Our Fun Fort Worth Trip

Well, it's been a week since we had our great time in Fort Worth and I am finally finding some time to write about it.

I didn't get to sleep until after 1 a.m. the night before we were to drive on this 5 hour trip and then I had trouble sleeping the rest of the night. After this long night I did manage to drive the first 4 hours of the trip and only asked Amanda to drive the last hour.

When we got into town, Amanda introduced me to Chipotle for lunch *YUM* and then we headed over to the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame. The Museum of Science and History is being expanded/remodelled/imporved so they just have a section of the NCM&HoF in which they have an interactive museum on space travel and information. We had a lot of fun there. Ashlee and Shaylee both dressed in astronaut gear and Shaylee LOVED the cowgirl stuff. She's totally a horse girl.


Shaylee posing as an astronaut


Ashlee in her astronaut gear

Kevin and Shaylee also had fun making air spinners:



When the Museum was about to close we made our way to the IMAX theater and watched "Dinosaurs Alive". This was our first IMAX experience and we enjoyed it so much that after the dinosaur show was over we bought tickes to the "Ocean's Deep" show and went right back in. It was so cool! The theater is big and round and the screen surrounds you so it feels like you are right there in it. Ashlee really enjoyed it and was really good and stayed still through the shows. Every time a fish swam by in the ocean movie she would get all excited and point at it.

Outside the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame

Ashlee, Kevin and Shaylee

Kevin, Me, Ashlee and Shaylee

We went on to check into our hotel when the IMAX movies were over. We were tired and ready for the day to be over. But we still had to go out for our dinner. We chose Applebee's because it's a "family" restaurant and since it was Shaylee's brithday we were thinking they would sing to her and bring her a treat. They didn't. Shaylee was upset, but we told her we could make our own oreo sundae (the dessert on the kids menu that she thought they would bring for her) and so headed over to the Albertson's that was next door. We bought her and Kevin each a tiny singel serve icecream and a package of oreos and all was well!

Chillin' at Applebee's:


Shaylee's kickin back

Kevin is oblivious to the world around him as he drinks his milk

Amanda coloring with Ashlee

Finally kids fell asleep at 11 that night and Amanda and I followed at about midnight after watching some TV. We had a great room that had 2 queen beds and a fold out couch so we all fit very comfortably. It was also nice to have a fridge to store our leftover Chipotle from lunch!


Kevin and Shaylee conked out on the pull out in our hotel room

Ashlee is still going strong, she outlasted the bigger kids

The next morning we went out to breakfast at the Ol' South Pancake House and met one of Amanda's high school friends there. Since we weren't going to the zoo until 1 we were able to linger over breakfast and then go to a Walmart in search of our copies of Twilight! The first Walmart that we went to didn't have the 2 disc sets so we left and went to the hotel to check out. After checkout we headed to a different Walmart on the way to the zoo and found the 2 disc set for $7 less than the other store had it listed. YIPPEE!!!



On to the zoo.
I was excited for the zoo because we were meeting my high school friend, Michelle and her son there as well as my bloggy friend Valerie and her two youngest. It was so fun to chat and catch up/ get to know as we meandered through the zoo.

Until we were getting to the end and Shaylee was lost.

We all separated and searched in different directions. When we converged and none of us had seen her I made my way to the front of the zoo as quickly as I could and told a worker that I couldn't find her, then proceeded to give them a description. I had held it together and been calm up to this point, but once I had to say the words, "I can't find my daughter" the floodgates opened and I was sobbing. It was probably at least 30 minutes, but less than an hour from the time that we new she was missing until I had her in my arms again. I do NOT ever want to experience that feeling again in my life. I was so scared, but all ended well. I was just so scared and then relieved that she was ok that I never felt angry. We did have a discussion about what to do if you don't see your mom/dad/adult you are with. Which is, of course, stay where you are. Shaylee ended up all the way across the zoo from where we had last had her with us because she was trying to find us!


Ashlee at the pettign zoo in the Texas Wild section

Ashlee and Shaylee brushing the goats

Ashlee slept through most of the missing Shaylee

Michelle was great and invited us, as well as Valerie and her kiddos to come over to her house for dinner. She lives less than 10 miles from the zoo. It was great to visit for a while and wind down from the stressful end of our zoo visit. We finally left Michelle's house at 8:30 that night, after taking pictures of course, to drive the 5 hour trip home. That got us home at 2 a.m., but it was totally worth it to catch up with Michelle and get to know Val better.


Me and Valerie

Valerie, Amanda, Me, Michelle

Me and Michelle

The kids all together: Sierra (Val's), Kevin (mine), Ashlee (mine), Jax (Val's), Abbey (Michelle's), Shaylee (mine), and Joshua (Michelle's)--My kids turn red when they have been running around!

It was a fun trip (all except for that one part) and I managed to drive the whole way home without asking Amanda to take over at all. I had to prove to myself that I could do it, though I am so glad that Amanda came along on the trip. I really don't think I could have managed the whole trip on my own. Especially that one part! Thanks Amanda! And I so loved gettign to catch up with Michelle and getting to know Val better. The trip was totally worth it just for that. Oh, and the kids had a great time too!

Disclaimers: I didn't change the date stamp on my camera so all the dates are wrong. The trip was 3/20/2009 and 3/21/2009 AND You are all so lucky that I posted any pictures of me at all. I hate how big I am right now!