Together Time

When Reid and I decided to move down here we made a pact that we would find some activities to do together. So our first one is....trail running (more like hiking with me) but it is so much fun!!! 

We went out bought me some new trail running shoes at REI. It is the coolest outdoors store! 

It even got me excited to maybe start camping, yep you hear it right CAMPING. I signed up to get a magazine all about Austin and it gave 30 camping sites that are all 3 hours or less from here. This area is so great with being active. If you can't find something to do here then you are trying not to do anything. 

Austin has a ton of trails that you can go hike/run. Most of them are dog friendly with some being no leash which is nice because if we step outside the door of the apartment then they are on a leash. So far we have experienced........ 

Emma Long Metropolitan Park, it is a no leash 2.5 mile little trail that is about 10 minutes from the house. It follows Turkey Creek which is right by Lake Austin. Beau LOVES the creek! I can hardly keep him out of it. Needless to say we don't go on that too often because it is bath time every time we get done. 

Here are Charlie and Beau right before we get out of the car.

Here they are AFTER the trail. They are always so tired! It is wonderful!

Reid and I have done Bull Creek, we plan on going back because it started raining. The weekend we decided to start this it rains. Of course. The same day after the rain stopped we went to Barton Springs Greenbelt. We hiked there roughly 2 hours or so. We kind of got lost so that is why it took so long. 

Last weekend we went and ran/walked about 3 miles at Lady Bird Lake. Paddle boarding/canoeing/kayaking are extremely popular at Lady Bird Lake. It is on the south edge of downtown and it is really a pretty run. 

I took the dogs to Zilker Park which is really close to Lady Bird Lake. It is the most popular park around Austin. It is HUGE! The field that I took the dogs to is a no leash zone so they could just run and run. Unfortunately, it came to an abrupt end because Beau likes to chase birds/bugs/really anything that flies and he ran into the road so the leashes had to be put back on. 

Reid and I one night last week took the dogs to Mount Bonnell. It is about 15 minutes from the house and is the highest point in Austin. The views from up there are AMAZING. On one side you see downtown and then walk a little way you have a great view of Lake Austin. 

This is one of the views from the top. 

So here is one activity that Reid and I have already picked up and it is so much fun!! I try to do at least on activity outside everyday, it is just too pretty here not to. 

Hope everyone is having a great week so far!! Stay safe on Labor Day weekend. Reid and I are planning on heading to PK to spend some time with our Lubbock friends!

Love!

Good morning!! Reid is out of town again, this time to Houston just til tomorrow so at least it isn't a week this time. (Always look on the bright side). : ) I think tomorrow night we plan on heading to the Vandegrift High School football game. We live RIGHT across the street from the high school and the stadium so we might as well enjoy it, right?? Also, they are playing Lake Travis which is like 6 time state champion in 4A but just moved up to 5A which is a huge deal down here. Okay, you have to at least be a little impressed that I knew all of that.

Anyway, to the point of this blog. Last week my mother-in-law, Jane, who I love to death came to keep me company. It was awesome because when she got here I mentioned maybe going to the Capitol, the Presidential Library or the Texas History Museum. She was like I would love to go to the Capitol, she thought about asking if we could go but thought I would think she was crazy for wanting to do that. Poor Reid sometimes I think he married his mom. : ) (In a good way of course.) Anyway, we went and ate at Oasis (like I have said before it is a must if you come to Austin) and then headed downtown with strict instructions from Reid to leave by 3:30 at the latest just so we didn't get stuck in traffic (always worrying about me).

I must say the capitol is ABSOLUTELY one of the coolest things. We followed a public tour guide that was hilarious. I think she kind of made the tour, but all the history that is in the there is amazing. I couldn't stop taking pictures. So here are some of them.....

 This is the rotunda. Along all of the walls leading up to this are portraits of all the governors of Texas. Once Rick Perry's term is over they will move everything single picture to the left to accommodate his. There are 4 stories of them!!

Congress is not currently in session so we could go in and see where all the legislation happens. This all the names of the Senators outside the Senate chambers. 

 Here is the where the Senate meets. They have tried to make it look just like it did in the 1900s.

 Not sure if you knew this or not but Texans are pretty proud to be from Texas. I mean they made the lights in the chandelier say "Texas". I asked Reid if he wanted to get this for our house when we buy one and of course he does. : )

Everything you could touch or see either had the Texas star on it or said Texas Capitol. These are door hinges! They weigh 8 pounds a piece. Everything is bigger in Texas.....

Sorry my finger is a little over the lens but this is where the House of Representatives meet. 

 Here is a picture of us below ground, they had to build down because they just couldn't pack anymore people into the capitol.

Here it is the Texas Capitol in all it's glory. Pretty cool huh?? 

 I really enjoyed going and seeing a little bit of Texas history. What I really learned is that I needed to get a little caught up on what has gone in this state so I figured with Reid being gone, I will go down and try to educate myself a little more at the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum (another blog to come, I promise).

I hope you enjoyed the quick Capitol tour. If you want the real thing, you will have to come down here and see me. I can't just give everything away.

(Hope this was enough pictures for you Dad. : ) )

Love!

Week without Reid

You may or may not know but the reason why Reid and I made this move was because he got an INCREDIBLE opportunity to work for a company down here. It's one of those things that kind of just fell into his lap and it is pretty much his dream job (who can say no to somebody they love's dream, right?). Anyway, the second week we were here he had to go be in the field with the guys. Yes, that means that I was going to be left ALL ALONE in a city that I didn't even know. Luckily, I had the dogs and I have an AMAZING best friend that was like GIRL TIME! : )

Reid left early on Monday morning and Elizabeth flew in on Thursday afternoon. Perfect right?? So we did the normal girl things......shopping-laying out by the pool-and more shopping. Reid came home Friday night so Saturday we decided that we HAD to go downtown. Not to 6th Street, because that more of the tourist/college people go, we had to go where the locals went so we went to 5th Street. We found this cool little country bar where we could sit outside right next to the street to people watch. You know that never gets old! : ) All in all I was so glad that Elizabeth could come down. It meant a lot for me to have at least one person I knew here besides the dogs.

Here are a list of places we ate and where we went shopping:

Shopping:
Round Rock Outlets - they are only about 20 minutes away from us.
The Domain - a great outdoor mall that has some awesome shops and eating places


Eating:
Oasis - this is a must do for everyone that comes to visit me, it is at Lake Travis which is about 10 minutes away from our apartment. (Did I mention that Lake Austin and Lake Travis are about 10 minutes away from us in either direction??)

(This is a picture of the outside of the place and the view of Lake Travis)

North - it is an Italian place at the Domain, I wouldn't recommend it but everyone here said that we needed to try it so we did. 

That is week 2 in a nutshell. We are still adjusting to life in an apartment, but I think we are getting there slowly. : )

Love!

Unpack...Unpack...Unpack

So, I am going to get all caught up week by week on what I have been up to since we got here on July 27th. To start we closed on the house and had everything packed up into a huge 18 wheeler to make it down here.

A little side note on the way down here I was following too close to Reid (I was just driving like any Texan would do) and ran over a HUGE piece of wood in the middle of I-35. Picture of what happened below......

Needless to say Reid was NOT happy but couldn't get to mad with my mom standing right there.... Lucky for me! : )

So back to the move....
We live in an apartment on the third floor and there was no way that we were going to be carrying our stuff up that many flights of stairs. The big problem was that our stuff was not going to get here until the following Tuesday!! Yes that was 5 days of us being down here and not having our things. But everything got here and the movers were ABSOLUTELY wonderful (highly recommend them). Luckily my mom was here to put away my kitchen because we all know that I couldn't have done that. : )

That is really what my first week entailed was box after box after box of unloading things. Oh and sitting out by the pool. No work and all play makes things really boring around the Reagan household!

Love!!

The Big Move....

Okay so you may or may not know that Reid and I made the big move south to Austin, Texas. It is absolutely beautiful here! I honestly didn't think I would like it as much as I do. That is why I wanted to start this blog, so everyone back home can keep up with us and what we do on a regular basis. My goal is to blog AT LEAST once a week, but since I am currently unemployed it may be more. : ) I plan on putting all the cool places we eat, all the activities that are available and basically how we are making the most of this move. Stay tuned for all the fun stuff in store for us!

Love!