Time Flies When You're Having Fun

This last weekend went by so quickly!  Walter was able to come visit us for the weekend.  It was great to see him again...and he got to meet Kinley for the first time. We started out by "planning" on which delicious places we wanted to eat (Cracker Barrel, Waffle House, Jimmy John's...) and we even made some delicious meals at home with the favorite being cheese fondue.  Needless to say, all calorie counting was halted for the weekend.

Kinley loving Walter

We headed out to the Ray Roberts Lake Isle Dubois state park.  It was an adventure for us all! We've never been before and it was the perfect day for some swimming and relaxation.

Crossing the dam---almost there

Self-explanatory signage on the way

Nice breeze, soft sand, and plenty of sunshine.

Hanging out in the shade.  Kinley didn't want to put her clothes back on after I changed her out of her swimsuit.

 

Matt & Walter swimming. The water was warmer than the Gulf of Mexico.

We drove downtown Dallas to see the sights although we didn't get out of the car for the JFK memorial sights, but you can see them just fine from the car. We did stop at Pioneer Plaza to see the bronze longhorn statues.  The fountain was pretty cool and the attached cemetery was, too.

And speaking of time flying by.....my little girl is already 7 months old.  She is now really into making sounds (razz, sucking noises with lips, and blowing) words (mama, dada, and occasionally a baba) and in one week has gone from rolling everywhere to starting to crawl and pull herself around.  She is getting so fast and insists on finding the laptop cord wherever it may be and daddy's computer tote straps. Today she has really been trying to crawl under the coffee table and just knocks on it and slaps it. Funny girl!

Don't worry, the outlet is covered now.

She is a good little eater, and loves to blow raspberries while eating now. Ohhh, great!

And lastly.....thanks to Walter we have a new family photo:

The Beach

We decided to have a weekend getaway at the nearest beach...Galveston Island.  Matt had good Friday off so we headed out in the morning.  It was pretty uneventful for the first two hours, good weather, nice traffic flow, and then it happened...Kinley tossed her cookies. Poor baby! We got her some fresh air, cleaned her up, and then we were happily on our way again.  When we arrived in Galveston, we noticed that Kinley had poo all over her, her lovey (how were we going to survive 2 nights w/out her blessed lovey to snuggle with), and once again the carseat was destroyed.  Needless to say, our first "family" road trip really broke us in as far as parental duties were concerned.

Kinley loved the sand in her toes

Bolivar Peninsula Lighthouse

 

Kinley's 1st Beach Experience

Galveston is a regular little beach town about 5 hours away with tons of tourist shops and seafood restaurants along the beach.  We ate at Joe's Crab Shack both nights it was SO delicious. Our hotel was right on Seawall Blvd. across the street from the Gulf. The water was kind of a muddy blue but as warm as bath water. We didn't really spend time in the sand on Galveston Island. Instead we hopped a ride on a ferry over to Bolivar Peninsula and spent some time at Crystal Beach.  It was a great weekend and nice to see some other parts of Texas. We're really looking forward to our next family getaway.

Squishy Sand

Portuguese Man o War jellyfish

Lots of Driving In the Car

Riding the Ferry

Bolivar Peninsula

Sam Houston statue along I-35---things in TX really are bigger

Random

Baby Bling

Last weekend was packed full of family time.  Loved it! We decided to head over to the outlet mall to do a little window shopping.  While we were there, we happened to walk by the Piercing Pagoda kiosk. At first, I thought we should see how much it was going to cost to get Kinley's ears pierced, but then before we knew it, we decided that we would go ahead and do it right then and there.  Her teeth were bothering her earlier in the evening and so she was already doped up on Tylenol and ready for her bling.  Perfect! She cried one loud "waaaa" for like 3 seconds and that was that.  We love her little sparkly earlobes!

 

On Saturday we decided to go check out the Dallas Farmers' Market and then went to the Galleria mall.  It is one of the biggest malls I've been in with a ton of stores that I would never buy anything from (or afford) and then a several normal stores, too.  Matt even got in a little Daddy/daughter shopping with Kinley for a bit while I was getting a pedicure.  FABULOUS!

We've also discovered that the trail that runs by our house has some cool sights.  We even saw a rabbit run across the trail in front of us.