Brock and Jill and Greyson - Round Two - Day 3 - Grapevine, LEGO Land, Meow Wolf and Ephesians

 Rain, rain, go away --- we want to play!  I don't think it will happen at all today, so a punt is required.  We rarely get rain that is socked in for a full day, but today just such a thing is happening and it will continue until tomorrow.  Be that as it may, as I said - "Punt."  Mister has to work in Irving again all day today, so everyone is up early to drop him off at 8.  Grapevine is just down the road and we have planned our day for that area.  First up --- Breakfast!  We find a spot downtown that is open --- you would think from the picture that it is the bakery, but you would be wrong.  it is Chez Fabien, the Bistro.  Oh, and breakfast is divine.  Truly.  This Strawberry Romanoff Crepe is to die for.  It was large enough that all had a share and even Greyson declared it "Yum."

How about a walk in the rain.  I have three umbrellas - not four.  Can we do it?

I've been to Grapevine many times and this one is new to me.  The World's Largest Wind Chimes.  They sounded so cool.

Just playing in the rain --- a kids dream.  He leads everyone up to the gazebo.  This area used to have wild mustang grapes growing profusely and inspired the name "Grape Vine" for this community.  Cattle raising was the major enterprise prior to the Civil War and the beef cattle were sold to Camp Worth (present Fort Worth).  The village was once known as Dunnville but in 1914 the name became Grapevine.  After the Cotton Belt Railroad Line opened in 1888, the town thrived as a shipping center for cotton, grain, truck crops and dairy products.  In 1907 Grapevine incorporated and by 1934 two major paved roads leading to Dallas and to Fort Worth were constructed.  A dam built in 1952 on Denton Creek formed Lake Grapevine.  In 1974 the Dallas-Fort Worth airport opened within the city limits.  

Family picture - 

With a little self love thrown in -

 and perhaps some Auntie/Niece love as well.

We came upon this statue and Greyson had a sit down - all on his own.

Windmill in downtown. Lots of info here.

Near the windmill is a hand-hewn log cabin that was built along a creek at the edge of the Cross Timbers near the pioneer community of Dove.  It originally stood on a headright settled in 1845 by Francis Throop, a Peters Colonist from Missouri.  J.C. Wiley bought the property in 1868.  He sold it in 1886 to John R. Torian, a farmer from Kentucky.  Torian family members occupied the structure until the 1940s.  In November of 1975, with one day's notice, the Grapevine Historical Society received and removed it from the property of Leona Torian Tanner at her request.  The finished cabin was dedicated in it's new location in December 1976.

It is a two room cabin - one has the parent bedroom/spinning wheel area.

The other is the main room/kitchen/dining/child bedroom.  Well, at least that is the way they have it set up now.

Pictures at the windmill.

Love the wet pavement look --- time to make a movie.  Where are they?

Coffee is next on the agenda - yep, we're still walking in the rain.  Love the name of this place.

A nice walk back to the car and the clock tells us it is time for our next adventure.  LEGOLand - we arrive at Grapevine Mills Mall and ticket purchase is at a kiosk.  I had looked up when they opened and the website said 10 a.m.  The earliest tickets I can get are 10:30 but there is no one around so I ask if we can go in now and they said yes.  Awesome - we are just about the only people in the place and how fun is that?

Greyson is ready for fun.  He finds a indoor bounce house/maze/jungle gym.  I have no idea what they are called.  The funny part is (look at the picture) when he skirts the glass area as if he is going to fall through.  EVERY time.  So cute.

It doesn't have much to do with LEGO's, but it gets the wiggles out.

Okay - let's see this place.  In this build, kids can sit down and add to it.

In a separate room lies the cities of Dallas and Fort Worth, along with Grapevine all made from LEGOs.  The room darkens periodically and the lights all come on.

Details are so fun.

Even Southfork Ranch makes an appearance.

Along with its oilwells.

Globe Life Field where the Rangers play.

Into the play room we go - they build cars and have the chance to race them down several different tracks.

I'm peeking around - this is great.

How about a ride?  Jill and Greyson give it a literal whirl and my pics are horrid, but memories made.

There is even an area where you can drive a car around a track.  Since no one else is back here (yes, the place filled right up at 10:30, but they haven't made it back this far yet), he gets the track all to himself.

There is a virtual reality ride Brock wants to do ---

Love the smiles as they let themselves enjoy it.

A little more building.

Jill and I find another ride - no pics inside allowed - but it was a shooting ride and so fun.  I would do this again.  More time in the bounce thing before our next place, which we have tickets for at noon.

My friend, Gwen, told me all about Meow Wolf several years ago.  We now have one in Grapevine and I've been wanting to check it out.  Mister, not so much.  That means today is the perfect day and it's also right in the same mall.

I'll just share pictures from inside and let it go at that.  We didn't try to solve the mystery this time -- we have a 3 year old with us and really didn't know that much about it - just enjoying trying to find all the rooms and see everything.  You have to keep in mind that we are wearing 3D glasses and that changes it all so much.  Brock repeated (many times) how "trippy" it was.

Inside an igloo - 

One of the many times we had to crawl through or slide down something.  Brock got stuck.  I'm going to be popping Ibuprofen before the day is over, but not complaining one bit.  This is a blast.

We "think" we found all the areas and I didn't take pictures of half of them.  Honest.  It's a definite go back again place.  Now for some lunch - Rainforest Cafe seems good.  Every 15 minutes, the animals around the restaurant "come alive" and it's really fun for Greyson.

Opting to split a meal - the three of us share this yummy shrimp and salad combo.  There was plenty - salad was HUGE.

We finally decide to just leave a bit early and wait for Mister at his conference hotel.  He is supposed to be done at 4 and it's 3:15 now.  As we are running through the downpour to the car (umbrellas NOT with us), Mister calls and says he'll be done at 3:30.  Perfect.  We pick him up and I happily relinquish the driving as we make the trek home.  Some resting time and then Mister finds a new Turkish restaurant to try for dinner.  It is Ephesians and he orders a family platter along with pita and babaganoush.  All of it - so, so good.  

As we've been eating, Jill has been watching a table of Turkish guys and wondering about the drinks they are having.  They each have one glass of a red fluid and one glass of a milky fluid.  Mister goes to ask.  They are eager to share and we learn that the milky one is Raky (an aniseed alcohol) and when mixed with water, becomes cloudy.  The other is a fermented juice (Douganay).  You sip the milky drink, then sip the juice.  I did it the other way around as the juice was crazy strong.  Well, that's a great way to end the evening and I can't wait to come back here.  This just may be our new favorite Mediterranean spot.  That's it for today.  Whew.  Tomorrow we are ALL together until they have to fly out.  We'll make it fun.