So sometimes you just have these amazing weekends. Weekends you never want to end. If you could have just one wish from the genie in the bottle, it would be to absolutely freeze time. We just had one of those weekends. My good friend hooked us up with a deal on a junior suite at the Hyatt Lost Pines in Bastrop, Texas. It's about 20 miles east of Austin and around a 40 minute drive from CasaCullen.
This is no ordinary Hyatt. It's massive! A lazy river that winds all around multiple pools and water slides, 5 different on site restaurants, 18 hole gold course, a petting zoo, hiking trails, disc golf course, horse back riding, archery classes, free s'mores and popcorn every night! Yeah, the list goes on and on. We actually had no idea what we were in for and were so impressed with the facilities. We headed out there for two nights to celebrate Walt's birthday and I really don't think we ever wanted to come home. Ok, well maybe to see Zola but that's how great this past weekend was. Read on for all the details.
How about the macaroni and cheese bar at the Shoreline Grille? Yeah, they pretty much had us at 'hello!' I also loved how they added honey as a condiment for the sweet potato. Brown sugar for sure...but I also opted for some honey too and oh my gosh, I will absolutely be making that at home!
Movie night! Gnomeo and Juliet was on the big screen our first night there. They passed out blankets to everyone and there were so many kiddos racing around. I think Walt and I were the only ones present without kids, no joke. Little ones racing around in their jommies and the older teenagers were all back by the firepit, making s'mores (they're complementary, how sweet is that?) They also had a station for water and popcorn, also complimentary. I'm telling you, this place impresses...especially for family fun!
PS - We loved the movie!
Longhorns...chillin' near the resort! Not to worry, they were fenced in!
And this tiny lil' llama too!
And you know, hay rides for the kiddos. Seriously, we woke up to take a hike and this goes flying by our building. Adorable!
Hiking time! I think the heat index was around 107 this day. Yep, we were dying!
But the views of the river were worth it!
Walt headed to the gym for a quick workout after our hike. Hey, it was his birthday so I told him he should do whatever he wanted. I, on the other hand, explored the resort grounds and stumbled upon this great soccer match going on.
And you can't beat a place that has complimentary bikes...seriously, they've thought of everything!
And this is pretty much how we spent the three days we were out there. Floating on tubes, down the lazy river, relaxing. It was like heaven on earth.
We loved how the teenagers were all too cool to tube or swim and would actually just walk the lazy river, haha! Teenagers, I can't believe we'll have one of those one day.
Passed...out...cold! Seriously, I think he was even snoring a bit too! Yep, it was one of the most relaxing and enjoyable weekends ever. He got to read (which he loves) and just kick back without a worry in the world.
Oh, so a funny thing happened. Soooooo, my top popped off. Yep, thankfully we were at the adult pool and I was facing Walt (which as you can see above, there weren't any people behind him) but I stood up and bam, the clasp on the suit busted and it popped off. It literally sprung forward and I stood there, holding my 'girls' while both of my eyes bugged out of my head. Walt quickly handed me a towel and I then slyly got my cover-up on. Yep, I was the resident flasher at the Hyatt Lost Pines...woo hoo!
So now I'm back to my old school and fave black bandeau top (don't want any tan lines) mis-matched with my former delinquent top's striped bottoms. Seriously, we couldn't stop laughing...it was really funny, but maybe you just had to be there!
The view. The leaves would rustle in the wind and the sound of the waterfall was amazing too. It was all just unbelievably tranquil, serene and fun.
We decided to head into the little town of Bastrop for Walt's bday dinner rather than staying on campus. We opted for Maxine's on Main Street and were pleasantly surprised by all the small town charm. The fried dill pickles with ranch dipping sauce and homemade sweet tea in a mason jar was a great way to kick off our meal.
Walt opted for the chicken friend steak and chose mac-n-cheese and mashed potatoes for his two sides. Quite the birthday boy meal, we gave his meal a rating of: pretty ok. The mackers were not what we expected and the steak was a bit tough. The sweet tea was amazing and his mashers were really good. You gotta love some Texas toast as that is always a diner eating staple.
I couldn't decide between the pork chops and the chicken tenders (they're famous for their tenders) so I went with the tenders and they were scrumptious. I also got mac-n-cheese (which was good, not great) and their collared greens. Walt doesn't even favor collared greens and even he agrees they were some of the best we've ever tasted. Literally, the greens hit it out of the park, as far as my meal was concerned.
Our rating for my dinner: pretty dang good. I'm aways so pumped when I'm the dinner pickin' winner but since it was Walt's birthday dinner, I was really sad that his was sub-par. And neither of us are horribly picky so gosh darnit, I wish he would've picked a homerun!
There's sweet lil' Maudie's over there, on the right, with the big Texas star above it. Downtown Bastrop is quaint and such a small town. People were totally staring at us because they knew we weren't 'from around these parts!'
Back to the Hyatt to make some s'mores and holy mackerel, were they ever good. They had these awesome skewers that held two mallows at once. You can see it if you look closely at the end of Walt's skewer...he's roasting a double order!
And then the s'mores station. Let's just say, these girls have s'mores makin' down to an art form. Literally in about 1 second, you'd hand them your skewer and they'd hand you back a perfect s'more. They were so cute and fun, I just had to snap a pic!
And for those of you that love a growing bump pic...here's 22 1/2 weeks along. He's growing and recently we've both really seen some bump growth too. It's like all of the sudden, BAM! This is also a very, very full belly from all the Maxine's diner chicken tender goodness plus throw a s'mores in there for good measure. Yep, I was one full Momma. Full...and happy!
The sunset was truly perfect for Walt's birthday eve. We actually headed back to the room and ate some cake that I had made for him (his favorite, yellow cake with chocolate icing) and snuggled up on the couch and watched a movie.
Oh and I just had to share how much we loved our bathroom. The idea of putting a massive console type table as a dual sink vanity system was super striking/very Restoration Hardware to us. LOVE THIS!
And pre movie relaxation (which I can't even remember what we watched, preggo brain) here's Walt gabbing away with his family on the phone as they were all wishing him a happy birthday. The perfect weekend, seriously! I had one happy boy!
PS - So what did I get him as a gift? A super big bag of Hot Tamales (he loves those things) and some Lucky Brand boxers. His big gift was a large, all black, classic messenger Timbuk2 bag similar to THIS one. He wanted an option that he could use for work (he carries a Ogio backback) and also use as a makeshift diaper bag. Yep, my husband has a diaper bag before I do, ha!
