Just a quick post this morning before i hit the ground running.

yesterday the boys and Hazel and i went hiking on one of the Steiner trails. it was beautiful! water was flowing in the creeks and the colors were so vibrant, as they are after a rain and on an overcast day. afterwards i took them to P. Terry's in Lakeway for milkshakes, and then on to Bee Caves to join their library. the library in Bee Caves is located in the Galleria, a beautiful outdoors mall. its a snazzy library, even if it isn't that big. we've kinda been spoiled with the downtown Austin library that has every book ever written. just about. so we each got cards and found some books. we had to make quick work of it because Hazel was signing at the top of her lungs and William and John were fighting over a Calvin and Hobbes.

i'm still getting adjusted to living on the west side. we were so immersed in our life on the eastisde, and it's such a culture shock to relocate over here. for those unfamiliar with Austin, the eastside has traditionally been the "bad" side of town, full of drugs and gangs and crime. it's been predominantly Black, and then Hispanic. but times are a changing. Gentrification is driving out a lot of long time residents and people with more money are moving in to the old houses and fixing them up. close-in eastside is now an eclectic mix of artists, musicians, lawyers, doctors, social workers, UT students, as well as professors and employees, people working in the film industry, day laborers, Mexicans "just passing through", and retirees. The sidewalks are full of people waiting for the buses, there are taco trucks, homeless, hippies, hipsters, people on bikes, people on scooters, people in electric cars. the stores are full of people. all types. Over here on the west side you see mostly white folks with a sprinkling of Asians and Indians. the cars are all new, Acura, BMW, Lexus, Mercedes, Infinity...I feel rather low class driving a new Suburban. Even stores like Target and HEB are swankier. Everyone is moving at a slower pace, women in their workout attire carrying Starbucks and their stylish reusable shopping bags. everyone is smiling, happy to be the 1% maybe?

anyways, as i said, it's been a bit of a culture shock for these two simple folk who aren't of the upwardly mobile stock. but we're making friends and learning where we fit in. learning to mind our manners and not appear too much like hicks.