So I told you I was taking Katie to Dallas, but I never told you how it went. You can imagine. It was loads of fun. First stop: Beth Marie’s Old Fashioned Ice Cream Parlor in Denton.

It poured rain on us almost the entire way to Dallas which made me extremely edgy, so once we reached our hotel, we flopped on the beds and crashed for a couple of hours. Katie enjoyed having free reign of the remote control and I dozed. It’s what I do.

I then decided we had enough time to squeeze in the ear piercing experience before our nighttime activity. We headed to Claire’s, in spite of our warning before from the guy who knows all.

Then Medieval Times!

Totally overpriced, but absolutely fun. Right up Katie’s alley. I can’t ever see going back with the entire family (too expensive), but perfect memories for this one right here. She bought herself this sword and had the unicorn painted on her cheek. Lovely.

We spent the evening cheering for the yellow knight. He threw a purple flower at Katie during one of this flower throwing stints. The grandpa of two boys sitting next to us bought flags for each of his grandsons and for Katie as well. She was surprised and thrilled and had most of the cast sign it after the show.

The next morning we went to IKEA. On a Saturday (first timers). Then we went to the Dallas Museum of Nature and Science.

I’m not trying to be mean or anything, but the museum was L.A.M.E. Guess we’ve been spoiled by living in St. Louis and even in Oklahoma City. And we’ve had a few trips to the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry. This one was pretty bad. They had about 1 room of exhibits. Boo on that. Moving on then, we enjoyed walking outside the museum a little bit:

Then back to the hotel to prepare for our evening at American Girl.

I must say, I was at a bit of a disadvantage having been to the Chicago location three times previous already. The Dallas dining experience doesn’t even come close to comparing, but it was cheaper too, so there’s that. Still, I had to readjust my expectations in a hurry because even though it wasn’t as awesome as the one in Chicago, THIS was Katie’s experience and I didn’t want to cloud it for her with my own personal judgments. (Like when would I ever do that?)

We had some time to spare while waiting for Katie’s Molly to get her ears pierced and her hair combed back into as near-normal as possible. It wasn’t possible to get it back to new again, but it was a good try. We really enjoyed checking out this chair back massager and floor foot massager. Man, would I love to own a set like that!

The next day we headed back home. It was her actual birthday, as well as Craig’s, and we wanted to spend part of it at home before heading to church.

All in all, a good trip with a great companion. I love my job.