meanwhile, back at the ranch...

walking through exhibits in a museum is tiring, people.  utterly exhausting.  but that didn't stop us from continuing our one-day-in-dallas extravaganza.  oh, no.  our next stop was here:

the galleria was quite a schwanky spot.  reminds me a lot of south coast plaza here at home.  there were all sorts of fun shops in there, and even this:

i practically had to hold the bean back from jumping right over the rail to get to that ice rink.  heh.  instead, we headed off in search of food, which we found at townhouse kitchen + bar.

animal tots.  tater tots topped with pulled pork, cheese curds, grainy mustard, stout gravy, and a fried egg.  heaven.  i seriously need more cheese curds in my life.

i went with a bacon-crusted burger with bleu cheese and butter lettuce on a brioche.  it was really, really good.

we didn't really have room in our bags to take home a bunch of stuff, so we didn't linger in any of the shops.  but on the way back, after dropping about a dozen and a half hints, the hub indulged my need to visit the home of the ewing family.

look!  my boots are on the sacred grounds of southfork ranch!

while the bean was less than impressed, she did like looking at the longhorns that were kickin' it on the grass.

although it was past closing time, the hub drove up to the gift shop anyway, in the hopes that i could still sneak in for a souvenir or two.  MIL hopped out of the car and gave me the thumbs-up, which made me really, really happy.

so bummed that i was too late for this:

the cast of dallas, then:

and now.

the teen managed to get a great shot of ewing mansion.

the nice lady at the register was bubbly and more than happy to share all of her dallas-related gossip.  i found out that we'd missed the last bit of filming by just a few days, and had to decline her offer of a coupon for a discounted tour.  so sad.  but next time...

dinner that night was at la hacienda ranch.

eating in texas always makes me extra grateful for the plethora of choices we have in soCA.  i do love BBQ now and then, but man - i would cry if i couldn't have really good dim sum or authentic mexican food whenever i got the craving for it.  that tex-mex bullshit is nasty, yo.  enchiladas covered in chili?  a blank stare when we ask for regular ol' red ranchero sauce or carne asada tacos?  yuck.  although we do have the owner of this place to thank for the original frozen margarita machine:

back at home, after the ILs and the bean were safely tucked into bed, the teen and i attacked what was left of the cheesecake.  we may have given the hub ONE bite.

it was a lovely way to cap off our dallas day.

she blinded me with science

on our last full day in dallas, MIL suggested a visit to a new-ish museum in town that she thought sounded like fun:  the perot museum of nature and science.  yup, as in ross perot, former presidential candidate wannabe.  dude has a stinking fortune, so it was nice of him to use some of it for something like this.  it's really cool-looking, too:

the bean loves dinosaurs, so it was pretty exciting to her.

as for me, i'm pretty easily amused.  i liked these bubbles that were suspended from the ceiling and randomly bobbed up and down.

we'd managed to time our entry fairly well, because the next showing of a 3D movie was just about to begin.  after scanning our tickets, we were ushered through a hallway and into the theater, where we spent the next half hour or so totally mesmerized by a family of meerkats.  i never realized how adorable those things are, and really hadn't known much about them aside from timon, the disney-fied version in "the lion king."

benches with cool little factoids were sprinkled throughout the multi-level building.

there were so many levels with a ton of interesting exhibits.  i was kind of overwhelmed by it all, but the bean loved it.  and it was fun to watch her scurry from one thing to the next.

lightning mcqueen!

i think we spent the bulk of our visit staring at the various dinosaur fossils.

those museum people know how to catch kids' attention.  because really, what kid doesn't love to giggle about pee and poop?

the gems and minerals hall.  heh.

oh please.  like you didn't totally snicker.

by the time we were just kind of done with the whole science and nature thing, we'd explored a good chunk of the museum - although it turned out that we'd missed an entire bottom floor that was geared towards younger visitors.  crap.  oh well, next time.

and on our way back to the car, the bean stopped to play some of the instruments outside.

headed to the dallas area?  check out this joint.  it was really fun!

happy easter, y'all

easter sunday in texas was a little different from easter at home.

this was church:

here was the service:

i wore this:

because the weather was iffy, this was the bean's easter egg hunt:

with two special golden eggs that contained this:

the ILs' new house rocks for prepping a holiday meal:

and to burn off the meal, we hit up the little park just across the street:

and MIL busted out her cheesecake skillz to cap off a fabulous day.

the end.

angels stadium-ONT-DFW

as soon as we got home from that 5K, we sprung into action - not only did we get up early and do a race together, but we were booked on a 2:40 flight to dallas to spend easter with the ILs.

i scurried around, alternately packing and clearing away piles of stuff that always seem to accumulate throughout the house.  after i'd finally had a chance to shower and get cleaned up, i busted out some bobby pins and did the bean's hair.

she was super excited for this trip.  not only does she love going to see grandma and grandpa, this kid sure loves her some airplane rides.  such a little traveler.

getting to the airport and boarding the plane was uneventful and easy.  as always, we were stuck at the very back of the plane.  but this time, we were seated in rows of two and right in front of each other.  after takeoff, which is my very least favorite part of traveling, the frenzied activity of the day caught up with me.  at least i didn't disturb anybody with my snoring, since all the engine noise drowned it out.

you can thank the teen for that oh-so-flattering shot.  she and the bean giggled and bickered all the way to DFW.

renting a car at the dallas airport is a pain in the ass.  you have to catch a shuttle to the rental car center, and it took for-freaking-ever to get there.  so we killed time like we always do:

when we arrived at the ILs' house, we got a quick tour before heading back out to find some grub.  and what do you eat when you land in texas?  BBQ, duh.

five minutes in the lone star state and she's already got a gun in her hands.

yee-haw!