Our House: 2012

Jimmy turned thirty last week. We had a great day. One of the best part about Jimmy's birthday was that he took the whole week off of work! So we decided to have a mini vacation in Dallas. Sometimes my camera gets in the way of me living in the moment, so this trip was documented with Instagram.

On the way up we went to Dinosaur Valley State Park. It was so awesome! There are life sized replicas of dinosaurs and real foot prints! The best part, though, was swimming in the river. James and Jimmy sat with their hats in the water trying to catch little fish and Brendan and I splashed around. I'd love to go back and camp, if we ever brave doing that again ;-) After drying off and changing in to dry clothes we drove another 2 hours to our hotel. We went out for burgers and then it was time for bed. That's the hardest part about sleeping away from home for us. I'm not going to lie, it was hard that first night. After 2 hours we finally got everyone to bed. Luckily it just got easier each night after.

The next day the boys woke me up early and we had cereal and watched cartoons until we woke dad up. Then it was off to the Dallas Zoo. We were expecting to only last a few hours there, but this Zoo was so fun! We lasted almost all day. James' favorite was the hila monster, Brendan's were the penguins, Jimmy's was riding the camel with James, and mine (of course) were the flamingos. Other highlights were a monorail and a carousel. It was such a great day and both boys made it without the stroller! When we got back we rested for a while and took the boys to the pool. Unfortunately the hotel doesn't heat the pool in the summer and so it was FREEZING! The boys only minded a little, but swam anyways. We had the most amazing Thai food for dinner. I would go back to Dallas just for this restaurant, it was so good. Then we had yogurt for dessert. It was a great day and bedtime only took about 45 minutes.

The next day Jimmy's step mom, her sisters, and their husbands came to Dallas from Arizona to see us and watch a soccer game Jimmy's cousin was playing. They stayed at the same hotel with us. They had taken the red eye out, so we let them sleep while we got ready and had breakfast with Aunt Denise and Uncle Darin (who had slept on the flight). After breakfast we woke everyone up to go to the Dallas World Aquarium. What a surprise this place was! It was magical. We saw birds, monkeys, giant river otters, sharks, turtles, snakes, jelly fish, all kinds of fish, bats, frogs, a jaguar, coral, crabs, sea horses, sea dragons (who don't breath fire ;), penguins, flamingos, and so much more. It was pretty crowded, but we all had a great time and went back to the hotel after lunch to get ready for the soccer game. James went with Aunt Lorraine, Uncle Dirk, and Jessica to the game and we ran some errands with Grandma Sandra before catching the second half. Jessica had to be there, but couldn't play due to a back injury. James loves watching sports, so he was in heaven. We brought our own soccer ball and Brendan played his own game on the side. We all went out for (also amazing) Chinese food afterwards and the boys fell asleep on the way back to the hotel. Bedtime took no time. =)

On Saturday Uncle Dirk had the idea to go see the Fort Worth Stock Yards. It sounded like fun, so we all loaded up and headed for Fort Worth. While it was kind of a tourist trap, it was so fun! They herded the longhorns right down the street, there was a huge maze, James rode a pony, and Grandma Sandra sat on a long horn bull. Brendan's favorite part was walking up and down the train tracks, so he and I did that for a while. The whole thing was very cute and felt very "Texas." I had been feeling guilty about making Brendan sit in high chairs so much that I requested we split up and some people go get barbecue while Jimmy, Grandma Sandra, and I take the boys to Chick-fil-a for lunch. We go to Chick-fil-a every once in a while, but Brendan was so happy to be there. He played hard! I don't think he even ate at all. We stayed for a while, and lured the boys back to the car with the promise of swimming when we got back to the hotel. We stopped at the new Dallas Cowboys Stadium to get a souvenir for Grandpa Bob. Holy Moly, that place is huge. We are not Cowboys fans here, but it was pretty neat to see. (PS they need to install changing tables in the restrooms. Lame!) I'm glad we brought life jackets, because there was no way I was getting into that pool, so they were free to swim while we watched from the side. That night we went to a great steakhouse that seemed to be a place the locals go for steak. It was delicious! We got back to the hotel and put Brendo to bed in our room and set the living room up for card playing. As a treat, we let James stay up and play Uno with us. He's getting pretty good. He plays face up, but he knows how to play and what each card means. I love that. James eventually got too tired and we all headed off to bed. Poor James woke up in the middle of the night with a raging ear ache. Jimmy went to Walgreens and got him some Tylonol, which was enough to ease his pain and let him go back to sleep. We later found out it was an ear infection so we are now on day 3 of antibiotics.

Of course, the next morning, the boys were up bright and early. Aunt Denise and Aunt Lorrain offered to take them and let us sleep a little while longer. Next thing we knew it was 11:30! Checkout was at noon! We got a later checkout time and Jimmy and I hustled to packed our things. It actually took no time at all without the boys there, so it wasn't too bad. We checked out of our hotel and headed to Grapevine to see and ride Thomas the Tank Engine. This was a trip for Bendan, for sure. He loves trains, and I wish he could remember this train ride like I will. He was so happy. It was a short ride, but everyone was tired and we needed to get Jessica back to Dallas to catch a ride back to school in Oklahoma. We drove back and went to In-N-Out where we had a long lunch and said our goodbyes. Then we were headed back to Austin.

This trip was just what we needed. It felt like the four of us bonded in a way that we hadn't before. Jimmy's family was so accommodating, so we were really able to let the kids have fun. I can't wait for many more family vacations.