Which Made For An Awesome Surprise!!
July is one of those 'grin and bear it' months. It is SO hot, and the days are SO long, and other than my birthday there isn't a LOT to look forward to for the month. But this year it was gonna be different! My Dad, who does a lot of traveling for work, always tries to use his "free tickets" to come see his Grandbabies. He usually either schedules to come out for work around a weekend or takes a vacation day to make it a long weekend. And this summer, as luck would have it, the week after our collective birthday week, he had a conference out in Dallas, SO, he decided he would fly out Thursday night so we could have a full three days together and then at some point Monday afternoon we would drive him to his hotel for his real work.
We were PUMPED! Everyone loves a visit from Grampa Dave! And we already had some good ideas of things we could do with him while he was out here to help fill in the hours. My Dad LOVES the drive-in movies, and we have an AWESOME one not far from us, that shows double headers and we try and visit them often. It's basically the ONLY way we can DO a new release movie. So we knew FOR SURE that we would take him there. And since on his last visit in January we took him to the zoo, we decided a trip to the Aquarium was in order. And since it was July and the only way to beat the heat is by being on or in water, we decided we would look into renting a pontoon boat and getting out on the lake.
The plan was all set, the tentative schedule was made and we couldn't wait for Grampa Dave to get here.
A Twist In Plans
WELL, as these things seem to do in my life, things changed, amazingly, for the better!! I got a call from my brother, Chad, and he said that he had just been told that he was needed in their Austin client's location to do some work on their network and as luck would have it, he would be done in Austin Thursday evening and would be able to spend Friday, Saturday and Sunday with us. He had booked a Sunday evening flight back to GA which meant that he too, would get to participate in the fun-ness we had scheduled for Grampa Dave.
The Element Of Surprise
SO, I thought I would be sneaky about it and NOT tell Dad. I couldn't WAIT to see his expression when we pulled in the driveway late Thursday night from the airport to see Chad-Boy sitting on the couch waiting for us. Chad of course already knew Dad was going to be out this week so he was in on the 'don't tell Dad' plan. BUT as these things go, Chad's Thursday afternoon/early evening plans turned into a late night, and since he was 3.5 hours away and had enjoyed a cocktail or two we decided it would be best if he just slept peacefully in his hotel and then head up our way first thing Friday morning. He had to be there before 9:30 so we could beat the crowds down to the Aquarium.
The boys knew when they woke up Friday morning Grampa Dave would be in the house, so the two BIGs were up before the sun. Luckily my Dad knows the drill - you do NOT come to the Kirk house for rest or relaxation, so he was ready for them. Pierce was in there first, REALLY early, Dad said he just sorta stood next to the mattress and looked down at him for a few seconds, so my Dad scooched over and let P climb in with him. He amazingly fell back to sleep for twenty or so minutes, but then Kaiden woke up and sprinted up to see him, and once both BIGs were in bed with him any hope of calm or tranquility vanished and really in order to save yourself from being kicked or punched you basically have to stand up and get out of bed all together.
SO, we are all hanging out down stairs drinking are morning GO juice and Kaiden, king of blurt it out, says "guess who is coming to surprise you this morning Grampa Dave? Uncle Chad, he is coming to surprise you this morning!" HAHA, man, gotta love kids, Dad looked at me with a puzzled look and said "really?" So I explained to him how the last minute trip had worked out and how Chad would be joining our weekend of adventure.
Friday - Day One of Fun!
Chad made it on time - not that I was worried, but I did make sure to send him an early morning wake up & drive text! I think we let Chad come in and say hello, drop his bags and we were OFF!
Future's SO Bright!
The BIGs were ready to GO!
Look At This Crew - HA! The Aquarium did NOT know what was coming!
Me & The BIGs - guess who did NOT want to take a pic!
The otters, my FAVORITE - aside from the manatees!
Two Generations for Dad
Everyone's favorite the shark tunnel!
Special visit from the Jaguar!!
We have been a dozen times and NEVER seen him!
I like knowing the plan, just a general idea of how things will go, so on the drive in I tried to explain to Dad & Chad that this place is super cool, but loud and overwhelming for P (of course it didn't help that he didn't yet have his glasses, so in addition to all other stimuli he couldn't SEE anything) and that we would be in and out in an hour. They both sorta chuckled but I think they thought I was exaggerating, that with one adult for each Kirk Boy, we would be able to slow down and enjoy everything more - yeah - um NO, I think we were sitting in front of the exit 47 minutes after waiting in line to enter! Ha - at least THAT much I can predict!
We Deserve A Prize!
Sometimes it is called liquid courage, but after this trip, this 'hurry, hurry, there he goes, NO Pierce don't throw that, in and out in 47 minutes' trip, we needed some liquid relaxation!!! Plus Dad lives in Minnesota, and although now (9 months later) they have just opened a Chick Fil A up there, at the time he could only get the deliciousness that IS the original chicken sandwich, waffle fries and lemonade, when visiting the Cat5Kirks. AND since I have a mental map of where every CFA in the city is, I knew there was one on the way home. I ALSO knew that liquor stores are only in Dallas city limits, and I happened to remember where the one Dad and I found the week we moved here was. So we stopped at package store first, then hit CFA drive thru, the boys would have preferred going in, but being over-stimulated already, and the indoor playground was packed did NOT make for good outcomes with my kiddos, one in particular. PLUS, I'm thinking CFA patrons may have felt uncomfortable watching adults take their CFA cups out to a minivan and adding a little hooch to their cups! HA! When you are not used to kids sporadic, hyper, and unpredictable behaviors in general, but then adding external stimuli PLUS other people, 47 minutes in the Dallas Aquarium into a completely new and overwhelming stress fest - I bet if I called Dad and Chad right now, they wouldn't remember many of the animals there, but they would probably both remember P losing it when we told him he could no longer stand at the top of the escalator and do happy hands at the repeating patterns of stripes and stairs. Ha.
Rested (sorta) Refueld And Ready For Drive-In!!
Remember my Dad had just gotten there the night before and the boy's had woken up very early, plus the aquarium, so after we got home and everyone ate their CFA, I put Baby Dax down for his nap and the other two sorta rested where they fell, Dad, Chad and I, watched some TV, shared a toast to all of us being together again for the first time in years, and just enjoyed each others company.
The second plan on Friday's agenda was of course, the Drive-In, and since Minnie was maxed out in terms of seats and space, we decided we would just order a couple pizzas and eat at the house, then load up and head down. Now to understand the next picture you need to know that when Dad comes he hits up some little toy stores or the dollar bins at Target and gets little things for the guys. This trip he had found assorted "Magic" trick toys and they had enjoyed attempting the ten or so little tricks, and practicing to put on a little show for the rest of us. Well one toy in particular, the hidden ball trick, was a HUGE hit with the boys, Dax specifically. The little jar has three parts and a removable blue ball. It SHOULD be a one person trick but in this case Uncle Chad was helping with the ball part and Kaiden was controlling the lid, hidden ball insert and base. EVERYTIME the ball would disappear from the apparatus and appear somewhere else Dax would crack up. Then K would say "Abracadabra" and BACK at the little red jar the ball would reappear. Dax would be MESMERIZED, the video is hilarious - here are a few screen grabs from it.
Look At Daxie's Expression!
He Is SO Impressed!
THERE IT IS! Ha
At This Point K Says "This IS REAL Magic!" Ha, So Cute!
After our pizza and our magic show, all 7 of us loaded into Minnie and down to the Drive-In we went.
Sung As Bugs!
All Set For The Turbo/Despicable Me 2 Double Header
Thumbs Up To You Too Dave!
Who Is READY For Some Movies!?
The summertime double header was yet another spectacular happening as if a gift for our awesome weekend. July + Texas + Drive In = miserable, USUALLY, but this night it was PERFECT, almost cool towards the end. It was perfect weather, the movies were adorable and even though it made for a LATE night, with just about everyone falling asleep in Minnie on the drive home, everyone had a really good time. Now hurry up and sleep we have yet another full schedule tomorrow!
