Austin

I traveled to Austin, TX this past weekend with my college roommates, Lyndsey, Jen, and Jenny. I had debated about going and whether or not I was really ready to leave the house and my family. I still fear something is going to happen to them while I'm away. Due to all the recent thunderstorms, my latest fear is that lightning is going to strike our house and burn it to the ground leaving me with nothing and no one, but that's for another day. Anyway, I'm really glad I made the decision to go because I believe it was healing for me to get away with some great friends, have some fun, laugh, talk about Levi with them, and reminisce about college days. My wonderful friends were kind enough to remind me of how the entire apartment would hear my alarm clock or substitute teaching phone calls before I did each morning (still true, just ask Josh) and how I reported my car stolen when I really just misplaced it (ha ha. don't remind me.) Here are a few pictures from our weekend.

We went to a cute little store where you pick out beads, charms, stones, etc. and design your own jewelry. This is a picture of what I made: a pink flower stone with a cluster of freshwater pearls in the middle on a gold chain and matching freshwater pearl earrings.

Jennifer, me, and Lyndsey waiting to watch the bats.Me, Lyndsey, and Jenny waiting to watch the bats.The Bats! So, there is this one bridge in Austin that itty bitty bats migrate to in the summer. Every evening around 7:45-8:00 as the sun sets, the bats all flock out from under the bridge and apparently it's a rather exciting venture for a lot of people. It was really cool to watch, but I was rather surprised by the number of people that came out to watch. They even had vendors selling drinks, sno-cones, and light up swords.Jenny and Lyndsey on top of the bridge watching the bats.We went to the Hula Hut for dinner and drinks on Saturday night. It was a nice restaurant to visit. We were seated outside on the patio that sits on top of the lake. We got there at 8:30, but it was so crowded that we didn't get to sit down to eat until 10:00. Fortunately, we were able to go sit at the outside bar where we ordered drinks and had chips and salsa. Unfortunately, by the time we got our dinner, we had eaten so many chips we weren't all that hungry.

Me and Jenny at the Hula Hut.

My fear of something happening to my family while I'm away is not totally unfounded. On Saturday morning, while sparing during Kung Fu class, Josh managed to injure his left foot. Josh tried to kick someone, however, his kick was blocked by an elbow, resulting in severe soft tissue damage and a potentially sprained ankle on Josh's part. Josh cannot walk on this foot and was given crutches. You can see a little bit of the swelling in the picture below, but it actually looks much worse in person. I'm afraid to see what it'll look like once the bruising takes place.