We just got back intown after being gone since Thursday. We went to my mother's in LosColinas and went shopping and swimming. It was an adventure. Thursday morning we picked up Jaclyn's friend Stephanie and left Mineola approximately 9:00am. We headed on down the road and the kids got rowdy so we stopped in Edgewood at the Dollar General and picked up a couple of DVD movies they could watch in the car. That settled them down. Stephanie's mom made wonderful chocolate chip cookies and we munched on them during the trip. We got to Terrell and a guy in a huge truck motioned my back tire was low. I pulled into the Racetrak gas station and I had a flat. I had pulled up to the air machine which had an out of order sign on it. My luck. We began to change the tire to put on a spare when a young gentle came over and asked if we needed any help. I am sure two young blond teenage girls helped attract the attention but this young man was a Saint in my eyes. He changed the tire out and would not accept any money. The kids found a quarter game machine in the gas station and I had to go and pry them from spending all their quarters. We back tracked to Walmart in Terrell which was very familiar when I had a flat tire less than two years ago. We went to their tire department and had them put on a brand new tire while we went into the store to look around. I found $99.03 worth of clothes and belts for Patrick's back to school wardrobe. By 11:30 we were back on the road. Once we got to Fair Park traffic stopped in a grid lock. I think it was caused by construction, but I am not sure. I felt adventurous and exited on Munger and thought I would find my way around Dallas' smaller streets in neighborhoods I had never been in to see if I could bypass the traffic. It worked. I found Lemon which got me to Inwood which got me back to I-35. We worked our way back to the freeway and we were at mom's apartment by 1:00pm. I was getting the feeling there were forces that didn't want us to make it but we did anyway. We ate a wonderful hotdog or sausage dog lunch and unloaded our suitcases. We then packed into the van with mom and went in search of Grapevine Mills Mall. After being mislead twice we finally found in by 3:15pm. We parked and headed in. It was amazing. I have never been to so many stores. We gave the girls a walkie talkie to keep in touch with us and gave them some space while we all shopped our favorite stores. My favorite ended up to be JC Penney's outlet store. I got a shirt for $2.39. No kidding. By 6:00 we were ready to sit down to eat. Mom treated us to the famous Rainforest Cafe, which is located in the mall. That atmosphere is just like being under an open sky in a rainforest. It had elephants, alligators, gorillas that periodically made noise and moved. There were some beautiful fish tanks that really attracted your attention. Including one big enough to hold nurse sharks. The food was good but very high in price. Your paying for the atmosphere. It was definately a unique dining experience. Patrick's favorite store was either the knife store, Game Stop, or Game Works. Jaclyn's were Aeropostal, Abercombie and Finch, Abercomie Outlet, Hollisters and Hot Topic. Patrick climbed the rock wall that you can climb for $5. At 8:45 we decided to end our mall experience with the space shuttle looking ride. Patrick and I climbed in after getting tired of waiting for the girls to show up. We road the paradise rollercoaster ride. When we got out the girls showed up and the kids road the western Saddle up rollercoaster ride. It was neat. You could hear the girls screaming inside the machine. The rides cost $4 each. By 9:05 the mall was closing and we drove home. It took us nearly an hour to get to the mall and it only took us 10 minutes to get home. Go figure. Helps to have directions. We had a quick late night swim and then camped out in my mom's living room apartment to sleep. Patrick and I on the couch bed and the girls on pallets on the floor.