Deep in the Heart

When we went to Texas in July I could not get this out of my mind: "The stars at night...shine big and bright....clap, clap, clap, clap....."

We went to Dallas to visit Mark while Suzanna and Luke were away traveling. Jemma had been looking forward to seeing some wild animals, and we hoped she wouldn't be disappointed since we weren't exactly going to the wild frontier. We had only been out of the car a few minutes when she spotted this rabbit...a well-timed encounter.

We were just in time to celebrate Mark's 24th birthday so we went to dinner at Chuy's for some authentic Tex Mex. The food and the service were both great! As soon as we walked in the door we were greeted with an enthusiastic "Howdy! How ya'll doin' tonight?" We mentioned to the waiter that it was Mark's birthday and he rounded up a whole group for a very loud and very fun singing of the Happy Birthday song.

Here's Mark during the singing. I think it made his night!

Mark took the next day off from work so we could go to Six Flags. We turned ourselves upside down and inside out (literally) on the crazy rides. It all started with the teacups....

The old wooden coaster as seen through the rain. Not recommended.

Mark was up there...somewhere.

The Batwing was a good alternative to Mr. Freeze (the one in the background with a 90 degree drop) for Jemma and me.

THE Six Flags

He's a Texan now!

Jemma really did brave this roller coaster! (She was a little bit proud - if unhappy- about it)

On our way home we went past the Dallas Temple. It was secluded and beautiful.

On Friday, Mark went to work in the morning while we lazed around and played at the pool.





Then we ventured into downtown Dallas to the famous site of the assassination of JFK at Dealy Plaza. It was eerie, even 46 years after the event there is a strange feeling about the place. We went through the Sixth Floor Museum, which left us all feeling a little melancholy. It was fascinating to get the history of JFK's presidency, but there's a lot of dischord with the conspiracy theories that continue to hang around.

Looking up at the sixth floor window.


Looking out from the famous grassy knoll.

The triple overpass.




Switching back to a lighter note...
While in Texas we ate at Whataburger (twice)

Went to Walmart (twice). Pretty much the same as here, except for this:

On Saturday Chris helped Mark repair a toilet seat using an innovating toothpick technique.

While looking at some houses with Mark we came across a water bed! A relic from the 80s??

Mark went to pick up Suzanna and Luke at the airport and took this sign, just in case they didn't recognize him after their long journey.

And here's a picture of little/big Lukie at IHOP: