We left Arthur decorated until after the New Year. It wasn’t until we took down the decorations that the strange weather happened. The first event was the biggest snowfall of the season, although very little snow fell during our stay overall. The second event was heavy rainfall, sufficient enough to flood the street corner where our site was located. Fortunately, we were high enough to not be impacted, but the water depth reached Sid and the front of our storage tent.
Our remaining winter plan kept us in Carrollton until we left for Iowa on the 1st of March. Two days after Christmas the weather turned unseasonably warm and sunny, and we spent the afternoon at the Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden’s annual “Holiday at the Arboretum.” Before touring, we ate a tasty Restaurant DeGolyer-lunch outside and adjacent to the Barbara and Bob Bingham Scenic Overlook. Not much was blooming at that time of year, but the gardens were still beautifully landscaped and picturesque. Jon and Katherine pointed out the spot where they got married across White Rock Lake behind them. Good memories!
Each year, the Arboretum celebrates the holidays by transforming the grounds into a Christmas Village and constructing its “12 Days of Christmas Gazebos.” All of the village buildings had much anticipated treats for the kids. This was the 10th year for the gazebo displays, but I chose not to photograph all twelve. You really needed to take a video up close to fully capture the beauty built into each one.
One of Logan and Max’s favorite TV shows was called “Wild Kratts” on PBS. The show was a hybrid of live action and animation and recounted the escapades of Kratt brothers Chris and Martin as they encountered wild animals during stories of adventure and mystery. The brothers were zoologists, and the purpose of the TV series was to educate children about species, biology, zoology, and ecology; while demonstrating how small human actions can have big impacts on nature. MFI and I could attest to both boys having picked up an incredible amount of knowledge from watching this show.
The success of the TV series led Chris and Marty to produce a live stage show, which they’ve taken on a tour across the U.S. Prior to our arrival in Carrollton, Jon purchased 4 tickets for the show in Grand Prairie, and I was invited to join him and the boys. The show was performed in the Texas Trust Credit Union Theatre, which seated 6,350 excited kids and their parents. We had great seats in the last row of the stage-front section. No photography of the show was allowed, but the best pictures and videos were of the boys anyway.
This short video demonstrated how rapt Max was with the show as well. We all had a great time, but the real joy was watching the boys experience Chris and Martin live and thoroughly enjoying their antics.
We visited the boys mostly on weekends, but also in the evenings after they’d been brought home after school. “Papa, will you play with me?” was a common expected question, and most of the time I was usually more than willing. Their favorite pastime remained going to Sid Silverado parked out front, and pretending we were either yard maintenance crews or police officers dealing with all manner of criminals. These imaginative games always entailed opening the bed of the truck and pulling it apart to the extent I allowed. Their continued fascination with Sid surprised me. When the weather was uncooperative, their great playroom was where we hung out. We often used their substantial collection of Hot Wheels to race on an assortment of tracks or just park on carpets imprinted with city streets.
Logan was old enough for and interested in hiking, so we took three multi-mile excursions, which were more walks than hikes but all fun. All of my time with him was precious, but I loved hiking with him the most. We talked about so much and shared so many questions and answers. When we explored the Elk Fork Loop, he stopped to read every sign post or had me read them to him. He was also very curious about the tree placards, which identified the various species we encountered, and pumped me for information about each one. Thank goodness for Google. But even walking in the wilderness couldn’t compete with a nearby playground we found.
Our longest hike was just over 3 miles on a trail along Rowlett Creek in Bob Woodward Park. He donned my water vest, because I have an irresistible yellow bear whistle attached to it; however, he refused to drink from the pouch because of germs. Go figure! He also used MFI’s hiking poles, although I sometimes had to carry them when he was busy collecting treasures. These hikes were memory-building moments for both of us. In the last picture below, that’s all boy you see: mouth full of Oreos, pockets full of treasures, and clothes a little bit muddy and wet.
On a day Logan stayed with us, we stopped at Grainger to pick up a parts order. Grainger is “America’s trusted source for MRO [Maintenance, Repair, and Operation] supplies and industrial products.” An employee named Daniel saw Logan playing with much of the showroom inventory and kindly offered to take him on a tour of the warehouse. Logan got to wear a safety vest and hard hat for the tour and was duly impressed that their in-stock inventory numbered over 1 million parts. He has always had a deep interest in all things related to construction, and he viewed his tour with Daniel as extremely special.
Because of uncertainty over the future of the housing markete, we decided it was time to sell the condo. But before listing it, we spent a little time making some improvements and repairs, although we were extremely grateful to our last tenants for taking such good care of the place. Here are the pictures prospective buyers see when searching the listing.
I took a lot of pictures across our winter stay, and thought I’d share many of our favorites to close this blog and capture for readers the family we got to see.
