Our Adventure in the Big D

   Two weeks ago Hubby headed off to Dallas, Texas, so after he was gone a week we followed to see him and catch some new sights:)  First of, let me tell you traveling with kiddos is always an adventure in itself, but having a toddler in the mix always throws in a little extra zip:)  We left NE Kansas around 1:30pm and only made 2 stops on the way down and got to Hubby's hotel in Irving just after 9pm - not bad! That first day we took it pretty easy (partly to recover from the trip, and part because the traffic made me nervous!).  We did venture out to the Irving Arts Center.  It was free and we especially loved roaming the outdoor sculpture garden! 

   Part of my family lives in the Dallas area, and just before we left to go down there, my cousin was killed in a tragic accident.  So, that same evening we went to the visitation and help celebrate the life of my beautiful, sweet cousin who was taken from this life way too soon.  It's always hard to see family you don't get to see often under those circumstances, but I was so glad I got to be there to give them hugs and love on them a little.
   The next day the cold snap hit, and we headed to the indoors for our activities and drove to Downtown Dallas for the aquarium.  Let me tell you, it was well worth the trip!  This thing was awesome, not just an aquarium, but something like a zoo contained within a building.  They had you walk in at the canopy level of the rainforest and work your way down.

In the canopy looking down on the shark tank

Ok, so maybe rainforests don't have sharks in the waters below, but a really cool place nonetheless!  I don't know how many times Bubby said "I saw that on Jeff Corwin (Animal Planet)"  but it happened pretty frequently:) 

Shorty's favorite: pengies!

  We even hit the shark tank area just before feeding time - awesome!  Nothing like sitting under the water watching fish chunks fall down around you and the thrill of large fish swimming after them;)
  Since we were downtown, we wandered over to see Hubby at his work and not too far from that was McKinney Avenue where trolleys take their passengers around for free.  Well, we couldn't pass that up, so we jumped on at the main station, road to the end of the line and back!

   The next day Hubby got off work early and we all traveled southwest of the city to Dinosaur Valley State park where you can see actual dinosaur tracks.  I was a little wary since it was almost an hour and a half from our hotel, and didn't want it to be anticlimactic, but we took a chance and boy was it worth the trip! 

The kids at the Blue Hole

The first track spot only had a couple of tracks, but the beautiful clear water in the swimming hole was worth the short trek to the water!  The water was cool, but the air much warmer than the previous day!
  

Of course, Bubby, our dino lover was in high heaven:)  Mookie met some new friends while wading in the water.  And Shorty, well, let's just say his diaper weighed a TON after all of his water playtime!

Shorty and Mommy in the water

It was hard to drag ourselves away from this place.  We've all vowed to return and stay longer!
  The next day we spent an absolutely wonderful afternoon with my great-aunt and uncle and my cousins.  They are such a blessing to us all.  The kids were so excited about our Texas trip 1) to see dad and 2) to see our family!  My grandma if she were alive would be so thrilled that her great-grands love her family as much as she did.
  Our last day we went to church in Irving.  How did we choose out of all the churches around us.  Well, total weird luck.  I knew that the lead singer for Mookie's favorite band (and mine), Addison Road, was a worship leader in the Dallas area and had said during a concert we had been to that she loved her church because of its good Bible teaching.  So out of pure curiosity, I looked it up.  Turns out it was less than 10 minutes from our hotel.  So, we tried it, under some heavy teasing from Hubby for how I came at our decision:)  Service was great.  And while the original reason to look the church up wasn't there, we were thrilled to have been there for our Sunday morning worship!  
  Hubby had seen that the National Boy Scout museum was only 5 minutes from the hotel, so later that afternoon Bubby got to learn even more about Scouting history.  He loves being a Boy Scout and wants to be an Eagle someday like his Ducky!

  It was a wonderful, tiring trip.  We are so glad we were able to make it, but so glad we are home and settled in:)