Sea World Part 5

Tuesday was the last day of our vacation and we decided to hang out at the resort. Despite minor sunburns from the day before, we headed out to the "beach" - a man-made strip of sand next to the lazy river. When you're two and four, you don't care how big the beach is. Sand and water is always a fun combination.

They boys played in the sand all day and I watched from my beach chair. We had breakfast and played. Ate lunch and played. Went to dinner, came back and played some more. We swam, built sand castles, played on the playground, looked at butterflies, floated on the river, made new friends and ate more smores. It was a really fun day and a good end to our vacation.

The next day we headed home. It took us six hours and they screamed for most of it - again. But we made it. We also made some incredible memories from our first vacation as a family. I need some time before I can do it again, but I'm excited about all the vacations we are going to have in the future.

Sea World Part 4

It's 10:00 on Monday morning and we are at the Sea World gates, waiting for them to open. We get our stroller and head over to feed the sea lions. Luke was so brave. He grabbed that dead fish and threw it right in.

We saw the sea lion show, the dolphin show and the whale show. Everything was well done and we all enjoyed it. The whale show was our favorite because we were right there. We tried to pet the dolphins but they wouldn't cooperate.

Sea World also has water activities so we spent a lot of time at the splash pad and in the wave pool. The boys were scared at first because they've never seen waves. By the end they were getting into it and chasing the waves. I don't have pictures of any of this because we were having so much fun we forgot to take pictures.

We ended the day by visiting the penguin house where it was nice and cool. It was hot and we were worn out. We went through eight bottles of water, three lemon ices, one ice cream sundae and all of the snacks in my backpack. It was 5:30 when we headed back to the car. We were tired but happy. It was a great day and the boys still talk about it or reenact the shows almost every day.

But our vacation was not over yet. Tomorrow is part 5.

Sea World Part 3

So we get to the resort and I am impressed. Lemonade while you check in. A huge porch where I'll be having my coffee tomorrow. Trees we just don't have in Plano but I love so much.

We get there late in the afternoon, so after a bit of exploring, we decide to eat. I know it's 5:30, but we were hungry and it turns out the dining room was full of kids. I think part of the reason our vacation was so great is because the resort was so kid friendly. They had a buffet for me (of course I turned my back on my diet for the week) and a buffet for the kids. Theirs was so cute, about two feet tall and stocked with chicken nuggets and tater tots. It was such a big hit, they wanted to go back every day.

After dinner, we all went to the lazy river, which was part of the resort. Merk and Luke got in, Max sat on the side with me. Then they started their nightly smore-fest. Yes, everyone got a stick and a marshmallow and we made smores. It was incredible.

We turned in early (all of us because we have established that the boys won't sleep unless we all go to sleep) around 9:30. Sea World is tomorrow and we want to be fresh.

Tune in tomorrow for Part 4

Sea World Part 2

On Sunday, Lynn met us at the hotel and we went to a playground and the river. The boys were mesmerized by the river. They wanted to jump in right away, but soon discovered that it was COLD. Luke was more adventurous and he and Merk stayed in until they turned blue. Max stuck his feet in once and that was enough.

Max, Lynn and I spend most of our time eating snacks on the blanket. As I've said before, Max has a thing for naked people. Well, he was in heaven at the river. It was funny to watch people walk by and have Max announce that they were naked. I'm glad he's only two or we might have gotten beaten up.

Not to stay on the naked theme too long, but Max has a thing for Aunt Lynn. He has talked about her non-stop since we got home. She wore a bikini when we went to the river so many of the comments are about Lynn being naked. The other day she called and I put him on the phone. His exact words - "Hi Aunt Lynn, are you naked?" This may be what I remember most about him being two.

After lunch, we loaded up the car, said goodbye to Lynn and headed for San Antonio. We ran into another road closure and were delayed an hour. When we finally got there, we got out of the car and decided it was all worth it. The hotel wasn't a hotel at all, it was a resort. This is going to be good!!!!!

More tomorrow in Part 3.

Sea World - Part 1

We began our trip like every vacation I took with my family when I was growing up - late. We wanted to leave at 9:00, but it was 11:00 before we got on the road. It took us six hours to get to San Marcos due to road closures and potty stops. The drive was rough and the boys screamed for most of it. I'm kicking myself for not taking them on longer trips when they were infants. Now they hate being in the car for more than 30 minutes. It also turns out that Luke has a touch of motion sickness. Not fun!!!

We made it to Lynn's and had a great evening with her and Craig. They made an awesome dinner for us and we had fun catching up.

The boys had a great time playing in her back yard. They found rocks and sticks and bugs. Lynn was right behind them every step because it turns out she has a few scorpions in her yard. I'm glad I didn't know that until the end of the evening. They explored until it got dark and we had to go back to our hotel.

You would think that after such a busy day they would go right to sleep. No. It turns out that they were excited and couldn't sleep no matter how hard we tried to make the room dark and quiet. We finally had to go to bed with them to get them to calm down. All in all it was a good day and we were looking forward to Sunday when we would meet Lynn and go to the river.

Tune in tomorrow for Part 2.

On Our Way

Tomorrow's the big day. We're taking our first big family road trip to San Antonio. We'll stop off at Lynn's in San Marcos and spend Saturday and Sunday. Then we're off to spend two days at Sea World.

The boys are so excited they can't stand it. I'm already tired because I've been planning, packing, baking and doing laundry for the past 5 days. I'm also nervous about the logistics of the 5 hour drive and trying to sleep all together in a hotel room. I'm going to try not to sweat it and have fun.

I'll catch you up next week on our adventure. Wish us luck and pray for us!!!

Naked

Max has an obsession with naked. He loves being naked. He loves hugging his brother with he’s naked and he loves naked people.

If he sees a girl in a bathing suit, I hear, “That guy’s naked.”

Any man without a shirt on – naked.

Last night it was almost impossible to read the Bible to him. He kept going back to the beginning before Adam and Eve got clothes. Naked. Naked.

Oh Max, just wait. It gets so much better than pictures of Adam and Eve in the Children’s Bible.