Dallas Christmas Part 3 (Making Our Days Merry & Bright)

We had a full two weeks in Dallas and so were able to fit in lots of fun things during our stay, mostly with family because friends are often just as busy during this time. There were many puzzles, the short-lived chocolate house, NYE disc golf and donuts with Greg & Jack, and a day at Crayola. 

With grandma and Sophie's help we finished this 1000 piece in about 3 hours!

First experience with a a Magic Puzzle (surprise twist at the end)

Sophie did a 300 piece and Davey did a 100 piece, both all by themselves

This one was so pretty and probably my favorite build over the break

Chill time with Papa

Sophie and Davey got these little craft planters for Christmas, but Davey's had an accident and fell off the counter losing some seeds, so it looked a little sparse compared to Sophie's. He was upset until we told him the dinosaurs had probably just eaten some of his plants :)

The infamous chocolate house. Grandma helped Sophie build it from Hershey bars instead of gingerbread and apparently it tasted as good as it looked because we later found it eaten down to the foundation.

Griffin's pack n play was a little too close to Papa's desk during nap - oops!

The disc golf crew! It was a fun outing to end our year. Except for Davey. His team tied for first and he wanted a solo victory, hence the crying. 

Griffin could care less about frisbee but was happy that Trixie was there to watch and follow

First visit to Hurts Donuts

We brought them to a park so we could eat and play

Play doh at 7 am was Griffin's way to ring in the New Year

During our stay we also made a trip out to Tyler to help Aunt Liz move into her new home! The kids were not helpful at all, but did enjoy finding random places to hide while the adults moved stuff around.

We bought tickets to visit Crayola but they were unexpectedly closed 👎👎 The kids were so sad. However! We hung around long enough to catch an employee who refunded our tickets and also gave us free passes to come back later, so it worked out okay in the end!

Some fun on our return visit (that was free!)

The Summer Fun Continues in Dallas!

We spent a week in Dallas on both ends of our Seattle Trip. I've combined our time there into one post, however, for convenience. Our first week spanned the end of June into the first week of July. Tim's family surprised everyone by driving down from Idaho and it was fun to spend time with them! Our second week in August  was spent mostly with friends. Grandma and Grandpa went up to Minnesota. during that week, so we were at the house by ourselves. 

Charlie and Maya playing a game together

 

We had a pool party at Greg's house before going to Seattle. It was fun to swim with cousins and enjoy each other's company. Even Liz was able to join us for a short time and it was good to see her!

Swimming at grandma's neighborhood pool is always fun because we usually have the place to ourselves

Looking so perfectly squishy during his poolside nap

We were happy to be able to experience Crayola Experience again after returning from Seattle. It's a really fun place and because of COVID, there was hardly anyone there so they never had to wait their turn for any of the activities. This was their first time visiting a public place other than the swimming pool or library since March and they had so much fun! They got to design their own crayon label, print it out, and wrap it around a crayon to take home, melt crayons down into molds to make a crayon ring, melt crayons down and drip the hot wax on a spinning paper to create a fun design and so much more! 

We visited a fun new place with friends called Little Elm beach. It's a free public park with a big sandy beach along Lake Lewisville. The kids had much fun building castles and playing in the warm water. We will definitely be coming back here next summer!

These sweet girls have grown so much and had a blast swimming and playing together!

Macho men showing off their muscles

Love this mom squad!

We also met up with our friends at the Jack Carter pool for another fun day of swimming. We love that place because it's basically a small waterpark (lazy river, slides, kid pool, rock wall, high dive) but only costs $5. We will probably take our kids here until they are teenagers!

And swimming with friends yet again... this time at a backyard pool/pizza party. Can you tell our kids love swimming?? This was Davey's first time going off the diving board. He had the opportunity to try it all summer, but was always too scared until now. Turns out he loves it!

2020 Dallas Summer Clips