A Kid-Friendly Trip to Fort Worth

A few weeks ago the husband took a couple days off of work and we decided to do a little overnight trip to Fort Worth with the boys. From where we live it's about a 45 minute drive, so it's super easy to just hop on over for a fun day or two.

On Friday we got up and left the house basically ON TIME which was a miracle. I think we wanted to leave by 9 and it was like 9:15 when we were pulling out of the drive way. Seriously, that's miraculous with two children. We stopped at Starbucks because duh we would be needing caffeine, and then we headed straight to the Fort Worth zoo. We are super fortunate because we have two really awesome zoos close to us - we're just about thirty minutes from the Dallas zoo. We had only been to the Fort Worth zoo once before when Grayson was just over a year old, plus we haven't spent much time in Fort Worth in general, so we decided to visit that one this time. Grayson was SO dang excited to get to the zoo. He still says he wants to be a "kiger" when he grows up and is super into the Madagascar movies and The Lion Guard, so he could not wait to see all the animals when we got there.

The zoo is super nice and clean and really beautiful actually, the exhibits are all really well-maintained and the animals look healthy and happy (or as happy as an animal can look I suppose?). It is a really big zoo, so we spent a good four or five hours walking around looking at everything. Obviously Grayson was super pumped about the tigers, but he was seriously overjoyed when looking at just about every single animal. The lions, giraffes, elephants, monkeys, and flamingos were all very big hits with him. I'm sure Gavin was equally excited, but he spent probably 75% of the time napping in his stroller. Oh, to be a baby.

They also have a really cute Texas area in the zoo that has lots of animals native to Texas and looks like a little western town. After you wind your way allllll the way through the zoo this is kind of the end of the line. Or at least it was for the path we took. In that area there's a train that you can ride that will take you back to basically the front of the zoo, so this is where we decided to call it a day. Grayson was also super excited about the train ride and the fifteen minute wait for it to get back to let us load up was torture for him.

The weather was absolutely gorgeous that day, so it made it nice to just take our time and wander around. After several hours, we left and went to Joe T. Garcia's for lunch/dinner. This place is pretty legendary in Fort Worth, and the only other time I had been I waited for over an hour to get in standing in a line that wrapped around and around the little ramp out front. You just show up and get in line and go in that order. We got super lucky though, because even though it was a Friday, we got there a little before five so we got right in. You sit on this gorgeous patio, and there are literally two things to choose from to eat, enchiladas or fajitas. Kind of strange to not have options, but the food was pretty delicious so I didn't mind too much. The atmosphere is great, so it was a really enjoyable meal.

After eating we went to check in to our hotel downtown Fort Worth. The downtown area is really cool and quite a bit different than Dallas. There were a ton of people walking around, lots of places to eat. After we checked in we changed and relaxed for a few minutes, then loaded the kids up in the double stroller and went to walk around.

We were right near Sundance Square, which is a really fun area. There is a huge splash pad type thing right in the center and they have music playing over speakers, so Grayson loved it. You aren't supposed to play in the splash pad area at night, but of course Grayson got right to the edge and got his feet soaked. We sat there for quite awhile just enjoying the weather and letting him dance around. Then we continued to walk around, and (unfortunately for us) spotted a few horse drawn carriages. Since we had the stroller we couldn't go on one, and Grayson lost his mind he was so disappointed. He seriously cried and wailed and refused to walk or get in the stroller or basically function as a human being the entire way back to the room, which took a good twenty minutes. Overtired children are just the BEST.

The next morning we woke up and had breakfast at Lucile's, which I guess is another Fort Worth classic. It was actually really really good, and we stuffed ourselves silly. After breakfast we headed back home, much to Grayson's disappointment. The first thing he says every morning is "Where are we going today?" - he LOVES to go, and he really hates when it's time to go home. However, after a busy 24 hours, mommy and daddy were very ready to go home and relax a bit (ha, relax with small children). 

If you live anywhere in the DFW area, I seriously recommend every single thing we did while we were there. I'm sure there are a ton of other kid-friendly things to do in Fort Worth, but every stop we made was great. We're planning another Texas trip here in the next couple of months, so hopefully I'll have another post to share then!

Six Tips for Road Tripping With Young Kids

A few weeks ago we took our first family vacation with Grayson. Growing up, my family took a vacation every single year, and it's something I have always told A I would love to do with ours. I think time away to relax and forget about the day-to-day grind is so important, and I love seeing new things along the way. Our family was big on road trips - my first flight was actually at 17 because my dad drove us everywhere - and I still love a good road trip when possible.

When we were trying to decide where we wanted to go I had a genius idea that was helped along by my mild OCD tendencies. As eclectic and random as I am, I still like to do things in a certain order...so I decided that we should make it a goal to see all 50 states as a family, and we should do so alphabetically. Soooo, Alabama was the winner for family trip numero uno! I know Alabama may not seem all that exciting, but it has literally the only thing the husband cares about, and that is BEACH. I did a little Googling and found lovely little Orange Beach. Family friendly and a mere 11 hour drive. Easy peasy.

But oh. Keep in mind, friends, that we had a 16 month old child in tow. I knew that with Grayson's lack of patience and tantrum throwing and whining (aka, being a toddler) that we would have to plan well to make this trip enjoyable. We discussed several options beforehand, and I really think that what we came up with worked out super well. In case you're traveling soon and need some help, here are the things that worked for us.

1.  Leave Early

We debated driving overnight and getting to Alabama early in the day, but after a lot of debate we decided early was the best option. If we drove overnight Grayson would sleep the entire way, and then we would be exhausted when we got there and he would be ready to start the day. This way we would get to the room right around bedtime and we could wake up bright and early, well-rested and ready to hit the beach.

We planned on leaving by 6 AM, and made it out of the house right around 7. To be honest that was better than I expected knowing how much last minute stuff always seems to come up. It worked out well because we had breakfast in the car, put on a movie, and Grayson ended up falling asleep around 8 since he woke up so early. That made for a long morning nap that lasted nearly until our first planned stop. Even with all of the stops along the way, we were checking into our hotel right around 10 PM. So a total of about 13 hours travel. Not too shabby for an 11 hour drive!

2. DVD Player/iPad = Your Best Friend

We have an iPad and talked about downloading a few movies for G to watch, but decided that we'd rather go for a portable DVD player. He got a few movies for his birthday that he hadn't ever watched, so we thought that would entertain him for a while. The player that we got actually came with two screens (not needed now, but helpful when we have more kiddos) and was something like $75. Not bad for an investment that probably saved us hours worth of screaming child.

He's still rear-facing, so we strapped the player onto the middle seat and he just zoned out. I'm not huge on lots of TV watching for him, but to be honest he can usually take it or leave it at this point so it's never an issue. But for some reason he was totally into it in the car. Randomly, The Jetsons was his favorite movie. Thank you, Target $5 DVD sale.

3. SNACKS

This was key. KEY. I packed a big duffel bag full of snacks for all of us. Convenience stores used to reel me and A in like crazy when we would drive back and forth from Oklahoma, and we probably spent like $50 a trip in junk food that we shouldn't be eating anyway. Live and learn. This time I had granola bars for G and for the two of us, candied almonds for myself, two ziplock baggies of cheerios, veggie straws, yogurt pretzels, and those little organic puff things for toddlers. I also took a little cooler full of bottled water and pouches full of some coconut water berry smoothie thing for babies that I found at Target.

Every single time he would start to fuss, I would reach into my magic bag and pull out something that I could hand him. It worked like a charm. The only downside is that I almost lost my mind from hearing "mo! mo! moooooohhhhh!" a billion times. Mo = "more" in Grayson speak. We're currently working on "Mo Peeez!", which is much more polite :)

4. ToysToysToys

I took yet another bag full of some of his favorite toys and probably five books. If the movies and the snacks failed me, I had something else up my sleeve. He was surprisingly into the books, and I definitely figured out what toys are his favorites. Anything that plays music was a clear winner, and his little stuffed animals were big, too. I would say I maybe overdid it in this area, though. Probably would have been good with like a handful of toys, because if he wasn't in the mood for one, he wasn't in the mood for any. He would just toss them to the side, one after the other, until I was out of options.

Then I'd just try to give him another snack.

5.  Frequent Breaks

We planned our breaks out in advance. We knew Shreveport, Louisiana was about a 3 1/2 hour drive from home, so we planned to get out, stretch our legs, and have an early lunch. We found an outdoor shopping mall and just walked around for maybe 30-45 minutes. To a one-year-old, this was plenty of fun. We went to Bass Pro Shop, which was a new experience for all of us, and made it painfully aware how much we don't know about country living. But Grayson did find a stuffed horse he simply couldn't live without, so there's that.

From there, it was around a four hour drive to Jackson, Mississippi. If you have never used the Roadtrippers app, I highly recommend it. If you enter in your starting point and destination, it tells you everything that you can find along your route. Kind of a lifesaver. We actually found this amazing children's museum where Grayson had the time of his life for over an hour. From there we had a quick dinner, and were ready for the last leg. It was about a 3 1/2 hour drive from Jackson to Orange Beach, and it was by far the toughest stretch. We didn't get there until about 10, which was two hours past normal bedtime. For some reason he wouldn't sleep, so it was meltdown city for the last hour. But I mean, not terrible for a 16 month old child who had spent eleven hours in a car.

6. Arrive at Your Destination BEFORE Bedtime

Lesson. Learned. This would be my only change. Leave two hours earlier, avoid the late night meltdown. Even if he would have fallen asleep, we were running the risk of him waking up and then being up for hours. We're past the point of being able to transfer him from the car without waking him, so if he would have slept from 8-10, chances are he would have seen that as a nice little two hour nap and stayed up until well after midnight. So yes, plan to get to your destination right around bedtime. If You can't do that in a day, consider making it a two-day trip with an overnight stay along the way. I guarantee that's what we will do next time.

So there you have it! My words of wisdom. I was oh-so incredibly surprised by how well our trip went, and I like to think it had a little something to do with my planning ahead. Totally could have been luck.

I'll be back with a recap of our trip, which will probably mainly be pictures of Grayson on the beach and me ranting and raving about food. Actually, that pretty much sums it all up, so not sure I even need the recap post...

Happy travels, y'all!

A Busy Weekend in Oklahoma

We went to Oklahoma last weekend to visit family and go to a wedding of a college friend of Arsen's. I'd been looking forward to this trip for quite awhile now, simply because I always like getting away for a few days. We were planning on staying with my Guncles in Norman, which is always fun, and I knew the wedding would be a good time as well.

Well...I forget how different things can be with a baby on board. Arsen took Friday off, so my goal was to leave town by about 10 or so to get to my dad's pretty early to visit with him for a few hours. After finishing up packing, giving Grayson a bath, getting myself ready, etc., we ended up leaving right around noon.

After a few hours at my dad's we left for Norman. We unpacked, got Addie situated, I fed Grayson, got him ready for bed, changed clothes, and were finally ready to meet my mom and uncles at dinner. We went to a Mexican restaurant that was loud and bright. So incredibly bright. It was like sitting outside in the middle of the day at 9 pm. Needless to say my hopes of Grayson sleeping through dinner did not pan out. So after dinner we headed home and I tried to get Grayson to sleep. For like an hour. He just wasn't having it. Everyone else sat out by the pool and had a few drinks until around midnight, and I laid down with G and ended up falling asleep.

Saturday was my mom's birthday, and a pretty fun day. I was running around like crazy, trying to find a jacket to wear with the dress I packed since Oklahoma decided to realize it was fall that day, buying a wedding gift, buying a clutch since I forgot to pack one, going to lunch with mom for her birthday, etc., etc.. Busy busy, but fun!

That night was the wedding. It was absolutely gorgeous. The bride's family has a home outside of Oklahoma City where they apparently have a ton of land, and they had the wedding outside. They had a large building that was beautiful that the reception took place in. The rumor around the wedding was that they had it built specifically for the wedding. It was pretty incredible.

Several couples that we are friends with were also at the wedding, so it was a lot of fun. It was really the first time I've been "out" since Grayson was born, and since I knew he was in good hands with my mom, I decided to relax and let myself have a few drinks and have a good time.

Well....I ended up regretting that decision. When we got back to my uncles place around midnight, Grayson was still awake. Apparently he just couldn't rest until I was home. So I had the pleasure of rocking a baby to sleep, off and on, until 3 AM. He just couldn't stay asleep for some reason. Let me tell you, after an evening of drinking that was not easy. I was soooo tired.

So all in all, I chalk this weekend up to a lesson for me. The days of relaxing by the pool with drinks and going out with friends for a night out on the town are long gone for this little mama. At least for awhile. I've gotten my wish of having a mama's boy, and he needs me, and only me, when it comes time for bed. Be careful what you wish for, am I right?

But as frustrating as the weekend may have been, I really wouldn't have it any other way. I love that he is most comfortable in my arms. At 3 in the morning I might wish that someone else could take over for a bit, but knowing that he needs me is pretty amazing.

But it may be awhile before I'm ready for another trip :)

Grayson's First Road Trip

We've slowly but surely started venturing out with Grayson. As first time parents with a slightly moody baby, we were admittedly a little nervous about taking him with us to do our normal everyday things. First I started taking him on quick shopping trips with me, and then we tested out a couple of meals in restaurants. And he has been amazing! We have never had an issue at all. He normally sleeps the entire time, and if he's not sleeping he's just sort of looking around, taking it all in. But even though he was doing SO good at every new thing we tried, we were still a little leery about our first out of town trip.

Last weekend we loaded up the car (ohmygoodness babies require A LOT of stuff) and headed north to Oklahoma, along with my mom. Most of my family still hadn't met Grayson, and Arsen decided to take a week of vacation to recharge and relax, so we thought this would be the perfect time. After about four hours of packing on Thursday night (which wouldn't have taken so long if G wouldn't have needed me several times) we were ready to go.

Friday morning we got up and headed out for my dad's house. It's about a two hour drive from our house to his, and Grayson slept pretty much the entire way. I knew car rides normally put him to sleep, but this was the first time we were going more than 20 minutes or so from home. He slept like a little champ! We didn't have to make any stops or anything, so we made it to dad's just in time for a feeding and avoided any major meltdowns.

After spending a bit of time there, we headed over to my Grandmother's house so Grayson could meet his second cousin Isabella, who is just about a month older than him...although you would never know it because he's so huge they are about the same size. It's so, so much fun for my cousin Amanda and I to have little ones so close together in age. AND, we recently found out that BOTH of her brothers are expecting later this year, only 12 days apart this December. On my mom's side of the family it's just the four of us and two younger cousins, so it's pretty crazy that all four of us older cousins are having babies in one year. And it's the first baby for three of the four of us. I can't wait for holidays now...all those sweet little babes in one place!

My uncles and an aunt came over later in the day, and we all just spent a lot of time staring at the babies. Isn't it crazy how a group of adults can just gather around and stare at a child? And if they do something remotely cute the reaction from the adults is quite hilarious. I would love to have it on video.

The next day we spent time back over at my dad's with his side of the family. Grayson got the chance to meet several of my cousins, their kids, my uncle and aunt, and my dad's girlfriend. We all went over to her place so the kids could swim in her pool and we sat around and chatted for a couple of hours. That side of my family doesn't get together very often, so it was so much fun to see everyone.

Later that night we went to Norman (just outside of Oklahoma City) to stay with my uncles for a couple of nights. We spent the next day lounging by their pool, going out to eat, and doing a whole lot of nothing. So nice.

My mom, her cousin, and I went and drove through her old neighborhood in Moore after dinner on Sunday. It is unbelievable the damage that the May 20th tornado did. Seeing it in person made it so much more real. It hit literally a few streets away from where my mom lived. The first few houses in her neighborhood were pretty severely damaged, and just across the street houses were completely gone. The shopping center right down the road was basically demolished, and across the street from her neighborhood was also one of the elementary schools that took a direct hit. It's so crazy to see all those familiar places like that. Just so awful.

We stopped back by to see my dad on the way home on Monday...he might freak out on us if we were anywhere in the vicinity of his place and didn't bring Grayson by to see him. After visiting for a couple hours and then stopping by to see my Grandmother again, it was time to head back home to Texas. And that was pretty much the entire trip. A whole lotta family time crammed into just a few days. Definitely a good time, and I loved introducing the little one to everyone.

Unfortunately, the trip didn't end so well. About an hour from home, I was asleep in the backseat with Grayson when the car jerked and I heard a loud noise that woke me up. Apparently the car in front of us hit a huge piece of semi tire that was laying on the highway, and it flipped up and flew into our car. Arsen couldn't dodge it, so we ran over it. And it ripped off the passenger side of my front bumper to where it was hanging down and hitting the tire...so we were stranded on the side of the highway. In 100 degree heat. For almost two hours. It was miserable. Thankfully my dad was able to come pick us up and drive us home to Texas, and they towed my car to a nearby Hyundai place to be repaired. Other than the $500 deductible that we have to pay (on top of allllll the medical bills we've been paying from G's birth) it wasn't too terrible. I'm just so incredibly relieved that it wasn't anything more damaging and that none of us were injured. It is CRAZY how much scarier something like that is with a baby!

Aside from that craziness, it was a great trip and Grayson was such a good baby. I can't believe how much he has changed and how much better he handles things now. Even a few weeks ago there is no way I would have even attempted to take him out of town. So proud of him! And of me and Arsen. I think we're doing a pretty decent job at this parent thing so far.

Our Texas Vacation

I realize we live in Texas, but as big as this place is, it's easy to vacation here. We spent a little time in Austin and San Antonio last week, and it was a lot of fun! More than anything it was relaxing, which is exactly what I was looking for.

We started out in Austin, where we stayed for two nights. There is so much to do in that town, but a lot of it is outdoorsy and athletic, and well....we weren't feelin it. We did have a lot of great food. To be honest that's really what I look forward to the most on vacation. Or on a Tuesday. Food is pretty much my favorite thing no matter where I am.

We also went to the state capitol, which was pretty cool. I'm a huge nerd, so I love anything history related, and will go to any historical site or museum that's around. Arsen actually enjoyed it too, which surprised me.

After a couple of days there in Austin, we headed down to San Antonio. We actually really loved it there. We stayed at a super nice hotel down on the Riverwalk, and it was so pretty. The river is lined with restaurants and shops, and that's where we spent pretty much all of our time. The only time we really branched out was when we went to the Alamo. I've been before, years ago when I was maybe 12 years old, and it was Arsen's first time. Like I said, I love all that history stuff, so it was fun for me to hear all about that. We also did a boat tour of the river, and that was a lot of fun. Also, it was nice to just sit there for awhile. We walked so much on this vacation! Our poor feet were killing us halfway through the day every day.

Overall it was a nice little trip. We didn't want to do anything extravagant, and it was actually good that we stayed somewhat close to home, because Arsen ended up needing to be back Thursday evening for a work function, and they had him come in to work on Friday. I wasn't too happy about that, but I realize it just means he's a pretty important part of things there, and his opportunities to grow in this company are pretty great, so like my mom said....it's the price you pay. When he's some big shot exec I'm sure stuff like this will happen all of the time ;)

If you've never been to Austin/San Antonio, I definitely recommend it! There is so much more to do that we didn't even have time to do, and San Antonio is super family friendly. Good ole Texas....it's growing on me.