Sunday, February 10, 2013

Dallas Reunion


At the beginning of October, six little families gathered in Dallas for a weekend reunion... We stayed fancy at the Hyatt, walked and rode the train to the zoo and on adventures, and spent 2 days catching up!  We started as six 17 year old girls and here we are: 19.5 people, families, mommies and daddies, super cute sweet kids... and still a part of each others lives.  Marriages, divorce, happy times, loss, moves, school, new jobs, more loss.... Love you girls. We all got in Friday night and went to eat a late barbeque supper; these kids were troopers all weekend.  Few fusses even with decreased sleep.
 
Got up and had a yummy breakfast at the hotel to head back down the tunnel (a kid favorite) and back out.  Waiting on the DART to go to the Dallas Zoo...
Jack hanging out and waiting... Branson and cousin Adi
Nine kids... one more born 3 months later.


Riding the carousel
Amber and Kristin - thus the baby in several months (still too dang photogenic!)
Melissa and miss Lylah; Amber and Brooklyn - ever the doting auntie
Boys being boys - launching from the rope spider web - while those silly girls got face paint

We spent several hours at the children's zoo with the splash area, climbing, and petting zoo.  Half of the zoo actually ended up being closed for a fund raiser so it worked out - less pressure to rush to see, more time to dawdle!




Miss Lylah is still toddling about and hard to keep up with those big kids; she sure tries though
Petting the goats and looking at the koi
We ate lunch at the zoo; pizza and sandwiches. This little missy was content just to watch
The Dallas Zoo (I believe) is the only zoo in Texas with Koalas - Melissa was beside herself with excitement.  Seems she gets really excited about koalas - and she's one of the big kids!
Meghan was very excited to see "Slade" again! Kristin and Wade had come down several months before to see Katelynn - my kids are big fans of Wade.  And Meg still talks about Kristin and her makeup!  Looking at the rhinos with Daddy; monkeys with Wade.

Branson and Brooklyn (and baby)
Seeing the tiger.  JoDee had to come alone with the girls - Craig had to work.  Good thing she had so many helpers - we are that "village" in every since... too easy to assume someone else is watching your kids though...

Meghan and Adi; sweet little (quiet) Audrey
Big boy Branson - I bet it's pretty boring being the oldest boy.  There's a 3 year age difference between him and Cooper - way outnumbered by little girls.
It still takes Coop a while to warm up to people - but Amber is pretty easy to warm to. Especially since she has no kids to keep her busy - always ready with an open hand.
Wade and Kristin; Kara and Scott
Sweet sisters Adi and Audrey



Headed back to the hotel for hopeful napping
The guys went to hunt and gather (aka pick up sandwiches) while the ladies and kids (and Greg) rode over to the new Dallas park.  Lots of hiking - Coop walked miles this weekend. He would rather walk and hold a hand than sit in a stroller.  And baby Katelynn rode miles in her front carrier - even survived her mommy's trip and fall - wipe out the knee but not the baby or the camera - priorities!



The kids loved the view from our hotel room - watching the trains come and go.  We got up Sunday morning after the big girls (all but JoDee) stayed up late.  Daddy's did a good job of putting some sleepy kids to bed.


We had promised the kids a full ride on the hotel elevator since the beginning.  All the way up past the roof to look at the clouds - and back down where our friends were all waiting for us.
Katelynn making friends with JoDee. Wade and Jack helping Amber with all.. her... bags...
 
We headed to eat brunch at a Mexican food restaurant before everyone headed out home.  A quick but good weekend.

Meghan and Adi could be such good friends - if only we lived closer! And Cooper still talks about Dallas - if he's pretending to go on a trip he goes to Dallas.

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