Weekend Away

We left early Saturday morning for a weekend of family fun in Las Colinas and Grapevine.

On the way we stopped for breakfast a Whataburger.

Then we surprised the kids by going to Chuck-E-Cheese to play the games. (Or as John Paul likes to call it "The Mouse"). The best line of the weekend comes from J.C.: "The best trip to Chuck-E-Cheese is on someone else's credits." We kept finding games with tokens already in them!

Then we shopped around Grapevine Mills Mall. The kids loved the "outside" of the Rainforest Cafe. We were already planning on eating there later and John Paul bugged us the whole time to go back to "The Animals". By the time we showed up for our reservation we were starving. They seated us inside and then the "fun" began. The kids kept crying every few minutes when the "thunderstorm" came by or the mechanical animals started making noises. Needless to say we got our food to go and at in at the "Minivan Cafe".

Next, we checked into the Omni Hotel in Las Colinas. We love the Omni's because they are so kid friendly. The kids get a bag of goodies when you show up, and milk and cookies are delivered to your room at turn down. They also get a kid's cup with free refills the whole stay. Here, John Paul wants to play Bell Boy.

The room was large with plenty of room for the kids to play around. And as always the beds are fluffy and comfy.

Another Omni Hotel favorite of ours is the complementary beverages delivered to your room in the morning. The kids got to drink Apple Juice from fancy wine glasses.

The night before we had dirt coming out of our bath tub, so we had to switch rooms. For our troubles, the hotel provided a delicious breakfast in their fancy restaurant. It was a blast! (even if John Paul was reading Go Dog Go! to everyone there).

After breakfast we went to Mass at Fr. Michael's Church, Mary Immaculate in Farmer's Branch.

Our friends the Rains met us at Mass with their kids and we all went to Dickey's (where kids eat free on Sundays) for a yummy lunch. Gianna liked the ice cream.

Afterwards, we all took the kids to a place called "The Tubes" with lots of tubes and slides. It took Jamie a 1/2 hour of coaxing and crying to get her up there. But this was her reaction when she came out of her first slide:

John Paul took an hour of coaxing, but here was his reaction to the first slide:

On the way home the kids were tuckered, but I'd say the weekend was a success.

Here's some more photos from the weekend: