Headed to Austin, baby!

You all should by now know that my brother's team won and was headed to Austin. But for my lack of blogging...you didn't know that now did you? We pulled the kids out of school 2 days early bad parents to head down for the semi-final game.

Get ready...Hold on to your britches. I divided this into two posts because I took so many pics. I actually just love taking pictures. You're gonna think I'm a nut-case by the end of this...seriously!
We had actually planned on leaving at 8 in the AM. Do we ever leave or get anywhere on time? Of course not! This is what time we left. More than an hour after my other brother and parents left. Always makes for a nice and relaxed stressful send off.

Carson and traffic.

Me!
Drunker than who?
Mike drafted this car for several hours
Happy nappy time!
Just keepin it real!
We ended up catching up with my parents around Dallas. Driving fast? WHO?

A must have on a long trip.

Boredom has set in.
We rocked out the whole trip to all of Mike's music.
Blue skies and open roads.
We got to the hotel in time enough to change and 'freshen up'. Then we headed to Round Rock to play some ball.
My brother has several pictures of this stadium. He wants me to print a bigger picture of this for him. THIS is what he works for. To get here. The championship!



The Dell Diamond is a minor league baseball park (like the Travs). The guy that was killed coaching at the Travs game played here. Click on that link and watch his memorial video. OH MY! It is SO sweet! Pray for his wife and babies today.
Just humor me with some of these crazy pictures.



I just happened to snap this picture as some guy out of the range of the picture was spitting. Can you see the spit?




Tracy warming up for BP...(batting practice)



I started messing with my bracelet that had the word 'believe' on it. I tried to take a picture of it sitting on my knee but it obviously didn't work. It would have been cool had I been able to get it. Here's something weird...Taylor told me that on ALL of the baseball players MYSPACE accounts - they have the word BELIEVE by their names. Hmmm.
Pregame-I love this picture

The line up
My family is in the center of this picture. Mike, the boys, my brother Kirk, my SIL Lisa and my parents. You can see Mike looking at me from across the park-goober! Where's Waldo?

A good day for baseball and flip flops!
Interesting....

I like this one. I have my brother at the bottom with my fam in the stands in it also.
A little talk with pitch and catch.


Dressed to represent!

Now THAT'S what I need!



NICE! Chubby cheeks, double chin, fat eyelids and all! And yes, I said fat eyelids!
Waiting for foul balls.
Cool.
Mike and Kirk.
The gang's all here. Well , almost That's my niece Taylor right behind Carson and her friend Ashley. You met her on the last trip we took to Texas.
I thought this was cute. The ladies room.
WE WON! Now tomorrow night is the CHAMPIONSHIP!
We got up and headed into Austin. We drove around for a bit and ended up at the state capitol. Why? I have no idea. We kinda like to walk around and look at such things. This was a tree on the capitol grounds. It was so cool. I have more pictures of the boys sitting on it. Not sure what happened to them. Maybe later.

These were hinges on the doors.
The rotunda.
Gee-Dub. The former governor. I would have rather had him stay in the TX!

Their capitol is really beautiful. Very ornate and much prettier than our own.



I love these chairs but I bet they are not so comfortable to sit in all day. This was in the House of Respresentatives.
Chase and Carson listening to the tour guide.
Ahh...it's not so bad.



In the gallery.

In the elevator.
Heading out.
As we continued on outside Mike went up to this man who was sitting underneath the war veterans memorial. His name was Robert and he was employed by the state of Texas (MUST be a good guy if he's a state employee). Mike actually went up to him to ask for directions but they struck up conversation. He started telling Mike about his service to our country. He handed Mike some papers that told of his life and his service. Sweet little man.
He wanted to know why I kept taking pictures of him. I told him it was because he was so cute.

In the picture above he is pointing. He was pointing to this man. I couldn't get my camera around fast enough to get a good picture of him. Robert said that this man was his hero. This man is one of the Texas supreme court justices. As he walked by Robert greeted him with a "Hello Judge". "Hey Robert" he said back. The judge asked if we were part of Robert's fan club and told us that he (the judge)was the president. How cool is that? A supreme court judge thinking so much of someone that could have just been part of the grounds crew. I was pretty impressed.



More crazy pictures. This is Mike waiting on me while I take them. I know it drives him crazy.



Apparently Texas inventories their capitol trees.
Nothing else....just feet ahead.
They're about to leave me.
Headed now to find a place to eat. This sign was downtown. Hmmm...pride. Pride of what? Out and proud I guess!?!?
We headed to Hula Hut to eat after a quick call to Phyllis that I work with. She recommended it. Her daughter used to live in Austin.

We ate out on the deck.



Our view from the deck
Food was good, huh honey?
Good salsa.
The wildlife got fed anyway...by my family.




The restaraunt next door to Hula Hut.

Headed back to the hotel to get our game faces on for the BIG game!

~Shannon