San Antonio: Close to My Heart

San Antonio is close to my heart, for many reasons. When I was younger, my parents would take long weekends and drive down to San Antonio. Often, I tagged along with them. It was fun to spend the time with my parents, we ate well, and often, shopped! These days, I still love San Antonio for all of those reasons, and because it's also the home of my dear friend whom I've known since I was in junior high. When we decided to go to Sea World, I also wanted to take the kids down to the river walk. It's beautiful, and I've always loved the hustle and bustle of it...the shops you could walk through, the people watching, the food! And I wanted my kids to experience this as well. So we ventured down there and decided to take a tour of the river walk on one of the boats. I loved it! It was a little long to keep the kids attention for the entire time, but I enjoyed hearing about the history of the city, the river walk, the architecture and famous buildings along the way. And then we ate some Mexican food on the river: YUM! It was a really fun morning. After that, we visited my long-time friend, Jill, and her family. Jill always welcomes us into her home, feeds us, entertains us...it's a lot of fun. And Alex is convinced that her son is his cousin. Maybe not by blood, but in a way, he is most definitely family! So fun to see them and to catch up. Oh, and we were too busy chatting to take any pictures. Maybe next year. But here are a few pictures from on the river walk.

Sea World!

Sea World was fun, but hot! Neither Roger nor I had ever been, so we didn't really know what to expect. We managed to maneuver through the huge park and catch a few things here and there. The first thing we saw was a 3-D movie about pirates. It was the scary kind of 3-D, with things flying at you and your seat moving. Addison wasn't too impressed, but I think Roger and Alex enjoyed the show. Then we headed off to see SHAMU!The kids loved, loved the Shamu show! We sat in the auditorium for about 15 or 20 minutes before the show started. Luckily, we could watch the great whites swimming around. It was one of those shows that made you feel all warm and tingly all over. Really loved that. Then we braved the heat, ate lunch, and saw a few more exhibits. By that point, Alex was begging us to go swimming. So we went into one of the water areas that had a huge lazy river. Alex LOVED the lazy river...he was just tall enough that he could touch the bottom while keeping his head above water. By the time we finished swimming, it was 5 o'clock, and Roger and I were worn out! But I wouldn't leave without seeing the dolphins. And as luck would have it, we made it just in time to feed them! It was so fun to see the dolphins up close and personal. I really wanted to touch one, but I was too busy taking pictures. Next time, next time!

Like any thing in life, after your first time you learn what you'll do different the next time. And hopefully better! We're looking forward to going back again next year. Just maybe not in the middle of June! All in all, it was a really fun time.

Take Two

Last year, Roger and I wanted to take the kids down to Sea World San Antonio because he could get free tickets through the military. So we planned the trip, booked the hotel, read up on Sea World. Then, at the last minute, I decided to check to see the hours and guess what? Sea World was CLOSED the days we would be in San Antonio! I couldn't believe my luck! At the time, we were going down during the week, and Sea World was only open on the weekends. We made the best of our trip that time, but decided we'd try going to Sea World again this year. So Roger had some time off and we decided to give ol' Sea World another try.

We left on Father's Day Sunday. Roger loves breakfast at Cracker Barrel. And these days, he's not usually awake during breakfast time. So on our way out of town, we stopped and had Father's Day breakfast there. Then we hit the road to San Antonio. The drive was great. We stopped once for lunch in Round Rock and then cruised into San Antonio around 3 p.m. I was really quite pleasantly surprised at how uneventful the drive was...which I credit to the portable DVD player we hooked up for the kids. How did people survive road trips with children before portable DVD players? I mean, really, what did my parents do with four kids on road trips from Boston to Dallas, and back? Thank goodness for modern technology!

Toy Story 3 Premier

A couple weeks ago, we had the opportunity to see a private premier of Toy Story 3 a week before it was released. It was at an event for Snowball Express, a charity organization for the children of our fallen heroes. They do fun, happy events to help create new memories for these kids. Roger volunteered to help work the event because it was a pretty big event! It was very special to see these families coming together to see the movie. The families walked up a red carpet into the movie theater. I couldn't help but get a little emotional watching these families walk in, knowing every one have suffered an unimaginable loss. Every woman that walked in was a widow and a single mom. It really made me grateful to all the men and women who serve in our military.

On a lighter note, can I just say how much I love Pixar! I mean, I loved them before for making these incredible movies, like the Toy Story movies. But to allow a sneak preview for these families of what is probably going to be the highest grossing animated film this year...makes me love them even more! Fortunately because Roger volunteered at the event, he was allowed to bring myself and Alex and Addison to see the movie too. We had a fabulous time! It was so fun! Of course, we loved the movie too! More on that in another post.

Thanks to Pixar, Cinemark, and all the volunteers who made that event so special!

Itty Bitty Rabbits

Roger was in the back yard a couple weeks ago getting the grill fired up for hamburgers when he noticed this baby rabbit. Isn't it little! We've seen the adult rabbits for weeks. That night we noticed the babies, and then we found a nest under our pecan tree. So what do you do with baby rabbits in your back yard? Why feed them of course! We fed them carrots, lettuce, strawberries...everything a growing bunny would need. Unfortunately, we haven't seen hide nor hare of them in the last week or so. We either drove them off with all generous donations of food, or with Addison's constant attention. She was constantly out there looking at them, talking to them, poking in their nest. Whatever the reasons, hope they are happy and well. We enjoyed them while they were here.

Swim Lessons

Time is flying by! The end of June is nearly here...I can't believe it! It's been a fun, busy month. Kinda on a whim, I decided to enroll Alex in swim lessons at our gym. Roger and I had been talking about starting him in swim lessons, and lamenting a little that we hadn't taught him to swim already. So I looked into it and signed him up. I was so pleased with his lessons. His teacher was great...Alex really took to him. His class was small, two boys and two girls. It was Monday through Thursday for two weeks. So for those two weeks, we spent a lot of time at the gym and in the pools. Alex was nervous about taking swim lessons. He even prayed the night before he started that he wouldn't drown. I'm pleased to report that he indeed did NOT drown. And even really enjoyed the lessons. He's not swimming on his own yet. And we're starting another two weeks of lessons on July 5th. Hopefully, after this next round of lessons, he might be swimming solo.


One skill they worked on was the simple motion of using your arms. They told the kids to make big ice cream scoops in the water. Worked like a champ for my little ice cream eater!

Another skill they practiced was kicking. Here one of the teachers is splashing water up on the kids. This was to help them get used to having the water in their faces.

Alex is practicing floating on his back. He's still nervous in the water, but loves it. I'm hoping that nervousness will turn into confidence and he'll take off like a fish!

Slice of Summer

Wow! It's been crazy busy around here! Memorial Day came and went. My parents came and went. They moved this past Tuesday to Chicago. So we spent most of Memorial Day weekend visiting with them. It was fun to have a four day weekend with them before they made their way to the Midwest. Alex played his last t-ball game and had his t-ball end-of-season party. We had a bar-b-que with family. On Sunday, we enjoyed a nice family dinner after church. And Monday, ahhh Monday. My mom treated my sister and I to a pedicure. So fun and relaxing! While we were being pampered, my dad and brother graciously took all the kids bowling.

We met up with my brother and dad at the bowling alley. I found all of them playing this game...I thought this was a funny picture...all of them concentrating.

And my dad and my brother also had the chance to have a little fun despite being with all the kids!

One of Alex's prizes from the bowling alley was a blue ring pop. It turned his mouth blue, and then he proceeded to chase Addison around the house pretending to be a monster.

Wednesday, my sister offered to come over and watch Addison so Alex and I could go on a date. It was so fun! I very rarely get to do things outside of the house with just Alex. We had a great time at the dollar movie! We saw Kung Fu Panda, which neither one of us had seen before. And I couldn't help but get a little emotional while I was at the movie with him because he's growing up so fast.

This is Alex with his treat and his movie ticket. He was so excited because he's been asking me for months to go see a movie!

Thursday was Cadence's last day of school and he wanted to have an end of year party at Chuck E Cheese. So of course, we were all on board. My kids LOVE Chuck E Cheese. We had so much fun! We played games and ate pizza. Cadence also wanted to have cupcakes to celebrate the occasion, so Alex and I made cupcakes earlier in the day. It was also really fun to have Roger there with us all.
And the fun kept coming! We played at the mall on Friday...it's getting so hot here already! It was nice to have a morning indoors in the air conditioning. That night, we celebrated another end of year/birthday at a local park. Alex ran and played...so fun! Saturday, I took the kids to the pool for the first time. Alex was so excited to go swimming! He was jumping up and down, nearly squealing with delight. I wasn't sure how Addison was going to do in the water this year, but she loved it too. And Alex kept saying to me, "Thanks for taking me swimming, Mom!" It was so sweet! I'm hoping to get some pictures tomorrow of the kids swimming. The happiness on their faces is priceless! So summer is in full swing around here. And we're loving every minute of it!