Em and Julie Take Texas

For Em's 35th birthday (which was October 27th) I decided I wanted to surprise fly her to Denton. Airline tickets were super cheap, and I got my mom in on the action. I love surprises! Em was here the past three days and it was awesome.

We went to a pumpkin patch in Flower Mound. Neither of us have been to a pumpkin patch before, but it seemed like fun. At least, all my friends with young kids seemed to have a blast when they posted their yearly photos of pumpkin patch fun. What they fail to mention is that pumpkin patches are incredibly overpriced. Being newbies we didn't know what to expect; we noticed numbers on the pumpkins - 14, 25, 18, etc. I thought maybe it was the weight. I asked a gentleman, there with his daughter, if the pumpkins cost was related to their weight and that's what the numbers meant. He said he was pretty sure the numbers were the price, then said that people at pumpkin patches "paid for the experience" since you could get a pumpkin at Walmart for a quarter of the price.

 We nixed getting pumpkins at the patch and went to Walmart on the way home. I carved a cat with a pumpkin, and Em did a bat hanging upside down.

Monday morning we headed for Austin to check out the State Capitol. It's no secret that Texans love Texas, and that was very evident in the Capitol building. Which isn't a problem, just something that makes Texas "Texas". A few notes: the Capitol is brown - weird; it's taller than the US Capitol building; the Texas star is everywhere; Texas has a pretty fabulous history that includes "Six Flags over Texas".

We then tried to see the bats that hang out under the Congress Avenue Bridge. However, they migrate south to Mexico based on the temp, and it had turned cold over the weekend. We sadly didn't see any bats.

On the way home we stopped at Buc-ees. For those not from Texas, Buc-ees is kind of a big deal. It is a gas station in Texas that Texans love with a fierceness reserved for family members. I was feeling sick, so couldn't enjoy it fully, but I do get the love for it.

Tuesday was Em's birthday! When she turned 30 we took a trip to Vegas and ate at the Hard Rock Cafe. For number 35 we went to the Hard Rock Cafe in Dallas. We didn't spend a ton of time in Dallas, mainly because I think Denton is cooler!

We walked around the Square, then had some local pizza while watching Game 1 of the World Series.

Then she left early this morning.