A Weekend in Dallas

Friday afternoon, we drove to Dallas for the Texas/OU game.... also, please note how I have to force myself to say Texas/OU vs. OU/Texas- spending 7 years in Oklahoma, made us come to know this weekend as OU/Texas, so now I have to reverse it around. It's a struggle. 

Anyway, this weekend was the Red River Rivalry which is the game between Texas and OU, and it's always played one weekend of the Texas State Fair at Cotton Bowl Stadium.

The 1st year we lived here, I took the girls to the fair, and then realized I had strep throat so we missed the game. Last year, friends from Oklahoma met us and we got a babysitter for the kids so the adults went to the game. But, this year, it was the girls' turn! With COVID guidelines in effect, I figured this was the perfect year to take them because it was way less crowded than it would typically be, and knew we'd have plenty of room- typically, it's standing room only with little time or space to sit down. 

Monday morning we got our chores done, and left a little before lunch time, putting us in Waco just in time for lunch. We stopped, ate, and got right back in the car. Once we arrived in Dallas, we checked in to the hotel, watched some TV and relaxed, and then went to eat dinner. As we were walking back from dinner, the team had arrived, so we watched them unload, and Miss Adalyn stood their with her horns up. She's a big fan. 

Afterwards, we drove to Frisco to meet friends at the Dallas Star field. Megan and her friend Kyla, went to school together in Oklahoma, and they moved to the Dallas area at the same time we moved to Austin. The girls are so much alike and so much fun!

We got cookies and ice cream and sat to catch up. 

Then the girls ran around on the field. It was hard saying good-bye, but I'm so glad they're somewhat close so we know we'll see each other again!

Saturday morning we woke up and drove to the game. I was relieved that our hotel was close and that traffic was not horrible. Usually the hotel is about 30 minutes away and you sit in game day traffic. Y'all, as much as I hate all of the mandates with COVID, I'm really enjoying some of the game day perks of less traffic and more room in the stands. 

After driving around the fair grounds 3 times to find our parking (the lot we had was closed and we had to drive around to find another one that would let us park) We were finally in the fair grounds and heading toward the Cotton Bowl. 

Since the state fair didn't take place this year (it was a drive through experience) I wasn't sure what the fairgrounds would look like, but there were several food vendors set up and we were able to get a picture with Big Tex! 

DJ grabbed this shot of the field. The game is split right down the 50 yard line with OU fans on one side and Texas fans on the other. 

We found our seats and grabbed some food! The girls only had snacks for breakfast and they were starving! And as excited as I was to see a Fletcher's Corny Dog stand- the line was ridiculous and I just wanted to get inside. 

15 years later and I still have game day nerves, and I'm always nervous about the entire arrival process until I'm in my seat. 

We were ready to cheer on the horns! 

And then, while we were chatting with a friend, her tooth fell out! Like, literally just fell right out of her mouth as she was talking and on to the ground! She took a selfie and we sent pictures to daddy and Gee. 

Thankfully, she brought her tooth box along with her. 

So, if you watched the game, you might have dozed off in the 3rd quarter, but during the 3rd quarter, Texas came back and tied the game causing us to go in to overtime! The girls were over it, but once I told Adalyn that she needed to get up and start yelling, she did just that! 

I looked over and saw Megan filming the game. Future video coordinator?

This girl and I were nervous! 

She was all chill, as we went in to 4 overtimes, and eventually lost the game. Sigh. 

This is the 2nd year, I've been to the game in person and both years we lost, so I told DJ that I'd stay home next year :) 

After the game, we took our time leaving, because we had to wait on DJ to finish up film. He didn't ride to Dallas with us, but he was able to ride home with us. So, we had lots of time to wait. Eventually, they made us leave the stadium, so we wandered out and found that the ferris wheel was operating! 

I tried to get the girls to ride last year, but they were terrified, but this year, Gretchen was super excited to ride! The little girls waited at the bottom and facetimed my mom (probably not my best decision-ha!) But, they were in a safe spot to wait. 

We were excited to ride! 

And the view from the top was pretty spectacular. 

She was so proud to have conquered the ride! 

We eventually met up with DJ and were able to drive home! It was a long day but 100% worth it for the time away and memories made. 

 

Red River What?

This past weekend was the big Texas/OU game; AKA the Red River Rivalry. Both teams meet in Dallas at  Texas State Fair in the Cotton Bowl. I've heard about this game for as long as we lived in Oklahoma- and never gave it any attention before that, but I know that to my friends that are Sooners, this the biggest game of the year besides Bedlam. I've been looking forward to this game ever since DJ was hired at Texas. I couldn't wait to experience it! 

The girls were out of school on Friday, and a new friend advised us to head up Friday morning and hit the fair on Friday because it would be way less crowded. So we woke up, ran a few quick errands, and headed north to Dallas. 

But first, we stopped at Buc-ees, which everyone had told us about, but we had never made the time to stop on our drives to Austin or back to Oklahoma. Plus, the road construction nearby is a mess and I never wanted to deal with it. 

We grabbed some lunch, drinks, went potty, filled up the gas tank, and headed on. 

Now, I should probably tell you that I woke up Friday morning feeling like something had attacked my throat. Big time. I was tired and didn't feel good, but we've been looking forward to this game for months, so I decided I would push through and feel better the next morning. 

We made it in to the fair, and Megan spotted this cow photo op and wanted her picture. 

We walked further down and spotted the Fox College Football set up, and knew it would be packed the following day. 

Further in to the fair, we found Big Tex, and I knew we had to get a photo. 

And, then we found the Cotton Bowl stadium, and I wanted to grab a photo because I knew on Saturday, I would be more worried about keeping up with three kids. 

We found the kids rides, and the girls wanted to ride everything! Our first ride started, and I looked over and Adalyn had gotten off either right as or right before the ride started! No one thought to buckle her (like they do at Silver Dollar City) and I didn't think to take her inside myself, and since she wasn't buckled in, she was terrified and made it off crying, and refused to ride it again. 

She eventually decided that as long as she was riding with her sister, things were much better. 

The girls (and I) went through a funhouse, and then they rode bumper cars. 

She was ready to roll! 

Let me also insert here, that rides were expensive, and I probably should've known that.... but 8 tickets per child was cray, so the girls maybe rode four rides, and a few they wanted to ride, no one else did, so they rode alone, while we watched. 

And, it was crazy hot. Like 90 degrees or so, and we were pretty miserable. Plus, I was feeling worse as the day went on. 

After the girls rode a few things, I took a break, and oiled up to keep myself going. 

Peppermint on the back of my neck

Lavender spray right to my face

Lots of water 

We worked our way over to the animals, and found Texas' truck, and took a photo. 

The girls loved looking at all of the animals and trying to pick up the feed that had fallen on to the ground to feed them. #gross. 

Do you see the baby kangaroo in his momma's pouch?

The little goats wanted all the attention. 

After the petting zoo, I decided it was time to call it a day. 

It was close to dinner time, fair food did not look appetizing since I didn't feel well, and I wanted to make it an early night since we had to be up early for the game. 

We made our trek back to the car, found the team hotel, and once we got in the room, I crashed. Hard. DJ was super dad and ordered room service for the girls and made sure they all got baths. I ordered soup, crawled back in bed, and we spent the night watching Disney. 

The next morning, DJ woke up early to leave for the game, and texted me telling me to not forget to get there early, but, I couldn't do it. By this time I was feeling miserable, and I knew that it was probably more than a cold or allergies. It was suppose to be hot again, and the stadium was outdoors, and I knew it would be all kinds of crazy crowded, plus three girls bored out of their minds in the stands, plus me solo did not equal a fun equation for the day. 

I made the difficult decision to drive home. We got up and put on clothes, and drove the three hours back to Austin and made it home right after kick off. 

I spent the rest of Saturday on the couch. Sleeping in between plays, during quarters, and waking up just to make sure we were still ahead. 

By the end of the 4th quarter I was getting nervous, because OU started catching up. 

When this ariel shot went over, I knew that I made the right decision to not be in those crowded stands with three kids that day. Plus, I failed to mention, when I got home, I had a 102 fever. 

I'm sure everyone appreciated that I didn't pass my germs to them. 

In the end, Texas wins. 

and the Golden Hat is back where it belongs. 

Next year though, I'm coming for you! 

Our American Girl Weekend

This past weekend, we had the ultimate girls trip, and headed to Dallas, Tx. 

I came up with the idea several months ago, that instead of throwing a big birthday party for Megan, we should just head to Dallas to the American Girl Store. Since, my niece's birthday is a few weeks before Megan's, we asked them to come along too! We picked out a weekend, booked a hotel, made reservations for lunch at the American Girl Bistro, and had a fun girls weekend! 

I took the day off work on Friday, and took the girls out of school. No one had tests, so it was a good day to miss :) We ended up getting a later start than we had originally planned, but by 11, we were on the road and ready for our weekend!

We checked in to our hotel rooms, and headed out for dinner. 

In & Out, was a must for me in Dallas. 

Seriously, I'm a big fan of their burgers!

After dinner, we decided to head back to the hotel to swim. 

The girls swam for a while, but the water was cold! 

After swimming, the girls had baths, and then we did face masks, and little mani/pedis. 

All of our nails done...

and, our toes too. 

We booked two adjoining hotel rooms. One had a king size bed, and the other room had two queens. My bed mates for the first night were Gretchen and Megan. 

Saturday morning we were up and ready to head to American Girl!

But first, we needed a little breakfast, so we stopped at Panera. 

The girls were mesmerized once we arrived to the American Girl store!

They immediately went in several different directions! I had told Megan and Adalyn that they could each pick out a doll for their birthday presents. Addy's birthday is in July, but we thought she should go ahead and pick out a doll since we were there. 

She insisted on Kit. Kit has been her favorite for a long time now!

The girls played in the Wellie Wisher area for a while.

And then we were off to find Megan's doll. Megan insisted on Luciana, the girl of the year. 

Gretchen picked out a few books and lego sets. She's kind of getting over the doll stage. 

After the girls picked out their dolls, they searched for some accessories. 

The girls have been working hard to earn money for chores, and the day we left, we took them to the grocery store to cash in all of their change. Plus, they each had some birthday and Easter money left over. 

Addy found this chair and said "hey mom, take a picture of me in this rocking chair." So, I did. 

It took us forever to check out since we had to make 4 separate purchases. 

After we shopped, we put everything back in the car, walked through the Galleria mall to watch the ice skaters, and then headed back over to the Bistro for our 12:30 lunch reservation. 

This is the second time we've been to the American Girl restaurant, and y'all, it did not disappoint! Our meal was right around $100.00, but, I let each girl choose a specialty drink and we all ate desert. 

You're able to choose a starter and a main course dish, and none of us were able to finish our meals! 

I ordered hummus and the chicken cesar salad. Megan and Adalyn both had the soft pretzels with tic tac toe pizza (they totally could have shared), and Gretchen had mozzarella sticks and the turkey club sandwich. 

There were lots of fun drinks to choose from! 

Gretchen and Megan both chose a Blue Moon Milkshake. 

Each of the dolls had a high chair, and were given their own cup and saucer, that you get to take home ;)

Yup, that's cotton candy on top of her milkshake!

Adalyn chose a chocolate cherry milkshake. 

This girl is a precious little stink! 

I didn't take any pictures of our food, because we just dug right in!

But, everyone picked out their own dessert, and since we were celebrating three birthdays, all of the girls had candles on their dessert. 

Adalyn picked out cupcakes that she could decorate herself. 

Megan wanted a sundae.

Gretchen picked out a trio of ice cream cones. 

We had so much fun celebrating this girl!

And here's a little peak at the tables. Each of the napkin rings are a hair tie, that you can keep for yourself. 

Our lunch was fabulous and we were all stuffed!!!

After lunch we headed back to the hotel to drop off what we bought, have a little rest, and then we headed to..... 

Ikea!

Megan found a sign that said "Happy B-Day Meg!"

And, there was a pretty fabulous spot for photos! Ha!

Once we finished shopping at Ikea and buying #allthethings, we went back to the hotel and the girls swam some more! Thankfully, it was much warmer than Friday!

After swimming, we headed out for a late night dinner. We found a pizza place, Coal Vines, that was delicious! We ate calamari, and ordered two pizzas, which were devoured in less than 10 minutes. We all declared it the best pizza ever!

Sunday morning, we slept in and went to The Pancake House for brunch. 

And then we said our good byes so we could all head home. 

We had so much fun celebrating Amelia and Megan, and Addy too :) 

I'm thinking we should make this an annual trip!