A great weekend with nothing to show for it

Saturday morning on a whim we decided to head an hour and 1/2 away to Tyler to visit the zoo. We have a Dallas zoo membership and can get in for 50% off. Then we decided just for fun that we'd stay overnight. We quickly made a reservation, packed in 30 minutes and were out the door. But without my CAMERA!!! I was so bummed. So I'll just have to write the highlights.

As we were headed out the door the hotel called and said there was a mistake and that even though we had a reservation and confirmation they didn't have a room. Seriously? It was very frustrating and I'm thinking about writing the company. Luckily we had a back-up and quickly called and reserved a room.

We decided to stop in Canton on the way at a Fried Pie Shop that we have seen a million times and always wanted to go to. Every time we go out of town (which has been eat least 10 times) we almost stop and then don't want to waste the time. There was a BBQ restaurant inside the shop so we had lunch. The BBQ here in Dallas is HORRIBLE (at least in our opinion) and it was nice to get something decent.

We got to the hotel around 3pm. The kids were so excited. O & M love hotels. I couldn't believe how excited Sora was too. She was just running around with a smile on her face discovering things that were there. She took a nap and we just hung out.

Around 4:30pm we woke her up. Our main criteria for the hotel was an indoor pool. So we went swimming right away. It was a blast. The pool was SO cold. I'm such a wimp. Luckily the boys and Damien didn't seem to mind. I sucked it up and went in for a little while but Sora and I spent most of the time in the hot tub.

7pm. We finished swimming and gave the kids quick baths. Then we headed out for dinner. Damien wasn't very hungry so we stopped at Smoothie King for him and then headed to Jason's Deli. Yum.

10pm. The boys were so exhausted they actually volunteered to go to bed. The three kids fell asleep at the same time! Then Damien and I watched "Namesake." We stayed up WAY too late. Probably because I drank Tea at lunch. Ahh. I hate caffeine.

The boys woke at 7:30am but we made the lay there until 8. Then we put on a show for them and dosed on and off. Sora woke around 9am. I'm so proud of her. It was her first night away since we came home from Korea. We're going on a long PD trip next month so this was like a test run. I'm so glad she did well and was happy! She is such a great baby!

Complimentary breakfast. The kids love those. Lots of choices!

We headed to the zoo. It was raining a little but it was supposed to stop. The biggest problem was that it was COLD (like in the 50s). I was totally not prepared for that. We were all in shorts and no jackets. We brought the boys blankets with us and I stayed wrapped in one the entire time. Orin ran around enough to keep warm and Micaiah used his blanket about half of the time.

The zoo was beautiful. It was small. We saw everything in about 2 hours. But the habitats were so open and natural. So much different than the Dallas zoo. I feel like we saw more animals than we usually see because they were all so out in the open. I'd love to go back when it's sunny and warm!

There was another restaurant - a hamburger joint called the "Dairy Farm" - that we've seen as we were driving past. It is always packed. We've always wanted to try it so we stopped for lunch. Unfortunately all three kids fell sleep about 10 minutes before we got there. So much for napping the whole way back. The food was yummy though.

Although the trip to Tyler is only about 1 1/2 hours I'm glad Sora did pretty well. She cried (more like whined) some, but also played and slept. We'll have a lot of driving during our trip so it's good to know that she'll tolerate it.

We got home at 4:30, ran in to pick up the boys' Awana books and and ran out the door to drop them off at 4:45pm. Whew. Barely made it! The three of us came home to unpack and start laundry. I also cut Damien's hair. :-)

It really was a fun weekend. Everyone was happy and cooperative and really had a good time! I just wish I had pictures to prove it!