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!)

Sammamish Christmas, Part 4 (New Years Eve)

We had a simple New Year's Eve at the house celebrating with the kids. Derek and Faye returned from Portland and it was good to have them back in time for all the fun. We played Minute to Win It games, did sparklers in the driveway, and then watched the countdown in London on Youtube to ring in the new year. 2020 was a lemon of a year and I don't think anyone was too sad to see it end. 

We had four events - dropping mini marshmallows in your partner's open mouth, transferring cotton balls with Vaseline on your nose, transferring goldfish with a straw, and shaking ping pong balls out of a box strapped to your waist. 

Charlie was scared at first and stayed inside, but then decided to come out and try one. He did great!

Dallas December Fun

The first half of our Dallas trip was spent mostly with family. Tim's crew came down from Idaho and we had four fun days to spend with them before they had to go home. While they were in town we went to Crayola Experience, the trampoline park and swimming at Greg's. We also did a morning of service together, played lots of games, and enjoyed a pre-Christmas big family dinner.

After the Christmas we got together with friends a few times for games, food and to let the kids all play together. Our biggest event was the New Year's Eve party that is always so much fun .

We bought an annual pass to Crayola last time we were in Dallas, so this was our second time back. The kids had fun doing all their favorite activities from last time, and discovering new areas, like the melt-it-down wax coloring station.

Our service project was assembling meal kits for Feed My Starving Children. Volunteers have to be over 5, so Dave and Tim stayed home with the little while the rest of us put on our hairnets and got to work!

Sophie worked hard for 1.5 hours at the scooping station loading vitamins and veggies, and at the bagging station with Liam loading and weighing the completed kits. 

Greg's family was nice enough to warm up their pool for a cousin swim party. It barely got to 70 degrees, which was warm enough for the kids, but not the adults. The dads got to be on kid duty in the pool while the moms watched from the side.  

On Christmas Eve we took the kids to the Heard Wildlife Center. It was a beautiful day and nice to spend some time outside. Grandpa didn't work that day so he was able to join us!

Sophie got this fun pet shop puzzle from Grandma for Christmas.  

We also spent a morning at the Frisco Discovery Center. It's not on our museum pass, but since admission was cheap we decided to pay and go anyway. The kids had a great time, especially once we discovered the giant bubble station! It was in a back room and we almost missed it completely!

Davey loved the take apart toy building station 

This arch took us a few tries to build thanks to our little boy wrecking crew

Sophie inside a bubble!

Dave was the master of big bubbles, but Sophie started to get the hang of it too towards the end

I got this donut puzzle for Christmas. It was so fun, but it also made me sooo hungry!

Grandma found this fun mermaid jello kit and Sophie had a great time making these with her

All the fun wore these two boys out

The kids celebrated New Year's Eve around 8:30 and then we put them to bed so the adults could play

Watching a countdown on Netflix

Each year it gets a little harder to make it to midnight, but we made it - Happy New Year!

Our awesome group of friends + a few babies who decided they wanted to party too :)

Video Clips from our Christmas Trip