A Trip to the Dallas Zoo - Grayson's First Zoo Experience

Now that I'm semi-back to blogging, I'm basically just going through my photos from the last few months and easing myself back in by doing posts on that stuff. Should be super exciting. You're welcome.

So today let's chat about Grayson's first trip to the zoo. Since we live approximately 30 minutes-ish north of Dallas, we could really either hit up the Dallas zoo which is like a 45 minute drive, or head over to the Fort Worth zoo, which is supposedly quite amazing (we've never been) but would take a little over an hour. Not a big difference, but we feel like "Dallas" people, so we went with that.

The husband took off work one Friday in April so we could have a whole day of fun. First we had lunch at Mia's Tex-Mex in Dallas (a Mexican place, imagine that) and then we were off to the zoo. For some reason, I'm guessing because the weather was absolutely gorgeous, the zoo was PACKED. Like, we had to park in overflow parking and walk a mile to get to the gates. Once we got in it actually didn't seem too crazy crowded, so I'm not sure where all the people belonging to the cars were hiding.

We weren't totally sure how Grayson would react. He's a huge fan of Addie, obviously, and he had started paying attention to the bunnies in our yard and the ducks at the pond in our neighborhood, but we thought he might still be a little young. But he actually really seemed to love it! I think in a few months he would "get" it a little more, but for the most part he seemed to have a lot of fun.

I won't lie, I think the most exciting part of the trip for him was the fact that he got to try his first little bit of ice cream. He couldn't get enough!

Overall it was a super fun day for all of us. All of these experiences are so much more fun when you're seeing things through your kid's eyes. A and I took his nephews to the same zoo a couple of years ago and I remember being incredibly hot and sweaty and having a little fun but mostly wondering what all the fuss was about the zoo. But this time I swear it was like my first time at the zoo ever, I had such a blast. Your own child just seems to make everything so much more exciting...

So now, feast your eyes on one billion zoo photos. Again, you're welcome ;)

 

Holiday Fun With a Little One

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I'm always looking for fun stuff to do as a family, but since Grayson is still such a little guy it's hard to think of things that I think he might actually enjoy...and by enjoy, I mean tolerate without becoming incredibly bored and getting super fidgety and agitated. Every once in awhile I come up with something good, and I'm actually really excited about what we've got planned for Friday evening. 

Reliant Energy is hosting the first-annual Reliant Lights Your Holidays celebration this Friday at the AT&T Performing Arts Center in Dallas. It actually sounds like it will be perfect for us, because everything starts at 5 PM, and I'm thinking we'll be able to make it home before it's too far past G's bedtime. Isn't it insane how differently you plan things once you have a kid? Used to my Friday nights didn't even get started until around 10:30 or so...now, if we're home after 10:30 it's like the world is coming to an end. Good thing he's so cute, or I might be upset about it.

Actually...if we're being honest, I'm usually ready for bed myself way before then...I just use him as my excuse for being lame and lazy.

Anyway, I'm super excited about everything that will be going on Friday. There's going to be a winter play area for the kiddos with SNOW,  Christmas carols by Dallas Theater Center's cast of A Christmas Carol , food trucks (this is what got Arsen on board), free photos with Santa, animals from the Dallas Zoo, a performance by country star Jack Ingram, fireworks, and the lighting of 250,000 energy-efficient LED holiday lights in and around the AT&T Center!

Seriously, how fun does this sound? There's even more stuff that will be going on, but I felt like my sentence was getting a little too long ;) Just take my word for it...if you're in the Dallas area, you should definitely come out! Plus, then you might see me and we could meet in real life and that would be tons of fun, right!?

So that's where we shall be this Friday. I'm so glad I'm going to be able to cross off so many of my Christmas themed activities in one night: photos with santa, Christmas carols, Christmas lights. Win-win right there! And with a baby, the more you can jam into one quick activity rather than dragging it out into several, the better off you are. Or at least that seems to be the case with our little one. His tolerance for his carseat is at an all-time low right now, so I'm trying to limit our trips if possible. Anyway, hope to see you Dallas-area people there!!!