Dallas - Day 9 (Heading Home)

Back in the car...another 13 hour trip.  Oh well, we had a blast.  Conference is in Minneapolis next year...Little further, but I think this crew can make it.  Oh well, we'll think about that later.  Upon returning home found that our AC needed replaced at the house.  

We did get to stop on the way home at a Pizza Inn, and I treated my family to the best dessert pizzas you can get.  Glad to be home, and love for all these sweet guys to be with me when I travel.  

Dallas - Day 8 (Fort Worth Zoo)

We had a choice today to go to the Dallas zoo or the Fort Worth zoo.  Sam did most of the pre-planning for us, finding reviews and prices of things, and he recommended Fort Worth.  So did everyone else it seemed we talked to, so off we went.  This was really one of the best zoos for unique ways to have the exhibits.  I was really impressed, and with Pizza Hut and Burger King choices for food, that was nice also.  

We love the rhinos, but didn't capture any peeing on this trip.  But look at Mom's hair.  It is so big in this rhino picture.  :)

The weather was perfect.  Earlier in the week, it was 101 degrees, so we were dreading the zoo day.  But this day was cloudy and never got over about 80 degrees.  We will enjoyed playing in the mists.  The Fort Worth zoo had three baby elephants, and we got to see each of them.  One is named Belle.

One portion of the zoo looks like a city in the Wild West.  Neat area with a candy store, and older museum of Texas artifacts, and a fun Wells Fargo carriage.  Belle practiced her wave as she told Magan and me that she was a "carriage girl".  Apparently "carriage girls" are very similar to princesses, and have a cute little wave for all they pass by.  

We took a picture of Sam with two bears to show Granddaddy that we get pictures of them too on our vacation.  I guess Sam skipped the long line to pet the crabs and starfish, but Belle and Davis enjoyed it.

Sam got him a new hat, and it is 100% Sam, and we both new it when he found it.  I did not hesitate to add that to my bill.  Davis got a turtle, and Belle a pink giraffe.  I got Magan a magnet, but we have not yet found it so if you see one from the Ft. Worth Zoo, it is ours.

My girly with Curlies riding on my shoulders.  It's really no fair that she knows how much power she was with those smiles...I told her how much I loved her and she one upped me...She said she loved me to the "moon and stars, da whole wor-rold".  And she says it so cute right now.

So we finished the zoo and finished our day at Maccaroni Grill...where it appears Magan was playing with our new camera a bit.  Our day ended as it did many nights on this vacation.  Watching an episode of Full House together before bed.  :)

Dallas - Day 7 (Legoland)

I only had meetings till noon on this day, so we quickly made our way over to Legoland after lunch.  Legoland Discovery Center is at a mall similar to Opry Mills in Nashville (HUGE mall).  These places are always packed, so Magan just went out and shopped with Ruby, while I took care of the others.  I think Sam and Davis' favorite is always building cars and running them down the race tracks with others.

The Lego MiniLands are always neat, and the star wars one was also cool.  I liked getting a picture of Rangers Stadium, Cowboys Stadium, and the Texas book depository.

This one had three rides (One driving a police car...Belle was holding up everyone...), a Merlin merry go round which had a huge line, but we made it through, then a really fun shooter game where everyone could shoot at the evil lego skeletons and trolls that stole the princess.  Sam rode that one twice.

Belle initially acted nervous about the Karaoke machine...especially because we couldn't select any frozen songs, and the current song selected was ABBA's dancing queen...so I told her to just sing "Let it go" anyway, and she did.  It was beautiful.  :)  Love my little princess.

We watched a 4D Lego Chima movie, which was not very good.  But they spray water on you, and the kids like that.  

After meeting Dirk Nowitski on the way out of the Lego store, we went to the Rain Forest Cafe for dinner.  And guess what was on the kids menus...Coupons for FREE entry into Legoland.  ARGHHH!!!  Anyway, they had someone there making balloon animals which was a hit.  Belle got a butterfly, Sam got a dragon, and Davis got a Parrot.  Food was really good, but it is just a good atmosphere for kids in this restaurant.

After dinner, we headed to the Disney Store, and little Ruby just had to have a Dumbo.  But then Magan tricked me into thinking this was the only place we were shopping, then we ended up doing school shoe shopping at the Nike store...torture.  Oh well, we finally made it out.  Got the kids some Nerds Candy slushies from sonic...and back to the hotel.  One more day in Dallas.