OUR TEXAS VACATION!

 
  Life has been extra exciting lately - Nathan accepted a new job position and will be starting next week! So, we decided to take a little weekend trip with the family I'm not going to call it relaxing, but it was fun.

We drove down to Dallas and stopped to picnic on the way.


Our first stop in Dallas was the Arboretum. It was the #1 rated attraction on Trip Advisor. It was really beautiful, just hot! The best part was the temporary exhibit, these glass sculptures that were created specifically to display there. They will have this exhibit until November and I would highly recommend a visit if you are in the area.

the girls loved running through the grass! I don't blame them, do you? I told Nathan he needs to make our yard look like this, ha!

After the gardens we went back to the hotel, which was wonderful. We changed then went to eat at IHOP. The girls devoured everything so we had to order more food, which they also devoured! I don't think that's ever happened before.

We went down to the swimming pool and had it to ourselves for a while. The girls loved swimming in the pool but mostly playing in the hot tub!
 








In the morning we ate breakfast then went to the butterfly gardens. It's really hard to see the butterflies in the pictures but rest assured they were everywhere. It was neat.

Then we went downtown and rode the vintage streetcar. Again, neat but hot!

Afterwards we shopped at the galleria, played there, then went back to the hotel to swim some more. This time it was crowded but of course the girls made some friends with people there. At one point Emory asked this big burly man "are you a boy?" which he & his family found hilarious.

The next morning was my pick - IKEA. It was lots of fun, just crazy busy. We shopped for a while with everyone then we were able to put all but Emory in the childcare where they got to play. We got a really cool surprise for the kids too. I'll just leave you in suspense on that.

We stopped and ate on the way home and made it just in time to see the Saline County Fireworks that were rescheduled from 4th of July! The girls liked it much better this year, though Avery was shaking and hiding her face for a while. They still ask if we are going to eat watermelon and watch with Andy & Liz like we did when they were 1, I think. They hated those fireworks but I think they are finally over the trauma, ha!

When we got home my brother and sis in law were still there to greet us. They drove up the week before from New Orleans and ended up staying a whole week because they didn't have power. It was good to see them again before they left Monday morn.

Monday we relaxed then that evening got together with friends. All in all a nice, fun long weekend and some good memories!