Hook 'Em Horns?

 This all happened too fast.

We took my big boy on his first college visit.😳

The University of Texas was our first up for college tours. Zeke was only allowed to bring three guests, so Eli stayed home with a friend. It was weird without him. 

Sunday afternoon we met Rosalyn, Grace and Roger at the biggest laser tag arena in Texas, Blaze.

We topped off cousin time with some ice cream.

Next up was bat watching at Congress Avenue Bridge. We waited on a little grassy hill called Statesman Bat Observation Center.

We waited patiently for sundown, when the Mexican Free-tailed bats come out of the bridge for their nightly hunt of insects.

The bridge was renovated in 1980. Apparently it is an ideal bat cave, because they soon set up shop. The bats migrate from central Mexico each spring; we were a few weeks early to catch the big show. At the end of the season there are roughly 1.5 million bats who call Congress Avenue Bridge home. By peak season, the bats eat anywhere from 10,000 to 30,000 pounds of insects nightly.

Most of the bats in Austin are females. They each give birth to one pup, which they are able to find and identify as their own amongst thousands. The mommies nurse them until about 5 weeks, when the babies are able to fly and hunt insects on their own. It will take me about 18 years before my baby is ready to fly and hunt on his own.

The bridge crosses Lady Bird Lake, and has a beautiful trail along it.

At the end of Congress Avenue lies the Texas State Capitol building. Completed in 1888, it is the 6th tallest capital building in the US, proudly standing 302.64 feet.

Our hotel was within walking distance to the university, so after we checked in we walked around so we knew where we were going in the morning. I was allowed (by Zeke) to take a picture because it was Sunday night and no one else was on campus.

The University of Texas first opened in 1883, where the Tower is now located. The UT Tower is 5 feet taller than the State Capitol. Constructed in 1937, it has been and is still today one of the most recognized landmarks of UT.

This interesting art piece of canoes is called Monochrome for Austin.

The campus nickname is 40 Acres due to its original size. It has grown to over 430 acres and 52,000 students call it home away from home.

Dad was pretty proud to show his boy around his alma mater.

Even though there were not many students around, they had had enough photos, as is apparent in Daisy's face.

The next day, during the actual tour, I barely took any pics. I mean, how utterly embarrassing that would be. 😫

That's the capitol in the distance.

Our tour guide suggested she take photos for families here in front of the tower. You know I took her up on it!

I found some poppies at Littlefield Fountain on our way out.

Hook 'em, Horns! Or not. We will know in several months where our Zekers will decide to spread his wings. What I know for now is that this is going to be hard to send him away.

[March 5-6]