San Antonio Friends & Family Vacay 2010

Last year when we went on our adults only vacation with our good friends The Perronis and The McKinneys we decided that since we had so much fun we would continue the tradition each year with one minor twist. Every other year we would include the kids. So this year marked our first annual trip with children to San Antonio. We used the website VRBO(vacation rental by owner) and rented a house minutes from the Riverwalk and not too far from Sea World. We opted for a house instead of a hotel to save money and so that the adults could hang out after the kids went to bed and this proved to be a great idea.

We arrived in San Antonio on Thursday afternoon and the house was perfect. Plenty of room and plenty of places to sleep which was important since there were 14 of us. We headed right away to the Riverwalk and took a barge with all the kids in tow. It was a neat ride but ultra hot. We ate at Rio Rio and after dinner decided meals would need to be a little more low key the rest of the trip as it got a little crazy with the kiddos.

Here is the gang on the river barge..Hudson peeking out in the back then Hannah, Morgan, Abigail, Isabella, Kate, Mallory and Case on the left
Above the girls at River Center Mall

After the River we were all pretty tired so we hung out for a while then turned it in since we were going to Sea World the next day.

Day 1: Sea World Adventure Park

Day One at Sea World: Kate(7), Hud(5), Abigail(5), Mallory(5), Bella(almost 3), Hannah(3) and Morgan(3)
This was Case most of the time at Sea World- hot and sleeping! He was such a trooper the entire trip.
I think one of my favorite things from the trip is Morgan kept calling Shamu, shampoo. Over and over she wanted to ride the Shampoo roller coaster again and see Shampoo- she even got a stuffed animal before we left and named it Shampoo
Shamu doing a flip- I had seen "Believe" the Shamu show when it first came out a few years ago and unfortunately this time it was not nearly as good. The trainers are no longer in the water with the whales and the show was only about 20 minutes. I know the changes were for the safety of the trainers but it was a little disappointing. Luckily the kids still thought it was great.
We happened upon the dolphin feeding pool at a time when there were no lines and we were able to feed the dolphins some fish. I think this was probably the kids favorite of the day. Above is Morgan with the dolphin.
Mallory petting her dolphin. She picked the dolphin stuffed animal when we left and named her Crystal.
Morgan wanted a picture with Shampoo

After leaving Sea World, we ate with the kiddos at IHOP- this was a lot calmer than the night before due to everyone's exhaustion. When we got back to the house we put the kids down and the adults played Pictionary. Lonnie and I always refer to pictionary as divorcinary and it was a girls vs. guys show down once again. And who would prevail??? The Ladies of course. We whooped em! On a side note, when we got back from vacay I had lost a pound. I will attribute this to the thousands of calories I must have burned from laughing on Friday and Saturday night. Seth could be one of the funniest people I have ever been around, a total knucklechin!!

Day 2: Sea World Lost Lagoon Water Park

We decided Thursday night that we would do two days at Sea World. This was brave of us! Just kidding. The kids were great on Friday and we thought trying to combine the water park and shows would be just too much for one day. So Saturday morning we woke up, drenched the kids and ourselves in suntan lotion and headed for the Lost Lagoon. The entire day was a lot of fun and they had so much to offer the kids- big slides, small slides, splash pad, wave pool, lazy river, tube rides, etc...The only negative was the heat and keeping track of all the little ones. Luckily about two hours in Paige found a shady spot so we relocated our stuff and were able to make it a little longer. Case once again snoozed when he wasn't taking a dip and was along for the ride.

Morgan and Bella striking a pose- matching suits that weren't even planned!
Hannah, Morgan and Bella
Surfer Case- he looks so grown up to me here
The gang minus Case
I loved this pic of Morgan so I had to include.

When we had all had enough sun and meltdowns(really there were very few) we left the park. We somehow found a Freebirds which made my tummy very happy and ate that on the way home. When the kids went to bed, the ladies made a run to Marble Slab for an early Father's Day present. We ended the evening playing Apples to Apples and Catch Phrase and had a blast. Earlier in the weekend I had filmed Case flipping over because that is his new trick whenever I put him on his tummy.

I will have to say all in all this family vacation was a great one. It was amazing to me how well the kids played together and how well they did at Sea World. We are so lucky to have such great friends and their families and I can't reiterate enough how blessed we feel to have them in our lives. We love you guys!

Next vacation minus kids: Kentucky Derby 2011!! (right now this is the plan and I so hope it works out because this one is on my bucket list)