Six Flags Over Texas!

Another one of our fun-filled days in Texas was spent at good ol' Six Flags Over Texas! For this trip, Matt and I were actually early, yay! (To be fair though, the park didn't open 'til 10, so we weren't really all that impresive.) We ventured out the day before Summer Break for the local schools, so we managed to avoid the crowds, which was a huge blessing! We waited very little for any rides at all, so that helped the day go very smoothly for the children.

My boys are Roller-Coaster lovers. I'm talking about serious, ride-anything kind of boys here. When Isaac was 5 years old, we went to Sea World. Because he is sooo very tall for his age, he was able to ride the Steel Eel, which is pretty much their crown jewel of roller coasters. He LOVED it! He rode it 3 times with a big grin on his face. Then, at Disneyland last year, he rode everything, including California Screamin' and the Maliboomer; and he rode them over and over again. Then, let us not forget the Best. Picture. Ever. from out trip to Legoland IN Germany last summer. Most of us focused on the awesomeness of Daphne's face, but look at my Isaac- he's having a blast!
So, since we got to the park when they opened, I thought it would be wise if Matt and Isaac and anyone else interested hit some of the bigger, more popular attractions first. Avoid long lines and get your roller coaster groove on early, Makes sense, right?
Well, turns out this was not my best motherly moment.


So, when Matt and Isaac, jumped out of the bullpen and headed straight for the Batman ride at Six Flags, I wasn't worried. Not one bit. I mean, my boys are pros, right? Jason, Shelli and I took all the girls on a very mild spinning sort of ride and they loved it. Afterward we met up with my boys. I noticed right away that Isaac wasn't his usual bubbly self after a roller coaster, but I was a little distracted with the two girls and all, so I didn't think too much about it.
(Poor kid- I later wondered how often he gets brushed aside like this. His sisters are more loud about their needs and he's not a complainer- just like his Daddy!)

Since we were right next to the Flashback, which is one of my personal faves, Matt took the girls to do some kiddie rides and I ran over to ride the Flashback with Isaac. He ran along with me and said he wanted to go, but when it was time, I looked down at him and his face was ashen.

I wasn't sure if he was sick or scared, so I asked him and he said that the Batman ride was really scary. I was a little taken aback, what with all his roller coaster experience and all, and I re assured him that Flashback would not be so scary. I promised him that he had ridden things much more intense than this one. Then I said, "Do you want to go back with Dad? We don't have to ride this one, it's no big deal!" But he insisted, promising that he would be okay. And we rode the Flashback, which was just as awesome as I remembered, but once again, he wasn't quite himself afterward. We met up with Matt and the girls and I took Daphne on the classic Judge Roy Scream, but Isaac turned us down. I knew then that something was definitley wrong. Then we all hung out in Looney Tune Land, which is basically just kiddie rides. By this point, Isaac was GREEN. He was laying across park benches and didn't even want to move the short distance between rides for the girls. We rode just about everything over there and I just kept waiting for the barf. As the girls and I were waiting in line for a ride, Isaac came bounding up the stairs to join us. I was bewildered and said, "What's up bud? Are you okay?" And he said, (and I quote):

"I had a really big burp and now I feel better!"

I don't know if it was because the Batman ride was first thing in the morning, or because they sat in the very front, or that their feet were dangling, or if it was a combination of things, but that ride did not agree with my boy! I was very thankful that he started feeling better and that we made it through the morning with no vomit. Always a plus.

So we rode lots of kids' rides like this:

And we took turns riding some of the bigger roller coasters, too. At one point, my "Waste not, Want Not" hubby actually took Isaac over to try to win a basketball. He shelled out $5 to try and make one of two shots to win a ball. Matt took both shots so they'd have a better chance.

And he missed both shots.

Well, he didn't want to leave Isaac disappointed, so he shelled out 5 more dollars and took two more shots:

and missed both.

Isaac begged and begged to have a turn, so Matt (yes, MY Matt really did this) paid FIVE MORE DOLLARS and let Isaac try one of the two shots, and.... Swish! First try, Isaac won a ball:

He's just a teeny-weeny bit proud!

And then we rode the train around the park:

And took a break for some pudding:

More rides for the kids:

They say Everything's Bigger in Texas:

Matt, Jason and Isaac set off to ride the Titan and all us girls headed over to Kiddie rides... we stopped along the way at anything the girls were interested in and found some winners, like the Spanish Tea Cups, and some losers, like the Sombrero. Tori was so excited for the Sombrero, mostly because "hat" is one of the words she speaks fluently. Unfortunately, I forgot that the hat tilts and goes up and down while spinning. Every time we went up in the air, Tori would start trembling and grab my arm very tightly. And every time we started to go down, she would relax and go: "Okay. Okay." in a very soothing tone. Repeated 20 times. By the end, she was shaking her finger and saying, "No! Hat. No! Hat." Poor thing... it was sad. But we did find some joyous rides...

most notably, this winner that we re-visited on our way out because it was such a blast.

Here is a video re-cap so you can experience the squeals of glee:
One of my favorite parts is Isaac trying to be all macho and cool with a straight face... then he is giggling just like the girls. And Victoria signing "more" at the end... we rode it over and over!

I suppose my favorite part of the day was that Tori said the word "Fun" for the first time. And it was FUN indeed.

Dallas World Aquarium

For day 2 of our Texas trip, we headed , with my Mom and my sister and her family to downtown Dallas to the newly remodled Dallas World Aquarium. We were worried about crowds so we got an extra early start, or tried to get an early start, I should say. My sister and her crew beat us there, so this is just my Mom and me with the kids out front:

If you are back in D-town, I highly recommend this attraction! We had a blast and there was tons for the kids to see. I got some tips (albeit very late night tips) from my sweet friend, Carole, who visited the aquarium earlier this year.

Fortunately, we were able to miss all the crowds that they encountered and moved through to most of the attractions with ease. It got much more crowded as the morning progressed, so we were thankful for her tips!

Each of the children got to take turns feeding this bird, which was extremely exciting for all! Daphne and Isaac were fearless:
Victoria has a LOVE/hate relationship with most animals. and when I say hate, I mean more like terrified. Whenever she sees any sort of animal, she always wants to get closer, closer and then closer still. She gets more and more excited until they reciprocate that interest, at which point, she becomes convinced that said interest is aggressive and retreats. But that only lasts for a moment and she's back to getting as close as possible. So you can see how these situations look a bit like a confusing sort dance. Here she is with the birds, still in the love part of the dance: Then we saw a sloth, who slowly turned his head to pose for a picture!
Crocodiles!
Manatees! I'm not really even sure what's in this case, but it was a good pic of Victoria looking at....something.
Monkeys and Pythons.... GiGi and Samantha took a brake for some cuddles:

There are some eels in this tank and Tori is telling us that they have long necks: And then we stopped by to see the Otters, a fan favorite:
They were so cute and playful and fascinating! The kids loved this one, and we were able to hang around to hear the Aquarium dude tell us all about them. This little otter stopped by to have a staring contest with Isaac: The Otter guy passed around an otter skull for everyone to see:

Photo Op by the waterfall!!

Victoria had just gotten into her stroller and started digging in on some snacks, so she wasn't interested in the phot op... bummer.

Sea Turtles!

I don't even know what that is:

Penguins!

Fishies!

Then we hung out at the shark tank, which was amazing... it was an archway and the arch was the tank itself, so you were essentially walking through the shark infested waters! They would swim all around you and over you and the kids (especially Tori) loved it.

We waited and watched for a while and then we even got to see some divers swim in and feed them. Too cool!

And finally, a shot of everyone all together... just before the end.

Actually, there was lots more fun stuff to see, including a Jaguar, but our camera battery was done for the day. We had fabulous time followed by a picnic with Shelli and Jason at a nearby little fountain place... All in All it was a pretty grand day!

Texas, Our Texas!

We FINALLY got to come home to Texas this past week!

Our flights there were pretty decent, although we encountered some pretty serious turbulence on one ride. We told the kids it was just like the roller coasters at Disneyland and they stayed pretty calm. Victoria (of course) was the most nervous and spent much of the time clutching my arm. But we were blessed to land safely at DFW!

Victoria, who turned two during our stay, walked off the plane onto the " breezeway" (what do you call that?), looked at me with huge eyes and said, "HOT!" We told the kids to brace themselves, 'cause this was only the beginning!

We loved just about every minute of our trip, but here are some memories from the first day.



For our first day, we took my Mom out to lunch for a belated Mother's Day celebration... to Gloria's!



We decided to brave the Texas heat and sit outside so that the kids would be able to run around a little and be a little less conspicuous. It was hot, but we were so thrilled to be there, you couldn't get us down!


GiGi, Samantha and Shelli:

Isaac and Victoria, who were thoroughly enjoying the salsa!

Daphne and Jillian hit it off right away (as predicted by my sister and myself)! They couldn't stop giggling...

After an excellent lunch and an excellent nap, we went to Grandpa Sisco's for dinner! The girls had a lot of fun running through the house hiding from Grandpa Sisco:

Victoria tried to hide under the glass coffee table, but it proved to be a little too transparent for hiding.

So they tried behind beds and anywhere else they could find. As soon as my Dad walked in, they'd all run out screaming, "He's going to get us!!" Victoria didn't really have any idea what they were doing, but she joined right in, yelling, "Us!, Us!"

After a delicious dinner, we settled down for some Blue Bell and berries! Victoria was full of sass showing us all her feelings in the course of onw dessert:

More of those silly girls.... Some of my favorite memories from childhood involve running down my street with a glass jar in the twilight, chasing fireflies. There is just something magical about those little bugs. Our Utah climate isn't very hospitable to lightning bugs, so this was the first time my kiddos have seen them.
I found it incredibly surreal watching the experience... they chased and giggled and even caught a few.

Our camera wasn't really capturing them, Matt kept trying different settings, but this is the only shot where you can actually see the fireflies all lit up.

Isaac, of course, was the most adventurous of the bug-catchers. The girls mostly ran around and squealed while they crawled along his arm.

We had an amazing visit with family and friends, stay tuned for more pics from our trip!