Brylan's Austin trip

What happens when my (Kim's) 12 year old cousin, Brylan, from Colorado comes to stay with us in Austin and our 100+ degree weather?

Last week Brylan came to visit us in Austin, and we had blast doing all of the touristy things around Austin. After starting with a pedicure (Patrick was not with us-for the record), we headed down to south Austin to watch the bats fly out from the Congress bridge. On the way to see the bats, we had to stop at Hey Cupcake to get a quick sugar fix.

Despite the facial expression, she was full of sugar and hyper as can be 30 minutes after consuming the gigantic cupcake. The sugar started to wear off just in time for the bats to take over the area. I'm always amazed at just how many we have living under the Congress bridge (1.5 million to be exact). If you don't believe me, here's the cloud of bats as they are flying out to feed for the evening.

For day 2 we headed down towards San Antonio and visited the snake farm, Natural Bridge Caverns, the Alamo, and the Riverwalk. While at the Riverwalk, we wandered into the mall to cool off, and Miss Brylan could not walk past the candy store without browsing. She came across this pixie-stick sugar dispenser that people can buy a straw and fill them with different flavors. Patrick and I couldn't believe this thing, so I took a picture of Brylan getting her sugar fix once again.

Needless to say after eating about 1/2 of it before we got in the car to head to Austin, she took a small nap on our way back to Austin. We did wake her up to make a stop at the outlets in San Marcos, of course.

For day 3, we decided to head down town to take the Austin Duck Tour, and everyone on the boat received duck whistles. These whistles' purpose was to "quack" at anyone and everyone, in hope of receiving a good 'ol southern wave in return. Needless to say Brylan passed this test with flying colors. After the duck tour, Brylan was starting to melt in the heat, so we headed for lunch at Hut's then to Barton Springs. We warned Brylan of the 68 degree water, but she didn't believe us until we felt it for herself. This Colorado girl went from melting to teeth chattering in 10 minutes. Told you so.... Is all that I could say. After the quick dip in Barton Springs we continued the afternoon sugar rush trend at Cookie Lounge where Bry made a massive cookie with the max number of mix-ins paired with a glass of whole milk. Again on the way home she crashed....

I have to explain one thing because it sounds like took her on the whirl wind tour of central Texas and spoiled her rotten. Well we did... This is because our grandmother ("Granny Bess"), who Brylan never got to meet, did the same thing to me every summer when I was growing up. So it is now my duty to make sure that she doesn't miss this part of life's experiences.