way up on cloud 9

for our last day in texas, MIL took us to see something fun - reunion tower, high atop the hyatt hotel in downtown dallas.

on our way there, we passed dealey plaza - the city-owned park that is best known as the location where JFK was assassinated.

inside the hotel, we purchased our admission tickets:

took a silly photo:

and headed up to the cafe for some lunch.

the tower is 561 feet tall, and has three floors - the observation deck, this casual dining area, and a more upscale, wolfgang puck-operated restaurant upstairs.  after ordering our food, we relaxed at a table on the floor that rotated around the tower's center, giving us a great 360-degree view of downtown dallas.

i was starving, so i was pretty excited for my pulled pork sandwich.

and because we had to, we shared the "celebration dessert," a concoction of chocolate mousse and chocolate cake inside a milk chocolate tower, served with toasted meringue clouds and fresh berries.

this is the bean's best "thinking chair" pose.

then we stepped out onto the observation deck to check things out.

from this vantage point, the book depository came into view.  if you look really closely, you can see the "x" painted on the street where the fatal shot found its target.

i took a turn at the binoculars and found the cotton bowl (which actually means nothing to me, but i was proud of myself for being able to take this picture).

a few obligatory group shots before we headed back down to ground level:

while we waited for the car to be brought around, we checked out the hall of historical photos.  i always like looking at stuff like this.

then it was back to the house to gather up our stuff and head back out on the road to love field to catch our plane home.

virgin america is my most favorite airline.  and this time, not only did we get the cool mood lighting, but the humidity or something in the air was causing the air conditioning to look like fog.  i guess you can't really see it here, so you'll just have to take my word for it - it was kinda nifty:

we'd been separated from the hub, who was sitting closer to the front of the plane.  i tried to use the onboard messaging center to say hi, but he wasn't having it - stuck in the middle between two officemates who kept up an ongoing conversation right over him, he just wanted to zone out and chill.

bye, texas!

and because she's just like her mother, the bean requested a snack box from the kids' menu.  and as she always does, she was more than happy to share the goodies with me.

i'm not sure when we'll make it out to texas again.  we definitely had a great visit with the ILs this time, though.  and if nothing else, at least the bean's "grandma camp" looks like it'll turn into an annual thing.  i'm excited for all of the fun memories they're going to create together as the years go by, and she's already looking forward to next summer.

which, of course, will be here before we know it.  yikes.