Dallas: Sunday

For the long Labor Day weekend, we decided to take a trip to Dallas for a couple of days.  Why Dallas?  We hadn't been there before (just through), and we could get a pretty inexpensive hotel room right downtowm.  So we headed out Saturday after Tim got off of work.  After a hotel mixup (that threatened to significantly increase our hotel bill, but then ended up with a suite at the VERY lovely Hotel Adolphus for $135/night) and forgotten items that forced an hour long extension to our drive... we arrived in Dallas in time for dinner.  We got checked into the hotel (possibly the supreme excitement for Maya of the trip was the fact that she got to stay in a hotel) and then were suggested a restaurant around the corner for dinner.  It was alright.  We took a stroll around downtown, then went back to the hotel for the night.

Sunday, we got up and first went to the Dallas World Aquarium.  It was simply awesome.  It was way more than an aquarium, and the animals they had in this block of buildings right in downtown Dallas was just impressive.  We'd highly recommend it.  It was expensive, but I think it was worth it.  The highlights were the manatee (thanks to a book from Aunt Theresa, Maya loves manatees now) and the flamingos.  We also got to see two Cape Penguins... not quite as impressive as the hundreds on the Cape Peninsula, but cool to see.  After the aquarium. we went to lunch at a recommended barbecue place (thanks dad!) called Sonny Bryans.  It was really delicious.  We walked through downtown Dallas a bit (saw the Old Red (the old courthouse), Dealey Plaza, a monument to JFK, and some modern art) so Maya would take a nap in her stroller.  We ended up down at the Dallas Farmers Market which was simply impressive.  Puts the Austin Farmers Markets (at least the ones we've been to) completely to shame... reminded us some of the Saint Louis Farmers Market in some ways.  It's in the old school open buildings, with just loads of farmers from all over.  We walked back north to the Dallas Art Museum.  They had a great setup for kids to do an art project, and then we wandered through the museum looking at the art and then outside at the sculptures.  It was lovely.  We wandered back to the hotel through Fountain Place, and then we cleaned up and rested up.  We went to dinner at a fancy restaurant that catered exceedingly well to kids.  We got delicious food and wine, and the chef prepared Maya some special grilled shrimp (though she was basically offered whatever she could conceive... "we don't have a children's menu, but I've got everything back there... chicken, burgers, whatever..."

Here are some photos of our day.  Monday we got up and went to the Dallas Zoo before returning to Austin... I'll catch that in a separate post.

French...

Today, I "fixed" Maya's umbrella for her.  I handed it to her and said, "Here you go, Madame."  She looked at me and replied, "Thank you, [pause] masseuse."

Shower Time

Maya's recently discovered that she likes showers at least as much as baths.  Then, tonight, she found a "twisty hair towel," and I showed her how to use it.  She thinks its pretty much the coolest thing ever.  She's hung it up so she can use it again tomorrow night...

Precocious

I don't know where she learned this, but...

I was playing a game Tim downloaded for the iPad.  (It's called Osmos for the curious.  It's actually pretty neat.)  In the screen I was playing, my blue orb (which I was moving) was orbiting around a bright orange orb.  You could see the blue orb, the orange orb, and a light track of the blue orb's orbit.  Maya leaned over my shoulder and said, "Mommy, what are you doing to the Earth?"

Backseat Driving

Driving north on I-35 on Sunday:

Maya: Mom, why are we going so slow?

Me: Well, look at all of the cars in front of us.  There's just too much traffic to go faster.

Maya (pointing at the access road): But the cars over there are going fast.

Thanks, Maya.  When do you think is too young to teach a kid about Murphy's Law?

End of the Year Party

It's the end of the school year at Maya's school.  In one more week, all of the students in the school will be moving on to their new classrooms.  This past week, Maya's class had a party, where they put on a singing and dancing program for their parents.  It was about 50-50 whether each kid wanted to participate... Maya was more than a willing participant for the entire thing.  Because Grandpa Tim was there, too, you get some video...  And yes, it was crazy sock day.  And yes, those are the only yellow clothes Maya owns.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16OQXxUg7Ws

Cousin Lilly!

Cousin Lilly came for a visit this past week.  Her mom, Aunt Theresa, came with her.  And Grandpa couldn't stand the thought of both of his granddaughters in the same place at the same time, so he flew in from Indy.  Maya was enamored with her baby cousin, and she wanted to constantly "help" Theresa.  Lilly is a beautiful and wonderfully well behaved baby.  We had a great time.