The Lion King!

School's out!  Party time!  Excellent.  Yes, that was our mood yesterday when I picked Jackson up at noon for early release.  Little sister was in school until 2:00, so we had a lunch date planned.  My adorable date chose for us to dine on the patio at Gloria's and we had such a great time.  He was especially happy because he got chosen to bring the class mascot home with him for the weekend.  Buddy the dog enjoyed the beautiful sun almost as much as we did, I think, although he passed on the chips and queso.

The day got even better when we arrived at Fair Park to see The Lion King!  All three of the kids were seriously excited.  They have been watching the movie for the past few weeks, so they knew just what to expect.  We got there just in time to find all the Hays crew and took our seats before the show began.

The theater is so great...it even has these cool boosters that you can rent for $3 for the kids.  They didn't have to sit on their knees all night--genius! 

Daddy and Maddie:)

Thank you, thank you, thank you, Memaw, for planning this very fun family night!  We all had a wonderful time and the kids are already asking about when they get to go see another show there.  I think that means it was a success.  Oh yeah, and Buddy liked it, too!

Pumpkin Pickin'

After not seeing the sun all week long, we decided to celebrate it's return with a little trip to pick out some good pumpkins.  Jackson was such a big help and loved pulling this red wagon all around for us while we loaded it up.

After we had chosen most of our pumpkins, we took a break for a cute photo op on the hay bales.

Then cousin Maddie arrived and she got in on the action, too.  Love these three whether they are sweet angels...

or spooky monsters!  And believe me, they can ALL be both!  We are pumped that Halloween is only two weeks away now.  Stay tuned to see what fun costumes these kids have in store for this year.

Monkeying Around at the Ft. Worth Zoo

From the very beginning, the animals had the kids' attention.  We stopped to check out the chimps and they did not disappoint.  There was a highly energetic three year old that was swinging all over the place and even bumped the glass a few times right where the kids were standing.  She was so fun to watch!

There was also a seven month old baby that held tight to his mama the whole time.  So cute!  She was really protective of him and did NOT like the other big chimps getting anywhere near them.  If they tried to get close, she'd holler and scamper higher up their jungle gym. 

Then we walked over and got a great view of this awesome Silverback Gorilla.  He came right up to the glass and just stared at Lila.  She backed way up, too!  Still not convinced that beast of an animal couldn't just come through the window.

This pic doesn't even do it justice because he was huge! 

We finally tore ourselves away from watching the gorillas and made it over to see the orangatans.  They have one of the best jungle gyms around town.

As Lila said, "he's weally hairy!"

After that, we went over to see the rhinos...

the super-fast cheetah...

and then caught one last glimpse of the baby chimp.  His mama let him take a few steps on the grass before she scooped him up again.

One of the most anticipated exhibits of the day was going to see the elephants.  We'd heard that they had two new babies born pretty recently and couldn't wait to check them out.

And they were so cute!  The littlest one was born in mid-August and weighed a whopping 228 lbs.  We thought that was huge until we saw that the one born the month before her weighed 330 lbs at birth.  Good grief!

They wrestled and ran around just like a couple of toddlers.  And they even got in trouble a time or two with their mama's!

One of my favorite spots is hanging out at the koi pond and watching the ostriches and giraffes.  It makes for a nice photo op, too:)

Giraffes are such awkward creatures when they try to touch the ground, but they sure are pretty.

In all my 33 years I have never set eyes on a black rhino, let alone one with a baby.  They are covered in this armor and have short, stumpy horns, instead of long ones like their cousins.  God's designs never cease to amaze me.

We were also excited to see the beautiful white tiger...

and got a kick out of watching this small, funny looking black bear pace back and forth 42 times.

We were hoping to see the big male lion, but it was his nap time when we stopped by.  The two female lions were awake, but they're not nearly as exciting and didn't ever feel the near to give us a good "roar!"

Instead, we moved on to let the kids feed the birds inside this huge netted area.  Jackson wasted no time and fed those birds like a pro.  His little sister, on the other hand, was not so brave.  She maybe fed one bird, one time, and then declared that she was done:)

Our time was running out, but J really wanted to make it over to the Texas Animals since that's where they had the new baby jaguar.  On our way there, he hopped on this big scale and it told him that he weighed as much as 10 chickens.  Good to know, I guess!  He wasn't quite as heavy as a goat, though.

We found the baby jaguar, along with the alligator and alligator snapping turtle.  This thing freaked me out!  It was as large as a sea turtle, but it lives in north eastern Texas, in FRESH WATER.  Heaven help me if I ever encounter it while swimming in Lake Texoma.  After all that excitement, we bought some tickets to ride the train back to the entrance.  The kids got to choose a souvenir (Lila got a cute, pink lemur and J got a waterglobe) and then we were off to Pa and Roxie's house for a visit.  It was the perfect zoo day with our little fam--hard to believe that the next time we go, Baby Girl will be with us, too!

Part two of our Fort Worth day trip took place at Luby's.  Jared's grandpa and his wife Roxie dine there every day for lunch.  Every single day.  And now I see why!  They get treated like a king and queen.  All the employees know them and they take such good care of them.  After we got through the line, we got seated at our reserved large booth.  Didn't even know that was an option at Luby's!  The waiters carried the trays for the kids and Pa and Roxie and were so attentive the whole meal.  And the food was delicious, too.  We spent two hours with them and were so thankful for that time.  We hope to see them again soon for the holidays.  Maybe I'll see if Roxie can bring some of Luby's homemade banana pudding for Thanksgiving.  It was that good!

TX-OU and more fun, too!

This past Saturday was jam-packed with sports.  We started out by getting ready to cheer on the Longhorns.  Jackson was so pumped that he came down at 7:45am dressed from head to toe in his burnt orange!  I love his spirit.  By gametime, little sister had her cheerleading uniform on and the queso was cooking on the stove.  It was a great game and so exciting to finally see UT win again!  Hook 'em Horns!

To show my dedication to my oldest, I left the house before the TX-OU game was over, and got to the soccer fields just in time to see the start of the Mustang's game.  He was thrilled to have so many fans there to cheer for him--Gigi, Boom and Maddie were there, along with Papaw and Granny...

and all of the Hays crew, too.  It was crazy humid and HOT, but J gave it his best.  We finished soccer at 3:15 and were sweating like maniacs.  By 4:00 when the Cubs game started, though, the winds had picked up, the temp had dropped, and after an inning and a half it started pouring down rain.  Crazy!  The umpires called the game, so we all headed home, soaking wet.  Lila had fallen asleep on the way to the game and was shocked to be awoken by cold rain on her.  She just looked at me so confused and said, "this is really yucky weather!"  By the time we got home and showered up, the sun was out again.  Go figure. Why does it always rain on the weekends?!

Princess Barbie

Case of the Mondays?  No way!  We lived it up at our casa yesterday morning.  There's no reason that big brother should have all the fun just because he gets to go to school.  After playing Barbies and jumping on the trampoline, it was time for our mini-makeover.  Lila chose a stunning hot pink, hot orange dress that was accented with sheer straps and cool turquoise and purple designs.  Then we went into the make-up room and gave her some striking eye shadows, blush and a light pink lip gloss.  Next, we moved downstairs for hair and did it up right, curling iron and all!  She loved it, and so did I.  For our finishing touch we added the matching tiara and voila!  Princess Barbie was in the house.  She stayed like this for hours--she painted two pictures, ate lunch and even went to Dillard's! 

And this princess isn't just cute--she's funny, too.  The other night we were watching The Voice and she said, "I think Adam and Blake are cute."  I said, "which one do you think is cuter?"  She says, "Adam."  I said, "girl, you got good taste."  She said, "is it because I use Dove?"  Ha!  Made me laugh out loud. 

Perot Museum

Today we decided to take advantage of something we've heard is really cool and not too far from home.  We took the kids to the Perot Museum and I'm so glad we did.  It was a great way to spend an afternoon together.  We got there when it opened at noon and had a quick lunch in the cafe.  Then we went right next door to the 3D theater and got ready to watch Wild Oceans.

At least Lila started out excited about her nifty 3D glasses.  Right when the movie started she took them off and said, "I don't like it."  So she watched a half hour of blurry ocean!

Jackson was a much better sport about it and kept his on the whole time.  We all agreed that the movie wasn't anything spectacular, but it was a fun way to kick off our time at the museum. 

We took all the escalators up to the top of the builiding and came to the dinosaur exhibit.  We got to see T-Rex and Brontosaurus's cousin and they were huge!  The kids were very impressed.

They also had replicas of the ancestor's of alligators and sea turtles, both of which were huge!

This mammoth fossil was found in Cedar Creek!

Amazing.

Over the next few floors the kids got to learn about the continents drifting apart...

and how water changes into different forms.

There were so many cool exhibits, like this one where the gold tiles mimicked your body.

There were also lots of hands on things for the kids to do, like making a remote controlled car, making paper objects fly inside a wind tunnel and building these fun 3D shapes.

But nothing compared to how much fun our kids had racing the T-Rex...

olympic gymnast...

or FC Dallas soccer player.  They loved it!

I'm pretty sure they would have done this 10 times if we would have let them.

It was the perfect afternoon with our little family of 4.5.  After our next baby girl gets a little bigger, we'll be able to show her that she's been getting knowledge since before she was born. 

And I'm sure she'll want to follow in her daredevil big sister's footsteps and climb the green frogs the next time we go back!

On our way home, Dad had one more idea up his sleeve.  Ice Cream!  We made a pit-stop at Wild About Harry's and it got rave reviews.  Such a wonderful day with my little fam.