Spring Break 2017

We took a little Texas roadtrip Saturday-Wednesday.  We stopped in Dallas to have dinner Saturday evening.  We then landed in Arlington for the night so we could hit Six Flags on Sunday.  Monday we drove to the panhandle to checkout Palo Duro Canyon.  We stayed the night in Amarillo and then headed to Lubbock the next day.  While in Lubbock we saw the Texas Tech campus.  We completed our trip the next day by stopping at the Blue Bell Creamery in Brenham,  before heading home.

Overall it was 19 hours of driving and I completed 3 books on my Kindle app.

Saturday we ate at Seasons 52 restaurant in Dallas.  We loved it because all of the meals were delicious, but healthy and low calorie.  They served these tiny desserts that looked like parfaits.  The pecan pie one was to die for!

Sunday we woke up early and bundled up for a chilly day at Six Flags. First things first, though.... breakfast.  Jack is not throwing the Loser sign at me.  These are his "checks".  He said, "Eggs, check.  Sausage, check.  Orange juice check." He also decided that peanut butter on his sausage patty was delicious.  Check.

It was freezing!  Ok, not technically, but it might have well had been.  Especially on the super fast rides,  I thought my face was going to be frost bitten.

The littles found quite a few rides that they fell in love with.  Jack loved the train, and Arden loved a rocking boat ride.  Both were very mild.  Both kids, especially Arden, are huge weenies when it comes to rides.  Jack is willing to go on rides that she isn't. Here's them in the kiddie section 

 We did manage to get Arden and Jack on a moderate sized wooden roller coaster.

By managed I mean forced coerced

It was nowhere close to being scary.  I mean, Jack was tall enough to ride it, so that should say how not-scary it was. But you can see Arden's face, and it was even worse when we got off.  She was so upset that we made her ride that coaster.  (She was sick as a dog, too, but we dosed her up medicine because we she really didn't want to miss Six Flags Day.  I know, we're bad parents all around  Oh well.)  

Jack was hilarious.  He was in the seat next to me and he was shaking the whole time.  Afterward he said, "Well I did like it, but I never never ever want to do that again."

Halle and I are the thrill seekers.  You can't get too high or fast for us.  Except for well, the Texas Sky Screamer.  I will have to say I freaked out on that one.  It's the typical gunslinger swings, except they are about 30 stories high.  The height didn't bother me by itself.  It was the fact that I was swinging from a few simple chains!  I almost said no, but  I couldn't let my daughter show me up.

What the!

Halle and I selfie-ing it on a roller coaster.  an awful pic of me but a good one of Halle.

and another.  We chose the back seat on all the roller coasters whenever possible.  That's the funnest.

The next morning at breakfast Arden was starting to get a nice shiner.  She knocked herself in the eye with her knee at Myleigh's birthday party a couple days befoe.  How exactly do you knock yourself in the eye with your own knee?  I don't know, but Arden did it.  This is her boo-ing her black eye.

One of Jack's favorite things about staying at the inns was the waffle makers.  This one made Texas waffles.

  Monday we headed north to Palo Duro Canyon.


 This is where I learned that Halle is a very good i-phone Instagram photographer.    Here are some of her pictures.

Aren't they purdy?  We spent the evening hiking a few trails.  We saw wildlife and had fun climbing the rocks.

Halle and I climbed this rock.  We almost died, but were very proud when we made it to the top.

this is me at the top, feeling very accomplished.  Now how to get back down???

Jack and Brian playing World's Strongest Man

the more you grunt the manlier you are

The next morning we headed toward Lubbock.  We thought it would probably be the only time we would have a chance to tour the Texas Tech campus.  Did you know Lubbock is halfway between Houston and Denver?  So Halle got a tour.  And took silly pictures around campus.

the well manicure dead bushes were cracking me up

she's so statuesque

Three's a crowd Hals.

I decided I didn't like Lubbock much.  The whole town was kind of meh.  But, I did LOVE One Guy's Pizza.  They had the BEST pizza cal-zones ever.  Seriously, it's true, they've won several awards.  So if you're ever in Lubbock check it out!

the best calzones, and one easily feeds two people.

In Lubbock, after several days of being on the trip and being the designated elevator-button-pusher every where we went, Jack definitively states, "Well, I'll move here when I'm grown up and work here as an elevator man." He said it so matter-of-factly that we all bust out laughing.  And since then, folks, his new dream job is an elevator man.  I have since talked him into being an elevator man somewhere cooler, like a high rise in NYC.  I asked him if he would get bored pushing elevator buttons all day.  He said no, and he'll just get a chair if he gets tired of standing.  I Googled to see if elevator operators were still a thing in today's time.  They're not.  I'm not going to be the one to burst his bubble though.

The last day we headed toward Brenham.  I figured it would be as good as time as any to put my kids at risk on the side of a 75 mph highway in order to take pictures with weeds.  Yep, it'd been a while since I subjected the girls (and the first time for Jack) to bluebonnet pictures. 

Then we also stopped for ice cream in Brenham.

the kids with Elsie.  oh wait, that's the Borden cow.  What IS the Bluebell's cow's name?

It was a great trip.  I'll leave you with this picture, Jack in the elevator.

What floor?