Our Trip To Texas

Last month we took a long weekend trip to Texas!! It took me 29 years to visit The Lone Star State. We had been there several times for flight transfers, but that doesn’t count- or does it?! Well regardless, this was our first time visiting and actually stepping out of the airport and exploring. When we were planning our trip to Texas, we were stuck between Dallas, Houston or Austin. And after doing all the research, and obsessing over this trip for a couple weeks, we decided on DALLAS!! It was such a great time, and super kid friendly-which is HUGE for us! So in this blog post I am going to share everything we did day by day, and where we ate! Spoiler alert: the Dallas, Fort Worth, Frisco area is a BIG FOODIE spot. I was so surprised at all the food choices, and WOW WOW WOW every spot was amazing. But anyways, enough of my jibber jabber, here it goes…

Thank you Travel Texas for Sponsoring this Post. All thoughts and opinions are 100% my own.

Dallas Itinerary:

DAY 1:

• Flew into the Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) airport around 10am. The airport is very manageable and easy to navigate. When you get out of your plane, and through the gate, the baggage claim is RIGHT there, I mean like 30 seconds walking. So that’s really nice, especially when you have kids.
• We picked up our rental car from Enterprise, and our car was booked like 45 days in advance. Make sure you book in advance so you can secure the car you want/need- especially if you’re traveling with kids. The rental car pick-up is off site, so you will need to take a shuttle and it’s about a 10 minute shuttle ride.
• Then we drove straight to our hotel, which was the Omni Hotel in Frisco located at the Ford Center (the Dallas Cowboys practice facility) and in “The Star“. If you have a football obsessed family, I HIGHLY recommend this hotel- I give it a 10/10 even though it’s a 4 star. We also saw the head coach for the Dallas Cowboys having breakfast next to us in the hotel so we were pretty excited about that!! We booked 2 rooms, one was the deluxe king guest room and the deluxe double queen guest room. It was the cheapest room, but it was very clean (basically brand new), very nice, and connecting- again HUGE when you’re traveling with Kids.  
• After getting settled into our room, we freshened up and made the drive all the way to Fort Worth. It was about 45 minutes from the hotel, but we planned for all of our Fort Worth activities in one day so we wouldn’t have to make the drive again.
• Stopped by the Fort Worth Water Gardens: and it was so beautiful!! They had 3 different water features/areas to visit and the kids were able to climb the walls all throughout. It is peaceful and tranquil right in the middle of the city. Absolutely beautiful. This was the perfect place to kick off our Texas trip. For more information on the Water Gardens, click here

• After leaving the Water Gardens, we took a 10 minute drive to Mule Alley, located in the Stockyards Historic District. There is a collection of restaurants, eateries, entertainment venues, shops, heritage brands, and creative workplaces. It really gave me a taste of the traditional Texas culture and heritage. We went to a candy shop, got a picture with a bull, ALMOST bought tickets to a rodeo, checked out the local brewery and even tried some traditional street tacos. Overall it was a GREAT experience and the perfect first day in Texas.

• Afterwards, we headed to “The Star District” right in front of our hotel. We had dinner at The Common Table and it was a gastropub/American food and it was pretty good! It was a Friday night and we were seated immediately at The Common Table so we went with it and were not disappointed!
• Headed back to our hotel, and PASSED out!! After waking up at 4:30 am, catching a 7a.m. flight and then doing ALL the things…with kids, we were beyond ready for bed

Day 2

• Woke up at the crack of dawn, literally – it was dark when the kids woke up, so there’s that. But we got dressed for the day and picked up some breakfast for the kids because we wouldn’t have time to be foodies and eat somewhere, we had ANOTHER jam packed day.
• After making it back to the hotel, we put our walking shoes on and made the drive to Arlington to visit SIX FLAGS OVER TEXAS!! We were most excited about visiting Six Flags because we had never been to one. We grew up in the theme park capital, so we were so stoked to go on some new roller coasters and rides, especially since the boys are into all that stuff now!! We purchased our tickets online because when you do it online it’s $44 and if you do it at the gate, it’s like $79. BIG DIFFERENCE. So we bought the tickets and downloaded the tickets to my phone and everything else was a breeze to get in. When we walked into the park we were BLOWN AWAY with the amount of rides that were there, and I was also surprised with the amount of kid friendly rides, which is important especially having littles ones and one of them being just 3 years old. At the park they offered dining plans, where you pay a set price per person and can dine all day long. They also offered souvenir cups which were refillable (free) all day as well, and refillable popcorn buckets as well. So being the tourists that we are, we did all of that lol. The kids had an amazing time there and we were basically there from open to close!!
•  When we made it back to our hotel, we took the kids outside to play at the football field that’s connected to the Ford Center and our hotel. It’s such a great spot to lets the kids throw footballs, run around and basically just get all their energy out.

Day 3

• Woke up, and immediately got in our car to pick up our coffee and breakfast. When we made it back to our hotel, we got dressed and headed to church- Yep we even go to church while on vacation.
• Changed our clothes and put on some Dallas Cowboys Jerseys because we were headed to AT&T Stadium located in Arlington, Texas! It was just a surreal feeling being there especially since we watch the cowboys just about every Sunday night. We paid for the VIP guided tour which was free for Laila and Joel, and we just paid for the older 2 boys, Renaldo and I. The tour was 90 minutes long. They take you to the field, they take you to the tip top of the stadium, a few club suites, and then the best part, underground inside the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders’ locker room, and the Dallas Cowboys’ locker room. They also take you to the Miller Light Club Suite where they run out when the game starts!! It honestly was the highlight of the boys’ trip. They are big football fans so I know we just created some amazing core memories for them.

• After we did the tour, we were supposed to stop by Downtown Dallas to see a GINORMOUS eyeball (yes an eyeball), but we took the wrong exit and we were just so far out- so we skipped this but we are putting this on our to-do list for our next visit.
• We made it back to The Star and had dinner at Mi Cocina for Tex-Mex cuisine. It honestly was probably the best Tex-Mex I have ever had. It was superb and actually pretty cheap, especially considering the upscale aesthetic.
• After dinner, my husband took the kids to the football field to play and Laila and I cuddled in bed and watched cartoons.

DAY 4:

• Go home day!! Not much to say about this day. Our hotel was about 20 minutes from the airport, but we had to return our car, so we planned extra time to do that, and to clean out the car because #4kids. Checking in and TSA (we have pre-check) was super quick and again, the airport is small and easy to navigate.

We had such a fun trip and we are already planning another trip to Texas because no two trips to Texas are alike. If you’re wanting to plan a fun trip for spring break, or this summer when the kids get out of school I HIGHLY encourage you to consider Texas. Get your own trip to Texas at https://bit.ly/TravelTexas #GetYourOwnTripToTexas