The last weekend in February, we took a road trip to visit Parin and Aunt Emmy in Fort Worth. As it happened, Mommy was asked to work for Louisiana Tech's Career Fair that Thursday. So we left our house on that Wednesday afternoon and drove to Ruston. We had dinner with the Kings, some close friends of Mommy's, and stayed in a hotel. I love staying in hotels! The next morning, Mommy left to go to the career fair, and Madeline and I hung out with Daddy. When it was time to go meet Mommy, Daddy packed us all up!
We met Mommy after the career fair on Tech's campus. Then we met up with Mr. Matt to take pictures. We roamed campus taking pictures for a while. Mommy grabbed a few quick shots with her phone, too. (We'll share Matt's pictures soon!)
Then we loaded back into the van and off to Fort Worth we went! Madeline and I were both excellent travelers! We slept most of the time, but when we were awake we were very good. Madeline got a new arch of toys to put on her carseat, so that kept her entertained. I mostly watched DVDs and colored. When we were about 80 miles from Parin's and Aunt Emmy's house, it was around 7 PM, so we stopped for a potty break. It was a really big travel plaza that had a BBQ joint and a Sonic. Mommy begged me to get some dinner at Sonic, but I refused. I was determined: I had to get to Parin's to eat with him! So eventually Mommy conviced me to at least get a snack; I opted for an Icee (green, of course) and a bag of popcorn, one of my favorites. But I told her I wasn't going to eat them unless I got very hungry. Good enough. We loaded back into the van, and just as Mommy was getting me strapped in, I said "I think I'm pretty hungry now!"
When we got closer to Parin's house, he and Aunt Emmy met us at McAllister's Deli for dinner. I refused to eat. At that point I was determined to get to their house: I had to see Franklin (their dog)! We made it to their house, settled in, and crashed for the night.
The next day, they both had to work. So we stopped by Parin's office for a little visit and went to Panera for lunch with him. He gave us tickets to the Fort Worth Children's Museum for some afternoon fun. And fun we had!
There was a huge train table area, complete with holes you could go in to build the tracks around you. Mommy helped me construct some tracks.
There was a huge permanent spiral track for the trains, too. Daddy showed me how to run them down the sloping spiraling tracks!
Then I found the grocery store! It was the absolute best thing yet! There were carts that were just my size. And a lot of groceries, too... canned goods, fruits and vegetables, meats, drinks, everything! Mommy was really impressed that I knew what almost everything was, including all the produce.
I even took Madeline shopping with me!
Once I had a cart full of groceries (or Madelines!), I headed over to the check-out counters. I placed all my purchases on the belt, moved them forward, scanned them, then pushed buttons on the register!
After going to the museum, we went back to Parin's and Aunt Emmy's house. Madeline and I took naps.
Then we all went to dinner at a Mexican restaurant. It was really yummy!
The next day we headed toward Dallas to Ikea. Mommy and Daddy wanted to get a shelf for Madeline's bedroom. I got to get some more pieces for my train set there. After Ikea, we met Uncle James and Miss Anne at Chick-fil-A for lunch.
After lunch, Parin had a BIG surprise for me! We drove to the Trinity River Park. There, he showed me a train I was going to ride! I love trains, so I was super excited! It's miniature railroad that runs on Saturdays through this park. The ride is about 45 minutes long. We got our tickets, then had to wait a while. Once we got on, we had a great adventure!
