The Dallas Arboretum--Dollar Days

In the month of August, the Dallas Arboretum does dollar days.  (Because it's so darn hot in Texas that they need to give an incentive for people to be out in the heat!)  The weather had been a little cooler, so we gave it a go.  What would have cost us around $77 ended up being $11.  Not bad!

It did end up being a little hotter than we were anticipating, but luckily they had these misters going everywhere.

It's been a few years since we've been, so this was our first time checking out the children's area.  It was awesome!

Pulling out the sword

And this is where the homeschooling mama got excited... we had just finished "sun" week.  Only it was cloudy/rainy/overcast the whole week--which is odd for Texas!  We were suppose to make a sundial, but there was no sun.  So we had to skip some of the activities. Then we came and there was a sundial on the ground!!  Can you tell what time it was?

And then she got to see the size of the sun compared to the planets.  Learning coming to life!

Our next week was going to be about the moon, so I made her take a picture by the moon phases.  I can't help it.  I was excited! :)

Hopscotch!

Do you watch Lion Guard?  I might have told her those were Rafiki's paintings. ;)

It was hot, so I just let them get wet in their clothes.

There's a big tree house that they played in

Then Michael took them down to the bottom while I stayed with the stroller.

We stopped to rest at one of the misters, and I found a little caterpillar.  Olivia let it crawl on her hand, and she as so excited about it.

We ended up leaving after just a few hours because of the heat.  But both Micheal and I thought it was a really neat place.  We didn't even get to the regular arboretum!  We are putting a membership on our Christmas list, for sure!

Gulf Shores, Day 3

Sunday was our last day.  We had a slow start.

I'm pretty sure I was still sleeping when this picture was taken. Logan and Grandpa were playing dominoes.

Olivia was loving all of the games we played.  She learned how to play UNO, two ways to play dominoes, and yahtzee.  All firsts for her!

We ate lunch, and then headed to the beach again!

This time we went to a public beach.  It was busier, but not too bad.

It was a little overcast, which was actually nice because of our sunburns. The sun beating down on them was painful.

I took less pictures on this day, because both kids were in the ocean swimming more.  So that meant I could go in and swim with them.

We spent about 3 hours again, and then headed home to clean up and eat.

Olivia found some colored pencils and spent a lot of her time drawing everyone pictures.

The Justice League!

We told her we'd teach her turkey tracks, and she couldn't wait!

Overall it was a great vacation! The kids had a blast, and it was pretty chill and stress free for Michael and I.  Which is just what we needed!

We headed home on Monday.  It was a short trip, but that's what worked with our schedule.

We stopped for lunch at this place in Mississippi called Barry's (I think?).  It was kind of a last minute turn in here kind of thing.

Those are the 10 commandments there.  The sign above the door says, "In this house we serve the Lord.  Don't be surprised if you feel His presence here."  You don't see that every day!  The place was HUGE.  It was a buffet... which was also a first for the kiddos. :)  There were TV's everywhere that were showing Christian music videos like Kari Jobe and Michael W Smith. That as a first for me! :)

She filled her plate with fried chicken and hush puppies (which she loves), jello, raisins, and mac and cheese. Then she found out there was dessert and she got to choose what she wanted out of a whole display--heaven y'all!

Our last stop of the trip was for some chicken nuggets and Burger King.... where they got their first crowns. :)

Gulf Shores, Day 2

Even though we used sunscreen, we all ended up with burns.  Thankfully, the kids only had it around their eyes.  (Who puts sunscreen on eyes?)  And Olivia had a little on the side of her face.  But Michael and I got it pretty bad.  In fact, my chest is still burned, and my back is peeling worse than I think it ever has.  So on the second day, we opted to take a break from the beach/sun and do other fun things.

There is a train museum that is FREE to the public. We knew Logan would love it, but it was actually pretty neat for everyone.

They got to push the button and make Thomas blow his whistle.

There were so many details to look at!

Logan was ringing the bell.

All Aboard!!!

We waited a little extra for the rain to stop and the little train ride to show up.  It was also free, and it was the longest (little) train ride I've ever been on.  We got to drive all around the area.  The kids loved it!

We left the train museum and headed to Lambert's for lunch!

Lambert's is home of the throwed roll.  The literally throw the rolls at you!  There is a Lambert's in the Ozarks near where I went to college.  So my family is familiar with it.  This location is the original one, though.  And of course, the kids had never been.  Olivia decided to try shrimp on this trip, and loved it.  She had it for three meals! (another first!).  She also tried fried okra twice.  The first time she thought she liked it, but by the second time she was not so sure anymore.

After lunch we headed home to relax.  My dad and Judy live in a retirement community where it is nice and quiet.  They have a large screened in porch that we sat out on and played games.  They also have a dog that the kids could not get enough of!  Olivia even got to walk him once.  She was very proud! (another first!)

You can't tell from this picture, but Grandpa set up the hammock for them.  It was their first time even seeing a hammock, much less swinging in one.  They weren't so sure what to think, but they enjoyed it.

Logan took advantage of us playing games, and took over Olivia's kindle.  He almost never gets to play with his, so he was pretty pleased.  He talked Grandma into helping him out.

We went out for pizza.  Olivia was being silly, and my dad decided to copy her.  This picture is great!

Crazy kid!

Olivia asked to see the pictures of herself.  Then she took one of us.  Not bad for her first time ever taking a picture with a phone!

I didn't grow up going on too many beach vacations (we went once that I can remember!).  But Michael did, and he said the one thing they always did was go karts and mini golf.  Touristy places always have those in plenty.  We had driven by multiple ones, and he really want to do this triple level track that he saw.

So we took the kids on their first ever go kart ride!

Logan and I were the last ones to get in a kart before we started, so I took our picture after the ride.  Which is why we look like a wind blown mess.  He was just barely tall enough to be a passenger.  I was nervous, so I drove with one hand and kept my hand on his leg for the entire ride! :)  He loved it at first, and then about half way through he told me to stop the car.  Sorry, kid.  No can do.  But I think he had a blast.

I don't know if you can even call what we did mini golf.  Really, we just knocked the balls around like crazies.  It got really humid, and we were all hot, tired, and sweaty. We didn't even make it the entire 18 holes before mommy called it a game.

Logan tried for a hole or two, and then he figured out that he could just pick up his ball and drop it in the hole.  And that was their first mini golf experience.  It was home to bed from there!

Gulf Shores, Day 1

Yikes!  I'm about a month behind on posts.  It's been a busy month, too!  (Which is why there haven't been many posts.)  I'll go back and share what we missed, but before I do that I'm going to share our latest vacation pictures.

I had been saying to Michael for a few months that we needed to plan a vacation for either September or October.  We aren't going anywhere for the holidays, and it's been months since our last trip.  I just needed something to look forward to.  To take a break for our every day grind.  Even if it meant something simple like another Texas city.  Well, my dad recently retired by the Gulf Shores of Alabama.  It had been a while since we've seen him and Judy, so we made a sort of impromptu trip.

The trip was full of FIRSTS for our kiddos!

The drive down took a little longer than we were anticipating.  It's suppose to be around 10 hours (stops not included), and it ended up taking us about 13.  We just don't have fast kids when it comes to eating and stopping.  Last time Logan puked an hour into the trip, and this time Olivia puked 2 hours in.  We will not be making any more road trips without the purchase of sea bands or SOMETHING for motion sickness.  They get it from me.  But when I was a kid there were no car seats.  So I just laid down on the seat in the mini van whenever I started feeling icky.  Poor kids.

So we got there late Thursday night.  They were pretty excited!  It was their first time in Alabama, their first time staying at Grandpa's house, and their first time sleeping on a couch that turned into a bed.  They didn't even know that existed, and could not wait to see how that would even work. :)

The kids could not wait to get to the beach.  We headed there Friday morning as soon as we could get there.

This was their FIRST time to the ocean!

They were looking forward to it for weeks.  It was so fun to see them experience it.

Logan's favorite was building in the sand.  He was also pretty fearless when it came to the water.  He loved the waves knocking into him.

Olivia ran into the ocean right away.  The waves were pretty strong that first day, and she got knocked down pretty quickly.  She was much more reserved in the water for a while.  We had to force her to go out with Michael.  She wouldn't let go until she saw Logan insisting on doing it himself.  That gave her the courage she needed to go independently.  By the end of the trip she was swimming all over.  Her favorite was finding shells.

So excited!

I wish they would have left their hats and sunglasses on!

My dad, Michael, and Logan swimming

We went to a state park, so the crowds were minimal.  Which was perfect for our first time.

Cutie!

We stayed about 3 hours, which was the perfect amount for us.  We headed to a late lunch, and then home to get cleaned up.  We had a low key afternoon, and then went to LuLu's for dinner.  We were all in bed early--including Michael and I.  The beach will do that to you.