On the Road Again

Have minivan...will travel.

I do not know what we did before we had our entertainment center on wheels. I am telling you, the DVD player with cordless headphones, the Navigation system, etc. I am not sure if I will ever go back. We decided to take to the open road, and there are a LOT of those out here, and drive to Big "D". The male members of the family were off to cheer the Midshipmen on to victory against the University of North Texas and the girls were to embark upon the shopping Mecca better known as the Galleria with one particular store in mind...the brand spanking new American Girl Boutique and Bistro.

We had our normal Saturday breakfast of pancakes cooked by Dad and then we were all fueled up and ready to face the day. I have to share something so sweet about Laura. Every time she eats pancakes and they are not cooked by Adam she repeatedly tells Adam how they were good, but NOT as good as his. I think it is his TLC and no one could ever make pancakes that even compare... which is why I don't even try.

We headed down I-35 to make our way to drop the boys at the game and as we were driving a large group of motorcycles passed. As they were passing we noticed that many of them were wearing Navy jackets, Adam then realized it was a large groups of Chiefs(senior enlisted) from his squadron. We beeped a waved and figured they were heading to the game as well. A little while later we stopped for a potty and snack break. As we pulled up to the gas station we noticed the group of bikers were there as well. We went it did our business, bought a few things and chatted with the Chiefs. When we got back in the car they had parked their bikes, mostly Harleys next to our minivan. As Adam started the car he started to chuckle, I asked him what was so funny. He said "Here I am in my minivan and look at them all leather clad and bad on their bikes". I shared a chuckle too. I really should have taken a picture of the scene, it was funny.

We made it down to Denton to drop the boys at the game. It was fun to see so many Navy fans WAY out this way. We even saw a few middies that were donning their new Stetson hats with their SDBs, although they were clearly breaking uniform regulations, they were in the spirit of the West. The boys had a great time at the game and Adam ran into many people he had not seen in recent years including some of our favorite readers of the blog that hail from the great state of Texas.

After we dropped the boys we were off to the American Girl Boutique and Bistro to make our lunch reservations. It was an easy drive and Lola led the way, she is the voice of our on board navigation system. It was fun to see the excitement in Laura when we arrived. Although we have been to the NYC American Girl store numerous times, Laura was too young to remember or appreciate the visits. She enjoyed walking around seeing all the dolls, babies, books and various other accessories for sale. They each brought some of their own money to be able to buy a few small things. We made our purchases and headed up to the Bistro for lunch. One of the fun things about eating there are the doll chairs that are provided so that your doll can sit up at the table with you. We had a wonderful lunch and enjoyed some girl talk and just being together. As we were heading out we went to the restroom where we noticed something new that we had not seen at the AG store in NY. Each bathroom stall had a doll holder so that you would not have to set your doll down on the dirty floor....clever, I tell you.

We had a little more time before it was time to go back to get the boys so we spent a little bit of time walking around the Galleria. It was fun to walk around and pick up a few things we had been needing. It was also fun for me to be back in the Galleria where I had vivid childhood memories of ice skating in the rink inside the mall. They had big signs that were celebrating the mall's 25 year anniversary, that sure made me feel old, but I clearly remember when it opened. Yikes!

We drove back up to get the boys and heard all about Navy's victory, the flyover of Hornets, the post game fireworks, and all of the fun that they had. We told them all about our trip to the AG store, the fact that Emma almost lost her purse(with her military ID) in Old Navy, and the fact that we found some "bargains" at the mall.



It was a fun day for all. I only wish I had some pictures of the boys to post. Sorry, they did not have a camera with them.