wait at all (which is totally not normal) and got to eat quickly.  We all stuffed our bellies with barbecue and then the boys all indulged in their blackberry cobbler.  After walking around the grounds a bit and exploring the vineyard we got back in the car to head home.  I couldn't let them pass up the opportunity to try a Hey Cupcake so we made a detour for a couple to-go.

When we finally got back to our house everyone was stuffed and we relaxed a bit.  My brother and I played on my iMac for a bit while my Dad napped and my Mom ran to the grocery store for breakfast supplies.  We sat down to finish our Tripoly game and again stayed up super late playing.

Sunday morning came too quickly and my brother & sis-n-law needed to get on the road so they could get back at a good time to rest before their work week started back up.  My parents stuck around and my Mom cooked breakfast for us and my cousin's family who came over to visit with us.
Next thing I knew my parents were loading up to start their drive back home as well.  Allen had already gone to work for the day so the house became super empty.

It was such a fun weekend and exactly what we needed.  I wish there wasn't a 3 hour drive between us and them but it was so great to have them come visit with us for a change.