Other than the beach, we didn’t have any big plans this summer so we decided to spend a weekend in our hometown. We went to visit family, but we also wanted to take the boys to do some fun things, so we decided on the Perot Museum of Nature and Science in Dallas.
The museum is huge and each floor has a different exhibit. Several of the exhibits are interactive, which was fun for the littles, however, I think some of it was just a little too advanced for our 5 and 3 year old. The museum did have a newly renovated kids area on the bottom floor but was overly crowded and much smaller than expected. All in all we still found plenty to do and it was a fun day. I think we will visit again when they’re a little bit older (bonus: teachers get in free!)
The next morning the Bearded One helped his family with a building project while I took the littles around to explore downtown Garland, our home town. First stop was coffee at Rosalind’s. The coffee shop was beautiful and right on the square. Once I was caffeinated I let the boys explore the green space and playground that was right in the middle of the square. They ran, they climbed, they played, and I enjoyed the outdoor environment. It was still pretty early so none of the shops were open yet but we were able to walk around and look at the many murals and beautifully renovated buildings.
I think the next time we visit I will look for an Air B&B in the area so we can walk around and enjoy the downtown amenities.
Overall, we had a great little adventure in our hometown. Up next, time to explore Houston.
We knew we’d be laying my grandma to rest this summer in Saint Louis, MO, and in order to get there, we had to plan.
To get to St. Louis from our home in Texas we were looking at an 11 1/2 hour drive one way. With a 2 year old and a 4 year old that task seemed almost impossible so we decided to break it up in to multiple days.
Our first day of driving was supposed to be about 5 hours but of course took much longer;we knew it would. We took into consideration potty breaks, bathroom breaks, and honestly the occasional snuggle breaks for our sweet toddler.
We stayed in McAlester, OK the first night and it was just okay. The hotel was decent, the area was fine, the biggest letdown was the dirty pool. I intentionally booked every hotel along the way with the pool in mind and unfortunately that didn’t work out as planned. But we made the best of the situation and had dinner and ice cream at the Braum’s next to the hotel.
Day two we planned to see my little brother and family in the Kansas City area. We really had such a great time. Nothing makes my heart happier than seeing our sweet boys enjoy their family, especially their cousins. We stayed in Lenexa, KS the second night and in hindsight we definitely would have stayed with family. I did not pick a good hotel, it was a tad sketchy and the bearded one got stuck in the elevator! (Which of course we can laugh about now).
Another 5+ hours in the car on day 3 and we finally arrived in St. Louis. I picked my favorite hotel for our 3 night stay, Hilton Home2Suites. If you’ve never stayed, I highly suggest it. The rooms are huge and have plenty of space for the littles to run around. They have a large kitchen area, pool, breakfast everyday, and so much more. It’s our go-to hotel on long vacations. The first night there we picked up some groceries and used the hotel grills for our dinner.
While in STL we attended my grandmother memorial at the Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery. It was definitely difficult, but I was happy to be around my loved ones.
After the service we all went to a pretty good restaurant, Three Kings Public House. Once again our boys got to see more of their family.
We didn’t want to rush back home to Texas so we decided to do some sightseeing and explore STL a bit. First we picked up my older brother and went to see our old house, my grandmother’s house, and hit up a few favorites like Ted Drew’s and Imo’s (you can’t go wrong with frozen custard and pizza).
The next day we wanted to check out the science center but it’s closed on Tuesday and Wednesdays so we went to the zoo instead.
Fun fact: The STL Zoo is free! My brother and I have so many great memories of the zoo and it was the perfect place to take the boys. We stayed all day, saw all the animals, and road the train a couple of times. It was the perfect ending to our whirl wind road trip.
After we left STL we traveled home a different way, which took us through Arkansas. We stayed in North Little Rock in a hotel downtown. The hotel was good but once again the pool was closed. We did however find a cute little park on the river and let the boys run off some of that energy from the long hours in the car.
Our last day in the car was the longest at just over six hours (before all the stops). But at last, we made it home safe and sound. After 4 different hotels, 6 days on the road, and ridiculous amount of hours in the car, we finally made it home.
My biggest takeaways from this road trip would have to be
Go with the flow, stop often, don’t get stuck on the minute to minute plans, you will eventually get to you destination
Pack snacks, lots and lots of snacks, our boys have their own snack boxes
Keep them entertained, we bought dual DVD players which we used a lot
As always we had a fabulous time. Beautiful location, fabulous weather, and my boys were happy.
Chapter 2: San Antonio Hyatt Resort
Of course one vacation just isn’t enough so I had to find something else to do. The bearded one and our boys are happy as long as they are near water and the San Antonio Hyatt Resort is known for its lazy river. After extensive review reading, I book us a suite for a couple of days and we headed on down to SA. The drive wasn’t bad, our 3 year old and 1 year old are surprisingly great car riders. After loading up on snacks at Buccee’s we finally arrived and hurried on down to the pool and river. To be honest I was slightly underwhelmed. Yes the resort had a beautiful lazy river to float around in, but that was about it. They did have a few other features like a water slide and tiny kiddie pool, I think I was just wishing for a larger pool to hang out in, or an indoor pool would have been nice. Prices for everything (food, drinks, souvenirs etc…) we’re expensive, as to be expected at a resort. All in all we did end up having a great time. I’d probably give it another try in the future. https://www.hyatt.com/en-US/hotel/texas/hyatt-regency-hill-country-resort-and-spa/sanhc
Chapter 3: Road Trip
Our finally adventure was to Bartlesville, OK. I know what you’re thinking, …why?! Well we had the best reasons, to see family of course! It was the perfect in-between stop to catch up with relatives. Before we headed to good ole Bartlesville we made a 4th of July pit stop in Dallas to visit more family and celebrate the holidays. This road trip was pretty long for the boys but they did great. We stopped frequently for snacks, potty breaks, and lunch. When we finally arrived our room was ready and so was the pool (of course we had to swim). Bartlesville is actually a cute little town. It has lots of yummy restaurants and original shops downtown, which were all within walking distance to our hotel. I also found a cute little kiddie park with amusement rides which was super fun! If you’re ever in the area you also have to check out the aquarium in Jenks, OK. It was one of the best we’ve ever visited (hands on exhibits, not to crowed, lots to do). All in all, we enjoyed our little stay in Oklahoma.
This summer was full of great memories and lots of laughs. No matter where we go I know I will always have the best time because I’m with my boys. My favorite place in the whole wide world will always be wherever they are.
We tried something new for Christmas vacation this year and decided to book a few nights at the indoor water park, Kalahari. The park is advertised as the largest indoor water park and it’s not too far away from us, about 2.5 hours. It’s located in Round Rock, TX which is just outside of Austin. On the day of departure we loaded up the car and the boys and headed off on our little adventure.
To be completely honest I didn’t have very high expectations, I am not a water park fan. Kalahari completely changed my mind, I absolutely loved it! More importantly, our boys loved it too!
We were a little nervous that there wouldn’t be many activities for the littles but half the park was designed just for them. My toddler went down so many slides, floated the lazy river, and enjoyed all the water table activities with his baby brother. We spent hours splashing around and playing in the water. I do have to say it was a tad bit chilly but we acclimated quickly. The water is kept at 84* but good ole Texas was having some pretty cold weather and we could tell while in the park. Anytime the boys seemed chilly we just hopped in the giant hot tub for a few minutes. Overall it wasn’t too bad.
The water park is the resorts biggest attraction but it also has an enormous arcade and adventure park with rides and activities such as rock climbing, bowling, escape rooms and several other things. We spent a good amount of time in the adventure park playing kid friendly games with our toddler. He’s never been to an arcade and absolutely loved all the games. He was even able to pick some pretty cool prizes with all the tickets we won.
Kalahari also has several resultants and shops which we took full advantage of. Before we left I followed the advice of my fellow travelers and we stopped at the store to pick up snacks and easy meals for the kids. Our room had a microwave and fridge so we were able to do simple breakfasts and lunches in the room. We did however grab pizza at the Italian restaurant, cocktails at the lounge, coffee and desserts at the cafe, and on our last night we had dinner at the resorts burger place. The food was pretty good, priced as you would expected for a resort. I’d definitely eat there again, it was super convenient and there were quite a few restaurants to choose from.
This place had any and everything you could possibly need to have a wonderful family vacation. Since it was the holiday season the resort was decked out in beautiful Christmas decor and made our trip that much more magical. I would definitely recommend Kalahari Resort to anyone looking for a family vacation. As a matter of fact, I’m already planning next years trip!
It’s hard to put into words the overwhelming emotions you feel as a mom. Pure joy, immense anxiety, constant uncertainty, a sense of accomplishment and most of all the inexplainable, unconditional love just to name a few. Over the past few years I experienced all of these and more; being a mom is the oughest and most rewarding role I’ve ever played and I wouldn’t change a second if it.
On April 13th we welcomed sweet baby L into the family and our party of 3 became a party of 4. I am now officially outnumbered because, surprise, it’s another boy! I knew in my soul I was destined to be a boy mom and I’m okay with that. How can I not be when I look at my sweet, perfect little boys?!
When we welcomed baby O into our world a few years ago everything was so fresh and new. We were terrified and excited to become parents and had no idea what to expect. It took a lot of adjusting but we figured it out (and are still figuring it out daily with our wild toddler !). Surely we would have it all figured out with baby #2…
While I was pregnant with baby #2 I constantly worried about being able to divide my time between 2 little humans. How could I possible love someone as much as I love baby O? How will baby O feel when he’s not the center of our universe? All of these self-doubting questions and more popped up while we prepared to become parents one more time.
I expected baby #2 to arrive early because baby O did but boy was I mistaken. After almost 2 weeks of doing EVERYTHING to induce labor naturally we finally made the decision to be induced on April 13th, bright and early.
I dreaded labor and delivery but it honestly wasn’t nearly as bad as I remembered. I went in pretty confident in my birth plan and better prepared for postpartum recovery. After a full day of laboring and a few minutes of pushing, baby L finally graced us with his presence at a whopping 8 lbs 15 oz. We were blessed with another happy, healthy baby boy and it was time to figure out the new normal.
I remember holding baby L in the hospital, looking at his cute little chunky face and I still had that nagging question that filled me with mom guilt what would baby O think? I was ready to go home and introduce my sweet boys but the hospital had another plan. We had to stay an extra night, which meant one more night away from my O, I was not happy.
Thank God for my husband because the next morning he went all the way back to the house to pick baby O up from my mom and bring him to meet his baby brother.
Their first meeting couldn’t have gone better. O was a little nervous but determined to hold and kiss his new “brobber”, and of course we let him. We spent the whole morning together and O did great. There were minimal tears when we had to take him home but I knew watching them together that it would all be fine.
We still have some adjusting to do but 3 weeks in we are finding our new normal. O gets plenty of mommy and daddy time and is learning the ropes with his baby brother. He helps bring him his blankie, sings him songs, and does his very best to snuggle baby L gently. I know my boys will forever have each other and share the same unconditional love.
To all the moms out there with unanswered questions just know it will all work out 💙
Without further ado, meet the newest member of The Beam Family.
The Adventures of Messy Bun and The Bearded One 