Everything's bigger in Texas

Thunder and I just celebrated our official 10 year wedding anniversary, but we actually took a trip a few weeks ago to celebrate.  We decided to travel to Dallas, TX  to take advantage of a built in babysitter- my sister!  We have never visited her and she offered to watch the kids.... done!

My mom was also able to come at the same time.  We arrived on a flight at nearly the same time and met Jen and her roommate for dinner.  Then we headed to Jen's house to situate the kids.

Then we left.  It was wild not having to worry about grabbing the sippy cup or keeping someone from kicking their brother.  And speaking of wild, the kids had a great time without us!  They visited a huge aquarium with alligators and tree frogs and of course, fish.

Sunrise had to find a new bedtime snuggle buddy.  He ended up sleeping with Jen several nights.

We stayed at a really nice hotel called the Gaylord Texan in Grapevine.  Everything was HUGE in this hotel, including a several-block enclosed atrium in the middle.  The atrium had live plants, trees, a river, a few bridges and 4 or 5 buildings including a restaurant.  I thought it's how a colony on the moon would be.

Dallas was much greener than I thought it would be.  I guess I figured it would be a giant hot dessert with lots of cockroaches or something, but it was very nice.  There were lots of lakes and trees.

We visited the sports bar inside the atrium at the hotel.  They had a ginormous television screen 8 feet high and 15 feet wide.

We went to the Six Flags water park and it was so fun by ourselves!  We tried out all the rides we could handle and finally enjoyed the intense heat and humidity.

For our anniversary we decided to ride on the Sky Coaster- 180 feet into the air.  We were both strapped in, hauled to the top of this tower, and then Thunder had to release the safety latch to let us swing.  On the way up I said, "Well, 10 years ago we took the plunge.... here's to the next 10 years!"

We stopped by the Dallas Cowboys stadium...

... and also went to the JFK museum.  The tour takes you right by the window where Lee Harvey Oswold probably shot from.  It was interesting to hear of all the conspiracy theories.

On Friday we met back up with the kids.  We rented a boat and went out on Grapevine Lake together.  We had so much fun with the kids and Jen and Grandma.

We tried to water ski, but the boat didn't have quite enough oomph.  But everyone loved the tube!

Jen and I were able to go for a rough run that night.  I am training for a half marathon and had to fit the runs in sometime.  I was NOT ready for that humidity!  Thunder and I had such a nice time by ourselves and didn't stress, knowing the kids were in good hands.  It was a great little getaway and we're so glad we got to fit in a trip for this in the middle of everything else we have going on!  Here are a few other pics from the trip.