Nine Years Ago

Nine years ago

We said, "I do"
We were 21
We moved out on our own
We lived in a one bedroom apartment in St. Pete
Judd graduated from college
I had one year of college left
We started our lives as "one"

Today
We live in Coppell, Texas
We know what it's like to move miles, miles, and miles from family
We have a beautiful daughter
We've passed our ten year high school reunion
We're both 30
We cherish our Christian marriage even more
We yearn to nurture and grow Evie into a woman of faith

For our date night, we ventured down to the Bishop Arts District in Oak Cliff, Dallas. It's a section of historic buildings that have been renovated and now have one of a kind restaurants and shops from pizza, BBQ, hamburgers, to fine dining. As well as cute little shops like the soda shop, a vintage clothing store, designer boutiques, and a chocolate shop. We are so thankful to have awesome neighbors who exchange babysitting with us. We watch their kid, they watch ours!

getting ready to hit the road

We arrived with plenty of time before our reservations to explore. Since it was way passed 100 degrees outside, our main stop was The Soda Gallery. It had a large assortment of exotic sodas sold in glass bottles from around the word. We picked a Mexican peach drink called, BOING.

 

It's HOT

cheers

We ate dinner at Tillman's Roadhouse. Even though it has "roadhouse" in the name, it did not feel like a roadhouse at all. It had very rich food like jalapeno gnocchi, steak, seared scallops, and fried green tomatoes.

Judd's "tater tots" were injected with fluffy goat cheese whipped potatoes! Heaven.

the main part of the restaurant

in the back there was a "forest room"

the walls were painted blue and surrounded by bare tree branches and twigs

an old Judy Garland movie played silently on the wall

starter: salt and pepper popcorn with olive oil

We had dessert at Dude, Sweet Chocolate

They make everything in the shop with dark chocolate.

We sampled several flavors and settled with "Crack in a Box" dark chocolate bars with macadamia nuts, hazel nuts, and almonds

Summer Fun

Since it gets up to 105 on a REGULAR basis, I have to stay on my toes with activities for Evie to do that are INDOORS. Thankfully, I have discovered many "cool" places to take Evie. Of course we also go grocery shopping, to the gym, to the mall's carousel, and swim in our pool.

THE ARK

FIRST BAPTIST COPPELL

FREE

We go here a lot since it's five minutes from our house.

Yes, Evie went down this slide.

She stopped after each hump. She didn't go flying straight down.

FINGER PAINTING

 JUMP STREET TRAMPOLINE PARK

$4 all day

SUMMER MOVIE SPECIAL

$1 for kids, $2 for adults

Evie saw her first movie, Charlotte's Web

We talked all about piggies and ducks before we went.

INDOOR SAFARI PARK

$5

We met my friend, Joanna, and her kids Pierce and Stella at the Safari Park.

Evie kepts saying, "Evie train! Evie train! Yay!"

Evie was terrified of this robotic elephant. She yelled, "off" with a look of terror in her eyes!

Pappies are for Babies

On her "last day" with pappies, she pretended to put the daddy to bed with her pappy, saying "Night night daddy". None of us knew what we had coming!

Evie has always been soothed by her pacifier. As she got older she became more and more attached to it. By the end of this past spring, she started calling it a "pappy". I imagine she was trying to say, "paci". She learned this at school, since Judd and I made a point to not call it anything. After we got back from Florida, I started thinking about how to take away the pappy. I decided there was no "GOOD" time to do it. Since I'm off work, I decided it would be a better time, especially if sleepless nights were involved! On Tuesdays we go to a Bible study where everyone brings their kids. Two babysitters watch them upstairs while the adults are downstairs. Little Baby Jacob comes on Tuesdays, so I talked to Evie all day about Jacob. I told her he was a baby and needed pappies. She wasn't a baby anymore, so she didn't need them. I talked her into giving ALL of her pappies to Baby Jacob. That night Evie happily and eagerly gave away all the pappies. We thought it would be easy sailing since she didn't protest giving them away. Well, we were wrong! On the way home she fell asleep in the car (as always). We thought, oh good, we can just put her right in bed and she'll go back to sleep! (as always) WRONG! She woke up asking for her pappy and started screaming for Jacob. She kept asking "Pappy go? Jacob pappy? Jacob go?" This went on and on until midnight. (After giving her a little bit of Benadryl to calm her down). Then she did sleep until 4am. She was awake from 4am to 5:30am. We both finally fell asleep on the couch until 8:00. We had a hard time for about a week and a half. She would fuss at nap time and bedtime. She even woke up in the middle of the night three or four times a night screaming, "Mommy, Daddy, Mommy, Daddy".  Now that it has been two weeks, I think I can safely say she is cured of the pacifier addiction. She now asks to be put in bed and tucked in- no fussing, crying, or protesting. Whew!

Back to Dallas

Since I was flying alone with Evie this time around, I thought she should have her own seat. That way we would  have enought space. She was so excited to sit in her own chair. She was fascinated with the buckle, the drop down table, and looking out the window! She stayed pretty busy by watching Elmo DVD's, playing with magnetic dolls, and eating snacks. She never did sleep, but that was okay. Near the end she did sit in my lap for a little bit. She was so good! I'm sure it was very helpful that Tampa International had a kids play area. I'm so glad she could run around and have fun before getting on the plane.

GlazerChildren's Museum, Curtis Hixon Park, and Kate Jackson Park

GLAZER CHILDREN'S MUSEUM

We asked around and many people with kids recommended this museum. Honestly, I thought it was very overpriced and inappropriate for a two year old. It might be worth it if it was on GROUPON.  I've gotten spoiled with Texas cities AND churches offering very affordable activities for families. I <3 Dallas.

CURTIS HIXON PARK

 (outside of the museum)

This park was so great! It sits on the Hillsborough River and has several splash fountains for kids.

the park is on the Hillsborough River

across the river is the Unniversity of Tampa, which used to be the first tourist hotel in Tampa

downtown Tampa in the background

KATE JACKSON PARK

This park was not too far from the museum, so we headed over. It sits in Hyde Park, a historic Tampa neighborhood. The house that my dad lived in when he was a baby is across the street. Living so close to the park when he was a kid, my dad remembers playing there with his friends and siblings. He also broke his leg on the merry go round when he was one year old! That was the beginning of his is MANY injuries as a "Dean Boy".

Dad's first house (by the park)

it was one story when he lived in it

the house where my dad grew up (a couple minutes from the park)

my dad went to the school where I had my first teaching position