All Over Texas (Fort Worth, Waco, Austin, and Fredericksburg)

Jamie is gearing up for another deployment in a couple months, so we decided that we want to use his block leave time to run around and see as much family as we can. We totally lucked out that my best friend’s wedding is on the tail end of his leave, so we mapped out to visit with Jamie’s family in Texas first before heading east over to Alabama to see my family and celebrate Ashley’s wedding.

We realized that we’ll be covering 2,500+ miles throughout these couple of weeks, and because we know that car travel with a one year old can be a disaster (*ahem* – any travel with a one year old can be a disaster), we want to take our time and stop frequently. We are trying to enjoy the car time as much as we are the family time since so much of this trip is spent behind the wheel.

So on Monday we loaded the car and headed about 500 miles south to Fort Worth. We stopped for lunch in Arcadia, Oklahoma at , which is a restaurant/gas station/tourist trap along Route 66. It features over 600 different kinds of sodas and serves delicious diner-style food. We were able to snag an outdoor table and thankfully keep Teddy with us! The girls were also able to get out some energy and run around the lawn. It was fun!

We rolled in to Fort Worth around dinner time and met up with some amazing friends from college – Caitlin and Rob – for a casual dinner outside. We ate at the Waterside shopping/dining area and let all four of our kiddos run around and have a ball together. We hadn’t seen each other in six (!) years, so catching up was extra sweet. We may grow a little older, but people usually don’t change too much. 🙂 With friends like these, that’s a good thing! We picked up right where our newlywed/pre-kid selves left off and had a wonderful time.

We checked into our I’d lucked out reserving for dirt cheap via Priceline’s “Name Your Price” tool, and we unknowingly geared up for one heck of a night.

Sadie is getting her second bottom molar and was absolutely hysterical all night. Teddy was also terribly sick and ended up making a mess all over the hotel. We were both up and down the entire night cleaning up after Teddy, taking turns walking around rocking Sadie and keeping her from screaming her head off, and by 5 a.m. I got a case of the giggles so bad that my stomach hurt from laughing until I had tears streaming down my cheeks at what a holy train wreck the entire hotel experience was. D I S A S T E R. And that was night #1. Oh my gosh. You better believe that Jamie was in the hotel gym by 5:30 working out to burn off a little bit of stress. Ha! It was SO WILD you guys, and that’s only about a quarter of the full story.

SO! 🙂 Tuesday we grabbed breakfast at Buc-ee’s and started our trek to Austin to my in-law’s. I wanted to visit Magnolia along the way, but we figured that the 4th of July would be so crowded and that we wouldn’t be able to bring Teddy. So we scratched Magnolia off of our itinerary a few weeks ago.

But then, right around Waco, Jamie mentioned stopping somewhere to let Sadie stretch her legs since she’d been so fussy. I realized we were in Waco and pulled up Magnolia on my phone. The exit was 0.3 miles away and I told Jamie to pull off IMMEDIATELY! It was right off the interstate, and when we drove by we noticed not only was it pretty quiet, but there were dogs walking around! I almost cried out of excitement; I really did. So out we went. 🙂

We let the girls run around the lawn, we walked around the store, and I tried to take it all in during our brief stop.

I was so beyond impressed with the entire place and absolutely cannot wait to go back! It was wonderful for the entire family.

We got to my in-law’s home early afternoon and spent the 4th of July swimming and grilling. My MIL knew I was having pretty intense anxiety about visiting, so she so graciously purchased two Turtle Alarms (recommended by the ISR director during our phone conversation last month) that the girls could wear on their ankle or wrist. An alarm blares if they touch the water, and I can’t tell you the peace of mind this gives me when we are out of the pool hanging around the house. Such a game changer.

I’m happy to report that we’ve really enjoyed our time in the pool and that Hadley doesn’t seem to have any memory of the accident. This was a huge part of the healing process for me, and I’m happy it’s behind us!

Yesterday we spent a few hours exploring Fredericksburg. So fun! We ate at . and enjoyed some incredible German food.

We walked in and out of a dozen shops, and the girls were happy as could be with their ice cream win and toy store find.

Next stop tomorrow night: Dallas!

Let’s chat!

Have you been to Magnolia? Fredericksburg?