Mike’s sister and her husband came for a visit before Katie had to attend some work meetings in Dallas. They came in Thursday night late and Friday morning we were up and hitting the ground running. Mike had to work so Friday morning the kids and I took them over to Fort Worth.
When we got to the Stockyards we went into the petting farm area. The kids were able to feed a bunch of different farm and exotic animals. Then we went over to watch the long horns and the “cattle drive.” When the cows were done Elin had a tiny meltdown complete with flopping over onto the sidewalk, crocodile tears and a very unhappy little girl. The cows being all done was a little too much for her to handle! Thankfully there were other things to distract her and after riding a few mechanical horses both she and Thomas were happy little “cowkids.” 
We then grabbed lunch before heading back to the homestead. Once home we regrouped, took a walk to the park and then met Mike for some Tex-Mex for dinner. 
Saturday started off gloomy and a bit chilly, by Texas standards, so we decided an indoor activity would be best. We headed to the George W. Bush Library and Museum to check it out. The history in that place was from a presidency we adults big kids remember. It was a nice library/museum and a few of the historic highlights for me was seeing some of the iron beams from the Twin Towers, the replicated Oval Office, the declassified paper that allowed the start of the war in Afghanistan and the Hurricane Katrina disaster. 
I am sure this is all because I can remember so vividly when all of these moments in history happened. Walking into the 9/11 area was emotionally overwhelming. The thousands of names of the lives that were lost on that day, the number of lives changed in an instant, and a country/world that would never be the same again, so humbling and overwhelming. 
It took my breath away and had me blinking back tears as Mike and I tried to explain it in as simple of terms as possible to Thomas. A day that a almost 4 year old, two thirty something year old, cannot even attempt to fully understand. After moving through the 9/11 portion of the museum we waited in a long line to enter the replica of the Oval Office. After seeing that we strolled through the rest of the museum before heading back home. 
Saturday night we went to Medieval Times and surprisingly all most of us had a pretty good time. The kiddos loved it, Elin loved the horses and was clapping and cheering everytime they came out. Thomas was quiet and watched intently wondering about the knights and if they were ok when they were fighting. Both of my boys got swords to fight one another with once home. The food was ok, there was a lot of it and Thomas was a little thrown off by what the server was calling the food. As he delivered the potato, a dragon egg, the rib-a dragon toe, and the chicken-a falcon, T was like “can we eat this.” He happily chowed down once I told him it was just pretending and being silly. As corny as it was, it was a fun experience, and the best part our red knight won! So at the end he presented a lucky girl in the audience something and when he was walking back to his horse he gave Thomas a “high five!” 
On Sunday we headed downtown. We drove by Dealey Plaza so that Don and Katie could see where JFK was assassinated. We then headed to Klyde Warren Park to explore the “city park” and have lunch at the food trucks. The park was a little different than we expected but non the less it was a good way to spend a nice day outside. Sunday night we made dinner at home and relaxed. Don and Katie were off on Monday morning and it was back to work for Mike and I. It was a busy, fun, weekend with company in town.
No comments:
Post a Comment