Dallas Day 1

Here is some famous DALLAS music for you while you read the blog!  :)

We made the five hour drive to Dallas on Tuesday afternoon and arrived around 7 p.m. at our suite in Addison, Texas.  Addison is a suburb of Dallas about five miles outside Dallas proper.

I chose our hotel because it has a heated pool outside.  After we grabbed some free dinner at the hotel, the kids headed to the pool for a night swim.

The next day (Day 1) we got up and headed to the Grapevine Mills outlet mall where we had lunch at The Rainforest Cafe. 

This is a very unique place.  Here is a video and some of our pictures below.

After lunch we surprised the kids with a trip to Cosmic Jump.  It's a center of endless trampolines.  I think they liked it!

After Cosmic Jump the kids were tired and sweaty, so we headed back to the hotel and the kids went swimming while I took a much needed nap.  After that, we decided to head downtown to get dinner at Dick's Last Resort.  You'll remember pictures from Dick's Last Resort in Baltimore, too.  Wimee, Dylan and Marissa had never been there so Jule agreed that they should experience it.

After eating dinner we walked across the street to Hard Rock Cafe for dessert.  

Our dessert was okay, but Marissa ate most the fudge from our hot fudge sundae.

We  headed back to the hotel for a good night's sleep!

Dallas Day 2

On day two we decided to go to the Dallas Farmer's Market to walk around first.  We'd heard that the farmers gave out free samples of their fruits and veggies, so... we like free stuff!

First we met up with my dear friend Natoya Hill and her daughter Ciera.  Natoya and I met while in our Master's program at the University of Little Rock and we also worked together for a time.  After Verizon Wireless bought Alltel, Natoya decided to move to Dallas for a new adventure.  Ciera will be the little girl that you see in some of the pictures.

Dallas Farmer's Market has been open for 60 years and is one of the largest markets in the U.S. for farmers to sell fresh fruits and vegetables year-round.

We sampled pineapples, grapefruit, strawberries, honey, watermelon, cake, popcorn and other local products.  Jule and I brought home some blueberry, watermelon, cinnamon, coconut (and other flavored) popcorn, honey flavored with mint and lemon and clover, and a big bag of sweet pineapple!  Just writing about the pineapple is making my mouth water for it.  I'll be headed to the refrigerator soon!

Next we decided to stop by the Dallas World Aquarium!

After seeing this alligator, Jule has decided that she wants to learn to wrestle them.
I'm quite sure he weights about 500 lbs / 226 kg.  Maybe more.
She is crazy.

The Manatee is an endangered species and seeing one is breathtaking.

They're called "the elephant of the seas."

After the aquarium we TRIED to go to the top of Reunion Tower, but it was closed for renovation.  :(   Here's a picture of it though.  It's a popular place to see the whole Dallas skyline. 

Later that night Wimee and Natoya and I TRIED to ditch the kids to go to dinner by ourselves at The Cheesecake Factory, but the kids were persistent so we had to drag them along.  And (this is for Jule's memories) we reminded them constantly that we tried to get them to stay at the hotel and watch movies.  Each time Marissa would say something like "My legs are tired" I'd say "Well, your legs would feel good if they were on the couch at the hotel."  We love to give the kids a hard time.

But anyhow, I oftentimes write about good food.  The Cheesecake Factory is truly, in my opinion, one of the best places to eat in America -- as far as chain restaurants go.  The menu is superb even though they are most famous for their delicious cheesecakes.  Here are some of the things that we ordered and shared at the table...

Thai Chicken Lettuce Wraps (Wimee and Dylan)

Pasta Carbonara

Caramel Chicken

Even though Jule and I didn't order any cheesecake, here's a view of what the dessert counter looks like at The Cheesecake Factory!

This concludes our trip to Dallas.  We spent Thursday driving, Friday and Saturday sightseeing, and Sunday driving back.  Part of our drive back was in a horrible thunderstorm, but we made it safely!

A Rayni Day

I'm posting this sad blog in hopes that I can get a few people in Germany and Poland to say a prayer for the family of Rayni Worley, a little girl in my hometown whose parents had to say goodbye to her today.

I had told Jule last week that I had a friend from long ago, Jason, whose daughter was on life support at St. Louis Children's Hospital after a surgery on her back created a string of unexpected events.  Jason and I played soccer together when we were about Rayni's age.  I logged onto Facebook every morning to see if Jason had posted an update to her state.  I never posted anything back to Jason.  What words can possibly help the pain?  The one thing that was consistent was the prayers from people near and far and well wishes for this little girl.

Today, I read the update that I had dreaded from Jason.  Rayni had passed.

Please take a moment to say a little prayer for the Worley family as they begin the never-ending grieving process for their daughter.  She was clearly loved by many, as evidenced by the hundreds of people sending condolences via Facebook to my friend Jason.  My whole hometown of Poplar Bluff, Missouri loved her.

Jule's "Day of the Dead" Art

Two things... 1) Jule made 100% on her Anatomy test.  This was a VERY difficult test and she made the highest grade in the class.  WOO HOO! 

AND...

She made an A+ on this "Day of the Dead" art project!
It's made of yarn.

From Wikipedia:  "Day of the Dead (Spanish: Día de los Muertos) is a Mexican holiday celebrated throughout Mexico and around the world in other cultures. The holiday focuses on gatherings of family and friends to pray for and remember friends and family members who have died. It is particularly celebrated in Mexico, where it is a national holiday, and all banks are closed. The celebration takes place on November 1 and 2, in connection with the Catholic holidays of All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day. Traditions connected with the holiday include building private altars honoring the deceased using sugar skulls, marigolds, and the favorite foods and beverages of the departed and visiting graves with these as gifts. They also leave possessions of the deceased."

We Voted!

After you vote in America, you get a sticker that tells everyone that you have voted for the day.  We (Jule and I) have completed the ballot and turned it in.  Jule went in with me and we read through the ballot to discuss the things that we were voting on.  A few interesting ones besides voting for president... increased sales taxes to make better roads, legalizing gambling in Arkansas, and also legalizing the use of medical marijuana for sick people.

Election Day in America!

Today is election day in America!  I will be taking Jule to the poll with me to cast my vote after I pick her up from school so that she can see how the process works.

In America, it's important for us to vote.  When America was born, not everyone had the right to vote.  Many people fought and died for the right to get and keep our freedom to choose our leaders.  My father and both my grandfathers were at times part of the U.S. military.  To honor their sacrifices, as well as the work done by people around to U.S. to give me the right to vote as a woman, I always cast my vote!

However... there are some controversies about our voting process...

Here is something that most people outside of America may not know:  my vote technically does not count.  The U.S. President is not elected by popular vote (the most votes by the people).  The U.S. President is elected by an "Electoral College."  The "Electoral College" is a group of 538 people (the number is based on the total voting membership of the U.S. Congress) plus three electors from Washington D.C.  After all votes are tallied for Arkansas, the Electoral College places their votes.  Arkansas has only six electoral votes for President, while California (for instance) has 55 votes.  In almost EVERY state in the U.S. the Electoral College places its votes for whomever wins the state.  This is what we call "winner takes all."  If 50,000 people vote for Mitt Romney, but 50,001 people vote for Barack Obama, then all six of Arkansas' votes for President go to Barack Obama.  All of those 50,000 people who voted for Mitt Romney are ignored.  This seems extremely unfair... to me and many (if not most) Americans.

So why is our voting process this way?  It was actually established when our Constitution was written.  For some reason, our founding fathers thought that using the popular vote to decide President was "reckless" but they also didn't want to give the complete power to elect President to our Congress.  Somehow they came up with this "Electoral College" method I've described above, along with the suggestion that all electoral votes *should* go to the person who wins the popular vote of the state.  There is no law that states our electoral college MUST cast their votes for whomever wins the state, but generally that's what happens.  Needless to say, many Americans do not like this complex and unfair process.  And really, I have no idea why nobody ever tries to change it.  There have been several presidential candidates in our history who have WON the popular vote from the people but have lost the election because of the electoral votes.

Here is a map of each state and how many "electoral votes" will be given today.

Despite my feeling that the election process is unfair, I will still cast my vote.  Today, I have shared my personal decision with Jule only, as well as the reasons for my choice.  Quite honestly, the country will be well-served with either one as our leader.

BEST OF LUCK TO BOTH CANDIDATES!

The Big "D"

This weekend we will be making the trip from Little Rock, Arkansas to The Big "D" (Dallas, Texas) with the Alexander family.  Dallas is only a five hour drive from Little Rock.  Wimee and I have many fun things planned for the kids!  :)

Jule's Favorite Things Volume II

Here is some theme music "My Favorite Things" for this blog post!  :)

I haven't written an update on some of Jule's favorite things here in America in quite some time.  So here's an updated list of some things she won't want to forget later.

Pineapple Crush soda pop.

Applesauce in a squeeze package.
She says "it tastes different" when coming out of a squeeze package.

"Chinese toilet paper" (That's what I heard)
What Jule was saying was "Rajani's toilet paper".  Our friend Rajani had really soft toilet paper at her house and Jule found the need to tell me how soft it was many days later.

Fruit roll ups.  Jule says they're very good for you because they say "fruit".

Indiana Popcorn
In America, we mainly put salt and butter on our popcorn.
But also we have odd kinds, like ranch, cinnamon sugar, black and white chocolate drizzle, white cheddar and many others.  Americans like popcorn very much.

Pretzel M&Ms are among the many kinds that we have here.  These are Jule's favorites, I think.

Whatchamacallit candy bar.
Pronounced "WHA-CHUH-MUH-CALL-IT"
The word "whatchamacallit" is a spin on the phrase "what do you call it?"
It's something we say in America when we cannot remember the name of something.
Like "Bring me that whatchamacallit."
This candy bar has the same name, for some reason.  Maybe they could not think of a better name.

Mexican white cheese dip and tortilla chips.  I have found a recipe below in case Jule wants to try to make it in Germany.