The Adventures of Jadon and Kalina: Spring Break 2014

Spring Break took us to not one but two new states!

We left on Tuesday, April 15 and traveled to the great state of Texas. The Sea-Tac TSA agents recognize Jadon and Kalina, which makes going through security with all of our stuff a little easier. At one point, I was waiting for all the bags to go through the scanner. The TSA agent was trying to get a bag check for something in one of the bags. Why was no one coming to help? I looked past the scanners and see the TSA agents talking and laughing with the rest of my family! The gate agents also recognized us (or should I say Jadon and Kalina, I don’t know that Andy and I are that recognizable). J We had no problems with our travels except one of our two suction machines broke. No worries, the great folks at Children’s Home Health Care had one over-nighted to us.

We got to our hotel, The Gaylord Texan, in Dallas that evening. The hotel is HUGE! Andy had been there for a conference and thought Jadon and Kalina would like it. He was right! We enjoyed exploring the hotel during our stay. There were several restaurants, coffee shops, and stores all inside the facility.

On Wednesday we spent the morning exploring downtown/Main Street in Grapevine. Andy even got his hair cut (he didn’t have time before we left). We went to a LEGO Discovery Center in the afternoon. We rode one of the three rides and watched three LEGO 4D movies. Jadon got lots of information from the employees of which LEGOS would be retiring when. It was a fine place but I don’t know that I would rush back to visit another one. After that we went to the SeaLife Aquarium. We liked that. It was not huge – a good size for us.

Thursday morning started with a little excitement. I was brushing Kalina’s teeth and bumped her loose tooth. That made it loose enough that Kalina requested Andy just pull it out. So, Kalina lost her fifth tooth in Texas. After that excitement, we went to the Dallas Zoo. It was pretty empty for the first hour or so. Unfortunately, Jadon’s scooter started acting up. It would make a really loud sound when he drove with any speed at all. We spent part of our time pushing him because the sound was so loud and annoying. That afternoon we went to the Texas Rangers baseball game because they were playing the Seattle Mariners. Our seats were in the only accessible section not undercover. Usually, this would not be an issue but it was raining! We quietly moved to the section next to us to stay dry. We lasted about two and a half hours. Jadon saw a little person when we were leaving and decided to go and say hi to him. Jadon is usually pretty shy so I was surprised by this. The man was very nice and chatted with us for a few minutes.

Friday was a long, but worthwhile, day. We left around 7:15 am and drove about four hours to Tulsa, Oklahoma. I hear you asking – why would they do that? One simple word answers the question. Family. We met Andy’s sister and her family for lunch. We had some time after lunch so we went bowling. Jadon and Kalina were so excited to see two of their cousins. We don’t see them often so it was worth the long drive for us from Dallas and them from near Kansas City. Later, Jadon and Kalina would both tell me this was their favorite part of our trip. By the way – I have never seen so many bill boards for gastric bypass surgery and cardiologists. What does this say about Texas?

We returned home on Saturday. Again, our travels went well. Venus was very happy to see us when we got home.