It's Wild Here: trip to dallas

This may be one of those posts you only read if you were in dallas with us, or have an odd interest in other people's not-that-interesting vacation pictures and stories.

Let's begin.

Leaving at the Dayton airport was difficult. They managed to make the process of checking bags even LESS streamlined than ever. We had to drag our (10) checked pieces of luggage to a desk to get tagged, and then drag them back to another station where they load them on to a conveyer belt. We were dealing with two carseats and a small stroller, plus luggage for 6 people including 2 changes of fairly dressy clothes, so. Security was intense! The security people were not happy people. They replied to any basic question or request as though they'd been verbally attacked. At one point I was on the floor in front of a long line of people, with a toddler and baby out of slings/strollers, no shoes, carry-on bags accumulating on the conveyer belt, and someone took Evan across the room so they could dig through our toy bag. It was overwhelming, to say the least.

The flight was cramped and long; K did not sleep, only fussed. Ryan was antsy and wouldn't keep his belt on. We were met at the Dallas airport by Grammy, a very happy sight for everyone. She drove us through downtown Dayton to our hotel without missing a single turn. Props to The Grammy.

K did a lot of this. He quite fell in love with that adorable baby in the mirror.

On Friday morning, K woke me up at 6am, and we headed downstairs for the very nice ~~supply of coffee~~ breakfast buffet. I drank and did some knitting while K watched the downtown traffic from his stroller. After everyone else was up, we hopped on the bus (the DART) and visited Fair Park, which is a collection of museums, a few places to eat and some nice outdoor gardens, lake, etc.

And inside, were some very sharp teeth!

Afterward, we had lunch at a really ~~bizarre~~ interesting restaurant. We had a ball enjoying the decor and visiting with our very kind and charming waiter, JD (even though he looked at all the kids and asked Evan "don't you know what causes that?" - har har.)

We waited patiently, soaking up all the extra time with Daddy.

The rehearsal dinner was fun (not counting the small panic we had when Ryan ate a strawberry, and later ~~body-slammed~~ knocked down a 1-year-old little girl with an enthusiastic hug). The food was fabulous and the space in the room was good for the kids to be able to get up and run around (thanks to the Grammy planner for this arrangement).

That night, reality set in for Ryan, who was until then excited about the whole plane, wedding, texas idea. He wanted to go home, and he wanted it all night long. Sleep was not a really big part of this trip, but like I said, the coffee was just an elevator ride away.

The next day was wedding day, and what a beautiful wedding it was. I don't think I've ever seen another bride beam like Caryn was beaming. The ceremony was lovely, Auntie Beth sang marvelously, R (!!!) sat still and mostly watched, and K slept in the sling. At this point, it was the kids' bedtime, and we were all rather done with travel, but were off to the reception. Personally, I was hoping everyone would rise to the occasion and enjoy the party. One of mine and one of the cousins were not doing well, ready to get out of the noise and chaotic festivity. They stuck it out for a while and then we said our goodbyes. They were real goodbyes, because we were off to the airport at 6am the next morning.