dallas in 2 days

welcome to our mini vacation in pictures!  we went to dallas and went to the world aquarium, we shopped a little bit at the grapevine mills mall, and for the grand finale . . . drum roll please . . . IKEA!!!

here we are getting all packed up.  we took matt's new truck for our first family road trip.  the room in the truck was great, and we had sirius satellite radio!!  praise be that both of the kiddos are great in the car.

 

 of course with little audrey we had to make a few stops for feeding and diaper changes.  and where better place than dairy queen.

dallas world aquarium and zoological gardens, here we come.  i love aquariums and will go to everyone that i can.  the place was amazing! 

 liam being just a bit short we had to lift him to see some of the animals, but he loved them all.  he really loved the turtles.  we both loved the look of wonder in his eyes each time we saw something new!

 

  

  at first we didn't see them.  then audrey had a poopy diaper and we might as well change liam while we are at it.  but when we returned, there they were, the manatees!!  there were two of them and they were beautiful.  liam and i had a great conversation with this one.  look at that face!!

 

here audrey 

and i are outdoors with the penguins.  it was so nice and cool inside that it felt like 20 pounds hit you in the chest when you went outside.  but there were penguins and daddy loves penguins!

this guy is so cool!  i loved all the colors and the way his eyes follow you. (sorry if it is a girl! i couldn't tell)  see you later aquariuam and zoological gardens.  

it is time for lunch.  since i can't have zaxby's raisng cane's will have to do.  and it does very well.  the sauce is killer. 

 

look at my big boy!  i love his hat.  he put his shoes on by himself!!  

  

mommy's disneyland!!  time to do some damage at IKEA!!  the swedes have it down.  they are so family freindly.  they have great family bathrooms and little stations for the kids to play at.  if i could redo my entire house, it would be done in ikea!! 

 we were there from 10 am when the doors opened until we pulled out of the parking lot at 2:30 pm.  we tried to buy out the whole store, but there was just too much stuff.  we did get a chair some storage and a few silly knick knacks!!  this is my happily exhausted look as matt is packing up the car and i am feeding audrey and trying to keep liam from running away. 

this is what IKEA can do to your kids.  they fall asleep while reading and give three peaceful hours in the car on the way home!!  thank you IKEA!  

here is one our trip would not have been complete if we didn't stop at the same dairy queen that we stopped at on the way up to dallas.  one last stop before home.  look still smiling!!   

this is one little girl who is glad to be out of her car seat?

it was a great trip.  the kids were great and everything we did was fun!!  mini vacations are the way to go.  you are gone long enough to have fun and you leave wanting just a bit more.

as summer continues to fly by, i am trying to enjoy the last moments!