Texas, Day 6 - Waco

After a Sunday day of rest, we hit the road again on Monday. This time, we headed south. Since getting to Austin just wasn't going to happen this trip, we made arrangements to meet with my good friend Amy in the middle....in none other than Waco, Texas!

Waco was often a refueling stop on my way to and from school back in the college days. After 100 miles, I would usually be ready for a road break, a drink and a bathroom. And, folks that have never been there usually know of the whole Branch Davidian thing. That situation gave Waco the little nickname "Wack-o." And, funny enough, our new Apple GPS also called it Wacko (which gave Mike and I some great chuckles). However, family activities were not on my Waco knowledge list. A little research and some referrals from locals gave us our itinerary for the day.

First, we met Amy for breakfast at Taco Cabana. It's on Mike's Texas must do list. Saying he's a big fan of their breakfast tacos is a serious understatement. That boy can eat a dozen of them in one sitting. No seriously, I'm not exaggerating. That's how many he orders and eats when we go there. It's unreal.

With full bellies (very full in Mike's case), we then headed to the Mayborn Museum on Baylor campus. It's a mix of a children's and natural history museum....basically awesome. The boys had a great time and Amy loved getting to see what a little boy Dylan's become (she hadn't seen him since he was in her wedding a year and a half ago) and finally getting to meet Cade.

Amy, Cade, Me and Dylan

Cutest Chauffeur Ever!

Ever!

One of the coolest parts of the museum is the mammoth dig sight. I didn't get a chance to really read about it (chasing after kids doesn't allow a lot of personal education time at museums) but I think the museum is built over the actual dig sight. Or, if it's not, then they made it look that way. There's a ramp up to a room with a glass floor where you can see the casts of the mammoth remains. Cade thought it seriously awesome to crawl around on the glass floor. Dylan...not really sure about it. He tiptoed very carefully expecting to fall through at any moment and was certainly more comfortable when he was holding Mom's hand and walking over it.

There was a small incident on the way out of the room. Cade was crawling down the wood ramp and his hands slipped out from under him. He got a pretty good busted lip that bled profusely...enough that it made me really unhappy to see so good ol' Dad swooped in and took him away to get calmed down. Definitely his worst bump to date. First of what I'm sure will be many. He was ok after a while but kind of had a duck lip the rest of the day. Poor guy.

We had a lot of fun in the bubble room later that day. Dylan and Mike both successfully had body bubbles. Fun!

Dylan Body Bubble

Pop!

Big Body Bubble!

With all the play we did at the museum, breakfast was a distant memory so we went in search of lunch. We settled on Panera. On the way there, Cade fell asleep so Mike stayed with him in the car while Amy, Dylan and I had lunch together. I was a little apprehensive as to how a very tired Dylan was but he was awesome. Not only did he eat (which is rare) but he played nicely at the table with a few toys and Amy and I were able to actually have a nice long conversation.

After lunch, we said goodbye to Amy and let her start her trek home. Mike got a break from the car and shopped in the stores nearby. I fed Cade and Dylan played games on the iPad for a bit. I talked to Dylan  about how after I finished feeding Cade, we would drive home and he would need to take a nap.

When we were all settled in to make the trip home, Dylan quickly and voluntarily set down the iPad (before we had a chance to ask for it), turned to Cade and said "Please don't wake me up, Cade, I have to take a nap now." It was really cute and yet another indication of how tired that poor kid was. The ride home was drama free. Even after 3 hours in the car an another day trip under our belts, the day was not over yet.

You see, it was Mike and my 6th anniversary! With free babysitters in the house, we took advantage and planned a night out. Nothing crazy, but a nice dinner at a restaurant that was suggested to us by a friend of my parents. It was a really, really nice night. The food was phenomenal and Mike and I really enjoyed our time to sit, talk about all the craziness that had been going on during the week (the pace of our travels wasn't allowing a lot of one on one conversations between us) and also just acknowledge such a big and great day to celebrate. A lot has changed in 6 years and we've weathered it pretty well - both good and bad. A big ol' "CHEERS" to us!