fun

Welcome (again) to New York

| patmcg

Fresh off of Claire’s spring college break to Atlanta (TODO link), I had two days in Austin, and then it was off to NYC with Molly on her high school spring break.

We spent two full days camped in a tiny but pleasant hotel room SoHo, which we kept accidentally calling Austin’s own SoCo. The hotel had a rather large balcony, with a view of the World Trade enter Center, some lawn furniture, and an outdoor shower!

Day 1

On day 1, we walked nine miles of Manhattan. We got the world’s best bagels from Popup Bagels and enjoyed them in a brisk Washington Square Park. We checked out music spots Electric Lady Studios and 23 Cornelia Street, plus the nearby Friends apartment building. We trekked up to Little Island park, explored the High Line, and dining at Chelsea Market. The server was definitely an actor on the side. Also, finding the Apple Store for an  Pencil tip, thank you very much. We headed back towards our “home” in SoHo and skipped over to Chinatown to get a Bahn Mi, which somehow Molly had never had?!? Whose daughter is this? She loved it.

Finally, inspired by the Friends apartment building, we got last-minute tickets to an off-broadway Friends musical parody, Molly confessed that she loved musicals, which I did not know. We had been walking and taking the subway everywhere but settled for an Uber from Hell’s Kitchen back home to SoHo late that night.

Day 2

Day 2 got us another nine miles on foot, the time like Washington’s Army, crossing briefly into Brooklyn! We hit the Museum of Illusions (not the Museum of Allusions, which would have been really boring). Then our favorite sport just about anywhere, Central Park. We came across Strawberry Fields and someone singing Let It Be. Followed by ice cream on the Upper West Side, obviously. We were determined to walk the Brooklyn Bridge and see a Broadway show before we left, so we hurried back to SoHo, refreshed a bit, and headed out to Brooklyn on the subway, which took forever because basically all the trains were express and most distinctly not the other side of Brooklyn Bridge.

Somewhere along the line, I bought tickets to The Book of Mormon for that night.

We hurried back on foot and had a quick pizza at our favorite spot next door to the hotel, LTD Pizza. Exhausted, we changed clothes and headed uptown for our real freakin’ Broadway play, The Book of Mormon. I had bought on my phone somewhere along the line between Central Park and the Brooklyn Bridge.

The show was amazing; Molly really wants to see more musicals! The crowds in Times Square insane, so we walked to Hell’s Kitchen for a thinner (but still thick) crowd and an Uber back to SoHo.

We braved the hour-long subway ride to JFK airport the next morning and got home exhausted but happy.

San Antonio Drop-in

| patmcg

Molly and I made a day trip to San Antonio to visit Claire at college. We picked up Claire and hit two classic San Antonio destinations: the San Antonio Zoo and Mi Tierra Cafe (y Panadaeria).

I personally felt like a kid again at the zoo as we admired at the giant hippos, zebras, and Komodo dragons. And we enjoyed a late, hearty lunch at Mi Tierra, where the food and the vibe were pure Tex Mex bliss.

It was a fun day and great to have both kids together for a while. 😊

Claire the Formula 1 Driver 🏎️

| patmcg

Last Christmas, I took the kids on a ride around the Formula 1 track at the Circuit of the Americas just on a whim. It was fun like any holiday outing such Trail of Lights, Mozarts Festival of Lights, or whatever.

In the year since, Claire has become a big Formula 1 fan, along with her friends. Heck, she even got me interested in reading a book (!) to learning more about the sport.

So this year, I decided to put Claire behind the wheel in her Prius 😆. We invited her F1 friends along, and Molly, a casual F1 fan, squeezed in too.

This turned out to be the most fun experience we’ve all had together in a long time. I’ll say no more and let the video speak for itself. 👌 (Also on Instagram.)

Please, Please, Please have a great Sabrina concert

| patmcg

Molly and I got to enjoy the pretty wild, funny, and amazing Sabrina Carpenter Short n’ Sweet tour together. 🙌

Since Sabrina was playing the Moody Center, basically on the UT campus, Molly and I incorporated our favorite UT routine into the night. We parked in West Campus (I mean, who wants to park near the venue? So boring!), got some pizza at Roppolo’s, and walked across the campus to the concert. It was a beautiful night, and the walk was a great way to get warmed up for the concert.

The Sabrina concert was a “little” over the top, including a “SABRINA AFTER DARK” segment with the tongue-in-cheek warning “PARENTAL DISCRETION IS ADVISED”. Oh well, too late. 🤷🏻‍♂️And everything was behind translucent curtains, so we’re 👌.

The show as surprisingly entertaining, and I’m personally glad that Molly got me into Sabrina’s music. I’ve had Short n’ Sweet on pretty heavy rotation, with fav songs being Please Please Please, Coincidence, Lie to Girls, Don’t Smile, and of course Espresso. You’ve got to love her lyrics…

Too bad your ex don’t do it for ya
Walked in and dream-came-trued it for ya
Soft skin and I perfumed it for ya
I know I Mountain Dew it for ya

Down the Clown over the years 🤡

| patmcg

As the summer winds down and Claire is almost off to college, we’re feeling a bit nostalgic.

So we went to the original Pinballz Arcade, an old favorite up in North Austin today.

Down the Clown is hands down (so to speak) our favorite game. It’s just so much fun to down those pesky clowns with a time-limited flow of rubber balls. Classic.

When we were playing, I asked the girls to pose for a picture.

“Why?”, Molly said.

“So I can put it on the kids blog along with the other times we’ve come here!” I replied.

So here they are. You’re welcome, kids.

T8!

| patmcg

Molly nudges me into taking her to the Tate McRae concert at the Moody Amphitheater.

I wasn’t real familiar with Tate McRae, who came out wearing oversized hockey shirt with “T8” emblazoned on the front. 😆

But what can I say? T8 was gr8!

Afternoon at the Blanton

| patmcg

Summer has the family scattered all around. With Molly still on her way back from the Pacific Northwest with her grandparents, and Claire back in town, it was a me & Claire night.

With Claire heading off to college in August, I wanted to do something fun and new with our rare one-on-one evening.

And then a big stroke of luck came our way: I got off work early for Independence Day. 🇺🇸 Our fun evening had become the rarest of great things – a fun weekday afternoon! We’re talking Ferris Bueller vibes here.

After a two-minute scan of the brain, I realized we weren’t gong to make it to a Cubs game or a downtown parade today, but we did need to take the opportunity to jump on one of the great museums around town, with their weird and pesky and mostly weekday hours.

So we met at the Blanton Museum of Art.

Claire and I had a great time, saw the famed Austin, and explored the gallery for like 90 minutes. This was long enough to take it in but not dull the senses. We discovered some amazing artists like Alfredo Jaar and Mequitta Ahuja.

One the way home in hot summer traffic, Claire suggested we drop by JuiceLand to get acai bowls and skip dinner. Perfect thinking.

It’s always fun when a tedious in-office work day turns into a fun downtown excursion with your kiddo in her last summer at home as a “kid”. 🙏

This river rat does not back down 🤿

| patmcg

Molly always knows how to make a fun day happen. She’s been on me for a while to go to San Marcos and actually swim in the river we have driven by many times on the way to the best Kerby Lane Cafe. “We should swim in that river.,” we always say. 😉

And with a warm and sunny weekend finally upon us, we made it happen today. 🙌

We put in downstream from Sewell Park and slowly inched our way into the frigid spring-fed water while discussing our common dislike of frigid cold water.

But we persisted until the clear green water (yes, it’s clean and green) became downright refreshing. And the wild rice grass in the water all around us became not that weird any more. “I wonder how many people have been lost to the grass,” I joked.

After a few minutes of wading and adjusting, we got out of this cool flow and made our way up to the actual Sewell Park proper and put in again. This time it felt even better, swimming upstream against the current a bit so we could float back downstream in a relaxed way. 🛟

And then we got out and scouted the park a bit more. I suggested that next time we put in up the river and float all the way through the park. It would be like a lazy river at a resort. But we’re done for the day (right?), because Molly seemed tired.

But Molly said, “No. Let’s do it now.”

And so we wound our way down the cool, narrow river and back down to where we started. It was beautiful and refreshing. 🙌

We wrapped up the day with ice cream a short walk away in downtown San Marcos. Nothing says summer like ice cream in a wet swimsuit (and a cowboy hat in my case).

It was pretty damn close to a perfect way to kick off the summer. Btw Claire passed up the trip and understandably chose to rest back at home after her graduation and festivities yesterday. She can suit herself – she’s an adult now. Save all the fun for us kids. 😉

Mitski en Miami 🎸🏝️

| patmcg

Claire is a huge fan of Mitski, and so am I. Claire and I had been trying to see Mitski live for a couple of years, but last time she was nearby, in Houston, we noticed too late and the aftermarket tickets were like $700. Ouch; that’s almost Taylor Swift levels.

When Mitski announced a tour for new hew release, The Land is Inhospitable and So Are We, we wanted to jump on it.

The only problem was that Mitski was not playing in Austin. Or anywhere in Texas. Or within like 1000 miles of us. 🤷🏻‍♂️ We puzzled at how Mitski could miss our whole big state. Does she hate Texas? I mean, she does have a song based in Texas, so what gives?

So I coordinated care with Claire’s mom to get her a Mitski trip for Christmas. The only condition was that Claire could not miss even one day of school.

Some late nights on the problem yielded a good result – we could fly to a Mitski show in Miami, New York, Boston, or LA in January/Febraury, all for less than the $700 (each) that the Houston concert would have cost. Being winter, I chose Miami – duh. 🏝️

I told Claire we had a very early flight out on Saturday morning, but at least it’s direct. Claire asked, “Are we going to have to get up at like 4 am?” And I was like, “Nah, the flight’s at 7:10.” And then I was like, “Oh crap. Yeah, we’re going to have to get up at 4 am.” 🤦🏻‍♂️

The flight back got us home at midnight the following day, Sunday. Then back to school/work. Yeah, this better be a good concert.

The rest of the trip is sort of a blur, but yes, it was a great concert. Mitski had some amazing theatrical music, some surprising country versions of her songs, and some weird but beautiful dancing.

The icing on the cake was walking around Miami Beach in the warm weather, joking around, talking about deep subjects, napping in our “flophouse” of an Airbnb, having ice cream, coffee, and French toast, watching weirdos and families stroll down Collin Avenue, watching people play beach volleyball, visiting the botanical gardens… it was all a great time with Clairey.

It was really cool to be hanging out with what seemed like – and in fact actually is – an adult friend. I hope we have more fun trips in our future even though she’s all grown up now. 🤘