FORT WORTH ZOO

There are zoos in both Dallas and Fort Worth, but a little internet sleuthing unraveled Fort Worth's as bigger and nicer (and privately funded), so after pancakes at Jay's favorite guilty travel pleasure (IHOP), we scooted westward and arrived just before it opened (plenty of time to apply sunscreen and hit the bathrooms before trekking to the far end of the zoo to avoid the crowds at the gates). Before the day even started, we'd decided to cut out at least one of our planned outings (the very expensive Perot Museum of Nature and Science - we'll do it another time) in favor of a little more down time (swimming at the hotel pool) and less rushing around the cities, which made everyone happy (and was probably better for my knee)!

 There were MULTIPLE flamingo exhibits!

They loved feeding the parakeets so much that we did it 3 times in a row, then went back again near the end of the day. (It was definitely a better experience first thing in the morning as their first visitors because they were HUNGRY little things!)

Is he not just the most handsome dude?! And Cora is going through a phase where clips and bows are generally vetoed. We may even be nearing our end with them. (I made the "mistake" of remarking out loud a couple weeks ago how much older she looked with her hair down and now she just wants to look older. Of course, Southern girls wear bows through high school, so the chances of her dropping them for good are probably pretty small at this point. Her choice though!)

 The zoo had brass statues of EVERYTHING. And the kids wanted their photos with ALL OF THEM. Together. Then solo. Then with silly faces. I'll spare you the vast majority...

 Near the end of our visit (we stayed for 3.5 hours!), she plopped down on a bench, closed her eyes, and said dramatically "Can't we just rest in peace for a minute?!" Daddy is a sucker and carried her on his shoulders for a bit after that well played scene.

DEEP ELLUM BREWING CO.

We started off our "surprise" Texas mini vacation after a morning at work. We hadn't told the kids we were even leaving town (easy enough to sneak suitcases into the back of the van without them knowing, since we didn't need any camping gear this time), let alone where we were going, so it was pretty fun having them guess the whole way there and then STILL not know what we were up to once we arrived! Since it takes about 6 hours to get to Dallas, we arrived just in time for dinner. What better place to kick off a vacation than a brewery?! (They tend have some of the best food anyway, in our opinion.) We had done our research and decided that Deep Ellum Brewing Company would be a great kid friendly, outdoor (we had beautiful weather) brewery to start with.

LIPS AND HIPS

Before production number rehearsal started tonight, one of the older girls was trying to quiet the combo and preballet dancers waiting in the hall. I heard her sternly tell them "lips and hips", and turned around to see a few of the girls half-following the directions (apparently they're supposed to put a finger to their closed and quiet lips and a hand on their hip, so that they're no longer talking or touching anyone else), James making faces at me, and a few more kids still running up and down the back hallway...

FIELD DAY 2017

I was unable to attend Field Day this year (meetings all morning and PT after lunch), but I grabbed a picture of the kids in their Field Day shirts (each class had their own color) before school. MAY THE FUN BE WITH YOU:

I found a photo of James' class posted on the school's parents group on Facebook:

James said he liked the water relay (a sponge race) best, but he had fun in all his events (and won one of them):

 Cora told me that she'll get her ribbons tomorrow, and that she LOVED her field day, but she was hot and sweaty and tired (and it took some convincing to get her to dance class this afternoon). Here is a shot I found of her class ready for action!

5TH TOOTH

James earned some gold for his 5th lost tooth last night!

PRE-DINNER SHOW

The kids set up the living room for a show complete with pretend mic stands and Cora's boombox, tickets and pretend dollars to purchase them, show brochures and costumes. It was highly entertaining and I can't wait for them to do it again!

 (Yes, he's learning to do the splits)

BRAID WAVES

Before (with a bit of attitude to go along with the shirt, just for fun):

And after - ready for school:

 And off to school, showing off their "Go Foods" bracelets:

EASTER EGGS 2017

We have a secret (to the kids) trip planned for this weekend, so we needed to dye Easter eggs ahead of the holiday. I thought it would be fun to do it while Gramma was still here, and she had the brilliant idea to use regular food coloring (the colors ended up being so much prettier!), so after dinner they got to work (in their Christmas and Halloween pajamas).

ZY AND THE BOYS

 Best buds with Buster, but held hostage by Cannon...

LAST DAY WITH 13 CHICKS

 Mike and Hayden came to pick up their 5 Barred Rock girls today, so I snapped one last photo of the 13 of them all together before they left. Still no hint of any males in the bunch... (yay!)

PRICE CRAWFISH BOIL 2017

When invited to a crawfish boil, if you've ever lived in Louisiana and your hosts are FROM Louisiana, you drop all other plans and head for the mudbugs. The 68 lbs of spicy, delish little creatures didn't disappoint! Pineapple made an appearance in the second batch again this year, and asparagus was tested (since brussel sprouts were unavailable). There were potatoes and corn on the cob and onions and garlic and mushrooms. More than enough to go around and plenty of beer. We were proud of Jean for holding her own and elbowing up to the table (even though the mushrooms were a bit hot for her - the veggies tend to hold the heat more than the crawfish do). Fun evening that lasted late enough we had to give up on party #2 and head home to bed!