Highlights from Around my Parents House

We had so much fun in Mesquite; our days were packed with adventures! We had to get in all the big city entertainment while we could. We stayed in Mesquite two weeks while John went on a mission trip to Russia with a few guys from our church. Besides going to a different park everyday, big city shopping, 2 Dallas Zoo visits, a Lego Land day, my sister's church, my parents church, swimming at 24 hour fitness, working out at 24 hour fitness, working out at LA fitness, swimming at an in ground neighbors pool, the boys had a lot of fun around my parents house. Noah enjoyed vacuuming the kitchen since we probably dirtied it up much more than normal!

Luke loved eating Grandpa's corn on the cob. He wanted more after he finished it off! So sweet!

Another highlight was walking the flower garden wall. Luke had to do it also since he saw Noah and Makenna do it over and over. Learn by example...that is scary at times!

Swimming was another big entertainment for the 3 of them. We even put a plastic box in there for a boat which became a cliff to jump off!

Luke loved it so much he sat down in the pool and played with some toys.

I guess that is the end of all my pictures and posts about about Mesquite trip. I was so glad I remembered to take pictures this time. I always forget because we are so busy getting in all the big city fun that I forget to take pictures! Thanks Dad and Mom for such a great time! We are so blessed by you and your love and support for us :)

Galleria Mall playground

Every time we go to Mesquite, we love playing at the Galleria Mall playground. It is so neat and great for toddlers and kids even a few years older. My sister, Anna works there so we always meet her for lunch so she gets to see us, her daughter (in the pink), and our boys. Great deal! Here some pictures of all the fun!

Noah and Makenna are such good buds. Makenna is a few months older than Noah but they have always enjoyed playing together although they are such extremes...very, active boy and girlie girl. It has been a joy to see them play together again!

The Dallas Zoo

John went with a few guys at our church to Russia for a couple weeks so I took the boys to Mesquite, TX to stay with my parents and visit with my sisters. It was fun. We went to the zoo twice and managed to remember my camera the second time we went. The highlights of our second visit were the elephants and giraffes. They were in their cages the first time we went for some construction so we spent lots of time with them the second trip. Grandpa bought us some lettuce to feed the giraffes and the boys loved it! They had several adult giraffes and a baby. Noah actually stuck some lettuce through the fence to feed the baby. The poor giraffe wasn't tall enough but Noah took care of it. Sweet! You can see the baby in the first picture.

Amazing animals....wonder what God was thinking when he created them? What an imagination!

 Noah wasn't too sure at first but then he got right in there to take part in the fun!

 I tried to get Luke in there too but he mainly just watched.

 Luke is actually trying to touch the giraffe in this picture.

 The giraffes were so tall they were eating the grass/bushes on the side and my Mom and Noah just helped them out a little. Free food...beautiful animals!

 The zoo had several statues throughout the park. They had several baby and adult elephant to climb. :)

Another highlight of the trip was the camel ride. After we climbed on, the camel walked around the circle a few times and then came back. Noah and I rode together. Pretty neat!  

The boys had to ride the carousel of course! Noah had the elephant and Luke had the horse.

Noah and I also rode of the Montreal. It took us around a lot of the zoo and we got to see lots of animals really well that we couldn't have seen otherwise. Noah loves any kind of train so that was pretty neat for him! It was fun to ride just the two of us before we meet my Dad, Mom, and Luke at the children's play area. We packed our lunch both times we went and had a great picnic in the children's area. The kids area had a great stream where they walked, jumped, and splashed all around in. We had their swimsuits both times we went so we were prepared for the wet adventure. They also had a petting zoo, things to climb on including a spider web out of ropes, a slide, bird feeding area, etc. Neat! We probably didn't see a 1/3 of the zoo or more but enjoyed our favorite parts. So glad my parents bought a season pass! Well worth it with all the fun we had, and the boys cousin Makenna has. We look forward to going again when we visit next!

Thanks for Dad and Mom for such a fun time! See the smiles!

Lego Land Date with Noah

Grandpa and Nana bought Noah and I tickets for Lego Land. They got us ticket a few months ago when we were in town but we got to go again this time and didn't forget my camera this time! Noah loves it! It was such a fun date. We went to eat pizza for lunch at the Grapevine Mills mall food court and then headed to Lego Land. Wish we had one closer cause their season tickets are a good deal! 

The first room you go in they have a lego sand box with the smallest size legos. They also had several Duplo size lego wall stations to play at with. 

After that first waiting room they had a man meet us to take us to the next room to tell us how they make Legos. It was pretty neat. They heat the plastic balls up to 450 degrees, punch them into individual molds and cool them in 15 seconds in order for them to get to the strength they designed them to be. Then each Lego is painted individually with a paint brush and some have extra stuff painted on them. Pretty neat!

After that, you come to a room where you can ride a ride where you go around trying to shoot the bad guys and rescue the Princess. You get your points at the end that tells how well you did. I don't think Noah quite got it since he really hasn't played video games but he liked 'shooting' the gun anyway. Here he is waiting in line to ride.

Here is the car you sit in and gun you shoot.

After that you go into the main play place where you can do several different things. One area had a 4D movie. We watched a Bob the Builder movie (same as last time we came here) where they build a roller coaster from the lego model they make. It is neat. It was kinda like what Mommy used to with civil engineering except it was a highway or bridge. :) Noah loved that we got sprinkled with water, snowed on, and our hair blew in the wind as we road the coaster during parts of the movie.

Here is Noah taking a picture with Dallas Maverics player Dirk. The whole body is composed of the smallest legos as well as the basketball!!!

Here is the tower that Noah and I made. It is made of the large foam legos. I am not sure if they sell those? It consisted of green legos of course since he likes to color code everything. The girl taking the picture did not get the top of it...what was she thinking not getting the whole glory of our tower?

 Here is Noah on the baby giraffe. All of the statues where made of the smallest legos.

Here is another one of the rides. The faster you peddle the higher you went. I didn't peddle at all the first time thinking that was just something they said to make you peddle to make the kids think they are doing it. But, you really have to so we rode several more times after that so Noah could have the pride of being the highest car. Noah couldn't reach the peddles so I had my work out in for the day. 

 They also had a mini lego land with various places/buildings around the DFW area. They had several buildings, an airport, the Cowboys stadium, the baseball stadium, etc. They had a few places that you could push buttons to move the crane, the football players, the train, airport, etc.

 The elephant statue was in the duplo lego section.

 In the duplo section Noah had a flower garden and a pig farm.

 They had a slide for the little kids and a whole other area that was equivalent to a fast food playground times five. Pretty neat!

 In another area, Noah made a race car. He truly enjoyed racing his against the other children. 3...2...1 GO!

 If you look at the top of this next picture you can see where a child can build something and then turn the 'earthquake' thing on and see if their structure lasts. Cool! Motorcycle...

 

We had a lot of fun on our date! I think that is the first time I've taken Noah into a mall without a stroller or a baby wrap. He is growing up! My baby is such a big boy!

Love them!