Welcome bench at Mattitos Mexican restaurant in Dallas, TX. 
Hmmm.... I've attempted to try and find out whom this may be but to no avail. This picture hangs at Mattitos in Dallas and catches your eye as you walk in. I'm not exactly a Mexican food connoisseur but I did enjoy the atmosphere and the colors colors colors.
It's a balmy 104 degrees. You're on vacation in the deep South. You want to see some sights. You'd like to find a cool mall. You want a nice cold drink. Your husband gets the idea to wax your son's truck because it's never been waxed and the sun might fade it if you don't take care of it...... Head to where else but Wallyworld...aka Walmart and buy some wax and tire cleaner and rags. Head back and wash the truck and start the elbow grease of waxing. Myself, my husband, my son, and my daughter dig in. At least we could pull the truck into a garage and be in the shade for the waxing part. WHAT???? This is vacation and don't forget the balmy 104 degrees!!! Okay stop take a breath realize hey my family is altogether for the first time in months and accomplishing something 'together' and spending precious time 'together'. This is a blessing and it was temporarily disguised as a chore. Thank heavens it was one time I realized in the moment that blessings come in all sorts of ways. I actually enjoyed being together in that garage and talking and complaining and just plain spending time together. See if you can find disguised blessings in your day! Isn't the truck shiny!!! (I wonder if it 'still' is...)
I so wanted to see those famous Texas Longhorns and this is what I got instead. These longhorns were in downtown Dallas at Pioneer Plaza. What a sight! Maybe next time I can help round up some of these big boys. Learn more about the longhorn statues by going here - http://www.durangotexas.com/eyesontexas/dallas/pioneerplazadallas.htm
The Sixth Floor museum. Check out the window on the far right on the sixth floor. From this window Lee Harvey Oswald shot the president. This is the Texas School Book Depository and today it's the Dallas County Administration building. The sixth floor has been set aside as a museum to the events surrounding the assination of President John F. Kennedy. http://www.jfk.org/ We enjoyed going back in time and learning about this significant even in the United States' history. Sad to say this was the only tourist attraction we were able to fit into our busy days.
The old Dallas County Courthouse at Dealey Plaza taken from the Grassy Knoll.
This is Reunion Tower and the Hyatt Regency in downtown Dallas. Impressive!
We spent five great HOT HOT HOT days in McKinney, Texas. The temperatures reached 108 degrees on one of the days. I think I'm still sweating! All in all we had a great time. Got to spend time with my son and watch him and his team the McKinney Marshalls play some ball. Thank heavens the games didn't start till the evening when it was nicer to be outside.
These little guys were racing aroung the bases between innings. We rooted for #40 and he won!! There was a little boys birthday party this evening and were they ever acting like little boys! It brought back a lot of memories.
My little (now a big 6'5'') boy pitched while we were there. Yeah. As a pitcher you never can predict when you'll be in or out. --Any given day! My daughter loved this picture because of the corn field out in right field. Remember the saying...Build it and they will come....
I never can tell if his pitches are going to be a fast ball, curve ball, or his famous slider. The one thing I do know is I wouldn't stand in there to bat it or catch it at 90+ m.p.h.
A big thanks goes out to the host families who take these boys into their homes over the Summer. Thankfully he is with a great couple who also love baseball and were orginally from our home state of Pennsylvania. I feel blessed that he landed in the right place. I know at 20 years old that I wouldn't have been brave enough to go on my own so far from home with strangers. McKinney was a beautiful town. It is growing rapidly but I hope it keeps it's charm. A fellow blogger from McKinney has also blogged about the McKinney Marshalls. Check out his blog at http://mckinneydailyphoto.blogspot.com/ I've followed his blog since I learned this is where my son was headed over the Summer. Low and behold we both were at the same game and didn't realize it. He captured a great shot of my son and he even got a snapshot of my daughter and I in the crowd. Somehow my husband escaped the picture. I looked around at photographers at the game thinking maybe...but somehow must have been engrossed in the game and never realized he was there till I got back home. Thanks to him for blogging on the Marshalls!! I do believe in the song It's a Small World After all!!!! 