The first night we got to the hotel in Austin, Oliver was very excited looking around and checking out every corner of this room. He looked at the paintings on the wall, and even stared at the ceilings for quite a while.
It was my first time staying at the
AT&T Executive Education and Conference Center. The hotel was very nice and clean. We were at 7th floor which had a balcony and a view of the swimming pool. My favorite part of the hotel was the patio garden outside the lobby. There are plants, trails and water for visitors to enjoy. I took Ollie stroll in the garden every morning, and he loved it!
The good thing about visiting Austin is I still have many friends to hang out, and I missed my old friends from college. Every since becoming a mom, I haven't been very social at all. I was too afraid that I couldn't handle baby crying in the public. After a few trials taking Ollie out, I think he is a very outgoing kid, and usually behaves when we are out of the house. So I managed to meet up a friend for lunch, one for lunch/dessert and one for dinner.
It was working great taking Ollie out after his noon nap. He was happy, and energetic, like this one taken at the ice-cream shop on campus. However, he was not very patient during dinner meetups, which is probably why it is called the "witching hour" when baby is most cranky of the day. I had to cancel one dinner cause he was not having it that afternoon. Plus, slipping out of stroller didn't help him set a good mood that day neither. When he had a bad day like that, I became very sad too, just had to take him back to hotel and slept in early.
Once the morning came, I managed to forget the bad day last night and start looking up where to take Ollie out next. Texas is super hot and steamy during August, so that basically crossed out all my park activities. However, I found out Austin got a cool children's museum, called
Thinkery, that has so many kids activities indoor.
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| "Boss Baby" ready to take over Thinkery |
Ollie was a bit too small for most of the stuff, but he had fun looking around watching new things and other kids playing. For $10, we were very happy to hang out there for the whole afternoon and stay cool from the heat.
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| Kids farm with scales and fake produce for kids to play |
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| The playground for kids under 2 year old |
I like Thinkery that has a nice little nursing room for babies who still need breastfeeding. It was relaxing to sit back and get Ollie some "fuel" and explore more in the museum.
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| Nursing room |
We went back to the hotel after Ollie got tired. As he slowly fell asleep, I was taking a break on the bed as well. 6 days in Austin was fun and also very challenging for me. Believe it or not, it was the first time I took care of my baby all by myself without my parents and in laws helping me. It was all very new for me and Ollie. Although a little bit lonely without baby daddy joining us during the day, hopefully, next trip will be more of a family hangout!
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| Desserts keep mommy insane 😋💖 |
