Our Trip to San Antonio

Last Wednesday we made a trip down to Southern Texas for a little family vacation. We left once the kids woke up that morning. Kingston has a hard time sleeping anywhere other than his bed...needless to say he wasn't too happy come nap time...these faces were a common occurrence during the car rides on the trip.

 We made a few stops along the way. 

Our first stop was to the Bear Habitat in Waco. Unfortunately the bears were asleep in there caves so we didn't get to see them but through a glass.  The town and college campus was absolutely beautiful! 

 Eventually after a long battle, he gave in and slept for forty minutes!

 Next stop was in Austin at famous Gourdough's. 

When Stephen told me we were stopping at a place that made giant doughnuts I thought it would be a little doughnut shop, but it was a converted RV parked along side the road of busy down down Austin. 

 They have it pegged, these doughnuts were BIG and FAT, and they have some very interesting concoctions: bacon and jalapeno; graham cracker and chocolate just to name a few. Stephen said they were good, and it was a great little stop!

 They had these beautiful orange flowered bushes in Austin. I was in awe at the beauty the whole trip!

 Next up was a trip to the state capitol. We didn't stay long because our kids were tired and hungry, and we wanted to get to our hotel. It was neat to see, and Stephen got some nice pictures for his class.

 FIRE!

 We finally made it to our hotel in San Antonio. It was the perfect location right between Sea World and the River Walk. Taelee was soooo...excited to be staying there. She was absolutely exhausted, but she popped right up when got there! You would think that we had given her a shot of caffeine! She couldn't talk fast enough and couldn't touch enough. She kept saying "I am SO excited to be here in the hotel!" 

First thing was first - we made Kingston a nice little fortress in the corner so he couldn't see us in the room. It worked pretty well, and he slept his normal nightly schedule (lovely wake up time of 5:45 or 6, what happened to children sleeping in, even when they have had a late, busy, no nap day?!?!).

 Next morning was Sea World! We were all so excited to go somewhere we had never been before. I have been to the San Diego Sea World a few times so I was excited to compare.

We met Shamu and some penguin friends as we waited in line to get into the park.

 First stop was the dolphins! Taelee was able to feed them, and she loved it!

 Petting the dolphins reminded me of my sister Melissa, and I know she was there petting them with us! She LOVED Sea World and she LOVED the dolphins!

 Kingston LOVED the aquariums! He grunted and reached for all the fish, and was entranced by them!

 There is something about sea horses! They are so unique they almost don't seem real! 

I think they are absolutely amazing!!!

 I loved this picture of our little ones!

 Loving those fish!

 Our poor little Taelee had one of her little infections while we were there! There were times when she was in a lot of pain and had a good fever. She pushed through though, and had a really fun time! 

She especially loved the seal, dolphin, and Shamu shows.

 Sesame Street Bay of Play was her FAVORITE and was where we spent a lot of our time!

 They had fun little rides for her there and she LOVED them! She especially loved the Shamu roller coaster! She got a kick out of the ride that dropped you like an elevator!

 She was so excited to get to see all the friends from Sesame Street! She also got to meet Elmo, but we weren't able to take a picture.

 It was so nice to cool off in the splash park after a very hot day!

 Turns out that a very exhausted baby doesn't care for the splash park so much!

He really liked the furry characters though!!!

 We had never seen an alligator up so close before!

 This turtle was brave!

 They had a conservation area with different animals. Taelee was able to hold a large cockatoo! They didn't let us take a picture because they wanted the money to go towards their conservation efforts. We didn't want to spend 20 dollars on the picture they took, but her expression was so cute! She really enjoyed it!

 Last stop was the Shamu show. It was the last viewing of the show Believe. We were able to see a little baby Shamu which was really neat. Taelee LOVED this show, and loved watching the whales jump "high into the sky!" It's so amazing that they are able to train these animals like they do!

 The end to a very memorable day!

 The next day was Stephen's 28th Birthday! 

Before we headed home we went to the heart of San Antonio -The River Walk and The Alamo.

The River Walk was absolutely BEAUTIFUL! I was in Awe!

 We ate brunch at a ritzy restaurant along the river, definitely not something you get to do every day!

 Next came a boat ride on the river. Our tour guide gave us some great history on the river and San Antonio. It was very relaxing; so relaxing a miracle occurred that day...

 ...our son fell asleep!!!! He was absolutely exhausted! 

 Little Miss Taelee and her Birthday Daddy on the boat

 The birthday boy!

 Lastly was the Alamo...

 The grounds were absolutely BEAUTIFUL! 

Walking in you would have no idea that you were in the middle of the busy city!

 It was a long sleepy ride home! 

But, during the trip home Taelee learned to blow a bubble...

 ...and boy was she proud!

We are so grateful that Stephen has a job that allows us to spend the summer together! We were able to make some wonderful memories together those three days!