Journey to Pridemore Pastures : Dallas - Part 1, the Stadium tour

Last weekend Ronnie and I had our first vacation since the girls were born - we spent a long weekend in Dallas, TX. For his 30th birthday in August I surprised him with tickets to the Cowboys/Bills game. A lot of people don't realize, but Ronnie lived in and around Dallas until he moved to Kentucky when he was 11 years old. I had never been to Texas but was super excited to go there for the first time! We had a busy weekend so I'm going to do two posts about this, to not leave anything out.
Lucky for us my mom and dad were able to take Friday/Monday off work and watch the girls. We had an early start. Our plane left Nashville at 8 a.m. Friday morning, so we were up bright and early (well...dark and early!) to head to Nashville. Travis even got up and rode to the airport with us and Dad...I think Dad bribed him with breakfast! Not gonna lie, I was a nervous wreck before our flight. Flying has never bothered me before, but this was the first time I'd flown since we've had the girls, and I was certain our plane was going to crash. I watched way too much September 11 anniversary coverage. :( Halfway through our flight I finally loosened up and began talking again. Seriously. I think I said maybe 5 words the entire morning before our flight...two of those being "oh no!" when Ronnie sat next to me at the airport with a plate full of greasy breakfast food that I was certain would make me throw up if I had to see it. He went somewhere else eat, ha ha. Once we got there we got our rental car (a beige Malibu, of all things!) and headed towards our hotel. We stayed at the Sheraton in Arlington. We were so excited when we pulled up and saw it sitting right next to both Cowboys Stadium and the beautiful park where the Texas Rangers play. We were giggling like little school girls! Check in time wasn't until 3 p.m., and it was only about 11:30 a.m., but they had a room ready so we were excited to be able to go on and get settled in. Our VIP tour of Cowboys Stadium was set for 2 p.m., so we went to a nearby Sonic and grabbed lunch, then went back to the hotel and began the walk to the stadium. The stadium is AMAZING. Even if you aren't a Cowboys fan, or even a football fan, if you are ever near Dallas you have to tour the stadium. I promise you will not be disappointed! We got there early so we hung out in the massive pro shop. It was huge, and they had any and everything Cowboys that you could imagine. Needless to say we were on cloud 9!
Finally it was time for our tour. We were so excited! They took us everywhere. We got to go inside Jerry Jones' suite on the 50 yard line where he watches the game. They gave us tons of information and fun facts about the stadium and how it all came together. While talking about the huge videoboard they told us several fun stories. One was about the Jonas Brothers. They were one of the first concerts to perform after the stadium opened. One of the things they requested was to play Halo 3 on the videoboard, so they got it all set up and the Jonas Brothers played Halo 3 on that huge screen. How funny! We went inside the Cheerleaders' locker room, and even the players locker room! They told us that the players lockers are made out of this rare, expensive type of wood from Africa (only Jerry Jones would do this...ha ha). It was so fun to be in the locker room, where we often see the players interviewed after games! After the locker room we were able to walk the same route the players do as they go from the locker room out onto the field. Then we were able to play on the field for like 30 minutes! Ronnie immediately slipped off his shoes to have his bare feet on the grass! We had lots of fun and took tons of pictures. According to their website, my camera wouldn't be allowed because the lens was too long, but thankfully no one said anything so I was able to take lots of pics with my new camera! Here are a few:

Texas Rangers park, how beautiful is that?!