Saturday, August 27, 2016

Summer O Fun Week 13.....The Grand Finale


Well ya'll. This is it. The last Summer O Fun post. We made it through our 13 weeks of sheer crazy. And we went out with a bang. 

Two of the most "intimidating" outings on our Summer Bucket list were Klyde Warren Park and the Children's Aquarium at Fair Park. Mainly because both of these places are in downtown Dallas and 
1) I HATE HATE HATE trying to park down there. I'm used to the suburbs where I usually park with a space between me and the next person. AND 2) The morning traffic rush doesn't end until 9:30. We MUST be back in Plano by 12:30 for Greyson's nap. Because all Moms know by NO MEANS SHOULD THE CHILD FALL ASLEEP IN THE CAR!!!! THAT IS A TOTAL WASTE OF 2 PRECIOUS HOURS.

So anyway, I just didn't know if we could reasonably squeeze in these activities. 

First up was Klyde Warren Park. My neighbor went with us, who has an 8 month old and 2.5 year old. She's brave ya'll. We loaded 'em three deep in her minivan and hit the road. She parallel parked the thing LIKE A BOSS. (Actually, her last name IS Boss.)The park was actually SUPER easy to get to, but perhaps that's because she was driving. ; ) But if you're from Dallas-it was really easy and right off 75. It was the PERFECT day for it. We had this random week of overcast weather and highs in the 80's. Just enough to give you a taste of sweet freedom. 

This park is absolutely DARLING! It is literally built on top of a freeway in the smack dab middle of all the towering skyscrapers. What a view! 





There were lots of neat things for the kids to play on. Our buddy Patrick enjoyed the big boy climbing stuff. I'm just counting the days where G is big enough to get stuck in this thing and I have to SpiderMan-it to get him out.


G enjoyed the new age Merry-Go-Round.....


And quicker than two shakes of a lamb's he had bailed off into the splash pad portion of the park. I had his swimsuit in his bag, but there was no time.......I just let him go for it. 


There was also the neatest tree house that we went up and down and round and round......



So even though it was too little too late, I had to switch Greyson to his swim clothes and we hopped over to the other side of the lawn for some food truck fun. 


We had a Mac-n-cheese BBQ slider, a Mashed Potato and Gravy Chicken slider, and tater tots. YUM. Greyson was really more interested in the pigeons.


This was a PERFECT play and lunch date! We had had so much fun! It was so neat to be in the middle of the big city. (But I was still happy to return to the suburbs with my attached garage.) We told Patrick it was his job to keep Greyson awake, so every 3 minutes for the next 30, we heard "WAKE UP GREYSON!". Buddy did his job well. 

Later that week, we went with some more friends to the Children's Aquarium at Fair Park. It is literally on the Texas State Fairgrounds, so we strolled right by the big Ferris Wheel and the Cotton Bowl Stadium. So cool. 


This one is much smaller (and much cheaper) than the Dallas World aquarium and geared for little kids; everything is low to the ground so they can see. Sweet Everett is almost 4, but I love how little kids have no sense of age difference. He just talks to Greyson and Greyson just talks his toddler gibberish back.  


An awesome feature they have is two outdoor tanks, and one is full of stingrays that you can pet. Greyson was right up there with the big kids getting in on the fishy fun. We were all a total mess afterwards. 


He loved the albino gator.....


Pretty pointless trying to attempt to get a picture these days......


Those two big outings left us pretty wiped out for the week. Plus we had to start gearing up for......drum roll, please....MOTHER'S DAY OUT! He only goes one day a week, but 5 hours in a mom's life is like 12 in a regular person's life. 

Greyson's new backpack and lunchbox came in so we hit the mall to get his name on it.


The TRAC-TOR and the CHOO-CHOO that rides around the mall is always a must. 


On Friday, we headed to meet Greyson's new teachers. I can't believe this is already his second year at "school".  


I had all the back-to-school nostalgia emotions, so we hit up McAlister's afterwards for a little mother-son lunch date. And oh my goodness, they have the most amazing kid's menu!!!! A TON of options for 99 CENTS!!! That big ole salad and the cheese pizza that you see....99 CENTS! 

We had such a fun time, I'm thinking maybe I should make this a tradition each year after Meet the Teacher. 


I was gonna try to extend the Summer O Fun for ONE MORE week and knock out the last few things still on the list. But after school officially started back, it just feels doesn't feel like summer anymore. (Despite the fact that it's still SWELTERING.) Football starts next week, and Bible study soon after that, so we've got a whole new schedule. I'm going to do a re-cap, but I have to say that we had such a blast this summer. I'm happy to return to a routine, but I wouldn't trade it for the world.

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