Dallas Here We Come

I know we haven't even been back from the beach for a week, but we are already heading out on another family road trip! David needed to attend an annual work conference at the corporate headquarters in Dallas, and the kids and I didn't want to be left behind in Memphis, so we decided to take the whole family! It's only about an 8 hour trip, and luckily we'd just survived two of those! Friday morning we loaded up the car and headed out about 7:30. The trusty GPS told us we'd be arriving at 2:30, and with stops we made it about 4:30, so we considered it a success! Unbelievably, our visit in Texas was more relaxing that the beach trip - a lot less work staying in the hotel and visiting friends than trucking everything down to the beach every day!!

Welcome to Dallas - Hello Traffic!!

We stayed at the same hotel in Addison we spent a week at last year when David first started his job, and it was wonderful to be on this side of it! We love Homewood Suites, because the rooms are big enough to give us all a little separation for sleeping, and we love the breakfasts every morning. Plus, this particular one is only a couple of miles from my brother's office.

We spent Friday evening hanging out with Uncle Rob, and then headed for Grapevine Mills Mall on Saturday morning. The kids absolutely love riding the rides at the mall!

Open Wide!

Grayson and the Rainforest Cafe Elephant

Saturday night we had a great reunion with old friends! We headed to Ft. Worth where Erin hosted us for dinner and Melissa joined us from Abilene. So much fun catching up!

This time we had three little friends join the party!

Addy and Emme Clare were born only 1 week apart!

Grayson and Addy loved hanging out with Emme!

Almost 10 Years of Friendship!

Melissa, Erin, and Me

Sunday we decided to head to the Galleria since it was only a couple miles down the road. Not only did the kids enjoy watching the ice skaters, but they have an awesome kids play area on the third floor!! There were all sorts of larger than life soft rubber animals to climb and play on. I didn't think we would ever get them out of there - Ha!

The camel

The zebra

The giant rocks/glacier?

The crocodile

I just had to post this due to Grayson's face!!

The boa constrictor

For lunch we headed to IN-N-OUT Texas!  Love this place!! It's been in the Dallas area for around a year now, and my brother had never been. There are probably a dozen locations by this time. The whole family were fans.

Since Macaroni Grill was practically within walking distance from the hotel, and both kids LOVE spaghetti we headed there for dinner. Showing off their spaghetti smiles...

On Monday, I had the treat of reuniting with the dear family I lived with the summer I did an internship in Dallas! I love them just like real family even though we don't get to see each other face-to-face very often any more! Luckily David's gets us back there every once in a while! We didn't have a car, so sweet Judy came and got us and helped get the kiddos car seats in her car. She took us to lunch and then back to her house for napping and relaxation somewhere other than our hotel room. We got to catch up while the kids were napping, and then she and Charles slipped into the roles of "Mimi" and "Papa" and fed and watched the kids for us while David and I went to a work banquet downtown. So nice!!

I cannot even believe this is the only picture we took of us dressed up and kid free, but here you go! Darn you back-lighting!!

On Tuesday the fun just continued, because my longest college friend and roommate, Kari, drove up from Waco to spend the day with us! The kids loved her, and she and I got to catch up while the kids napped. I'm SO thankful for all the wonderful friends God has put in my life over the years!! We got home safe and sound Wednesday night after a great trip!

Kari and Addy

Grayson and Uncle Rob caught right in the middle of a game of "catch the box!"

Me and Kari