Thursday night,

we left Longview for a three day weekend in Dallas. And what a weekend it was!

Friday morning, we awoke reasonably early, ate breakfast, made a quick stop by Cookie's house (my Nonnie's cousin and my former caretaker) to say hello and pick up her daughter Chebar. Then, off to the Dallas Zoo we went! Momma surprised us by picking up the tab, and after entering through the gates, we headed straight for the children's section (where I'm sure G would have been happy to stay all day). Between the many other children, the splash-stream, slide, over-sized bird's nest and egg replicas, and the indoor areas that allowed kids to crawl through tunnels and even pet a turtle, G was in toddler heaven. After a quick lunch (complete with persistent flies and persistent fly-induced screeching from GJD), we headed off in search of the giraffes. And while we found many other animals and a lovely butterfly garden, the giraffes eluded us, as they'd recently been moved to the zoo's newest section. When we finally reached the giraffes, we were greeted with cool music and a nifty passport for documenting which animals you see, and when. The heat of the day was becoming fairly opressive by then, though, and that combined with the ever-present need for naps added up to exit time for our party of six.

Friday evening, after naps and dinner, Andrew and I took the boys to Plano for a visit to the (wondrous, fragrant, exotic to us country folk) Central Market! Andrew and I had more fun than we should have at any grocery stores, and spent twenty bux on booze. Cuz that's how we roll. We also indulged in some made-in-the-store sorbet. I had a cup of half blood orange/half watermelon. Andrew had a cup of blackberry, and the lovely lady behind the counter gave it to us for free. I credit the cute kids. :)

Saturday's big event was "Wicked," to which I bought tickets for BFF J and me for her birthday back in March. And it did not disappoint. It actually exceeded my expectations, which were pretty freaking high. My favorite part was "Defying Gravity," which I could try and share the magic of here, but nothing compares to seeing that song performed in the context of the musical, in a beautifully triumphant, universally relatable, climactic moment.

Sigh.

Also, "Glee" snuck into my dreams Saturday. I dreamt that on the season finale, Quinn went into labor and was replaced by some random red-headed chick. The Glee club decided to completely change their song selection upon finding out Sue was going to be a judge - and they didn't tell Will. As they're scrounging for ideas, the red-haired chick whispers to Rachel, then she pulls back and says, "Why would we sing a song by The Hanson?" And the chick (who must be whom I imagine myself to be, if ever I were on "Glee") says, "Not The Hanson. Just Hanson." Then the scene changes, and all the Glee kids pop up from the bottom of the stage at Regionals, one-by-one, each wearing a nun's habit, preparing to sing a song from... Sister Act!

And then I woke up, hyperventilated, told my husband, and made sure to tell J as we drove to the Music Hall for "Wicked."

After both boys were down Saturday night, Andrew and I snuck out for ice cream, leaving Nena and G-Diddy in charge. Off to Braum's we went, where we chatted (read: I told Andrew all of "Wicked," from "The baby is unnaturally green!" to the curtain call) until our ice cream was finished and our eyelids were ready to rest for the night.

Sunday morning, we attended the early service at church. Andrew ended up in the nursery with the boys, as there was no worker to be found and our boys would not have done well with the volume of people and noise in the sanctuary. After mingling a bit when service was done, we went home for lunch, put the boys down for naps, and then Daddy, Momma, and I went to go spend some time with Grandma Mildred (Daddy's mother, who recently found out she has a malignant tumor on her bladder and has been in a nursing home ever since). She is quite aware of what's going on around her and recognizes voices easily, but she looks pretty weak, and her eyesight is all but gone. We just sat and chatted for a while, laughing about injuries my parents incurred as children.

Once that visit was done, we headed back home, loaded up the car, woke sweet-sleeping Rhys, and headed to Longview. We tried going out to eat, but both the places we chose were closed on Sundays, so we headed on home, where I was able to cook a yummy dinner, quickly.

And so concluded our little holiday. I'd say that was pritty good!