Road Trip!

I decided to pack the kids up and take them to Plano this weekend! We wanted to visit Maggie, help Gracie celebrate her third birthday and visit some of our playgroup friends! I love going back to Plano and it still very much feels like “home”.

I took advantage of Abbie and Carter being in school on Friday and packed while they were out of the house. It is amazing how much stuff the two of them need for such a short time! I picked them up right after lunch and we headed straight to Plano. I hoped Carter would take his nap in the car but he only slept for 20 minutes. Fortunately, Abbie only had to make one potty stop. We stopped at a really nice Barnes and Noble near SMU to use the potty. I was so glad we managed to avoid a dirty gas station bathroom on the trip!

We arrived around 4:30 and met Maggie at her house. She was so sweet to let us invade her home for the weekend. Abbie and Carter just adore Maggie and love looking at her cats, Gabby and Emma. Maggie is so great with them and played with them while I unpacked the car and got everything set up in a room for them. We managed to get them fed and bathed and ready for bed. Maggie read them bedtime stories and then it was off to bed. Maggie and I had fun staying up late and eating pizza. We stayed up a little too late, and I didn’t get to be until 1:30. Lucky for me, this happened to be when Carter decided to wake up and have a party! He woke up and called out to Abbie to wake her up. He wasn’t crying or anything, just talking away to her and up. He just loves sharing a room with her when we travel and she wants nothing to do with it! She would much rather sleep by herself. I think we were all up until 4:00 when he finally decided to go back to sleep. Then he was up again at 7:00. Needless to say, I was pretty exhausted on only 3 hours of sleep!

I made sure to take advantage of our short time in Plano! I scheduled a haircut for both of them with my favorite kids’ hairdresser bright and early at 8:45 on Saturday morning. After that, we headed for a quick trip to US Toys where I picked up a few Christmas gifts. I most definitely miss all the amazing shopping in Plano! By the time we headed back to Maggie’s house around 10:00 to pick her up for Gracie’s birthday party it felt like it should be late afternoon!

We were all so excited to be able to help Gracie celebrate her third birthday. Shannon had it at a wonderful playground in Frisco. Abbie and Carter had a great time playing on a new playground. Then it was time for pizza and cake! As usual, Abbie didn’t want any pizza. Carter surprised me though by eating an entire slice! He didn’t even want me to cut it for him. It was so funny to see him wandering around eating a giant slice of pizza! Both Abbie and Carter loved the cake, and I think Abbie even had two slices!

After the party, we headed back to Maggie’s house to take a nap. Once Abbie and Carter woke up, we headed to Arbor Hills Nature Preserve to meet Wendy, Griffin, Rachel and Emily from playgroup. Abbie LOVED seeing Griffin and Emily again. Carter loved playing on the huge playground. I spent most of my time chasing him around it. After playing on the playground for a while we decided to take a short walk on one of the trails. All the kids had so much fun running down the trail (except for Carter who was confined to the stroller). I enjoyed having a chance to catch up with Wendy and Rachel. We all had a great time with our friends!

We met up with Maggie back at her house for dinner. Seeing how the night before did not go very well, I decided to eat dinner, take baths and get ready for bed, and then head home. We had a nice dinner with Maggie and then she helped me get them ready for bed. Abbie and Carter were so sad to leave her! They love her so much! We were on the road around 7:30, and both kids were asleep by 8:00. They were exhausted from their big trip! I enjoyed a peaceful car ride while they slept. We arrived home around 11:15. We only spent 24 hours in Plano but packed a lot of fun into a short amount of time! I can’t wait for our next trip back!