Chronicle of the Cotita Connection :: Part I

We greeted my family at my grandma's house in Georgetown Saturday, September 25th, after their 13 hour drive. We ate dinner, and brought my sisters, Zhenya and Tori back to Austin with us. In the morning, we were joined by parents and Poynors, and we caravaned down to San Antonio to Fiesta Texas Six Flags. National Instruments was kind enough to rent the entire park for NI Family Day, so the lines were very short--we rarely had to wait more than 10 minutes, if at all. I dare say we all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, as it was the first time my family visited Six Flags. However, we forgot to take any pictures. Parents went back to Georgetown to spend the night with Grandma and get the dog, and Zhen and Tori accompanied us back to our house.

The next morning, we sisters with Tiernan in tow went for a walk at Balcones Park, where the tiny tadpoles were just getting their legs and hopping up onto land. Unfortunately, those pictures are stuck on the camera until I find the right USB cable. 

Our parents joined us shortly after lunch, and they let Tiernan open up his birthday gifts as we hung out in the front yard.

  

He spent at least ten minutes putting the ball back in the packaging

 

He loved the little doggy--until they turned it on and it turned out to be an evil robot disguised as his favorite animal. He's slowly getting over his terror of 'Chanka', but it'll be a while before he appreciates it's robotic features. 

Tiernan liked playing in Bailey's cage.

On Tuesday, we had a 'Downtown Day', in which we toured the Zilker Botanical Gardens...

My sister Tori

My lovely mother, or 'Baba' to Tiernan.

Tiernan did at least half the walking himself.

He wanted to go swimming, but somehow I don't think they intended that to be a kiddie wading pool.

My favorite part is the Oriental Garden. They even have stepping stones you can walk on across the ponds.

Water break with Baba.

After the gardens, we ate lunch at the Texas Chili Parlor on Lavaca--one of Mom and Dad's old haunts from back in the 70's when they lived in Austin--then went to the State Capitol.

We neglected to get the camera out until we went to the outdoor arena at the far end of the Extension. A pretty cool place, if you ask me.