Our Last Day in San Antonio

One of the fun things our hotel had was smore's making in the evening. The kids had a blast toasting their own marshmallows.

Mmmm...yummy! We ended our trip at the San Antonio Children's Museum. The kids had so much fun!

I don't really know how to describe the toy that Ben is playing with but you know the toy that has a whole bunch of sticks and if you press your hand or face in it, it leaves an imprint? I have know idea if that makes sense - but this thing Ben is playing with is a giant one! We had so much fun lifting the kids into it and getting their whole impression.
Tom peddling away on the bike, something about energy being expended...

Ben in the dentist office. He then preceded to put the brush in his mouth. Maybe that's where he got the virus from! (he got a virus as soon as we got back into town)

Can you see Ben in the truck? He's moving rocks! Elizabeth playing in a water table, rerouting the paths. The kids wanted to play in this bubble/water room forever!

Can you see the giant bubble around Elizabeth? This was the best! It was so fun making gigantic bubbles around everyone!

It was a great trip - the only one that we have been on as a family that wasn't to go visit family. We will have to do it again soon!

Sea World

We spent the entire day on Friday at Sea World. I hadn't been since high school - and it had been practically that long for Tom, so we were really looking forward to this day in San Antonio. I first had to explain to Elizabeth that we weren't going to be at an ocean. I think because cousin Cooper had just gotten back from his ocean trip, and we were going to see lots of ocean animals, she was expecting to see beaches and lots of water. Sorry to disappoint you Elizabeth! But she had a blast anyway.
This was Elizabeth's favorite thing of the day. Ben was unfortunately not tall enough to ride the roller coaster, but Tom and Elizabeth rode it 3 times. She would have done it all day if she had had the chance!

Enjoying ice cream at the end of a long day.

Checking out all the fish and coral. Ben was loving being so close up to the fish.

This was always my favorite - the dolphins. This was as close up as Elizabeth was going to get to the dolphins.

Ben was a little more brave and did all of the feeding of the dolphins. He did it so fast though - Tom could barely get a picture!

They started to practice the training of the dolphins and Tom and Ben got soaked! Ben didn't really appreciate that!

At Believe, watching Shamu and the other whales. Here's our bad story of the day. We were sitting in the metal stands, watching the show. Ben was sitting next to me and decided to slide off the seat. He kind of fell forward and hit his face on the seat in front of him. Long story short his tooth went through his lip! Ouch! Luckily it stopped bleeding pretty quickly but Ben and I had to miss half the show to track down some ice. I had to buy him his own Shamu to remind us of the story (and because I felt so sorry for him!)

Checking out the sea lions and seals before the show.

The kids each got rides on Tom so they could check out the alligators and turtles. Thank goodness for daddy - there was a ton of lifting this day - up and down to see the different animals.Finally, a ride Ben could go on! They loved going up and down on this one.

The giant rope wall. There's Tom at the top, the kids had a great time on this thing. I opted to stay at the bottom and take pictures.

We stayed all day, missed naps, and everyone stayed very happy - despite the lack of sleep. We were all exhausted at the end of the day and had an early night back at the hotel. The kids are ready to go back!

San Antonio - continued!

This is on the way home from the caverns, he was so tired he fell asleep in the middle of looking at his book!

We still were too early to check into our hotel so we decided to walk around the river walk and ended up getting ice cream. Ben was such a mess. Everyone looked at him as they walked by, laughing. It was pretty funny.

The resort we stayed at was great! It was the Hyatt Oak Ranch Resort - I would highly recommend it if you every head to San Antonio! Here the kids are in the kitchen, hanging out.

Our room was on the ground floor and out the back door there was a rock wall that the kids had fun climbing (and Ben actually didn't get hurt - shocker!)

There was a courtyard with pretty flowers that the kids had fun looking at.
The playground was so much fun! Covered in sand and tons to climb and play on.

Swinging together, about to fall asleep!

I didn't get any pictures of the pool or lazy river, I didn't want my camera to get ruined!
All in all we had a great time at the resort and if we had to do it all over again we would have spent a whole day there hanging out. There were tons of games to play, pools, etc...

We went to Sea World the next day. I'll post those tomorrow!

Our Trip to San Antonio

Natural Bridge Caverns

On the drive down to San Antonio we stopped at the Natural Bridge Caverns. Can you see the natural bridge?


Hanging out in front of the caverns, waiting for our tour.

Look at our little gymnast on the ledge.

Inside the cavern. It is a long walk...75 minutes. So it was still hard for Ben to walk through the cavern - so Tom ended up carrying him for most of it. It was actually a kind of hard walk because it was very steep and wet. But SO BEAUTIFUL!

They had benches throughout - yay! So we were hanging out listening to our guide.

All the stalactites/stalagmites - I wish they looked as good as they looked in person! Our guide said that it takes 100 years to grow one square inch. These were HUGE!

It was a great first stop on our San Antonio trip!

Getting Ready...

So, what do you do if you are so busy trying to pack, and can't get anything done because the kids keep talking, unpacking the packed suitcase, etc...

Good idea, don't you think?! :)

Maybe I'll bring a roll of tape for our car ride!

(why is it, when they look "weird" do they both look at the camera so easily?! When they are both cute, in their Easter outfits, they will NEVER look at the camera at the same time!!!)

I wanted to add this picture. I didn't know Tom had taken it. Elizabeth was very tired, about to take her nap, and he found her laying on the floor, sucking her fingers, admiring her new hospital. How funny is that?!

We're going to be out of town for the next few days to San Antonio (Sea World here we come!) so we hope you all have a good weekend!

Playgroup and Lunch with Friends

Today we had playgroup at a pottery place. We've been there before and made some fun things - so today I wanted a plate to display over our kitchen cabinets. I didn't get a finished picture, but it turned out cute! Afterwards we met my friend Allison, her daughter Emily, and Sophie for lunch. I taught kindergarten with both Allison and Sophie, so it was fun to get together to chat. (we missed you Joanne - our other teacher that made our team) Unfortunately I didn't get to chat much, I was busy watching my kids in the play area. They had been sitting a long time at the pottery place, then at lunch, so as soon as they were done eating we had to head right over to play.
Climbing in the play area.

Last night we were hanging outside, doing yard work, and our cousins came over (they live down the street.) They are playing "tag tails". The kids stick an animal belt around their waist with an animal tail off the back of it. The job is to run around and pull off the other kid's tails. As you can see they had a lot of fun running around!

We also painted with sidewalk paint. You can't tell, but the kids are covered in paint! The clothes came clean though - a miracle!

Elizabeth's New Bike

Now that the weather is getting nice, and it's staying light out later, I think we'll be doing lots of bike rides in the evenings. Elizabeth got a new bike for her birthday and it is so much easier for her to ride. On her old bike she got tired quickly, she had to peddle so fast, and didn't really move anywhere. So now I am constantly yelling at her to slow down. Ben still loves his little caterpillar. He rode it all the way to the cul-de-sac at the end of the street.

So fast!

Our big 4 year old.

Ben has some serious riding going on :)