August Travel #2: Austin Family Birthday

Thursday, August 22-Sunday, August 25: Remote Work, Shore Happy Hour, M Birthday

Mr. E and I headed to Austin on Thursday afternoon and arrived at a relatively reasonable time compared to many other Austin trips. We settled in and got prepared to work from our respective spots in J's house on Friday. Luckily, we were able to wrap up our days on time and took C with us for of the great Happy Hour half-off oyster deal at Shore Raw Bar & Grill. 

Since J didn't have any meal plans for the evening, the three of us had dinner there as we sat at the sushi bar and played cards while watching the staff prepare various raw bar items. Then back to the house for reading and relaxing in the evening.

On Saturday, Mr. E and I figured out the new way to HEB (it's different every time with visit because of the highway construction!) to pick up M's cake and a few other items for the party. Then we helped with some food prep as we waited for guests to arrive for the pool party. Very hot and humid. Ugh! After about an hour, we went to pick up the pizza for lunch and got everything set up outside on the porch. I mostly stayed in the house in the a/c since the weather was so steamy! 

Folks started to leave in the mid afternoon. I was fortunate enough to score a late afternoon appointment at Deep Relief for a massage, and the therapist really dug into my left psoas area, which surprisingly seemed to have a positive impact on my chronic lower back pain and tightness. A little pricey for the "orthopedic" massage, but the effects have been lingering so it was well worth it. Yay!

Once I got back to the house, M opened his presents and had a blast trying out some of his new toys and activities. Leftovers for dinner and some game and reading time to wrap up the evening. We also got to see an amazing sunset thanks to the stormy weather in the distance, and the temperatures cooled significantly even though the thunderstorms and rain didn't actually reach our area.

Our late morning departure allowed us to have an enjoyable morning with some final family time before we left for the airport. We got home to Sac in the early afternoon, giving us the entire rest of the day to unpack, do laundry, go through mail, snuggle the kitties, grocery shop, and just generally get ready for the couple of days we were home before our next trip.

Up next: Hawai'i. Aloha!