Dallas Trip, Part 1

Last week Lane had the week off, and the five of us spent three nights in Dallas and one night in Hot Springs.  As usual, it was busy busy but lots of fun.  On our way there on Monday, we stopped in Mt. Pleasant, TX, and had lunch with Mary Katherine and her boys.  Surely it has not been almost five years since she moved back to TX...how is that possible? Though we rarely see each other or even get to talk on the phone, when we do it seems like no time has passed.  I love friendships like that.  Even though life is busy with small kids, we have kept in touch the "old-fashioned way"--through hand-written letters.  Sometimes I take paper to carpool line or sit in the back yard and write while the kids play and catch up on what's going on with us.  I love seeing a letter from her in our mailbox--they always make me smile.  Even when I just get an empty envelope from her...which happened recently.  I guess the postman got caught up on all the excitement of Mt. Pleasant.  :)  Anyway, this was a GREAT way to start off our trip!  I loved seeing her and her cute boys!

We had heard great things about Great Wolf Lodge, and we were not disappointed.  The indoor water park was a big hit with the kids--there was something for all ages!  We got there at 4:00 Monday evening, so we quickly changed and went to the park for a couple of hours before going to dinner at Cheesecake Factory.  Our hotel room had a cute cabin area with bunk beds plus one other twin bed and a TV for the kids--it was perfect.  

I didn't carry my camera around much at the water park, so I didn't get many pictures there, but they loved it.  Alexee loved the lazy river, Crosby loved these little kids' slides, and Rhett did all the big water slides several times.  Lane and I took turns going with R and staying with A & C.

The Cheesecake Factory

(took peanut butter fudge and chocolate chip cookie dough cheesecake to-go)

When we got back to the hotel, story-time was just finishing up so the kids got to meet one of the wolves.

Speaking of wolves, that's what they looked like gathered around eating this cheesecake! ha!

It seemed like the entire Dallas area was under construction.  Every street that the GPS told us to take looked like this...it was a little frustrating to try to get anywhere.

Crosby was SO good.  The third child--so easy going and just goes along with whatever he's asked to do.  He took late naps in the hotel before dinner/ballgame both Tuesday and Wednesday night.  Thursday he napped in the car.  R & A didn't do this when they were smaller.  Probably because we never gave them the opportunity because we were afraid to get out of a routine, but it is just so different with C.  He makes me crazy at restaurants, but 99.9% of the time he is just all FUN!  We went to a Rangers game on Wednesday night (post soon), and he told me he wanted to "sit on my lap and do silly fangs", which is "silly things" in his cute, three year old, southern voice.  :)

napping sweetly in the bunk bed w/teddy bear and football

This giant bucket dumped a massive amount of water every few minutes--they loved watching it.  Rhett liked going under it, too, but Alexee and Crosby were a little afraid of being near it when the alarm went off.

Tuesday night we went to Abuelo's for Mexican food...

...And got back in time for the kids to change into PJs and go to story time in the lobby where they met another wolf.

On Wednesday, Alexee and I had lunch reservations at the American Girl Bistro.  Lane and the boys dropped us off and then went to the mall next door.  We had so much fun looking around at all the doll stuff and eating lunch together.  

She ordered salad as her appetizer and mac & cheese (which she did not eat because it was "too cheesy") as her entree.  She loved how the waitress gave us booster seats for the dolls and brought them miniature glasses of pink lemonade.

She stood by Marie Grace (and her dog Argos) and then by Kaya, which is the doll that Jaiden has.  I thought it was sweet of her because she wanted to show Jaiden the pictures and she said, "I wish I could buy all this stuff for Jaiden--she'd like it!"

Grazing near our hotel:

More posts coming soon...