A Texas Adventure

I didn't get a chance to blog while we were gone.... but now we are back. Back from our week long vacation in Colleyville, Texas. That's between Fort Worth and Dallas. I started this post out as a quick recap of our trip. It quickly turned into a novel. Don't feel compelled to read the entire thing unless you're bored. Its really for my own lack of memory down the road. lol

Emery sleeping soundly on the flight to Texas!!! Good job girl!

Thurs 4/21 - We arrived around noon. Kathy picked us up from the airport. Lunch was our #1 priority! We picked up Kathy's oldest, Brianna, on the way to La Madeleine Cafe. It was great! Next we headed to Walmart. A place a swore I would never go again! (remember the story of how I was mistaken for to be a grandma in fresno's walmart?!!) But amazingly... everyone in Texas grocery shops at the Super Walmarts! They are nice and sooooo different than here. That night we piled in the car with the entire Carlson family and they drove us through the Stockyards before heading to dinner at Joe T Garcia's in Fort Worth. This place was awesome!!! You have two choices... enchiladas or fajitas. It is cash only. And it was packed out on a thurs night!!! I'm talking at least 250 cars in the parking lot!!! The outside patio alone is a block long and looks like the garden of Eden. We walked the entire patio after dinner and we were blown away!! There was even a wedding reception going on at the far end of the patio. That is how huge this place is! And its really good Tex Mex!!

Emery was ticked!! She wanted to eat as soon as we got our food! lol

The Carlsons at Joe T Garcia's!

Friday 4/22 - Today we got a slow start and finally headed out at noon on our own. We went into Southlake and the TownCenter which is like a Riverpark on crack!!! So beautiful and great stores and eats. I discovered a Naartjie there and spent $90 (that's with a 20% discount) only to go back days later and spend another $65! Ours shut down here so I was bummed after I got pregnant. Therefore, I felt I had to go crazy and stock up for our Miss Emery! :) She is now one well dressed baby! We ate at Jack's Porch... a modern style hamburger grill and bar. Soooo delish! That night Luke and Kathy took us to our first bbq at Spring Creek and then back home. We watched the third Narnia movie in their theatre room!! This room rocked!!!! **** Yesterday and today, I will admit I was completely miserable with the humidity! It was horrible and supposedly very abnormal for this time of year. But I was wanting to experience it. Well I got my wish!!! UGH!

Our first day on our own and first trip to SouthLake TownCenter (outdoor mall)

Saturday 4/23 - This morning the guys and girls split up for a bit. Cabella's just opened and Luke wanted to go with Sean. Luke bought and walked out with an AR-15 (assault rifle) in only 30 minutes. Sean threatened we are moving! lol The girls wanted to take me to Sam Moon in Keller. Our other friend Tyrannie even joined us. This is a huge store filled with nothing but accessories. And this morning, being a saturday, it was packed! They must have a thousand purses. Its crazy and so much fun! I bought a purse, hat and 3 flowers for Emery. We met up at Cabella's so I could experience it. It really was pretty awesome! Then Sean and I took off and went to lunch with Emery at Jason's Deli in Keller for sandwiches. We headed home around 4 and I walked in set my sleeping Emery down in her carseat, put my purse down and died on the bed. I didn't wake for 2 hours! I was exhausted! Kathy fixed us a wonderful dinner at home. It was so nice to relax. We had already done so much in only a couple days. **** The weather was not too much better today.... but Praise God that Texas is very breezy.... most of the time, just plain windy! We thought we might get some storms tonight. We even drove to a park to get a better view of the T&L. But all we ended up with was 60 mile an hour winds to sing us to sleep.

The family at Cabella's

We don't call 911!!!!!

Sunday 4/24 - Happy Easter!!!! What a joyous day!!! Our first Easter holiday with our precious Emery Rose! She looked beautiful! What a blessed day it was as we started off with church at Gateway. What a fantastic church!! So awesome! Then we had the most relaxing day all week. Luke and Kathy hosted an open house for family and friends. Our mutual friends who just moved from Fresno to Keller spent the afternoon with us. What a fun time! We met many wonderful people. It was great to be home and relax and have fellowship. After everyone left, we had an easter egg hunt with Brianna and Maddie. We hid the eggs for them outside while they hid for us inside. I'll admit I was feeling too tired (along with Luke) to play. But when it came our turn, I nonchalantly stood up, set down my glass and then yelled "GO!!!" and ran for the back door!! Sean, being the competitive person he is with me, ran after me with Kthy close behind. I was quickly aware of the girls excitedly screaming as they never expected this. I think it was the highlight of their day (I'm just guessing) to watch their parents and their adult friends run through the house like a bunch of crazy kids! So fun!! Tonight was our first storm! It was awesome! We watched it for 2 hours from the front porch. But we only got a small piece of what was actually going on in other parts of the county. :( The weather was getting better today. :)

Miss Emery Rose!

What a miracle!!!!

Our first Easter as a family!

Our beautiful friends (and hosts for the week!)

Steve and his kids LOVED Em!! It was priceless!

Brianna loving on Emery at Easter service

Madeline loving on Emery!

Monday 4/25 - Well this morning was the FIRST morning Emery woke up before 7am! yep! She slept through the night 3 nights in a row!!!! But I was glad she did today. She woke me up around 0415. I barely started to warm up her bottle when she went back to sleep. All of the sudden I see lightening out the window... lots of lightening!! Continuous lightening! I watched for a bit then finally decided to quietly sneak downstairs of our apt and outside to the breezeway between the apt/garage and the main house. I watched in awe as lightening lit up the sky over the house. It was awesome! Suddenly, Luke walks out and nonchalantly says "hey Amy! they (WFAA alert) just called our phone and a huge storm is heading right for us!" I ran up stairs and woke up Sean. Sure enough within 10 minutes, the wind picked up, torrential rains began to fall, lightening cracked right over us and thunder immediately banged!! Once, it was so loud, Kathy and I simultaneously screamed and jumped into each other's arms. It was hilarious! Then the quarter-size hail came!!! It was flipping amazing!!!! I LOVE THIS STUFF!!! I was in heaven. It lasted about 30 minutes and finally died down a more 'normal' storm. We went back to bed only for Emery to wake up and want to eat. After she ate, it took a long time before she would fall asleep. This was so unlike her and I was soooo tired! lol

Sean and I spent today on our own with Emery. We ate breakfast at the Original Pancake House. We visited the REI in Dallas and then headed up to Plano's REI. We attempted to find the Shops at Legacy in Plano with no luck. Not sure how we missed it. We fed Em at a sbux and then headed up to Frisco. We shopped at Dick's Sporting Goods, the Mall, drove neighborhoods and then ate dinner at Babe's Chicken! This was a crazy experience. First we just followed people in because otherwise we wouldn't have known how to get in the place. It looked old and run down. Not like a working restaurant. Once seated, I realized some of the servers would take turns singing karaoke while walking around the dining room. And they had amazing voices! The fried chicken was crazy good!!!! All the sides were standard... creamed corn, green beans, mashed potatoes and gravy and biscuits. Then coconut meringue and chocolate meringue pies for dessert!! YUM !!!! We were back home by 8pm for a quiet evening with our friends.

Tuesday 4/26 - We spent today with Tyrannie and her 5 beautiful kids. We first went to the Stockyards and watched a real cattle drive of Texas Longhorns through the streets. Then Steve joined us for lunch at Risky's BBQ. This was one of the best meals I had all week!!!! We shopped around this very old, original, western town. Very touristy but fun. Tyrannie gave us a tour of Keller and Heritage Trace Parkway from her own vehicle. We tried to find some model homes but kept coming to dead ends. So we gave up. Once again, we stopped at a sbux for an afternoon latte and to feed Emery. :) We eventually headed back to their house in Fort Worth and relaxed for a couple hours. Then Steve joined us again and we went to the Twisted Root for some fabulous (and famous) burgers. Their kids were all so in love with Emery. Hannah, their 5 year old kept saying, "Hi sweetie, hi sweetie" and tickling her tummy. lol

Tyrannie loving on Emery at Risky's BBQ!

The cattle drive of Texas Longhorns through the streets of the Stockyards in Fort Worth

Wednesday 4/27 - We invited Kathy to join us today. Realizing this was our last day, I wanted to spend as much time with them as we could. So while Luke was at work and the girls in school, we headed out for a little more touring of Grapevine and Southlake. Sean wanted to go to Bass Pro and Kathy took us to the Gaylord Texan. This hotel/resort/convention center is insane!!! We walked around for about 10 minutes. It is HUGE (everything is big in Texas) and beautiful! We had lunch at the Corner Bakery in Southlake and then shopped at Naartjie again. hehe We went to the Central Market (kind of like Whole Foods) and bought appetizers and dessert for Brianna's 1/2 birthday. We had a family dinner at home then I told Brianna how to make cakepops and she, her sister and her friend made them. They were so yummy! I was bummed though because I envisioned making these with the girls and spending time with them but Emery was having an hour long melt down. But the evening was a success anyway as we celebrated Bri's 1/2 birthday (well 16 1/2) and Emery's 1/4 birthday. lol

The Gaylord Texan

Kathy, Emery and I taking a break from shopping at the SouthLake TownCenter

Sean keeps Emery warm while the girls shop!!!

Thursday 4/28 - Well today, we leave. And I must say I was very sad to say goodbye. But I know we will see them again. We have all been friends for a very long time but lost touch over the years. So it was really great to reconnect with them. They are amazing in the gift of hospitality and we felt so loved, cared for and comfortable in our home away from home. Thanks guys!!!!

Our home away from home!

So until next time..... we'll see ya'all soon!!!!!!