Week 72: New Years in the Big D.

Dear Nathan and Hannah, 

You two actually travel pretty well. We may just have to start taking you guys on more trips. Nathan, you were not a great traveler when you were younger, but Hannah does great and now, so do you. 

We returned from our trip to Illinois late Saturday night after a lost key ordeal, which actually helped us realize how small our little first world problems really are. But other than that, the trip went really smoothly. The kids slept most of the way back and were relatively happy. No blow outs, no melt downs: win. 

After a brief day of resting on Sunday, you and me had a doughnut date, where you picked out your own blue sprinkle doughnuts, followed by a quick play date with one of your friends from school. 

This was actually with the kid that has been bothering you. After an hour of playing, on our way home, you told me that you like this kid now and that he was pretty nice. With some additional conversation about accidental roughness and being able to  tell others when you don't like what they are doing, I think you are not going to view this kid as a bully any more. And so far, this week, you have told me that you guys played nicely together. Yay! 

After we went home and had lunch, we headed out on the 240 mile trip to Ama's house. This must have been the best trip because we made it in 3 hours and 30 minutes. Three years ago, this same trip took over 8 hours and since then, we have never made it under 5. So that went super well. 

We left around nap time, hoping that you guys would take great naps for most of the trip. Not so much. Hannah slept for 45 minutes and was up the rest of the trip, and of course, that woke Nathan up and so both of you didn't get great naps that day. 

We gave you guys snacks along the way to keep you busy...at one point, Hannah was too quiet, so I looked back and saw you doing this acrobatic thing...

And these water painting books are simply amazing. Hannah liked painting with them, but the pictures alone caught your attention for awhile.

And Nathan, you practiced your letter and number writing.

While we were in Plano, we visited a few museums that popped up after I left for college. The first one pictured here is the Frisco heritage museum, which eventually will become a train museum. Hannah eventually got a chance to ring the bell all by yourself. 

Because when big brother is around, all you can really do is watch.

We got to walk along some train tracks.

And we got to see just how big these steamies really are in life. 

Of course, Nathan, you wanted to tell Hannah about all the different parts of the engine.

We also rode the commuter train one morning to go downtown to visit the Perot Museum. It was exciting because we got to travel over bridges as well as go underground. Pretty cool.

I was a bit unimpressed with the Perot museum. While I feel it was very educational, it was not very hands-on. There were a bunch of amazing fancy lit up posters and displays behind glass cases, geared towards the older crowd, this was not too cool for little ones. Look, but don't touch. 

And of course you guys got to open more presents. I love this picture because it captures how happy you are, Nathan, for Hannah, as she opens up her present with Ama. 

Ok, back to museums... another day, we went to the science and tech discovery center, also in Frisco. It was a pretty cool place for kids to be mischievous and explore. 

The bubble station was a big hit with everyone...apparently, the square bubble wand worked the best.

And Nathan somehow got caught up with playing with the older winter camp kids who were also there. Haha, as I look closer, looks like Hannah is too!

There was also a cool t-rex that you could control remotely.

And a pit filled with rubber "sand." What a cool sensory experience! 

And then there was a magical house where kids get to grow tall like adults instantly. In the picture below, Nathan, you are as tall as Auntie Momo!

We also got a chance to eat lots of yummy chinese and japanese food. I pretty much dragged you guys along as we hit up all of my favorite restaurants. We spent some good quality time with family and had a good time exploring the city a bit. After 5 days, it was time to go home.

We were not quite sure how the drive home was going to be, considering we were driving back January 2nd, but we decided to stop at my alma matter, Baylor and visit their children's museum on campus.

We usually stop there when it's cold outside, but if we are ever driving to or from Dallas, and it's warm outside, we just stop by the big playground in town and play until you guys tire out. But after a hearty meal at chick-fil-a, which Nathan spotted first, and requested it for lunch, we went off to explore the museum.

Here you guys are trying to walk around in wooden shoes.

Well, now that we are home, things are slowly starting to get back to normal. It's been a cold few days, and we are going to have a few days of 70 degree weather before it gets back down to the 50's again. Here's a picture of Nathan wearing a rhino sweater that Daddy wore when he was a kid. Kinda cool, right? 

And when it stopped raining, we braved the cold and took the bike out for a spin.

It's amazing just how much Hannah is picking up from just observing things around her. One day, we were wandering around walmart while we were waiting for my car to get an oil change across the street. We started at the book section and then eventually wandered to the toy section. I thought I would just let you roam around to see what kind of toys you would naturally gravitate to and at first, you were excited about balls, but then lo and behold, once you saw the "ba-bees" you immediately stomped towards them and pulled one off the shelf. Then you pulled a wheel chair off the shelf and set the baby inside the wheel chair, adjusted yourself and started pushing the wheel chair up and down the aisles.

Well, there you have it. I am finally caught up with posts and I can finally relax a bit before we start decluttering the house...which will be so much fun. yay.

Until next week,
Love,
Mommy