Hanging with Papa & New Words

Ok Blog Friends... it's been a relatively slow week and I've been trying to get caught up with housework and preparations for Little Man to get here possibly in just a few short weeks. The husband and I did get an awesome surprise on Monday when my Father-in-Law let us know his business trip in Ft. Worth was held over another night and he would have a few hours to spare. With most of Andrews family living out of state even a short bite to eat with any of them is an amazing treat!

Check out Dani Rae's Denton here.

 

He was asking about a seafood place in our neck of the woods and we hadn't found one yet, so my husband set to work locating something to fit the bill. He found Dani Rae's Gulf Coast Kitchen. I had seen the sign for Dani Rae's a number of times while driving around town running errands and had always tried to make a mental note for us to check it out at some point. Since we moved to North Texas from Houston, both of us were missing some good seafood and Cajun food that we had gotten used to having easy access to being near the gulf. My father-in-law agreed it sounded worth while to check out, so we made our arrangements to meet on Tuesday evening.

Our entire party ended up being in 3 different vehicles and we all arrived at varied times, the wait staff was amazingly accommodating even setting up our table and getting us a high chair while I was still waiting for my husband and father in law to arrive. Once everyone finally got to the restaurant we were seated immediately and our server wasted no time in getting us drinks and our appetizer. Now I'm not a fan of pickles, but my husband and father in law and heck even Gemma loved the fried pickles, the plate was devoured in no time.

The menu had a wide selection of seafood and Cajun inspired entrees, all of which sounded yummy. I selected the country fried steak, what can I say the little man in the belly loves him some beef, which had the nice twist of Andouille gravy. The mix of the steak and sausage paired with my chosen side of garlic mashed potatoes was delicious, and even with the big ol' belly I devoured every bite. Which needless to say these days is not an easy task, and requires the food to be really enticing! My husband ordered the Red Beans and Rice which had sausage in it, but also came with a beautiful piece of grilled sausage and some cornbread. My father in law ordered a seafood platter with a combo of fried shrimp and oysters. He keep saying how well the oysters were cooked, which I am not a fan of oysters (you will probably learn I am a slightly picky eater), but he said it can be hard to find oysters cooked properly. I tend to rely on my husband and his family's opinion since he grew up on the northern coast of Florida, and being from central Texas I'm definitely not as well versed.

All in all I would whole heartedly recommend checking out Dani Rae's Gulf Coast Kitchen. We thoroughly enjoyed the staff, décor and of course the food, and will be going back in the near future.

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So after Dinner, we decided to try and walk off some of our awesome meal, and ventured across the street to Barnes & Noble. Gemma of course went crazy in the kiddos section with Andrew and his dad in tow, she took her sweet time picking out a new book which Papa got for her. She loves picture books right now that have vivid pictures with simple words, which are awesome since she is picking up on new words by the second. She has literally spent hours already sitting in my lap turning the pages and asking me "What's that?" over and over. Better yet she repeats the words when I tell her, so we have officially added at least 3 new animal names in two days.

Check it out at Barnes & Noble by clicking here.

(Wanted to post an adorable picture of Gemma reading her new book but per usual the battery on my 4 year old camera died yet again. Cross your fingers I can convince the hubs to let me get a new one for when little man arrives!)

 

She already had the large version of this book, which she loves but it is still kind of large for her to handle on her own, so this smaller version is just perfect for her hands. I have a feeling I might need to go and pick up a few more of these small versions for her. Which is fine since these are quickly becoming a favorite of hers I will likely keep one in my bag for longer outings. She actually sat quietly in her stroller while flipping through it while I finished browsing at Barnes & Noble, of course I'll be honest it only worked for so long. But when you're two and its an hour past your normal bedtime nothing will keep you from getting a little restless at a certain point.

 

All in all a very good day, hope everybody is having a good week, till next time!