Bats

During our first week in Austin, as we were driving on a busy freeway just before dusk, we noticed thousands and thousands of birds flying out from underneath an underpass. As we got closer, we quickly realized that these were not birds, they were bats, a lot of bats.

We later learned that Austin has the largest urban bat colony with an estimated 1.5 million bats. Most of them live underneath a bridge downtown. They all come out together each night at dusk. Last night, we decided to join the crowds and witness if for ourselves.

While waiting for the bats to emerge, a nice deaf man approached us to give what I thought were free samples of something. After I read the card, I realized why Cara was hesitant to accept them. In the end, he came out a little richer, and we had 2 bat buttons.

The crowd waiting

Cara waiting . . . in style

After waiting about 20 minutes, the show began.

They came out in a steady stream for about 15 minutes.

The bats go out on the town to feast at night, just like Cara is feasting on this delicious "Italian Pucchi"

Thanks to Yelp, we found this great sandwich place downtown. One of the best sandwiches I have ever had.

On a completely unrelated note, we always see this family of deer by our place.

This one is watching you.

And so is Hobbes

even more recently

Erica came to town and so we met up for lunch.

We played mini golf and I almost beat Jackson.

Jackson was insistent that we take a picture of this turtle's face. It still makes him laugh every time he sees it.

what we've been doing since we got here

Here is what we have done since moving to Austin.

Savannah's birthday

Playing at Trevor and Katherine's.

Jackson's first day of work.

Derek's birthday.

Body whomping

Skiing (that is Trevor not Jackson) , tubing (that is Jackson)

One weekend we went to Lake Austin. Derek's dreams came true when he was able to pull up to a restaurant on his boat.

Jackson has had more boat time in the past three weeks than his entire life. He is slowly adjusting to life on the lake.

A video of me body whomping. My sister guessed that it must have been one of my brothers, little did she know I am fun too.

I think we are now caught up. Shorter posts to commence.

the actual move

Jackson has informed me multiple times this week that I need to update the blog and that I am loosing our 'followers' due to the lack of posts. My most sincere apologies to my four followers, this post is for you. And Jackson. Amen.

We saw many strange/interesting things on the move south, including these tornado chaser vehicles. These pictures don't do them justice.

The bulging Mississippi River in Memphis, you could still see the effects of the flooding.

Somewhere in Arkansas Jackson noticed smoke coming from one of the trailer tires. We pulled off the next exit and immediately heard a high pitched scream from the tire. A flat, in the middle of nowhere. We waited for four hours for the guy to come fix the flat. We let Hobbes and Hermione out of their cages for a while, they were almost happy with us.

This is where we were stuck, nothing in sight. There were also the largest bugs you have ever seen. I was almost taken out by a flying scorpion the size of a robin and while our back woods hero was fixing the tire Jackson took out this massive dragonfly. While he was dancing around trying to kill it the fix-it man looked up in disbelief and asked us, "where you guys from?" Apparently dancing to get away from massive bugs stamps you as 'city folk'. We proudly wear that title.

This is me on the phone with Penske in the middle of no where.

We stopped at Graceland on our second day. Jackson hates making stops when we drive but even he agreed that it was well worth the two hours it added to our day.

Graceland is amazing because it is just the way it was the day Elvis died. It is like getting a peak into his life.

The last time I was at Graceland posing for this exact picture I was stung by a bee. It traumatized me. Jackson escaped any calamity while posing for this picture.

Trucker Jackson. He didn't want to pay to have the cats in the hotel rooms so he would sneak them and the litter box into the hotels we stayed in. I don't like breaking rules because I am terrified of being caught and getting in trouble so Jackson was all on his own with the sneaking in, he was never caught.

Jackson driving and Hobbes angrily sitting in his cage under the bench.

The last picture of our house as we drove away. It was a sad moment.