Downtown Dallas Day - Part 1

This week the kids are on Spring Break from school, and it has been my goal to do a fun activity with them each day.  Today, we had decided to head downtown to The Dallas World Aquarium... but when we arrived, the line to get in was literally 2 blocks long!  I quickly began to think about Plan B and decided that we would go to Reunion Tower's observation deck and a nearby park instead.  I wound my way through the streets of downtown in the general direction of Reunion Tower (which was a big step for this used-to-be-small-town-girl), and finally found a parking lot near the tower.  Thankfully, I asked the parking attendant if this was the nearest lot to Reunion Tower, and he informed me that the observation deck was still closed for renovations.  Darn!  Plan C was now in order.  I had no ideas for Plan C, so called a friend for ideas as I drove aimlessly through the streets of downtown as I looked for something to do.  I came upon an area that I had been to about 13 years ago with life-sized sculptures of about 50 longhorns and cowboys on horses and there was even a little creek with steeping stones.  I found a place to park, and the kids and I headed for the sculptures.  We hiked around, took some photos, and ended up spending most of our time on the "creek bank".  

Since we were planning on an indoor activity when we left home, I was not prepared for my kids to get dirty (I know!  Call me crazy.), so I did not have any extra clothes with me for them to change into if they, say, fell into the creek and got wet and muddy.  So, I spent a lot of time saying: 

"Be careful."  

"Don't put your feet in the water."  

"Okay - you can put your toes in the water but not your feet."  

"Don't jump from rock to rock - you're going to fall in the water!"  

"Obey me!"  

"Come sit down by me until you can obey me... I said, DON'T get wet!"  

"Yes, you can look at the minnows in the water, but you cannot try to catch one."  

"I SAID, don't try to catch one."  

"Obey me!"

"I know that you are faster than a fish, but DON'T try to catch one!"  

"Okay, you can put your feet in the water, but THAT IS IT!  Nothing else."  

"You're getting all wet!"

"Come sit down by me again.  You must obey me!"  

It didn't help when a sweet elderly man walked up and said to Cooper, "Don't fall in that water.  I bet it would go over your head.  Show me how deep that water is if you stand in it."  I wasn't sure how to handle that - and it all happened so quickly - but I secretly hoped that my saintly 3-year-old would tell the older man that he was sorry to disappoint him, but his mommy had asked him to stay dry, and he planned to obey her.... I can dream, right?  But he jumped at the opportunity to show that sweet old man just how BIG he was, and that he COULD stand up in the creek and not fall under the water.  At that, I lost it.  He was wet!  His khaki shorts were now brown with mud!  Yelling his full name in public, I told him to get out and began the process of washing him off and marching him to the car.  Between the old man and the young one I was pushed beyond "nice mommy" status.  

Unfortunately, that happened a few times today.  The losing of the status.  There is something about a kid that just will not obey quickly (especially in public) that will do that to a mommy.  Fortunately, I was able to regain my composure (over and over) and give my kids a good day doing something fun and new.  We really did have a great time, and I was proud of myself for navigating the unknown with three kiddos and finding entertaining and unusual things for us to do. 

Stay tuned - there's a lot more to this day that I will share later.  For now, I am off to the bathtub to soak this tired old mommy body.  :)  Happy  Spring Break!