Not exactly your first visit, but likely the first visit you’ll remember to the Congress St./Ann Richards Bridge to see Austin’s legendary bat community. About 30 minutes after this shot, tens of thousands of bats emerged for their evening mosquito smorgasbord.

Cheers to mom for planning an impromptu Saturday night stay at the new Line hotel along Lady Bird Lake.

A bit of an unusual addition to one of the semi-regular evening programs at The Thinkery (interactive kids’ museum) was a jiu jitsu demonstration. You were a bit skeptical, but went back TWICE on this “backpack” exercise.

May and June birthdays for your buddies Mallory (Mal Mal) and Weston.

We’ve visited NYC a few times since you left your birthplace, but this visit was probably the most special. For your fifth birthday, we did it in style: Broadway, Central Park, the Empire State Building, the High Line, the fabled Manhattanhenge… check those all off. But we also got to see a lot of your/our old neighborhood haunts: Friend Of A Farmer, dad’s fave Good Stuff Diner and The Strand bookstore, and so many more. And best of all: a trip out to see your family. We hope this will be the trip you remember; it was unforgettable for us.

We kept hearing about your birthday for most of the last six months, so it was a relief for it finally to get here. With a master cake, incredible gifts (Aunt Nancy!), and Kenny Loggins, we were able to overcome a last minute rainout by inviting some of your best friends over for an impromptu party in our living room. Also in here, a visit to Mattie’s with their magnificent peacocks. And that doesn’t even include the upcoming trip to NYC (stay tuned for a later post on that). Happy birthday, kid. As our friend Allie says: “The hours are long, but the days and years are so short.”