A Tour of Downtown Dallas

While we were in Dallas, I wanted to take the kids on a tour of the city.  We booked a narrated trolley tour that took us past all the major sites of downtown Dallas, including Dealey Plaza, the 2 marked spots on Elm Street where President Kennedy was shot, the Reunion Tower, First Baptist Church of Dallas with 50 feet water fountains synchronized to music, the Perot museum, and Pioneer Plaza.

The GeO Deck of the Reunion Tower is 500 feet up and provides a panoramic view of downtown Dallas.  We took the kids there for some holiday activities.  They got to pet animals from the Dallas zoo, take pictures with Santa, and get balloons made by an elf.

The Reunion Tower in the background

A visit from the Dallas Zoo

Santa isn't so scary for any of the kids anymore

balloons made to order by Santa's Elf

After an hour long tour, the kids got to enjoy some time outside just running around and enjoying the statues at Pioneer Plaza, which celebrates the history of longhorns being driven by cowboys.  This is the 2nd most visited landmark in downtown Dallas, the first being Dealey Plaza.

I was surprised to find that downtown Dallas was pretty quiet the Sunday before Christmas.  I had braced myself for holiday crowds and traffic, but our tour guide told us that Dallas being a suburban city gets its traffic during the work week.  In that sense we lucked out and got to enjoy a leisurely visit in downtown Dallas.

Great Wolf Lodge Grapevine, TX

We just got back from a wonderful trip to Dallas.  Since we were traveling so far for a wedding, we decided to extend our stay and make a mini vacation of it and booked ourselves into the Great Wolf Lodge for 2 nights.  It was the perfect length stay for our family.  There was plenty to do and lots of fun for the kids.

I spent a little extra and booked the Wolf Den, which has a separate cave themed sleeping area for the kids with bunk beds and their own TV.   Unfortunately when I was booking the room, they were out of the rooms that had a 3rd bed in the cave and baby T was sad he didn't get to sleep in the wolf den.

The kids enjoyed plenty of time at the 84 degree, indoor water park the first night we arrived and most of the day of our second day.  It was balmy and warm.  There was plenty for all ages from sprinklers for baby T to big slides for lil P and big L.  And the whole family loved circling the lazy river over and over.

In the morning the kids enjoyed a Wolf Walk, learning about different animals and making origami wolf.  And, in the evening, the kids enjoyed story time in their PJs at the Great Clock Tower, complete with falling snow.

In addition to wolf ears, the front desk gave the kids special bands so that they could get free ice cream every day.  Is there anything better than enjoying ice cream in PJs?

The entire Lodge was well beautifully decorated for the holiday season.

letters to Santa

The Great Clock Tower

 

The next time we go to the Great Wolf we'll try other activities like MagiQuest which we just didn't have the time to do.  Overall, it was a great, short visit with plenty to do and reasonably priced.

Christmas 2014

This year Christmas seems like it came and went so quickly.

Keeping with tradition, the kids each picked out an ornament.  Lil P picked a cupcake, Baby T picked Elmo and Big L picked Darth Vader in a Santa cap.  I love how these ornaments are a little reflection of who they are this year and look forward to them looking at their complete collections when they are older. 

Since we were heading to VA for Christmas, on Christmas Eve we let the kids open their presents from us.

Christmas day we opened presents with the grandparents and cousins.

animal hats all around

In the evening we went to the Bull Run Festival of Lights, a 2.2 mile drive though of holiday lights.  The signs posted said to maintain a speed of 10 mph, but there were so many cars we didn't even hit 10 mph.  It was fine anyways since we weren't in a hurry and it gave us more time to enjoy all the lights.

The following day we went to see ICE at the National Harbor.  It's an indoor ice sculpture exhibit made from 2 million pounds of ice.  They even had ice slides.  The rooms are kept at 9 degrees, and I think it was way too cold for Baby T despite the many layers of clothing and parka they gave him. 

Frosty the Snowman & Nativity Scene Ice Sculptures

Hubby takes a ride down the ice slide

Afterwards, since it was a beautiful day we took a walk around the National Harbor.  This area has been completely gentrified since I remember it growing up.

The weekend was a blur.  I jam packed it with visits with friends and activities.  It may be what made me and Big L get sick but we still had a blast and made lots of memories.

Frozen Disney on Ice

I usually don't plan too far in advance, mostly because with 3 kids I only have the brain capacity to think about what's going on right now.  But when I saw Frozen Disney on Ice tickets on sale back in June, I knew I had to get it for Lil P.  Ever since she saw the movie, it's been non stop Frozen.  

I loved looking over at Lil P during to show to see her sitting on the edge of her seat absolutely mesmerized and mouthing the words to "Let It Go". 

Every little girl wants to be Elsa

Even though Big L covers his ears in the car whenever we listen to the Frozen soundtrack, he still enjoyed watching the show decked out in his Olaf hat. 

What a memorable day!

Tappantown Historical Society's Colonial Day

We took a step back in time to the 1700's while attending Tappantown Historical Society's Annual Colonial Day.  We really had an amazing time learning about and experiencing colonial life at the DeWint House, which was George Washington’s temporary Headquarters at Tappan during the American Revolutionary War.  I had no idea this was so close to our home!

The kids got to experience colonial life through several demonstrations including sheep shearing, apple pressing and watching a reenactment by a Colonial army.

Reenactment by Colonial soldiers

It was a jam packed afternoon of activities for the kids.  They got hands-on experience in candle making (the highlight for Big L), quill writing, woodwork, making tussie mussies (Lil P's favorite), and even marching with Colonial soldiers.  

Writing with quills and Big L's finished candle

Big L making shingles and rope from milk weed and Lil P carrying a yoke

Big L making music and Lil P on stilts

Lil P got some army training and marched with the soldiers

We also chatted with militiamen and Ben Franklin.

Even though Baby T wasn't feeling well, he was a trooper and enjoyed the donuts and being outdoors.

All smiles!

It was such a fun and educational experience for the whole family.  There were more activities and exhibits that we didn't get to, but we'll just have to look forward to next year's event!

Our First Nationals Baseball Game

One of the highlights of our recent trip to DC was attending a Nationals baseball game.  Thanks to grandma and grandpa, we were able to enjoy this 4 hour game with just the big kids.  This was their first professional baseball game ever and they loved it, in addition to all the cracker jacks, cotton candy and snow cones!  Fortunately, we were in the good company of my friends who are seasoned fans and had the best recommendations on where to buy seats and park. Though a little pricey, we paid for VIP parking in Lot C which offers direct access into the park.  With kids in tow, it's definitely worth the premium.  We sat in section 109 which is perfectly shaded for an afternoon game and close to the  bathrooms, first-aid and a bunch of food options. 

This park is really kid-friendly.  There is even a playground that is open until the 4th inning.  And after this game the kids got to run the bases.  That was pretty cool. 

Some fun photo ops...

Walking Tour of the Memorials in Washington D.C.

I grew up just a few miles outside of DC, so my dad who enjoys history took us to all the memorials and museums.  Even though I visit my parents several times a year, I have never taken my kids to D.C.  Now that my son is in grade school, I wanted to show him some of D.C. since he can appreciate and understand it.  So I planned a 5 day trip of touring DC, mixed with visiting with friends, and other fun excursions.

On our day in DC, we did a 6 hour walking tour starting at the Washington Monument, around the Tidal Basin and back around.  We lucked out to some beautiful weather. 

We started our day at the base of the Washington Monument.  At the Washington Monument Lodge, they start handing out free, same-day tickets to go to the top of the monument at 8:00 a.m. but we leisurely made our way into DC and by 11:30 a.m. the earliest tickets available were for 5:00 pm.  It worked out since it gave us plenty of time to hit 7 memorials before working our way back to the Washington Monument. 

Base of Washington Monument

We walked around the Tidal Basin to the Jefferson Memorial.  This whole area is really beautiful during Cherry Blossom season.  You can even paddle boat here.

We hold these truths to be self-evident...

At the Tidal Basin, hubby wanted to stop by the very same bench where he had proposed 12 years ago.  Not so romantic with 3 squirmy kids not wanting to sit for a photo.

Then we continued around the Tidal Basin to the FDR Memorial.  This memorial is comprised of 4 outdoor gallery rooms depicting each one of his 4 terms of presidency.  This memorial site encompasses 7.5 acres.  We walked through part of the park where we took a break on some benches for a light picnic lunch I had packed.  

Next, we walked along the Tidal Basin to the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial.  This was my first time visiting, since it was just erected in 2012.  Symbolically, this is MLK emerging out of the mountain of despair.  

 

Hubby had us symbolically stand with arms stretched to bridge the gap in the mountain of despair.

We walked through the Korean War Memorial.

 Finally, we got to the much anticipated Lincoln Memorial..

Big L meets the original Lincoln

View of the Washington Monument across the Reflecting Pool

 
Then we made our way to the Vietnam Memorial.  My dad served in the Vietnam War and wanted to visit this memorial.

We walked to the WWII Memorial where we took a little break and enjoyed the cool water and amazing view of the Washington Monument.

Finally, we made our way back to the Washington Monument in time to take a trip up 500 feet to the observation deck where we could get an aerial view of D.C.  One flight down there are some exhibits about the monument.  On the elevator ride down, it slows down twice to view some areas of the monument's interior which is lined with commemorative stones from different states. 

View of Lincoln Memorial from the top

 

Our day ended with an awesome dinner at Founding Farmers in D.C. before heading back to my parent's home.