Last weekend I needed to go to Dallas for work, and I thought it was the perfect opportunity to bring the family along for a little mini-vacation and meet some more family "in the middle" for a fun time.

We left on Friday (later than intended), and met Luke at the hotel just before dinner. Jon and Luke went to the Mavs vs Kings game while the kids and I set up the room that I was supposed to present in. Then my friend Reese met us for dinner (rather, she brought Chipotle to us), and we took the kids swimming.

The kids had a lot of fun swimming that weekend, and had several opportunities to get wet! Dominic was his usual fearless self and enjoyed swimming all over the pool. Amara decided this weekend that she was going to trust her life jacket, and she joined in the fun of swimming all over. I was SO proud of her conquering that fear! I ended up getting in the pool (which I hadn't intended to do), because they dropped the mask in the 5ft and couldn't reach it. Thankfully it was near bathwater temp and felt actually quite good. Getting out was much chillier!

Saturday I spent the day presenting, so Jon and Luke took the kids swimming again, then met Matt, Jessica, Tish, and Matthew in our other hotel for the 2nd night. I joined them as soon as I had finished my presentations. Shortly after I arrived at the hotel this was the site in the "living room" portion of the room.


Jessica and I always comment on how much we love to see our kids getting along. The siblings may fight, but the cousins get along fabulously!

After the kids had taken naps, we decided to head into the city and take in the car show. The girls wanted to pose by every car, but I told them to find the unique things. So they found a robot, an audio pod, and this awesome light up screen that they danced on for quite a while.


Jessica happened upon a great little restaurant for dinner called Blue Mesa Grill. We intended to eat at the Cheesecake Factory, but it was a 45 minute wait. Blue Mesa was SO much better and more unique! Good find!

On Sunday the kids got up and went swimming again (with Jessica) while the rest of us got ready for the day. We ate a leisurely (and delicious) breakfast at the hotel, then hit some shopping. We ate lunch at the Rainforest Cafe, which the kids thought was particularly cool. Then we said our goodbyes and headed home.

We'll definitely have to hit Dallas for a long weekend again. That was fun!