The Zyriek Zoo: Thanksgiving in Dallas

My brother planted the seed this summer for us to come to Dallas for Thanksgiving. He threw out the idea of watching the Cowboys play the Redskins on Thanksgiving afternoon in Cowboys stadium. With RGIII (my fantasty QB) and former Baylor player and Heisman trophy winner at the helm for the Redskins, it became very tempting!! We took the plunge and headed to Thanksgiving. I have only missed 3 years of Thanksgiving in Memphis with my parents. While I really did miss being with them, it is always fun to mix is up and do something spontaneous and different.

We drove down mid-day on Wednesdsay. The kids were so anxious to see their cousins and enjoy the long visit we would have. My sister-in-law Lydia had her parents in town overlapping our visit for a few days. When we arrived Lydia and her mom were putting the final touches on the beautiful turkey they had been cooking. I got to work and made my southern cornbread dressing so it would be ready to cook the next morning. The kids picked up like they see their cousins every day!!

We had a great meal and headed out to the Cowboys game for the afternoon. It was unseasonably warm that day, reaching almost 80 degrees which made the walk in from the car a little sticky!! The kids were amazed at how big Cowboys stadium is and the huge screen that is 60 yards long!! The Redskins had a great game, with my QB throwing 4 touchdowns but the Cowboys tried to make it interesting with a 4th quarter comeback, but fell a bit short. We were all tired and headed home for the night.

On Friday, we skipped all the shopping and let the kids have fun. We took everyone to the Dallas Arboretum for the afternoon. A great place to let the kids play and run around and enjoy the beautiful scenery. They were having the Chiluli blown glass exhibit which was absolutely beautiful. The kids even commented how cool some of the sculptures were to see. Nice weather made for a fun afternoon followed up by some great Tex-Mex for dinner.

Saturday was lazy for most of us. Gary and my brother went to the Baylor/Texas Tech game back at Cowboys stadium where they were in my brother's company suite. Very nice!! Lydia and I took the kids to Jump Street which is like SkyZone in Memphis, a trampoline place. The kids got their jump on and then we headed for Slurpees (my brother won a year of free slurpees at an auction!) and then home to play outside some more.

We headed home on Sunday. The drive home was not too bad, especially because Caroline slept for 2 hours! Always love the quiet from being asked "Are we there yet?" every 20 seconds!! Nice Thanksgiving with some of my family and really enjoyed the time together.

The kids love to keep it real with Gary and asked on the way home if he would put up the Christmas lights that night! He of course politely declined. : )