Settling Into a New City

Wow, I live in Austin now!

After three weeks of driving around, getting lost, getting found, discovering a hidden boutique I wouldn’t have known about unless I got lost…I’m starting to feel like Austin is home. I’m happy the transition for us has been an easy one – minus the heat. {See, I complained about the heat in the first paragraph. Don’t I sound like a true native now?}

Since Todd didn’t have to start work right away, we’ve been exploring the area as a family. There are terrific parks in Austin, some just steps away from where I live like Brentwood and Northwest. Community pools were few and far between in Reno so it’s totally new for us to have a pool so close by. My bathing suit insecurity disappeared as soon as I saw how excited Lucy gets when she’s splashing in the kiddie pool. I need to get this future Missy Franklin into swimming lessons.

Of course, one of our first family outings was to Zilker Park. The train ride was an instant hit with Lucy. You can’t beat a 25-minute distraction for the bargain price of $3. And if you’re as lucky as we are, you just might see a guy riding his bike while wearing nothing but a thong. Welcome to Austin, indeed!

Speaking of trains, the Austin Zoo & Animal Sanctuary has one too. I’m pretty picky about zoos but since Lucy is way into the Madagascar movies, she was ecstatic to see Alex {lion), Batali {tiger} and King Julian {lemurs.} Riding the train was a nice diversion to the lack of Melman {giraffe} or Marty {zebra}.  I hear the Capital of Texas Zoo has a Gloria {hippo} so we’ll have to check that one out soon.

One of my favorite things to do is eat and I love dining out. It’s a bit trickier with my 25-lb bundle of energy so I’m happy to report that restaurants in Austin are extremely kid-friendly. I was truly worried we’d be banished to the chain restaurants but that’s not the case at all. The County Line on the Lake gets a big thumbs’ up for the turtle-feeding deck overlooking the water. I also love Phil’s Ice House. It’s the perfect place for Todd and I to drink a cold beer at a playground without it being creepy or illegal. Throw in some ice cream from Amy’s and call it Paradise for the Caldwell Clan.

I have yet to eat a meal anywhere that was anything less than spectacular. Even something as simple as chips and queso from Torchy’s is worthy of a Food & Wine magazine spread. The fact that most servers don’t reel in horror when you request a high-chair has made going out to eat in Austin that much better.

That’s not to say there aren’t fancy places I’d like to try sans Lucy so if anyone would like to babysit, I’d love to check out Uchiko sometime.

Being a new Austinite has been pretty great so far. I mean, there’s an Ikea less than 20 miles away, how bad could life be? If it’s ever too hot or too rainy, the perfect thing to do with a kid is go to Ikea and play hide and seek in the display rooms. At least it is for me…but I’m new here.