All of you longtime readers know that I’ve had fun with my comments about Austin on the blog.  But no matter what your opinion is, you’ve got to admit there’s a certain vibe about the town.  A little freaky-artsy-hemp-vibe happening.  Hippy-Dippy-Trippy is the scientific name I believe.  Problem is, I think my youngest has caught the fever.

CB spent her formative years deep in the Piney Woods, so we don’t have to worry about her.  MK, however, has been feelin’ the Austin scene practically since birth…and it shows.  We get even remotely close to Sixth Street, and little sis is lettin’ it fly.

I could go on and on, but I’ll just let the picture speak for itself.  But answer me honestly, do you notice any difference between the two?

Keep Austin Weird???  Somehow, I think MK has taken the message to heart.

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It was such a beautiful day here Saturday, and what better way to spend it than checking out the latest in dog house architecture.  Must be Austin.

Several local architecture firms displayed their various takes on the dog house.  And it was a sight to behold.

I personally liked the tile work in the following.

The best of the best, in my opinion, was for the smaller guys.  Such as those spoiled rotten pooches that share our bed.

This house would be barely big enough for both of our chis, no problem for Sissy I’m sure, yet it was made of 100% limestone and had a fully functioning fireplace.

And a dog in sunglasses – no further description required.

And the perfect way to top off our Austin Adventure…

Lunch at the Hula Hut with Uncle Russ and Aunt Erin.

A great day was had by all and MK was definitely digging the Hula Hut scene.

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It’s been some time since the last update, so I thought I’d throw in some random snapshots of the past few weeks.

CB finally stopped moving long enough to develop a lap. And where there’s a lap, there’s Sissy.

Somewhere amidst the hair pulling, biting and arguing, a strange thing happened. Sesame Street came on…

For the big finale…

MK discovers cinnamon toast.

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I’m an old, old man.  How do I know this?  First off, I am now uncool.  Maybe I should back up.  I had the opportunity to take Miss CB to school last week.  I’d never done this before, so I was getting the specifics from Al.  Where to park, what to do once I got there, etc…

The ride over was fine.  CB and I were singing, laughing, everything was going great.  We get to the school and I walk her in to the assembly.  CB’s pointing a few things out to me, and I notice she’s getting a little quieter.  I’m not in the assembly for three minutes, when a couple of CB’s friends roll up.  They sit next to her and start chatting, while looking at me awkwardly.  CB quickly leans over and whispers, “This is the part where Daddys leave.”

I look at her, shocked, and started to protest. “But…”

“No, no,” CB continues.  “This is where the Mommys and Daddys leave.”  I never wanted to be one of those lingering parents.  There will be plenty of time for embarrassing her when she hits her teens.  I backed out quietly and made my exit.

Later that night, I had confirmation of my…oldness.  I walked into the kitchen for something specific, I’m not to the point yet where I wander around aimlessly.  I’m in the kitchen, and I get distracted by the laptop, Wikipedia always does that to me.  After ten minutes of searching for the latest in Russian sniper technology, I’m standing in the kitchen with no idea why I’m in there.  I start back to the bedroom when it hits me… Alka Seltzer.  I came into the kitchen to get my Alka Selzter.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to stand at the window and yell at these kids to get of my #$#%(!* lawn.

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I never knew that Target could be the place for a psychological profile, but with the right toys it certainly can be.  Al and I have commented all along about how different our girls are.  Today was a perfect example.

We all went to Target this afternoon, and I had the girls with me so that Al could actually get something done.  Like any good mother does this time of year, Al has done a good job of keeping the girls away from the Halloween section.  And, like any good dad, it was the first place I took the girls.

We were wandering the aisles when CB spots a fake plastic bowl of candy with a white, skeleton hand sticking up.  There’s a motion sensor so that when you reach in to take the candy, the skeleton claw grabs you.

CB walks up, eyeing the thing suspiciously, and then slowly places her hand in the bowl.  The claw grabs her and she screams like Lucifer himself has made an appearance.  She’s shrieking and backing away flailing her hands hysterically, but then finally has a good laugh about it.  MK is unaware of the whole event, and so CB is of course wanting little sister to try it (what are big sisters for?)

MK walks over sticks her hand in the bowl, and the claw clamps down on her.  She flinches, just for a split second, and then realizes that this claw might be attempting to take HER candy.  She reaches in with the other hand, and now has two hands on the claw, nearly ripping the fingers off at the knuckles.  She eventually pulls the whole thing off the shelf into the floor, and I managed to grab her before she could start kicking the poor guy while he’s down.

Two different girls, two very different reactions.  And, proof positive that there’s maybe a little more of that PaPa gene in Miss MK than we had originally thought.

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