Staycation

According to the popular resource Wikipedia, a staycation is a neologism for a period of time in which an individual or family stays and relaxes at home, possibly taking day trips to area attractions. It became popular in the U.S. during the financial crisis between 2007-2010. The term was added to Webster's Dictionary in 2009.

Well, I'm pretty sure that staycations have spilled over into 2011, or alteast they have for our family. We decided to do a quick one yesterday that ended up nothing like we expected.
We traveled to Grapevine, TX to the Grapevine Mills Mall. This is no regular mall. This is tourist central. We have been several times, never to shop.

The first stop was the Rainforest Cafe. We have eaten there a few times, but always ended up eating in the bar area because of the long wait. We decided to stick it out for a late lunch, so we ate next to a giant cheetah, some gorillas. If you've never been there, the atmosphere is pretty neat, but the food isn't that great. You are paying for the scenery. Grant enjoyed it, that is what mattered.

Grant and the tree frog Rainforst Cafe mascot.

Animatronic croc

There is so much to look at and its to dark in there, we were just glad to get this one picture.

From there, we went to the other side of the mall for the new attraction, the SeaLife Aquarium. It just opened last night and Daniel has been wanting to visit.

Grant and nurse shark

Neat shot of Daniel and sting ray in the walk 360 aquarium walkthrough According to the aquarium's website, it said it would take 2-3 hours to go through. It took us 30 min. It was crowded, hot, and they didn't have more than some fish, some murals, and a place to pet starfish (which Grant didn't even want to do). Needless to say, we weren't happy with our experience.

Bad news. We had to pick my parents up at the airport at a certain time and we thought we wouldn't have free time before their arrival. Oops.

Ok, so a trip to the Bass Pro Shop then. We walked around looking at the well taxidermed animals and spent all our quarters at the arcade.

Still almost 2 hours to kill. Ok, on to see The Smurfs Movie. With the help of GPS, we finally found the movie theater we were looking for. Tickets were sold out.

Still almost 1 and a half hours to kill. Ok, so a snack is in order. We drove around trying to find a little ice cream store or something. All we found was an Italian ice cream shop which I'm sure my son would be confused by.

Suddenly, I find a Target! We hit the snack bar for some cheap and yummy popcorn, a little rest, and the $1 aisle. This adventure would have been much easier if my boys liked to shop!!

On to the airport. I quickly made a Welcome Home MiMi and PawPaw sign out of a napkin (sad, I know) and headed to baggage claim.

Next time I think our staycation should include a hotel!

Friday Fun

Movie Fun

Chalk Fun

Cousin Fun

Earning our Family Badges

This summer I began getting the Disney Family Fun magazine. What cute ideas to share with others! Starting the month I got the magazine, they were starting a contest called Badges of Fun. Each month, your family can earn 'badges' for participating in a certain activity. Honestly, it just happens that we did the last two events at the same time it asked for these types of things, so I thought, "You have 2 down, you might as well finish!"

Last month we earned the Backyard Fun Badge by creating a campout in our backyard for Grant and Fletcher. See previous post.

This weekend, we earned the Hit the Road Badge.

We headed South. 1st stop: conquer those go-carts. Earlier in the week, our go-cart outing didn't turn out as planned (see previous post), so we ran by for some quick 'racing'. From there, it was time to head East. East Texas is nothing but basically backroads and small towns. So part of the badge earning experience, we decided to play a version of "I Spy". I made a list of things we had to look for and count on our road trip.

• Dead animals - 6



• Logging trucks - 1



• 'Road Gators' - 3



• Dairy Queen Restaurants - 3



• Side of the road bathroom breaks - 1



• "Don't Mess with Texas" road signs - 0

I'm about 100% sure we missed some dead animals and 'road gators' in there. I was sure we would see more logging trucks (East TX is all pine trees) and atleast 1 "Don't Mess with Texas" sign. Looks like TX wants me to litter. Sad.
We made it to Nacogdoches, the Oldest Town in Texas, without a hitch. We were there to spend the weekend with college friends of ours. We ate, shared memories, laughed, and I even did some crying. However, I did not get many pictures taken except this Christmas card worthy one of Grant in front of SFA's (our alma mater) football stadium with his new football. It was over 100 degrees outside but we managed to play a quick, super quick, game of football on the field.

Road tripping on the way back home was not as fun. We were all tired so the only thing "I Spy-ed" was the back of my eye lids.

~~I can see someone saying, "Huh? What is a road gator?!" That is a term I picked up for tire fragments on the road. They can be evil things!

1st Trip to the Dentist

Daniel had to go get his teeth cleaned today, so we decided that it was a good time to get Grant's teeth checked out as well. All 'the books' say to get a dentist appointment as soon as your child gets their first tooth. When I talked to actual dental professionals, they say thats not necessary. We just switched from toddler toothpaste to kid's so we thought it'd bee good timing for that reason as well.
To prepare our son, we talked about The Wonder Pets episode where the bird cleans the alligator's teeth and that the dentist is fun. He was excited to go, so no problems there. We arrived and Ms. Beth did a great job showing him everything. He sat still and did what he was told for his check up.
He got his goody bag when he was done, a toy out of the 'treasure chest', a sticker, and gum (from me).
As a reward (and a way to beat the heat), we went to a local movie theatre that has go-carts and an arcade. He was excited about the go-carts, which we have done before at this location. However, we get in line a realize that neither Daniel and I are wearing the proper footwear to drive the carts. I was expecting a fit from my red head, but he really didn't care. He ran in and was ready to play games!

Me and a hot little man on a bike, what a way to ride!

There is a small alternative to regular bowling at this place. Grant decided he wanted to bowl this way, which was ok since no one was there.
"Yeah! I knocked some down!"
He really would have spent his whole time trying to play this shooting game inside the 'jeep'
Interesting family portraits...haha. I'm pretty sure that how dirty a kid's shirt gets is an indicator of his/her day. Well here you go...time to break out the stain stick!

Birthday Bashes & Hot Flashes

Beauty in the Common Things: Having people to rely on. What is not full of beauty is those that don't think beyond their nose.

Listen In: the normal around here. Wonder Pets and Daniel on the phone.

View from the Kitchen Window: a bean stalk almost a foot high! The bean Grant planted at VBS is flourishing! (see previous post)

We started out July by celebrating my niece's 1st birthday. It was an outdoor cookout with plenty of heat, but we had a good time.

I'm mad because I didn't realize there wasn't one picture of me and the birthday girl until I got home. I even did my best to keep my hair out of a pony tail for the occasion!

We knew we got to the right house when we saw this in the yard. One of Vivian's sweet cousins did this!

Grant gave the birthday girl some good tickles.

Adorable birthday cake!

Baby girl was not the biggest fan of the cake. We had to basically force her to eat it, then she hated being dirty!

These boys chugged the Capri-Suns like there was no tomorrow!

From there, we went to visit Daniel's family for more birthday celebrations. Grant insisted we pick out this Care Bear cake for PePaw and Erica.
On July 4th, we visited with more family and then went to watch some fireworks. We had been swimming most of the day, so we looked a little rough. Daniel didn't seem to mind, though.

Grant was more interested in his ice cream and his new toy gun than the fireworks.

In our area, we've had record temperatures for this time of year. I did yard work for a while one morning and got so hot I felt awful for the rest of the day. Needless to say, we've been doing our best to enjoy our wonderful new a/c system.

So how do you beat the heat?

1. Bring the outdoors, indoors.

Grant and Daniel popped up the deer blind, brought out the coyote decoy, and set up the animal calls. Don't worry, no real guns were used during this fun time.

2. Find things you can do that are fun, cheap, and again...cool.

Did you know they have a Redhead Appreciation Day? I didn't, until I saw that Marble Slam Creameries was giving out a scoop of red velvet ice cream to all redheads (fake and real). We made a day out of it. The ice cream wasn't that wonderful, but who passes up free ice cream? If you live in the DFW area or not, you need to follow My Dallas Mommy (linked on my blog) via her blog or Twitter. I find all sorts of neat discounts and deals this way. Some are local, but a lot are online or at national chains.
3. Go topless!

Ok, this is only recommended in your home or in a pool...and if you are male! I let Grant run around this way just because it iss less laundry for me, and because he can! Here we are sharing some fruit by the foot "Lady in the Tramp" style.

All Aboard the Gospel Express!

I feel so blessed to be a part of a church with a great Vacation Bible School. This year was the first year that Grant was able to participate. We've been working hard on potty training to he could be a part of the fun!

This year, the theme was "All Aboard the Gospel Express!: The Life of Jesus". Daniel took on the role of puppet leader and I was what I like to call the craft lady. Erica came into town to help out and visit for the week. It was a tiring, but fun week that was a success! Some of these pictures are from a talented new friend of mine who graciously helped me with crafts, Christy.

Paul was our conductor for VBS and was up and ready to go each morning to lead 140+ kids!

Grant did some serious praying during the week!

Daniel helped lead some of the songs for the kids.

Grant enjoyed VBS, although stubborn at times. Here he is getting crafty for me.

The last day, the kids did the craft I knew that would be most excited about. They got to decorate a flower pot and plant beans. I called them magic beans. The older kids called my bluff and some didn't even think it'd grow anything. After about a week, look at our 'bean stalk'!