Family Vacay - Part 1

This past weekend, we were so blessed to get to spend some time with my family in San Antonio. We met up with my parents, my sister and fam, and my brother and his wife for some fun in the sun and Sea World. It was so much fun to get to take some time all together and just play! Everyone was there for three nights and then our family stayed for two more nights for a little family time of our own. I took tons of pics....so get ready for some picture overload!! :) I am going to do this in two parts - I already tried to just do one big long post and it froze up my blogger acct so here is attempt #2 - The first part is of San Antonio and of our hotel. The second post is all things Sea World.

We started the trip with a visit to the Riverwalk. For as long as I can remember, everytime that my family has gone to SA, we have had dinner at Casa Rio on the riverwalk....yummy! It is was as good as usual. Kenna spent her time waiting for our food to arrive by trying to talk to one of the ducks. I'm pretty sure that was not on the list of approved activities! :) After dinner, we took a ride on the river boats - a Riverwalk must!

My 3 sweeties (or sweaties...it was so HOT!!)

Just thought this picture was funny. One night after bath time, I found Dane just hanging out on the stroller. I had kept the last half of Kenna's sandwich from dinner in case she wanted it before bed, but I guess Dane found it first....and made himself comfortable! This became his go-to seat. He loved it there! One afternoon, we actually got to enjoy a beautiful hard rain shower! This was the view out my hotel room door as Dane was napping. Not a bad way to spend the afternoon - sleeping baby, rain outside, and a good book (K and Daddy had been swimming)!

My kids absolutely loved the hotel where we stayed - it was a great vacation spot for families! Because of the rain, there was not much anyone could do outside so the hotel set up some indoor activities for the kids. Kenna was so proud of the necklace that she made with beads - and has worn it every day since!

Daddy and Dane hanging out in the lobby while Kenna and I were working on her necklace.

My brother making himself comfortable.

Our family picture - after it stopped raining for a little bit - a little humid outside!

The whole clan...too bad the girls aren't looking up! On the days that we were not at Sea World, we loved staying and playing at the pool. The hotel had a lazy river that was complete with a beach...my kids were in heaven! Dane would often make himself comfortable so that he could have a snack.

Family "train" led by Kenna down the lazy river. (Daddy was standing on the bridge)

Dane LOVED playing in the sand...even if Daddy was covering him up!

He thought it was so much fun that he decided to do it all by himself....

And what better way to end the day, then taking a two second walk across the sand to the fire pit and roasting marshmallows so that everyone can enjoy an evening s'more (one of Mommy's favorite parts....yum)

Definitely a fun place to stay and we were not really ready to leave. Keep reading for some Sea World Fun!

Family Vacay - Part 2

Because we stayed for a few more days, we were actual able to go to Sea World for 2 days. The first day we made it a big trip with everyone and then we took Kenna and Dane back to do a few more things after everyone had left. We were there to open the place on Monday. What a beautiful, cloudless (read HOT) morning! Kenna was all decked out and ready to go.

She was so excited to go see the "Dry Shamu" and all of his friends. She said that she could only hug this Shamu because the other one that lives in the ocean would get her all wet! (makes sense to me!)

We went straight over to the dolphin area to feed the dolphins.

I think Anson was ready to jump right in! :)

I wasn't sure what KBB would think about holding the "Fishies" but she actually just grabbed it and was ready to go!

Daddies, Daughters, and Dolphins

We then went to cool off in the air-conditioned aquarium. I couldn't believe how ready for the cool we were when it was not even 10:30 yet! :)

Dane loved looking at the fish....Kenna fell in love with the sting rays (who knew?) and has decided that she is going to act like a stingray when she is swimming. :)

Dane really enjoyed watching the sea lion/walrus show.....

...he was captivated!

Kenna's favorite show (and mine) was Azul - or as she describes it, the one with the jumping and diving and swimming and ladies. It was an amazing show that was full of beluga whales, dolphins, synchronized swimmers, synchronized divers (who dove off of 60 foot platforms - nuts!!!), birds, and much, much more. Very fun!

Unfortunately, Dane missed out on this show. He enjoyed his nap time on Poppy though!

And what trip to Sea World is complete without a visit to Shamu! This was Kenna's other fav....I just didn't take a lot of pictures because we were on the outer edge of the splash zone and I really didn't want my camera to get wet!

And Kenna and Abbye got to experience their very first roller coaster - the Shamu Express. They thought it was so much fun! (I didn't get the camera zoomed in time - I promise they are on there somewhere with their daddies!)

We decided to go back for a short time a few days later. There were several things in the toddler area that we did not get to do and our tickets actually allowed us in for a second day so we decided to take advantage of it!

Kenna and Daddy on the Carousel. Dane and I were sitting on the bench behind them. Both of my kids thought it was great!

We got off the carousel just in time for the Elmo show and Kenna LOVED it! She was so excited to see all of the characters (Dane was just chilling in the stroller).

She literally danced her way to the front so she could see!

They had some great toddler rides...

...and she had a blast on every single one of them!

So there you have it....way more pictures than most of you wanted to see, but not near as many as we took! What a fun vacation - Sea World and Swimming - it was a Toddler's dream vacation. :) Every morning Kenna would wake up and say "Is my vacation still on?" and as soon as we would say yes, she would start clapping and saying "goody, goody!" Just what a mommy wants to hear! :)

Time for pics!

Man, I have become such a slacker! How has it already been 2 weeks since I blogged!?!

Anyway, Daddy had to work on the 4th of July, so we took a family trip up to the station. I thought Kenna looked so cute looking out the window of the fire engine. I tried to get them to both smile for the camera, but Dane was too interested in climbing all around the inside of the engine. (Climbing is what he does best these days....that and collecting bruises from everything he falls off of as he is climbing!)

Lots of interesting things to look at and mess with!! The kids had a blast running up and down the long hall in the station. Thanks guys for putting up with the squealing...they were having fun!

Because of Daniel's work and travel schedule the last few weeks, Dane has had to spend some time with me and Miss K at gymnastics. He usually stays home with Daddy because he wants to participate soooo badly! It is a full time job to keep him from trying to run out onto the mats and joining in the class for which he is much too young. I finally gave in and let him play with the portable air conditioner just to keep him occupied. He LOVED it! I wish I would have gotten a better picture of his hair when he walked away....it was greatness!

Saturday afternoon, we were walking around the mall with my cousins who were in town. Kenna decided that she needed to try out the weight benches at Dick's Sporting Goods....a girl after her Daddy's heart!

Well, there are a few pictures of what we have been up to lately. Hopefully I will do better in the upcoming weeks!