I absolutely HATE packing! With a burning passion. I always get so excited to plan a new adventure for me and the girls. But then it comes time to pack for it and I regret every last adventurous thought I’ve ever had in my entire life! It really shouldn’t be that big of a deal. Seriously, I have done lots and lots of harder things in my 40 years for heaven sakes. But every flippin time I have to start packing I start contemplating just canceling the entire trip all together because the packing is probably just not worth it anyway. Maybe it’s that I moved so many times in college, maybe it’s that Riley requires so many meds, diapers, etc. Maybe it’s that I am a creature of habit, or that I legit have anticipation anxiety. Maybe it’s just that I have some serious issues. But whatever it, is it’s a deal.
But once I push thru and just get us packed up, the adventure is always worth the packing! Always. The memories made, sights seen, experiences lived, jokes formed, food eaten, things learned, conversations had, people met and relationships strengthened are always worth it. And this past weekend was no exception to that!
Once we knew we wouldn’t be going to Hawaii this summer after all, I jumped at the chance for the girls to still see some of their Hawaii family. Uncle Brandon and cousin Tyson came to Dallas for a volleyball tournament and getting a chance to see them and cheer on Ty at his tournament was not only worth packing for but also worth the 4.5 hour drive to do so! And of course we made a great summer weekend trip out of it and had a phenomenal time!
We left early Friday morning and got back really late Sunday night. The girls both did phenomenally well with the drive! I bought some old classic movies to introduce them to like “Angels in the Outfield”, “Sister Act” , their new favorite “Karate Kid” and one of my faves “Troop Beverly Hills.” With that and more then enough treats and snacks from where else but Buc-ees and the occasional dance party to “Old Town Road” we were all set!
Once we got to Dallas we had lunch at Costa Vida where I savored every last delicious bite and the girls could have passed. Then we checked in to our gorgeous hotel which I had randomly found an amazing 72 hour flash deal for on Instagram of all places, the Gaylord Texan. What an extraordinary resort the Gaylord is! We had the cheapest room that was the farthest walk possible from all the fun but we all cherished the chance to stay at such a fantastic place. Before meeting the Kikuchi boys, the Kikuchi girls explored the hotel some and started the fun Peter Pan themed scavenger hunt all throughout the hotel and were thrilled to meet Tinkerbell, Wendy and Peter himself!
Then we met Tyson and Uncle Brandom plus Tyson’s whole team and another family at Main Event for over 4 hours of arcade games, bowling, shuffle board, pool, dinner and catching up. The girls and Tyson picked right up where they left off and I was so happy the three cousins were together again! Uncle Brandon was awesome and taught Keagan how to play pool, the five of us bowled together and we all had a really great time!
On the way home we couldn’t help but to explore a little bit like we love to do. We drove thru the darling old town Grapevine, drove around the lake where we even caught jet skiers doing tricks, and got back to the hotel much too late for all of our tired selves! But of course we still had to get ice because Keagan said Paka would insist (makes me so happy) and then the girls stayed up to live their best hotel life as long as possible.
Saturday morning the girls had their first ever room service breakfast! That’s a big step in a girls life! Then we went to Paradise Springs which is the great water park for the Gaylord guests. We had such a great time in all the pools, the splash structure and going round and round in the lazy river. Plus the cute Keagan went down all 4 water slides and off the zip line! We even had lunch pool side and just had to top it all off with dip n dots!
After hours of fun in the sun we were pretty exhausted so Miss Riley took a little nap which is quite the rarity so we knew it was needed. Once she was up we headed to In n Out for dinner. Keagan absolutely fell in love with In n Out this time and Im pretty sure she is going to be dreaming of it until they open the one in Houston soon. Then we were back to the hotel and ended up having a really great memory making night there! We met Tall Paul, finished the Peter Pan scavenger hunt which wasn’t too easy but a ton of fun and Riley begged for the Sky Build a Bear because she clearly didn’t already have enough Paw Patrol babies! We joined in on the super festive and fun pajama dance party to jam the night away with the Peter Pan characters and lots of other adventurous families! Our favorite was the people watching the girls who were clearly there for the actual dance competition going on and that Wendy convinced everybody around us to “do the Riley!” We also loved the light show at the end. Once back to our room the girls convinced me to push the two beds together which they just thought was silly and fun but for me it solved my big problem from the night before of getting 3.5 minutes of sleep with Riley kicking me a thousand and one times!
Sunday morning we slept in a little to where by the time we were dressed and checked out of that gorgeous hotel it was 10:30. Much to Keagans delight, that meant we had In n Out for breakfast and then headed to Tyson’s volleyball tournament in Dallas. It was so fun to see him play! We were able to cheer him on for two separate games and absolutely loved that we got that chance! In between games Keagan somehow talked me into dippin dots again and after the second game we did a little shopping for Ty at the tournament and Keagans long search for the perfect souvenire came to an end with a rainbow volleyball. It was sad to say goodbye to Tyson and Brandon but we were thankful for the time we had.
Our final two places to go in Dallas were to see the Dallas Temple and then have dinner at the Magic Time Machine. The girls had fun meeting all the characters from Dorothy, the Riddler, Rapunzel, Luigi, Jack Sparrow, Nacho Libre and more at this crazy themed restaurant but it didn’t pass my cleanliness or food quality standards so I’m thinking it was a one and done for us. The best part was the ballon hats and that Sky even got a balloon animal!
The drive home was pretty fast. We stopped at a Chezch bakery to try real kolaches that were delicious and then of course at Buc-ees where I got the most classic Texas road trip picture and we bought more snacks we don’t need. At one point we narrowly missed a car accident that could have been bad so we know that was an answer to our prayers and we even kept our typical Sunday Come Follow Me schedule by having a really great discussion about Acts 1-5 in the car which I just loved! We got home late around 10:30 and were happy to see Nana and our own beds!
We are now home and unpacked but still trying to recover as three tired girls! It was only a 3 day trip but we squeezed as much time as we possibly could out of those three days and packed in as much fun as we possibly could. Now that’s the kind of packing I can enjoy to the fullest! But even the awful kind of packing is worth the adventure. And this Dallas trip was definitely worth packing for!
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