We mainly planned this trip to go see The Great Wolf Lodge in Grapevine, Texas. We stayed there one night and moved the rest of the trip closer to Dallas.
The Great Wolf Lodge is a resort with an indoor waterpark. And, luckily, we planned this trip when Dallas schools were not off. So, the lodge was not packed at all. The first day was a little stressful, since we drove for over 6 hours in the morning to get there. But, the second day was awesome. The kids really loved it.
Day 2: Great Wolf Lodge, MagiQuest, and Humperdink's.
On the second day, Emily and I played the MagiQuest game that the resort has. You become a wizard that has to complete these task by finding different objects throughout the resort. With her wand, she could open treasure chests, find crystals, find hidden symbols in the paintings on the walls, etc. I also got her a matching wizard's robe (I couldn't help it) that she loves.
After the wizardry, we went meet up with Erin and the boys in the waterpark; where we spent the rest of the day.
The Great Wolf Lodge is a resort with an indoor waterpark. And, luckily, we planned this trip when Dallas schools were not off. So, the lodge was not packed at all. The first day was a little stressful, since we drove for over 6 hours in the morning to get there. But, the second day was awesome. The kids really loved it.
Day 2: Great Wolf Lodge, MagiQuest, and Humperdink's.
On the second day, Emily and I played the MagiQuest game that the resort has. You become a wizard that has to complete these task by finding different objects throughout the resort. With her wand, she could open treasure chests, find crystals, find hidden symbols in the paintings on the walls, etc. I also got her a matching wizard's robe (I couldn't help it) that she loves.
After the wizardry, we went meet up with Erin and the boys in the waterpark; where we spent the rest of the day.
Dinner at Humperdink's was great. Besides our meal being good, the most memoriable part was when we managed to get two stuffed superheros (Hulk and Captain America) from the Claw machine.
Within a few minutes of getting to the new hotel, Tyler found a pen and painted his favorite Picaso on the bed. Luckily, Erin was able to wash it out with some antibacterial soap.
On day 3, we all went to the Dallas Zoo, where we stayed nearly the entire day.
Cheetah nearly bit our heads off.
Cheetah nearly bit our heads off.
Some cheesy poses with statues.
Snack break.
These fish gave us a splash.
Digging up dinosaurs in the sand box.
Some good nachos at Taco Diner.
Since Emily was "kid of the day" from the day before, she got to pick out a toy at the giftshop. After carefull deliberation, she chose a purse with a cheetah inside it.
Day 4 - Dallas World Aquarium, American Girl Bistro and Galleria
The aquarium was really cool! It was setup really well and had a bunch of species; including animls not in aquariums. Here, Erin posed with her new friend, the sloth.
After the aquarium, we headed to the Galleria and noticed they had an American Girl store, which happened to serve lunch. Too bad we didn't have Emily's American Girl doll with us. But, they let us borrow one to have lunch with.
The Galleria had a really nice play area for small kids.
Erin even ran on the elliptical one night in our trip to keep in shape for her half-marathon she signed up for this Sunday in Dallas.
On a side note, everything has been superheroes: Captain America, Hulk, Ironman, and Thor mostly. It may be due to the Easter Bunny giving them a Superhero Squad DVD that we have on repeat in the minivan.
The 4-D movie was really cool. Emily was reaching out to grab the movie. She really thought it was real.
We had a wonderful time at Rainforest Cafe. We had a pretty cool game of "I spy."
Off the Bone had some delicious ribs, of course.
We had to visit a steakhouse while in Texas, right? So, we settled on Hoffbraus. The kids, especially Tyler, loved listening to Erin's story she made up on the spot. We started a story-telling tradition with the kids on the trip. Each kid gets to pick a person, place, or thing, and we (Erin's much better at telling stories than I am) make a story with the components. One of the stories had Grandma's house, Captain America, and Spiderman. I know it didn't follow the rules; there was no way one boy was going to get a superhero and the other wouldn't.
Day 4 - Dallas World Aquarium, American Girl Bistro and Galleria
The aquarium was really cool! It was setup really well and had a bunch of species; including animls not in aquariums. Here, Erin posed with her new friend, the sloth.
On a side note, everything has been superheroes: Captain America, Hulk, Ironman, and Thor mostly. It may be due to the Easter Bunny giving them a Superhero Squad DVD that we have on repeat in the minivan.
Day 5: Legoland, Shopping, and Rainforest Cafe
The kids built a racecar to race on the race track.
The kids were running all over the place in the Grapevine Mils Mall.
Day 6: Perot Museum, Off The Bone BBQ, Klyde Warren Park and Ice cream, and Hoffbraus Steakhouse
The Perot Museum had a lot of interesting and interactive activities.
Off the Bone had some delicious ribs, of course.
After lunch, we went to Klyde Warren Park for some fun in the splash pad and jungle gym.
Day 7: Klyde Warren Park and the Family Day Festival. (coloring, ice cream sandich, nachos, hot dog, hoola hoop, boys dancing, snowcones, soccer ball
We spent the entire day at Klyde Warren Park today. There happened to be a festival going on. The Dallas International Film Festival Family Day.
Day 8: Big D Half Marathon
While planning our trip to Dallas, I told Erin to check if there was a race going on while we are there. And, of course, there was a marathon on our last day. She originaly signed up for the full marathon, but due to a hurt knee, she only ran the half. While she was running, I took the kids around the park where it was located. We played on an art display in the pond. Eventhough the water was only about a foot deep, I really didn't want them to get wet because the car was parked pretty far away.