Liam and Gibson: A Denton Jaunt

Saturday, we decided to get out of town and head to the far north reaches of DFW, Denton. We had planned to go six months ago as something to do on our anniversary, but apparently something else came up.

The weather around here has been reasonable the past couple of weeks, so we decided to go since it wouldn't be SCORCHING hot. It was still hot, but not melt-yo-face hot.

Getting on the road later than planned (quite typical for us), we made it to Denton in less than an hour. It no longer felt sooo far away. Our first stop was to be Seven Mile Cafe, since they had lots of veggie options. It's a popular place, and upon arriving, we were told it was a 40 minute wait. So, we strapped Liam in the stroller and walked across the street to Cupboard Natural Foods to kill some time (and having to wrangle Liam for 40 minutes sounded like torture). I set an alarm on my phone (to not lose track of time), and we perused the aisles of the small, delightful store. It smelled JUST like the Olde Wheat Barn!

We headed back to the restaurant after only 30 minutes, but we had been skipped over already, so we still had to wait. Since the restaurant is a small, old house, the waiting area was outside. Of course, Liam wanted to walk around. I can't say it's the best decision I ever made, but I put his shoes on him, and off he went. Will was doing the wrangling, and very quickly it turned into "Keep Liam from walking out into the street." Will had to pick him up to keep him from doing so, and then the screaming and back arching and all out fit-throwing ensued. In front of other people! I try not to get too embarrassed and hope other people (especially those with kids) can sympathize. One guy waiting with his family said he had two boys who used to be the same way. He was getting a kick out of it. Then, of course Liam kept wanting to head out to the street because, since he was banned from going there, it must be the best place ever. More scene-making and disrupting other peoples' meals ensued because there were a couple of tables outside. Finally, Will had enough and took him to the car and told me we were leaving. He put Liam in his car seat and Liam was just bawling. I told them both to calm down, and we gave Liam some water and a snack. He stopped crying, and once we had our wits about us, we went back into the restaurant, this time standing inside (even though it was crowded) and holding Liam until we were seated. We got seated pretty quickly then because I think we were in the way. Liam was perfectly behaved during the meal, staring and smiling at a lady sitting behind him. He had no interest in the sandwich I brought for him, but he ate crackers (I didn't care how many he ate as long as he wasn't causing a scene) and helped me eat my tofu scramble with avocado and hashbrowns. It was a delicious meal, and I'm so glad we didn't leave!

After that, we drove around Denton's courthouse square (way cooler than Homer's), and then drove around the UNT campus, but not without first driving around TWU because we thought it was UNT! During this time, Liam snoozed. We saw lots of college kids moving into their dorms and drove through some of the neighborhoods. I liked Denton; it seemed like a larger version of Ruston.

After Liam woke up, we went into a music shop because Will and I thought they might have guitars. Nope, just endless sheet music. A nice older lady was working there, and she told me I had a beautiful...child. I guess Liam is looking rather ambiguous these days. We still haven't made a decision about his hair. I don't want to cut the back yet because, once we do, those baby curls will be gone forever. And the swoop does get in his eyes, but if we power through it, eventually it'll go behind his ears, and he can get a haircut that doesn't have bangs. We'll see. Right now, I think we're just going to leave it alone.

We then drove around the square several times looking for a parking spot. They are hard to come by there! We ended up parking just off the square in front of Denton Square Donuts, so we went inside. They call what they sell a donut, but it's really a square puff pastry with toppings. It was good, but not a donut! Then we set off walking around the square.

Our first stop was a pawn and musical instrument shop. Will looked around for a little bit, and we ended up buying Liam his first pawn shop musical instrument...a plastic egg shaker maraca! He actually held on to that thing for a long time, and didn't let go until our next stop on the square, Beth Marie's ice cream shop. Neither of us really wanted anything, but I wanted to go inside since it looks like an old timey ice cream shop and soda fountain. We ended up getting some mango sorbet to split. Liam wasn't interested in it, but we finally got him to taste it, and he made a pretty funny face. I somehow captured it in a picture below.

We walked around the whole square, then headed home. We were all tired. It was a nice little day trip to Denton!