"Not everyone can come and go by bubble!"

So instead, we went by plane.  And had a wickedly, wonderful good time.  We left early on Friday morning, and landed in Austin by 9:30 am.  I must say that I'm darn right proud of us for renting a car on our own and exploring a town where we've never gone.  We were very grateful for the invention of a GPS!  After checking into our hotel (we stayed at the Marriott downtown), we strolled through town for a bit before decided to eat at the Melting Pot . . .which was closed.  So instead we ate lunch at Fogo de Chao, and oh my goodness it was good.  Brynlie was not so impressed however, because all the food choices stressed her out.  Decisions are not a quick or easy thing for this girl.

We took this picture on the plane.  I sure wish my nose was still small and cute like  Bryn's.  My pre-accident nose was much more petite.

After lunch, we got in our red rental car and headed to the mall.  We wanted to get all "done up" for the big show that night!  I needed some things from Sephora, and was greeted by this fun girl from Wales.  She pretty much demanded that I sit in the chair and get a make-over, since I was on a girl's weekend with my daughter.  While she made me beautiful, we talked all about the different countries in Europe.  She has traveled to almost all of them, and enjoys the different cultures as much as I do.  I could have spent the whole weekend with her!  She had the cutest accent and was proud to be celebrating her 7th wedding anniversary soon.

 Bryn walked around Sephora taking pictures of everything, until she was told she needed to put her camera away.  When I saw all the pictures she had taken (most of which I did not include in this post), I laughed out loud at the next couple shots.  I was VERY glad the cute girl from Wales had helped me instead of either of these two employees.  I don't think I could have taken any of their advice seriously.

After a make-over for me, it was time for a fancy up-do for the princess.  We found a salon willing to fit her in their schedule.  After looking at prom hairdo's in a couple books, she decided on a fancy bun in the back of her head.  She looked beautiful!

After dinner at the food court (which was extremely exciting for Bryn, since I never take my kids to indoor malls), we headed back to the hotel for a little rest before getting dressed up for the musical.

We had a little issue getting to the venue (since Mrs. GPS was not helpful in telling us where to park), but made it in time!  Doesn't she look ecstatic as she waits in her seat for the show to start?  Every time a song finished or a scene ended, she was the first to start clapping loudly!

During intermission, we took some pictures of Bryn since she has to make a poster of the event for her Beyond Basics report next month. 

My favorite line from the musical was, "It looks like the artichoke is steamed!"  Haha, we laughed so hard during much of the play that I wondered if we were bothering those sitting around us. We didn't get back to our hotel until almost midnight.  I made sure the "do not disturb" sign was on the doorhandle, closed all the curtains as tightly as possible, and slept until 9:30.  It was amazing!

After brunch at a fun British restaurant, we had planned to spend the day riding a tandem bike around the river.  There's a beautiful area called Zilker Park that has a natural heated spring we wanted to "swim" in.  Unfortunately, the weather didn't cooperate and it was downright cold this day.  (Of course, now that we've left town it's in the mid-70's in Austin again).  So we had to change our outdoor plans to indoor plans.  After some discussion, Brynlie decided we should get pedicures, do some serious shopping/browsing at the mall, eat lots of good food, and rent a movie in our hotel room (because "then it feels like I have a TV in my bedroom!").  So off we went to get our toes all prettied-up.

Brynlie's "before" picture while waiting at the nail salon.  Kinda gross.  Good call on the pedicure!

This is how I know that I'm getting old.  When they have to whip out a cheese grater to get my feet looking decent.  Way to make me feel young on my 35th birthday.

Only on vacation could this girl get away with ordering a Dr. Pepper.

The first place Brynlie wanted to explore was a large furniture store.  Seriously.  She thought it was so exciting to "play house" in all the rooms!  She walked like a runway model through the store, telling me "this is how rich people walk around their houses."

Then it was on to Dillards, where we got super silly.

The shoe department was probably the best part of the whole trip for Bryn.  She's always trying to convince me that high heels are awesome and she needs to wear them.  Uh, no.  Anytime I told her she was weird or that I hated a pair of shoes she loved, she would say "Mom, you don't understand!  We are just different!  I like to look fancy ALL the time and you . . .don't."

I guess maybe she is my daughter.  This is how I walk in heels, too.

We wandered the mall like teenagers with no where to go.  I thought it was hilarious that Bryn finds the mall so exciting.  I don't think I've taken her to an indoor mall since we moved to Missouri over 6 years ago. 

Bryn enjoyed giving me a fashion show of all the best outfits she could find.  I vetoed this one pretty quickly.  She looks like Michael Jackson.

How do you think I would look in this dress???

Our beautiful toes.  Brynlie wanted a pattern, which reminded me more of the 4th of July than Valentines Day!

More pictures of our time away that I took with my phone camera.

At about 11 pm the night of my birthday, I was craving chocolate in a SERIOUS way, even though I'd already eaten plenty of it during the day.  We walked down to the lobby in our pajamas and purchased some Half-Baked ice cream.  Yuuuuum.  It was just what I needed!

Our last stop at the Starbucks for hot chocolate.  We literally got a peppermint hot chocolate every time we walked into the lobby of the hotel.  Oh how we miss it.  I should always have a Starbucks in my "basement."  I took this picture on Sunday morning, as we were getting ready to head to the airport for our flight home.

We had a blast on our first-ever girl trip together!  A few other memorable moments:

• Bryn got very excited when we saw a "I'm a Mormon" billboard right outside the airport.
• Bryn had to pee literally every 20 minutes.  I had to start limiting her fluid intake so we didn't have to stop at a bathroom constantly!
• On the last day of our trip, I found a note on the bottom of my suitcase.  It was from Lindsey, and she had tucked the love letter in my suitcase as I was packing a few days earlier.  It made me cry and I couldn't wait to get home and hug my other babies.