Swan Lake

Sometimes the best part about taking a trip to a new city is the hotel.  Although I like sleeping in my own bed, I like the excitement that goes along with staying someplace new.  While in Dallas, we stayed at an Embassy Suites.  The room was ok, the free breakfast was yummy, but the swans sealed the deal for the girls...

After checking out, we continued on in our shopping excursion making a stop at a store just for the girls. I wish I could have gotten some better pictures of the girls, but after a long drive the day before and a restless night of sleep, the girls were a little tired and a bit on the cranky side...

All it took to cheer them up was some food in their tummies and a little whip cream on their faces...

Swans, sweets and shopping led to a great day two in Dallas.

Turn That Frown Upside Down

When it comes to extraordinary shopping,

the West Coast has L.A. and San Francisco.

The Midwest has Chicago.

The East Coast has New York City.

And in Arkansas, we have, NOTHING!!

Hence the trip to Dallas, which is the L.A., San Francisco, Chicago and New York City of the South.

I had heard they have a better selection of stores than what we have in Little Rock, but really, who doesn't??  I wasn't aware that they had EVERYTHING.  Our first stop was supposed to be a quick one at the mall that had a brand new Disney Store, but after seeing Nordstrom, Saks, Neiman Marcus, Louis and Tiffany, we stayed a while longer.

With this trip only being an overnight one, we had a lot to get done in just two days.  Our motto for the trip was summed up by the sign posted in the Disney Store...

And it worked!  While the kids slept, we got to enjoy looking at all of the high end stores.  I was done looking and ready to do some shopping.  So we left the upscale mall for the outlets, which is much more my speed anyway.  There were plenty of stores to shop at, as well as many ride on toys to keep the girls entertained...

By the end of the day, we all headed to the hotel with smiles on our faces.  The adults from the shopping and the girls from the entertainment.

No scowling allowed!

The Road to Dallas

Normally when my mom visits, we take a day trip to Memphis as a way of just getting away from Arkansas for a while.  This time, instead of Memphis, we chose an overnight trip to Dallas where I hear the shopping is plentiful.  

Joe drove the first half of the trip and this was my view from the back...

where I watched "Toy Story 3" get played over and over again...

We had to make a stop as soon as we entered Texarkana.  I had to get a new license to replace the one that was lost/stolen.  Since the state of Arkansas was of no help to me, I had to go back to Texas to renew my old license.  The kids were kept busy by the old school desks in the room... 

With newly renewed license in hand, we set off to finish our journey to Dallas.

A Little Fresh Air

This morning we woke to find cool, fall like weather.  A first so far this fall season.  So we took advantage of it by getting the girls outside...

and by doing some more work to improve the curb appeal of our home...

The girls ran around in their pajamas and rain boots flying kites, blowing bubbles and just keeping themselves entertained...

After taking in all of the fresh air, my mom prepared a little picnic for the girls while Joe and I got dressed for our date...

Where we took a trip to the Emerald City, my second, Joe's first...

Me and My Tropheen

Lily's first soccer season came to a remarkable close with Lily finally scoring her first goal and then being carried around the field hoisted on the shoulders of her coach.  Needless to say, we were ALL excited to see her score.

Tonight the soccer team is coming together once again to celebrate their season.  One that started out really slow, but ended on a spectacular note.  We celebrated where most would if you have 16 kids to entertain, Larry's Pizza...

This party gave Lily another opportunity to see her new soccer pal, Ainsley...

Sissy was just happy to be with the big kids...

After food and games, the kids were presented trophies (or tropheens as Lily would say)...

Coach Jeff, who Lily adored...

The trophy excitement was felt by everyone...

Except by one certain two year old who wasn't happy about not getting her own...

Lily wouldn't let hers go, but who can blame her, she worked hard to get her tropheen...

Here's looking forward to many more soccer seasons and many more tropheens that will sit on the shelves collecting dust.