Texas

We got back the other day from a vacation in Texas. We stayed with John's aunt and uncle who live outside of Ft. Worth. Anyway, the drive down there went pretty well. The kids did great. We bought them both a new dvd before the trip, that way they would be entertained on the way. It rained most of the way, and once we got down there we got stuck in traffic for awhile. The nascar race had just let out so traffic was backed up in all directions. The amount of traffic was crazy. I was getting tired of sitting in the van and I needed to pee so I was getting cranky. A couple of guys stopped on the side of the road to pee. Being a guy must come in handy sometimes. Finally we got to a gas station but all they had available were outhouses. By that time Dakota had to pee too and he didn't want to go into the outhouse by himself. Those things aren't really built for 2 people but we managed. Someone had peed all over the seat and there was no way I was sitting down so I did the squat thing, and had to hold onto Dakota while I peed so I wouldn't fall. He was probably thinking his mom was crazy. But he didn't say anything. Good boy.

The next day was cold and rainy too. We didn't expect to need jackets in Texas in April, but I took them anyway. I wished I would have brought my heavy coat. Not near as warm as I had hoped. Since it was rainy, we just went to the Grapevine Mills Mall. They had a giant book store in there so I was in heaven. The mall itself was crazy busy though. I thought I was going to have an anxiety attack or something. Everywhere I tried to walk had someone in my way. I failed to bring my chill pill.

The next day the rain had finally stopped, but it was still a little chilly. We went down to the Ft. Worth Stockyards, which was of course Dakota's favorite part. He had a blast looking at all the cowboy stuff and we took his picture next to a John Wayne cardboard cutout. We got to tour Billy Bob's - which is the worlds largest honky tonk (or something like that). That was John's favorite part. They had handprints of everyone who has ever played there, and there were guitars and pictures and stuff so John went a little picture happy with the camera. I thought he was gonna use up all our pictures on that place.



Another day we drove over to a place called Dinosaur National Park - which was an hour drive. It was kind of a disappointment really. They have preserved dinosaur tracks down by the river, but with all the rain they had, the river was too high to see the tracks. The only thing to see were these two dinosaur statues and that was it:

After we left that place, we found a park that had huge rocks that you could climb on. The kids enjoyed that more, and it was free:

Another day we got a tour of the Texas Motor Speedway. It was pretty cool. We got to go down and see victory lane and pit road and all that stuff. We also got to go up into the condo type thingys that the rich people get to go watch the race at. I don't remember how much it cost for those but it was ridiculous. The best part was riding around the track. It was in a van - not as cool as a race car - but it was still cool. The first lap around the guy driving went kinda slow and the curve of the track was really noticeable. I felt like I was gonna slide down the seat. Actually, it felt like the van was going to tip over. The second lap the guy went around 70 mph and the incline wasn't as noticeable. I learned a bunch of cool facts but I already forgot them. Oh well, that's the brain of a Fibromyalgia sufferer. (which reminds me, I do these blogs for my benefit probably more so than anyone elses because I do tend to forget most things. This way I am able to go through my blog and re-read things that have happened a while ago that I have forgotten about).
We also took the kids to ChuckE Cheese. I was dreading it a little, but we had a blast. We went around 2 pm so there wasn't really anybody there. I didn't have to watch my kids like a hawk for fear of someone kidnapping them or something, so I was able to relax (yes, I worry about everything and I am over protective). Actually, I believe that I used more tokens than John or the kids did. There was this wheel of fortune game that was a bit addicting... I would have taken more pictures if I wasn't busy gambling at a kids game.


Luckily, it warmed up as the week went on. We sat out by the pool a lot, but the water was too cold to swim in (and the heater in the hot tub wasn't working). But that didn't stop the kids from stripping off their pants and putting their legs in the water!