First Night in Austin

We made our way downtown yesterday to take advantage of some free entertainment courtesy of the city of Austin. This is the third year that they've put on the little mini-festival called First Night. We heard the Austin Ensemble Choir perform holiday songs and then two sopranos sing opera arias. After a wander around, we headed up Congress to catch the parade.

My favorite was the Austin Bike Zoo. Here are a few pictures of their very impressive animal and bug costumes.

A 10-foot high Monarch butterflyThat snake consisted of about 6 bikes connected together. The pronged tongue was a girl lying on her back on this sliding platform. The snake's mouth would open, she'd come out and kick her legs to make it look like a flicking tongue. It was awesome!

After the parade, we headed home, cleaned up and spent New Year's Eve night at Dave and Janice's party, complete with leftover sparklers from Beth & Glenn's wedding. And what better way to ring in the new year than teaching your mother-in-law how to play the drinking game Asshole? Honestly, I can't think of one. I'm sure the game will experience a revival of sorts among the 60+ crowd in London suburbia. Nothing like a little cultural exchange for the holidays. Rock on!

Poor Greg is still suffering. But I remain (mostly) unsympathetic. He was on a mission last night and now must pay his dues. For future reference, experimenting with your own vodka-gin recipes while slightly inebriated may not be the best of ideas.