Adventures of Aunt B

I was lucky enough to dodge home to Dallas for one weekend this month to visit with my parents while my brother, sister-in-law and now 7-year-old nephew Collin came into town. Now, anyone that knows me knows how much I love my nephew and how much I love hanging out with my parents and brother and sister-in-law. We always have a blast hanging out, telling inappropriate jokes and drinking. After my nephew’s bedtime, that is.

Well, this trip was no different. It amazes me, but Collin is getting smarter by the minute. He is reading and not just reading. He is reading incredibly difficult stories with words I had to focus on. Now, I know everyone thinks their kids/relatives are geniuses. And, I’m not saying he’s a genius. I’m just saying I’m really glad that he’s smart and that my sister-in-law and brother have worked so hard to help him learn. I took a really dorky video of him reading a book that was pretty adorable.

After the reading, we decided to “surprise” Collin. We kept telling him that we had two surprises for him. On our way to our first surprise, he said, “Aunt B, what’s the surprise?” I said, “Collin, I can’t tell you the surprise. If I tell you the surprise, then it won’t be a surprise.” He responds without missing a beat,

“If you tell me, I promise I’ll act surprised.” Smart ass. But I love him.

The first surprise was a trip to Fair Park to go to the Museum of Nature and Science. He loves science and the outdoors, so we figured we would treat him to it. He ran around, excitedly, proclaiming all the different types of animals that can be found in Texas. He showed me all of the animals he had seen in person. He especially liked to make the animal noises if he had heard them before.

We waltzed through the museum, learning about lots of scientific experiments. He was amazed at the giant bubble makers which I would have taken a picture of, but I was laughing too hard.

After that, we walked, hand-in-hand to the car, where I told him he had another surprise. He tried the surprise line again, to no avail. I giggled and told him I couldn’t tell him.

As we were driving, I asked him what he thought the surprise was.
“Disney World? Are we flying to Disney World? (as he points to a plane flying parallel to us.) My sister-in-law cracked up.

A few years ago, my brother and sister-in-law took my nephew to Disney World as a surprise. He had no clue until they got to the airport. This all was before the commercials that did just that. According to my sister-in-law, every time they say they have a surprise for him, he guesses Disney World.

“Guess I dug myself that hole,” she always jokes.

Anyway, about 45 minutes later, we pull into Grapevine Mills Mall. He sees the sign and says,

“Why is there a sign over there that says ‘Lego’ on it?” I say,

“I don’t know, Collin. That’s a really good observation, though.”

He nearly jumped out of his car seat.

We held hands and skipped all the way to Legoland.

After waiting in line for a little bit, we made our way into the land of Lego. Everything was made out of Legos. There were Lego seats, Lego bridges, Lego playscapes, Lego 4D movies, Lego rides, Lego cityscapes.

Of course, my favorite parts were where the Lego execs had made Dallas out of Legos. I was amazed. In fact, not only had they made a Lego skyline, but there were also lights in the skyline that lit up when the lights went off. It was so cool.

I, of course, sought out the brand new Dallas Cowboys football stadium which was quickly replicated for Legoland. It was just as amazing in Legos.

The 4D movies were really adorable. Two were Lego based, one was just a random plot and the other one was Bob the Builder themed (a series my nephew loves). Of course, the “4D” was pretty similar in all four “films,” but it was still really funny. They had some water that came down from the ceiling (when the character sneezed, or someone spilled water, etc.)

However, something that was really neat was they had a snow machine. You would fly through the clouds, it would start snowing or someone had some bucket and snow would fall gracefully from the ceiling. As a Texan, Collin was intrigued.

There was even a Dumbo-like ride that had Lego characters. Expect, instead of it just having a lever like Dumbo, the height of the Lego plane was powered by a bicycle mechanism. The harder you pedaled, the higher you went. Sure, I broke a sweat. I may be a century rider, but that was difficult. The whole time, Collin kept saying,

“Aunt B, you aren’t pedaling very fast at all.” He was right.

We had so much fun. Of course, after Collin built his own Lego racecar and raced it against – quite possibly - the entire Legoland, we went through the gift store. I bought David a Princess Leia (a la Return of the Jedi in the bikini Princes Leia) keychain. I know. I’m the best wife ever.

All in all, I had a blast in Dallas. It was good to see everyone and hug everyone. I miss everyone so much, not living in Texas.

Ironically, I meant for this entry to be posted much sooner, but sweeps in Denver has been taking up all of my energy and time. I say ironically because I will be going back to Dallas this weekend for our dear friends’ engagement party.