Crash and Burn

I love a good tourist trap, but this one you can skip.

I decided since we hadn't driven 5 minutes and Kyle was already hysterical, we might as well stop and check out The Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo.  (It's the place where the cars stick out of the ground and people spray paint them.  I even saw it featured on an episode of The Duggars.)

I certainly wouldn't consider myself artsy, so the highlight of our viewing was when a man about my dad's age was lamenting to his wife, "Why would anybody do this? This is just trash! The people who spray these cars are just trashy people! I wish somebody would go spray paint their house like this and see how they like it!"

I had to laugh and tell him, "Sir, my daddy would be saying the same thing."

So here's our pictures from the Cadillac Ranch, only worth the stop since it got Kyle's mind off the meltdown he was having.

Back in Time

In Johnson City we finally made it to the living history farm. 

(The whole reason my dad wanted to go to Johnson City in the first place.) 

It's a German farmhouse and everything is done as it was in 1918. 

 The park rangers wear period clothing (Poor things. Period clothing is seriously hot in Texas!), do the farm and household chores as they were done at that time, (except state law now prohibits "slopping pigs") and they also interact with the visitors.

Of course I couldn't help but laugh that we drove all the way to the Texas hill country to see a German farm house that looked exactly like the German-Jew-Presbyterian house my mom was raised in.

And then the kids had the most fun with the animals they see every day.

Guess what my dad decided to add to his poultry collection after our visit...

The park rangers showed the kids a great time, but they were most excited to help gather eggs.

They don't gather eggs at PawPaw's since PawPaw's eggs have baby chicks (and not breakfast) inside!

No Biggie

Go ahead and just relax there, JR.

Cause, ya know...it's such an everyday occurrence you get to pose with Air Force One!

(LBJ's Air Force One on display at LBJ Historical Park.)

A Beautiful Trap

Continuing our tradition of trying to hit all the "nation's largest" tourist traps, we stopped in at Wildseed Farms.

Wildseed Farms is the largest working wildflower farm in the U.S.

Which for some reason struck me as really Durango-y.

I couldn't quite put my finger on why I thought the Durangoans would appreciate a working wildflower farm until I saw this:

There was a butterfly garden where we saw about 3 tiny butterflies.

(Reed's pointing at one)

I'm sure the others had retreated someplace with airconditioning and frosty cold beverages.

And we saw plenty of flowers.

 There was even a slight breeze (as documented by Reed's golden blowing locks) which made it bearable to be outside...as long as you're a Texan used to the heat, and were in the shade.

This Is What You Look Like

when you're standing entirely too close to a 1,100-foot drop straight down to the bottom of Horseshoe Bend Overlook.

Where are the guardrails?!

And look at my feet...I'm wearing flip-flops!

Obviously, we had no idea what was in store when we made this little road trip stop in Page, Arizona.

But We Love it Anyway

I know it's big.

I know it's cheesy.

I know it's the biggest tourist trap in Texas.

But we love it.

Sure The Big Texan in Amarillo isn't where Jason and I would go for a fine dinning experience, but it's perfect for our pack.

JR will actually eat. The kids can be loud and not bother anybody.

And then we have these very important things:

The last good margarita I'll have for awhile.

I don't think a big basket of rolls even needs a description.

Table side entertainment. 

They sang Jingle Bells for us and Reed was more than happy to sing along. (They were singing some George Jones for this couple next to us.)

Giant desserts

Ingys Boys always love a gun and a shooting gallery.

And I can't resist a photo op in the giant rocking chair.

Where in the World are The Ingys?

The Donut Stop in Amarillo! We've been wanting to try it out since I read about it in 'Southen Living'. Their claim to fame is they put all the Krispie Kremes in town out of business. Reed couldn't finish his 'pink donut', so I was happy to help him out. And JR took down a dozen holes in the blink of an eye.

One Pic Vacay

Jason and I got home from Santa Fe today.  That's right, we went without the kids. 
So what did we do?
Well, I think we enjoyed sleeping in the most. (We slept til 8:55 Saturday morning!  We haven't slept that late in 7 years.) 
We ate a lot, (I told Jason on the way home that I was "actually tired of eating".) and spent way too much time giggling over the name of The La Fonda hotel.  And because we are so mature, we, of course, worked the word "La Fonda" into as many sentences as possible.  How could we ignore the fact Napoleon Dynamite's girlfriend and a famous Santa Fe hotel share a name? We couldn't. (And, yes, I know her name is spelled "Lafawnduh" in the movie, but spelling certainly wasn't enough to deter our laughter.)
And since I didn't have my usual models with me, I took exactly one picture with my camera during our trip.  Everybody told me I had to go to the Loretto Chapel to see the staircase.  Well, I did, (Jason was too busy playing golf to go check out famous staircases) and here's the proof.

I'm Becoming My Dad

I'm wrapping up our Denver trip today. And as you'll see from these photos, I believe all my time in Texas with my dad rubbed off on me. Here are the two pictures I took from our mini golfing night. (We went to a really amazing course that I saw on my friend Jill's blog, so it wasn't like I didn't have plenty of photo opportunities.)

Photo 1: I sounded just like my dad when I said, "Oh Kyle. Go stand over there and let me take your picture in front of those beautiful impatiens."

I then found myself trying to have a conversation with Jason about how beautiful all the flowers were. Oh my goodness, WHO AM I?

Photo #2: I had taken a picture of the flora, so now it was time for the fauna.

Something about seeing a squirrel eating left-over dippin' dots just made me giggle.

Polar Bears Bowling at the Love Shack

I took exactly one picture at the Denver Zoo. Obviously I have a thing for the giant polar bear measuring stick because I have exactly one picture from the Singapore Zoo and it's the same one! That's JR when he was Kyle and Reed's age (and his friend, Madeline). Kyle does appear to be taller than JR at 2 1/2, but he's not...just a lot skinner!


The zoo trip was almost blog-story-free until Reed pulled a fun little stunt. Being small and skinny seems to have its advantages, as Reed decided that the train line was much too long for his liking and snuck (undetected) to the front of the line (and we're talking passing up about 20 families). It wasn't until he got to the very front that somebody noticed him. And being the amazing parents Jason and I are, we hadn't noticed he was gone either.

Our hotel was near the Lucky Strike bowling alley so the kids basically begged to "go bowling ball" every second we were there. (Even after we had taken them.) Here's Kyle waiting his turn on the comfy couches.

Again, I only have one picture, not because anybody tried to sneak to the front of the line, but because bowling is quite an ordeal. Everybody wants to hold their own ball (Jason almost had his big toe smashed off) and JR thinks proper bowling form is to run up to the lane and heave the ball overhand as hard as he can. Unfortunately, on one of his turns, he dropped the ball in mid run and it actually rolled down the lane next to ours! It knocked down another little boys pins. The boy was about JR's age and his face was in utter shock. He handled it really well, cause JR would have completely freaked out if the situation had been reversed.

We ended that night with a trip to the Hard Rock Cafe, where I ordered up this little number.

It was quite helpful while "entertaining" JR with my rendition of Love Shack. (Surprisingly, Jason knew most of the lyrics; we had quite the little performance going.) JR finally quit rolling his eyes long enough to ask me how I knew all the words. My reply, "Oh JR. You just don't know how cool your mom is."

Is There a Doctor in the House?

I'll be posting some of the highlights from our touristy escapades around Denver in the days to come, so we'll start today with a visit to the Children's Museum. And as you can see...real scientists wear their protective eyewear upside down.

Who knew the Denver Children's Museum doubled as a veterinarian residency hospital? Good thing, cause these Ingy boys were doing some serious animal doctoring.

Dr. Reed (who calls himself Dr. Me) not only likes to call the shots, but he likes to give them too.

Dr. JR made sure all the X-rays lined up just right.

Scissor work was a staple of Dr. Kyle's health care. Thank goodness for plastic scissors or every cat in the place would've been tailless.

And just like scientists and their protective eye wear, real vets wear their stethoscopes backwards.

We Eat All We Can and We Sell the Rest

There are certain things almost every Texan believes, like anything below 50 degrees is cold. But there's one thing every Texan agrees on: Blue Bell Ice Cream.
It's positively the best ice cream in the world.
Period.
Finished.
The End.
Nobody here even argues that fact, it's just, well...a fact.
(Durangoans, you can get Blue Bell at Serious Texas BBQ.)

I hate to admit that I had never actually been on the Blue Bell factory tour in Brenham. But that all changed today. The tour is really cute and fun, but you aren't allowed to take pictures (or even have your cell phone on) so here's what I have to work with.

Waiting for our tour to start. So glad to see most of my children enjoy a good head accessory.


Hanging out with the Blue Bell logo statue. And yes, the boys tried to milk the cow.


Now pretend there's lots of fun tour pictures.
And we're smiling.
And we're laughing.
And we're oohing and ahhing over ice cream.

The tour ends with everybody getting ice cream! You can pick from about 30 flavors. JR chose chocolate chip cookie dough.

Yum!

Where in the World are The Ingys? #6

I'm at Mecca. AKA: The Schlitterbahn Christmas store. Is that the Hallelujah Chorus I hear singing?

Where in the World are The Ingys? #4

Gruene (pronounced 'green'), Texas, Baby! Home of the oldest dance hall in Texas. That's me with Anita and Deyon some of my besties from our Beijing days. Woohoo!

Where in the World are The Ingys? # 3

Modeling beaver nuggets at the Bucees near Luling, TX. And what's a beaver nugget, you non Texans might ask. Well, certainly nothing any self respecting-organic loving-Coloradan would put near their lips (basically, fried puffy balls of sugar).

Where in the World are the Ingys? # 2

LuLu's Bakery and Cafe. Home of the giant cinnamon rolls featured on Man vs Food! Yummers!

JR Vs Food

One of JR's highlights of the Texas trip was going to the Big Texan Steak Ranch in Amarillo. Ever since JR saw the Man Vs Food episode of his favorite TV personality, Adam Richmond, eating the 72 oz steak, baked potato, shrimp cocktail, dinner salad, and a roll in about 28 minutes he's been dying to go there. (He also wants to go to the restaurant in Seattle that serves the 12 egg omelet, but that'll have to be another trip.) In preparation for our visit to the Big Texan, JR watched the Amarillo episode 3 or 4 times (Thanks, Netflix) and was a bit confused thinking the restaurant was also called "Amarillo", which explained his repeated question of "when are we going to Amarillo?" Not something many people ask. None of us tried the 72oz steak challenge (if you eat everything in an hour you get the $72 meal for free), but I'm still convinced Harry could have done it.

It's obvious this place is a huge tourist trap. But it's actually a fun and tasty tourist trap. The best way I know to describe it (and only my Houstonian readers will get this) it's like the Gallery Furniture of restaurants. It's huge! It has also expanded to include a hotel and a "horse hotel". Bonus for me...it was decorated for Christmas!

JR was beyond excited when we sat down and discovered this on the menu.

Harry and Jason decided to go with the Man Vs Food tribute (JR would have had a conniption fit if they hadn't) which is the same as the challenge except the steak is only 1/4 the size.

And what does all this food look like?

Salad.

"Shrimp Cocktail". (Yes, I'm very much aware those are fried shrimp, but on the episode Adam refers to them as 'shrimp cocktail', and if Adam says they're shrimp cocktail, then JR says they're shrimp cocktail!)

Steak (but only 18 oz.)

Baked potato (oops, not pictured.)

Also included, dinner rolls almost as big as Kyle's head. (They were delicious!)

JR wanted to have his own Man Vs Food challenge and ordered the kid's steak. He was so excited he didn't even mind that there was a piece of garnish on his plate. (And you know that means he was beyond excited since under normal circumstances any sort of green colored food on or near his plate would render the rest of the food inedible.)

Reed was too busy with his artwork and skillet o' fries to help cheer JR on...

And with a celebratory jump and squeal, JR finished off his steak. In this battle of JR vs Food, JR won!

He then enjoyed another dinner roll (3 total). Check out that clean plate...with the garnish still there...He didn't even make us take it off! Do you think Adam Richmond would mind joining us for dinner every night? Sigh...

And how do you end the evening after a big steak? Rocking in a Texas size rocker, of course!