Surprise Visit

The kids and I surprised my mom last week by showing up at their house in Dallas on Thursday. Dad and I made the travel arrangements without Mom knowing. The look on her face when we walked in the door was priceless. A second surprise came the following day when Kevin arrived for his first visit to Texas.

I was a bit apprehensive about flying with the kids by myself, but both flights went without a glitch. Maren had her own seat each flight (thanks to nearly empty flights) and was strapped in with our travel lifesaver: the CARES Kids Fly Safe child restraint (http://www.kidsflysafe.com - if you are flying with a squirmy child, don't leave home without this). It was also tremendously helpful to have a DVD player and an iPad this time around. One device for each kid is a much better ratio than one device to two kids. Mom and I took the kids on a real train ride from Grapevine to Bransford Park on Friday. We had so much fun! It was a shortened version of their longer train ride to the stockyards in Ft. Worth, but the 60 minute duration was perfect for my squirrely ones.We went to the Ft. Worth Stockyards on Saturday. We saw the live cattle drive and the kids even sat on one of the longhorns afterward. I'm not sure if they were impressed, but I thought it was really cool.We ate lunch at Riscky's Barbeque (YUM) and got the kids balloon hats before we left. Longhorns for Warner and a flower for Maren. The rest of our trip was spent playing at parks, swimming at the Larson's pool (my parents' friends), and eating. Texas has some darn good food. It's probably best that we don't live there. Mom said our visit was the best surprise she's ever had. Mission accomplished.