Fort Worth Zoo

We decided that since on Wednesdays the tickets are half price, we should go to the Fort Worth Zoo. We were talking to the kids the night before and telling them we were going to the zoo and we started naming all the animals they would see and Elena yelled "and the Pigs!!" and we would say "what else?" she would just keep saying "the Pigs!!!" So one of the first animals we saw was this warthog. We made sure to show her.

When we got there we first saw some cheetas but all the animals seemed to be missing so I was a little worried we wouldnt see anything in all the cold.

As it turned out, they had the monkeys inside so they wouldn't be cold and we could go inside and look at them. This chimpanzee had a little baby.

We walked up to the Gorillas and there was this gorilla sitting right next to the glass. It was so cool to see up close. The kids were a little nervous to be up close but I couldn't stop taking pictures.

The kids wouldn't stop climbing onto the planters so when Patrick was about to jump onto this rock he freaked out because he saw a lizard. He didn't realize it was just a stone lizard carved into the rock. Uncle Diego had to show him.

Next we checked out the flamingos which aren't that big of a deal except that these ones had babies and eggs that hadn't hatched yet, I thought that was pretty cool.

Patrick saw these really cool giant black birds.

We saw a huge crocodile and Elena got a little scared.

Next we got to see my favorite part. The reptiles. It was called MOLA - museum of living art. Every exhibit was beautiful.

There was this huge wall of glass and in it were fish and turtles and crocodiles. It was awesome to watch.

Elena was a little nervous.

Patrick and the big snake.

More turtles

Yes that is a sting ray. I loved watching that thing swim around, and so did Elena.

Both of the kids got to touch a snake.

I dont think I have ever seen a Komodo dragon in real life. This thing was so big and so cool looking.

We checked out the giraffes. Can you find the random ostrich?

Smiley Amaia

There was this thing called termite city or something. It wasn't real though.

Then we checked out the elephants.

Lucia wanted to ride them instead of look at them.

We saw three different Rhinos. I think I only have two of them on here but I wasn't aware there were 3 kinds.

Then we saw the white Bengal Tigers. Right as we walked up, one come right up to the window and just started pacing back and forth right up next to the glass. It was so beautiful.

The regular tigers had an amazing exhibit.

Elena got tired and got to ride in the comfy baby seat for a while. She almost fell asleep in it.

The lions were boring and sleeping.

They had this big aviary where you can feed the birds. We didn't go in but this one flew right up to the fence to say hi.

I love the Kookaburra

There was a tiny area with an aquarium

Then my camera died and luckily the kids were getting tired so I got some pictures on my phone.

Kangaroos

Patrick on a fence

Till he realized he was right next to some birds

And last we saw the penguins. They were so fun to watch swimming around.

Afterward we took our lunch to a near by park type of area. There weren't toys but it had this old train track in it. The kids had fun playing on it.

Shopping in Dallas

We went shopping, or more like window shopping, in Dallas. We went to this mall that was 4 stories!! It was massive, and it had an ice rink in the middle with this huge beautiful Christmas tree. It was really cool to walk around and see all the amazing stores that I'm not even able to shop in like Louis Vuitton and Juicy.

Roxanna and Diego bought chocolate chip cookies to share and Elena was a disaster afterward but I'm sure she would say it was worth it.

Our first trip to Ikea

I've never been to Ikea before but I have heard many wonderful things. It turned out there was one really close to us in Texas so we decided to have a little shopping trip. We were able to grab a couple of things for really good deals like a new set of dishes and a few other things we needed for the kitchen. After checking out we grabbed some yummy cinnamon rolls and frozen yogurt. It was a tasty little treat.

She ate more than I did, she loved it.

Chrismtas party in Español

We were kind of sad that we were missing our Christmas party back in Bakersfield, especially since they asked to sing in it, but we were lucky enough to get to Texas in time to attend his family's ward Christmas party. His family attends a Spanish branch because they speak Spanish and they are great people to look up to spiritually. His dad just called to the High Council and we even got to hear him speak in another ward while we were there. So we got to go the Christmas party where everyone was asked to bring some dish from their country. There was a lot of food and I tried a lot of different things. Some were really good, some not so much, but I tried it. The dish Roxanna made, Jesús' sister, was my favorite. It was a good thing his mom brought us some before we went through the line because it was gone by the time we got to it.

Of course I didn't get any pictures of my kids while we were there, they were all over the place. But I did get a picture of beautiful Lucia enjoying the yummy cuisine.

And smiley Amaia

His mom asked us if we would sing with their choir because not many people show up to practice so of course we said yes, we just had to sing in Spanish. I can't speak Spanish but I can read it. So we got to stand up with the choir at the end and sing Silent Night or Noche de Paz. It was really cool because way more people stood up to sing than they anticipated and it turned out really nice.
After we left, Roxanna wanted us to see the Christmas lights so we drove to this place where all these lights were set up, it sort of reminded me of Calm but you drive through it. The line was so long that we decided to go home instead. But first I got a picture of a snowman making a basket.

Friday date night

We were lucky enough to have a date night while in Texas. Jesús' sister Beca is a wonderful babysitter, so we asked her if she would watch the kids while we went out. I forgot my temple recommend so Mom was good enough to mail it to me. So we decided we would go to the temple with Mom and Dad Moreno. They work at the Dallas temple on Friday nights so we thought it would be nice to join them. We did a quick session and since they didn't get out until 10pm we thought we would go grab a bite to eat. Jesús found a place that was on Guy's Diners, Drive-ins and Dives on the Food Network. Its called The Twisted Root Burger. We drove to down town Dallas which was about 15 or 20 minutes away and on the way we got a flat tire (we were driving his parents car, oops) so we pulled into a parking lot near the bar/restaurant and Jesús put the spare on the car in the cold. Some guy kept coming up and asking if we wanted help but we assured him we had it all under control and in the meantime he was wandering around the parking lot asking for people to pay him their two dollars to park in that lot and he would put it in the machine. After a little while some guy drove up and asked if we had given the guy money and we assured him we didn't. He then drove up to the guy and told him to get lost and the guy left immediately. Strange story.

When they placed our order they gave us a card with the name Joe Dirt on it. Everyone that ordered got a funny name and then when they called your name they would tell a joke about the name, it was pretty entertaining.

So we enjoyed some really good burgers and curly fries and fried green beans. Delicious!!!!
And the table was really cool too.
Then we headed back to the temple to wait for his mom and dad. While we waited we saw an Opossum sitting up on the wall and it just sat there for the longest time.After his parents were done we headed to Steaks and Shakes for some yummy milkshakes and for his parents to have dinner. We laughed the whole time, it was so fun.
When we got home (on the spare) the kids were in bed. Beca was awesome.