June 3, 2016

Whew, it's SUMMER!

Francis finished his test last Friday and after lunch, we packed up the car and headed to San Antonio. We had a celebratory dinner at Cracker Barrel for surviving the week. It had been a crazy week. The boys liked Cracker Barrel and rocked in the chairs and played checkers after we ate. We got to the hotel with plenty of time to get situated and go to bed on time. Too bad the boys wanted to stay up in their bed for what seemed like forever! We finally got all the kids down and I got to enjoy a little Disney Channel (something I've been missing since cutting cable) and just relax.

We got up Saturday morning and had lunch with  my in-laws, Cyndy, Chris and Abby, who had all arrived during the night. The kids were so happy to see everyone! We ate, changed into swim suits and headed to Sea World. Turns out with a season pass you can get into Aquatica 30 minutes early, so we basically had the park to ourselves for the first 45 minutes or so. Francis and I took Robert on a ride (stingray Falls) which he did not much enjoy until the end when he actually got to see the stingrays. William was likewise hesitant, but later on in the day grandad and I got him to ride on a tube ride. We got William to ride Stingray Falls the following morning and he then wanted to ride it like a zillion times. I'm glad he finally tried it! Hannah loved the water in the baby area and even loved the wave pool where Francis would lift her over the waves. Good times. After lunch and an afternoon in Aquatica (where I was able to ride almost all the rides while we took turns watching the kids), we all headed over to the main part of the park. We had dinner, saw a show and the kids rode some rides before the weather started to look questionable on the radar. We went back to the hotel where the weather took a turn for the worst overnight. The thunder and lightening were overpowering and the rain was a wall of water. I was so glad to be safe and dry.

By the morning the storm had cleared an we had another crack at Aquatica. We had lunch over in the main part of Sea World, followed by the Shamu show and the dolphin/beluga Whale show (Azul). the boys and Abby then wanted to go to Discovery pointe (the new area), so we walked over there and saw the dolphins, fish and sharks. The adults were tired so we called it, heading back to the hotel to shower and get ready for dinner. we ate at Johnny Carino's in honor of Cyndy's birthday and then ate frozen custard at Freddy's/ Happy Birthday Cyndy! It was a good Sunday, but the boy asked why we didn't go to church that morning (great question!) so we had church in our hotel room before bed. That made it a great Sunday.

Monday morning we hung out at the hotel. Cyndy opened the gift we got her, but then we all had to say goodbye. The boys were teary-eyed having to say goodbye to Nana, Grandad and Abby, but we promised we'd see them again in less than a week. That made it not so hard. On the way out of town, a bit of whimsy caught me. "Let's do something spontaneous!" I said. Francis looked at me strangely. "Like what?" he asked. "I don't know. We are already here. Let's go to the Alamo!" And you know what? We did. We parked and walked to the Alamo. The line to get into the small part was 3 hours long, but the compound was open so we went into the museum, saw all the cannons and swords, watched a movie and generally learned the history of the Alamo. As it was Memorial Day it was a perfect lead in to talk about what Memorial Day is. The boys enjoyed it. William left saying, "mommy that was so much information, but it was fun!" We had lunch on the riverwalk before heading home. Yay for being spontaneous.

Tuesday through today I have been unpacking, cleaning and repacking for our trip to Dallas this week. It will be fun, but I'm not looking forward to the drive. Praying for God's provision. Wednesday we went to the library and stumbled upon Summer reading sign up. All the kids are now signed up for the reading program. It just asks you to read once every day, something we already do, except now the kids will get a prize at the end. Win-win. Today we went to Play group at a nearby park. I know Summer is here because by the end, I was burning up and it wasn't even noon. All the copious amounts of rain aren't helping because it is warm and muggy. Yuck. We will press on though and enjoy what the summer brings.

Till next time!