Fourth of July Weekend

The boys and I weren't home even 24 hours before we hit the road again...we had just enough time to do some laundry and make a mess of the house before leaving! Dan had a four-day weekend, and we decided to spend part of that time in Dallas/Ft. Worth. We are so blessed to have kids who travel so very well!

It was great to just hang out as a complete family again, after the kids and I not seeing Dan for a couple of weeks. We had a fun weekend...did some shopping, ate at restaurants we've been missing, visited an aquarium, swam in the hotel pool, and took the kids to their first theater experience to see Cars 2! The theater we went to was in a mall, which had an ice skating rink--kind of strange, when the temps outside were well over 100 degrees! The boys even got to watch a hockey practice for a bit, which really made their day.

Dan and I thought it would be a lot of fun to take the boys to an aquarium. After looking at the options online, we chose the Dallas World Aquarium and Zoological Center. It was quite a drive from our hotel, followed by nearly an hour of waiting in line in the heat to get in...and I have to say, we were rather disappointed. It was not the wall-to-wall sea creature exhibit we were expecting, and it was oh, so crowded...we felt like cattle being prodded along on the journey! With so many people in there and being packed like sardines, it was hard to relax and enjoy the experience. The boys enjoyed it though, and we did get to see some neat creatures. Here's what we captured:

Sloth. He was fun to watch--I just wish the picture hadn't turned out so blurry!

Sharks!!!

We couldn't quite figure out what this guy was doing at an aquarium, but he was a pretty cool cat.



As we were driving into the city and found our hotel (which we booked online), we realized it wasn't in such a great area of Fort Worth. The hotel was okay, but kind of in a rundown part of town and not very close to any main attractions or shopping centers. It turned out to be a blessing in disguise, though, because the hotel was quiet, even on a holiday weekend. We went swimming, and had the pool to ourselves. I played around in the water with everyone for awhile, then decided to be paparazzi once again. ;)



As fun as vacations are, it sure was nice to get back home and sleep in our own beds again...at least for a couple of weeks. Dan's family had a reunion in the middle of July, on a remote island off the coast of North Carolina. Check back soon to read and see pictures of our time on the beach!