June: Dallas VACATION!

Last fall I suggested Dallas/Fort Worth for our vacation destination.  Mike had never been there before, so he was game.  There's a lot of history to explore there.  There was also a LOT of family of mine there.  We stayed at my cousins' house (Matt & Joy).  Joy has the blog "We Three Smiths Plus One" that I follow.  Her boys are 5 & 3.  I had never met them, but since we've been following each other's blogs since 2005, I felt like I knew them.  On our way to Dallas, Mike, who had only met Matt & Joy at our wedding, asked me again which one was my cousin.  Matt is my cousin & Joy is his wife.  I had only met Joy at 3 weddings (hers, mine & another family wedding) since 1997.  We had the best time.  The boys (ours & theirs) were instant friends.  Like within seconds.  They played and played and played every morning.  I think Evan would have been content to only stay at their house and play for an entire week.  Mike & I talked and talked with Matt & Joy.  It was so much fun.  It's one of those times when you wish Texas wasn't so far away from Indiana.  I truly wish we were neighbors.  My cousin, Matt, said, "You know, at the end of it all, what do you have left?  Family."  So true.

 Here is Ryder.  He will be 6 in September.  He's a lover.  He would kiss and rub Reid's head and tell him what a good boy he was.  He was so very gracious with his toys.  I was impressed; many kids his age are possessive, and he was not.  He cried when we left because he had such a nice time with us taking over his room, his bathroom & his toys.  ;)

This is Rustin.  He is the type of 3 year old that will make your heart melt.  He is so sweet.  He loves action figures no matter if they're marketed for boys or girls.  The girls are "so very beautiful" so he plays with them too.  He was so happy to play with everyone.  Hearing him say, "Miss Amber," was seriously the cutest thing.


We left home on Thursday, June 6 at 4 am.  We thought getting through traffic/construction in the early morning while the boys slept for another hour or two would be a good idea.  It was.  We ran into a little snag of traffic outside of Little Rock (90 minutes worth - ugh).  We planned on making the trip in 2 days, but were able to make it in 1.  We showed up at my cousin's at around 9 pm. The boys did great.  Reid gave up on the last 25 minutes of the drive, but for being in a car seat all day, not bad.

We went to downtown Dallas to visit the Sixth Floor Book Depository & the site of the JFK shooting.  I had been before, but Mike & the boys had not.  It was still fascinating...not quite for Reid.  He was a trooper though.

We went to my cousin Kristie's house to swim.  Evan loved that too!  It was great to see so many of my cousins and meet their kids.  (I didn't manage to take many pictures that day.)

Mike & I went out to eat with my cousins in Fort Worth one night.  It was so fun.  We sat around and talked a lot.  I'm always amazed at Mike.  He is so very social.  I am too, but he'd only met my cousins once (and some of them not at all) and he chatted all night long and had a great time.  Joy brought her good camera and took this shot of us; she has quite a gift with photography.  I wish she could be on both sides of the camera!

We went to the George W. Bush Presidential Library while in Dallas as well.  My mom and dad came down to Dallas & stayed with my dad's brother, my Uncle Greg & Aunt Pam.  Mom & Dad, and Matt, Joy & their kids went with us to the library.  It was really cool.  It was super-crowded though.  Evan picked out a book and read the whole thing to Mimi (my mom).  Reid, once again, did well.

We also went to the Texas Rangers game.  Matt got us some sweet seats and the Rangers won!  Evan loves the Rangers two-fold.  We've been talking about going to the game and he was also a Ranger in his baseball league this year.  I also included the "Don't Mess with Texas" trash can because it's so well-known.  It was at the BallPark, so I included it here.

I visited my Grandma while I was in Texas too.  I hadn't seen her since 2005 at our wedding.  She is going to be 93 next Saturday, and she is doing well.  She gets around just fine, and was able to chat about her experiences overseas in Patton's 3rd Army where she was a surgical nurse.  The boys hadn't met her, and they did so well in her small apartment for over an hour.

On the last night, we went to see my Uncle Steve.  My Aunt Tara was out of town, so I didn't get to see her. Luckily, we'll get a chance next month when they come our way.  He took us to a barbecue . . . meaning it takes all day to cook the meat.  It was awesome.  It was also right next to the Fort Worth Stockyards.  Anything you stereotypically think of Texas comes to life at the Stockyards.  It was so fun.  Evan said it was one of the best things we did.  Before we left Uncle Steve's house, he gave Evan some "magic" walnuts.  They had $2. in 2 of them and a quarter in the other 2.  Evan thought that was amazing.

We had a wonderful vacation in Texas.  We didn't make it to San Antonio like we had planned, but we'll make it back some day.  They're not kidding when they say, "The great state of Texas!"