Jennie's wedding in Dallas, part 2.

Since the wedding wasn't till Saturday evening, we spent the day at the Grapevine Mills mall!  Here's Gabe, totally in his element.

Getting suckered into buying some more things that go SPLAT for the kids.

Table for 11 at Chili's in the mall!

Fittingly, our second vegetarian black bean burger meal on this trip was at Chili's Too.

We are suckers for a carousel.

Personally, I'm not sure why this is so much more fun than riding in a car ... (but who asked me, anyway).  The kids get a thrill from it, and at least I didn't have to ride and get motion sickness.  (Thanks, Dad.)

Nathan smacked Max on the head while he wasn't looking.  Max had just turned around and said, "Ow!"

Sorry to disappoint, but most of my wedding photos look like this!  (My new camera is coming in the mail this week, hurrah!)

Gabe looked so cute in his new suit!

And Maxie slept through the entire wedding on my shoulder.

I didn't get any pics at the reception.  It was in a neat old movie theater, but very dark, and we couldn't stay too late with the kids!

Daddy had bought his suit coat and pants earlier that day.

Ditto for Max's sweater.

Cute baby!

Like father, like son.

We wound up staying up late anyway because of Max's wedding nap ...

... and Gabe's insomnia.

Breakfast at the hotel restaurant.

All decorated for Christmas.

We both forgot to turn in our key cards at checkout.

Max got increasingly irritated in the car till we finally had to pull over at a rest stop!

There are really long stretches on the way with no good places to pull over.  It was cold!

Luckily, Max calmed down quickly ...

... and then slept the rest of the way home!

Congratulations to Jennie and Matt, who seem very compatible and very much in love.  And thanks for giving us an excuse to have an adventure!

Jennie's wedding in Dallas, part 1.

Early Friday morning we left for Dallas to attend my cousin Jennie's wedding!  Max slept for the first hour and a half, and then behaved much better than expected the rest of the way.  (I thought we might have to stop somewhere and walk around for hours and hours, but we didn't!!)  Here's our only stop along the way:  black bean burgers at Chili's in Corsicana.

Ya know, Gabe was pretty well-behaved during that four hour drive too.  Guess he is growing up.  Today is his half-year birthday.  As of today, Gabe can say he is 8 1/2!

Surprisingly, despite leaving at different times and making stops along the way, Mom and Dad, Brian's family, and our car all pulled up at the Hilton at the exact same time!!  It was 1:30 p.m., and only Mom and Dad's room was ready.  So we all filed in (all 11 of us), and chaos ensued.  One of the bellboys commented that this was the greatest number of people he'd ever seen in a room at one time.

Maxie and Grandma, enjoying the view.

Gabe had his heart set on swimming in the pool, weather be darned.

Max just liked running around the pool because he enjoys the way people come rushing when it looks like he's about to fall in.

The Park Cities Hilton is beautiful.

But the kids had a little trouble finding something to do that first evening ...

There were lots of businesses and shopping within walking distance, so we went and ate tofu at Pei Wei.

Meanwhile, Brian's family went to Walmart.  They bought these sticky hands that the kids kept getting stuck to the ceiling.

Much to the annoyance of the daddies.

Stay tuned tomorrow for adventures at the Grapevine Mills Mall ...

And of course, the wedding itself!  Congratulations, Jennie and Matt!  Goodnight!

Stay tuned ... I'll be back.

It's hard to pack a suitcase when there's a little person either unpacking it as you go ...

Or alternately, packing it full of stuff you didn't want!

Took Gabe in for a haircut at Vicki's today.  Afterward we had co-op at our house with a Spanish and science lesson (but I didn't get pictures)!

Max's nap schedule is still a problem.

But at least it allowed me to pack.

Up from his nap and ready for a big night!

Gabe, waiting for me to go inside first.  (Because of the monster.)

Though it looks like the monster is actually behind him (Buster's glowing eyes).

Buddy, taking down Halloween lights and stringing up Christmas lights.

I'm leaving the Blogiverse for a couple of days.  Next post will be either Sunday or Monday.  Goodnight!

Buster's new bed.

Buster has had some cold nights.

This was supposed to be his cozy sleeping spot ... but no way was he going in there!

He was very curious when Buddy brought in four bales of hay.

Marking his territory:  I don't know what this is, but it's mine.

We'll see if he sleeps in it tonight.  He's like a dog in a manger.

And Dog in a Manger is also the title of the Christmas play Gabe's going to be putting on with his little school, one week from today!  

Today was the last practice day before their show, and Gabe said he was the only one who didn't need help with his lines.  He impressed me by very quickly learning all his lines, plus almost all of everyone else's!

And Max impressed me today by eating with a spoon ... and quite well!  (Maybe this is a milestone spoon-fed babies reach earlier, but I've never actually sat and fed Max anything with a spoon.)

I love my boys.

Max loves hanging out with the older kids ...

... despite the significant age and developmental gap.

Here he is, after taking all the packages on the porch and throwing them into the flowerbed.

Goodnight!