First things first, I don't make a trip to Dallas without stopping by Cafe Brazil. That was the case when we were visiting from Houston and it is certainly the case with a 4000 mile trek. Although this time, I did branch out a little...!
Haha - not with my order! Don't be silly - their crepes make my tummy deliriously happy!
No, we tried out a different location. They have somehow exploded to 11 locations and the Deep Ellum one was right down the street from our destination of the morning. It was still as awesome as our original. Man, I have missed their food & coffee! (And they have the best kids menu I have seen at a restaurant!)
Grannie was even prepared to entertain the boys at the first sign of unhappiness. She made them these super cool lanyards with a big button so that they could thread on felt squares. Henry didn't quite have the dexterity for it, but Thomas had a blast with his. Henry liked his as well, but there was more swinging than threading on his end of the table...
After breakfast, we headed over to the Perot museum. My parents had taken Thomas there when I first moved up to Alaska and they had to entertain a 15 month old him for a week. It sounded like it had an awesome kid's area, so I thought we could wear the boys out before hitting the road for a few hours. Before you even get to the museum, there were already things to play with. The musical "forest" had all kinds of ways to make music, including dropping pebbles through the radiator looking thing in the background and lots of things to beat on.
Almost to the museum and we got distracted again by the frog sculptures. There were several rows of these frogs with varying amounts of the frog sticking out of the ground. The boys were climbing and jumping all over the amphibians! Which is where my parents found us when they arrived - 20 minutes and we still hadn't made it in the front door. :)
But once we made it inside, the fun just continued! Thomas beelined for this truck and pretended to steer and honk the horn for a long time. He allowed his brother to join him, but not to actually drive. Henry amazingly outlasted him and finally got a chance to drive when Thomas went off to explore the farmer's market.
This little market was so cool! It had grocery "lists" with several items and how many you were supposed to buy. He was so precise with each of the cards and was running around counting and throwing things in his basket. I think I need to put him in charge of grocery shopping back home!
Henry was less interested in the shopping and more interested in throwing the produce he collected into the chutes. It would land in the produce bins and be put back on the shelf by other children or parents. It was amazing how fast the food found it's way back to where it belonged!
While Thomas was content to hang out at the Farmer's Market for at least an hour, Henry wanted to check out the rest of this awesome place. The water play was intriguing and he liked moving the boats around, but he wasn't too sure about this wild sprayer.
I finally convinced Henry to go outside (Thomas was really not leaving the market!) and he happily plopped down into the sand. Until his Pawpaw swept some sand back into the pit for him and that got him more interested in sweeping than playing. Then he realized I was off to the side instead of next to him and he ran over for a quick hug before returning to sweeping. What a cutie!
I finally went to see what Thomas was up to - one of the grandparents had reported back that he was using a plate and a fake dollar to pay for his groceries. He was swiping it on the side of the plate like it was a credit card. Well that actually makes perfect sense since I never have cash.
True to their word, he was happy to show me how he was paying for all of his groceries! Swipe, swipe, swipe!
How many grandparents does it take to put a toddler's shoes back on?
Four, apparently! :)
I finally convinced Thomas to leave the market and we found this system of conveyors that you could crank to move blocks up to the top level to make buildings. He was super into that!
Henry thought it was cool as well, but didn't understand that he had to keep turning the wheel in the same direction. He was whipping it back and forth like he was steering a pirate ship. Luckily, the belt only moved one direction, so it still made some progress!
I was way more entertained by this wall of bubble mirrors than the kids were. Mirror selfie!
Thomas finally made his way to the outside, but was more entertained by hiding in the little tool shed and jumping out than playing in the sand box.
Even the staircase in the Perot is exciting - it plays different music notes on each step. When I finally convinced the two of them to go, they were super happy to get to play on the musical steps one last time. It was obviously designed by someone who knew how hard it is to convince kids to leave. :)
On the road again! I always forget what a long drive it is from Dallas to San Antonio... The boys fell asleep as soon as we got on the highway, so we held off on stopping for lunch until they had gotten a decent nap in. And there just happened to be a Chick-fil-A shortly after they woke up. I think Henry was as excited about it as I was!
When we finally made it to Theresa's house, the boys were pretty tired of being in the car. There is a big room upstairs that is the playroom for her three kiddos and when I lost Henry for a few minutes, I found him up there surrounded by every possible he could pull out.
He was in heaven!
Wallace was super excited about all of the friends he had to play with! Rachael and Theresa live really close to each other, so she brought her two littles over to be part of the greeting party.
There was so much excitement and playing going on that it was hard to keep track of where everyone was. Thankfully Theresa has a very kid friendly house, so they could run around and have a blast without me having to worry about what they might be getting into. But it also made for some cute moments where they needed to take a quick break from all the playing.
And I got to meet Lauren! I've seen many cute pictures of her since she was born, but hadn't have a chance to meet her yet. She seemed totally chill with all of the craziness going on around her - that will serve her well in life, I'm sure. :)
The only little I didn't get any photos of was Meredith - she was a little obsessed with her mom and refused to leave Theresa's side. Don't worry, I'll get her tomorrow!