Elmo @ Tinker AFB

My parents invited us out to go see an Elmo live show that was on Tinker AFB. Can I just say that Jackson was sooooo excited to see Elmo! He squealed, he laughed... he LOVED it! It was so fun to see his reaction to it all. Isabella had fun too but not quite the excitement level shown by Jackson. :) My nephew Cameron & neice Taelyn w/ sister Jessica were also present & enjoyed it as well. They also gave away lots of free goodies including an Elmo spinning/light up toy that is pretty cool. Isabella got to touch Abby Cadabby but was highly upset when Grover passed her by. :) But all in all, it was a good time! Thanks, M&D!

The rest of our trip...

Another couple important (to me) trips to note while we were in the Dallas area are our IKEA excursion (LOVE that store) and a stop by  Whole Foods for fruit (LOVE that store too).  We also dropped by Sam Moon to check it out but I really didn't find much for myself (1 pair of earings) & Isabella picked out a necklace/bracelet set & some hair clips.  They had a TON of stuff, but most was just way too gaudy for me. ;-)

After leaving the Great Wolf Lodge, we went over to east Texas & visited Mike's Uncles & Aunts there (near Mt. Vernon).  We stayed two nights & had a nice visit and dinner with the family.  Unfortunately we didn't get any pictures of this visit.  Must remember next time!

We then headed over to Camden, AR for Hulon's (Mike's Dad's) 80th birthday party.  And the party was a success & great fun to celebrate with Hulon on his special day.  Isabella met her cousins (Uncle Pat's grandkids) and had a blast playing with them.  She also had lots of fun with Uncle Pat and Uncle Joe as well as Grandpa & Granny.  We stayed two nights in Camden before our long (6.5 hr w/ stops) drive home.  We were sure glad that Mike had taken that Monday off work so that we could all recoup from our whirlwind trip together!  Despite having to replace our tires on the Prius (1 tire needed to be replaced b/c it couldn't be patched & the others would need to be replaced w/in 1000 miles so we just replaced them all) & having to get a new dual screen DVD player (ours broke when we were leaving Grapevine), we had a really great time!

Great Wolf Lodge

In July we decided to take a trip down to the Great Wolf Lodge in Grapevine, TX before going to visit family in AR for Mike's Dad's birthday party. We'd been wanting to check out this hotel/water park for awhile & this seemed like the perfect opportunity. We stayed for 3 nights & had lots of fun! Everything was great (from the themed room, to the water park, & the starbucks in the lobby) with the exception of the beds... they were not comfy at all!

We got the Kids Kamp suite which had a little alcove w/ a bunk bed designed to look like a tent. Jackson had fun playing on the bottom bunk & looking through the window. He also enjoyed the bears painted on the wall. Isabella had a blast on the top bunk & did so well sleeping there all three nights! (She wanted Jackson to sleep on the bottom but that was not going to happen!)

The water park is huge, mostly indoors, & lots of fun! Isabella took some bribing & convincing but she did get on all the slides she was able to ride. We were so excited that she measured in at 42", the minimum height to ride w/ an adult on nearly all the slides (all but 2). You cannot lap ride, but they have double tubes for you to go on together. It was so much fun to go down the slides with her and to see her excitement! Jackson had fun playing in the small kids area where he could walk around in the water & touch all the fountains.

In the lobby at night they have the clock tower & electronic animals/girl that talk & sing songs. Isabella really enjoyed watching this & wanted to do it every night (even though it's the same thing repeated). The hotel staff then read a bed time story & you can see Wiley, their character which I believe is a wolf. ;-) We had lots of fun in the hotel and look forward to returning one day. It was really convenient to have our room so close to the water park so that we could return easily for eating or naps. We also brought in our breakfast & lunches, only eating out for dinner which helped make this trip a bit more affordable.