Oh so much has gone on the past few weeks! First…Eli is crawling everywhere now. He also just learned how to clap and anytime you say “yeah” he smiles and starts clapping – it’s truly so cute.
We just returned from our first family vacation! We took the boys to Sea World on September 14th. They had an absolute blast….and so did we! I want to do a day by day recap of our vacation – mainly so I don’t forget anything.
Day 1: September 14 – Departure Day
We left our house after church around 9:30. Ben stayed home to get our stuff packed up and also to allow Eli to go to sleep on time. We were all packed up and hit the road right on time! Rewind 48 hours…. Ben woke up Monday morning with a stomach bug – he was home sick all day Monday. I left work early on Tuesday with the same stomach bug and was home all day Tuesday and Wednesday! We were praying hard the boys stayed well for the trip. Eli was fast asleep all the way there and Kevin fell asleep around 10:30. Both boys woke up when we pulled into the hotel around 1:30am on Thursday. Eli had just learned to crawl the weekend before our trip so the minute you put him down he’s everywhere. Kevin fell in love with the hotel room! He walked into every room admiring the kitchen, bedroom and bathroom. They both finally crashed around 3:30am!
Day 2: September 15 – Zoo Day
After our long drive and little sleep, Eli was wide awake at 7:00 Thursday morning! We were so excited to be on vacation – little sleep didn’t stop any of us from getting up and ready for breakfast. The breakfast at the hotel was very nice. Kevin enjoyed the pastries and waffles and Eli loved the yogurt. We finished up breakfast and headed to the San Antonio Zoo. It was amazing. Our favorite parts were the butterfly exhibit where lots of butterflies flew all around us and landed on the trees for us to see. We also enjoyed feeding the birds. A bunch of birds landed on Ben and one landed on Kevin’s head! It was so funny. Ben found a monkey friend too that was jumping up and down at the window “playing” with Ben. Kevin loved that!
We rested Thursday evening, ate dinner by the pool and did a little swimming. Although the day temps were in the 90s the water was still pretty cool in the evenings so only Kevin and Ben swam – too cold for the mama and Eli.
Day 3: September 16 – Sea World Day!
On Friday we spent the entire day at Sea World. We arrived at 10am, received free parking because the credit cards machines were down and made our way to the most memorable day! Our first stop were the dolphins. We got to feed them and pet them – that was the coolest thing ever! Kevin rode his first roller coaster – the Shamu kid coaster. He loved it and when it ended he immediately asked to ride it again. We saw the dolphin show and that was pretty cool. Of course the best was the Shamu show, Kevin loved getting soaked when Shamu splashed our section. I don’t think he knew what to think about it when it happened so he just laughed. There was a great little splash park that we got to enjoy – even Eli got out and splashed for a while. Kevin rode 2 more kid rides all by himself (his request, not ours!) and was such a big boy. We fed the dolphins two more times before we left (so mommy could feed them too and not just take pictures). It was a great day and something I know we’ll never forget. Our boys did amazing. No melt downs, no crying, no arguing….just a perfect day! I am so proud of them both. It was rough for little Eli being in the stroller all day and not taking his normal nap but he did great.
Day 4: September 17 – Alamo and museum day
On Saturday we decided it would be best to steer clear of Sea World (we originally purchased 2 day passes) because they were having a BMX day and hundreds of people on skateboards would be flooding the park. NO THANK YOU! So we visited the Alamo and did some other site seeing. We took Kevin to the Rain Forest Café on the Riverwalk for lunch – that was a cool experience! Lunch was great and again the boys did great. It rained off and on on Saturday so we decided to leave and visit a local museum that had a children’s museum. It allowed us to be in the air conditioning for a few hours and a baby area for Eli to stretch his legs! As soon as we were leaving it started to rain….hard! We made it back to the hotel in time for naps and relaxing. We didn’t do much that evening – got our bags packed and things in order. The boys crashed pretty early that night too.
Day 5: September 18 – Heading home
We left San Antonio around 10:00 Sunday morning and after a few stops, lunch, feed Eli, etc – we finally made it home around 3:30! It was great to be home! Kevin immediately picked up his Wii remote and played some baseball and Eli crawled all over the house! Loads of laundry awaited us but being home and in our own beds and routines was wonderful.
My most memorable moment was Kevin calling the hotel (Homewood Suite) the “chicken wait”. For a few days we would tell him we were heading back to the hotel and he would say “to the chicken wait?” We could not figure out what in the world he was talking about. Finally it hit me! The night we arrived at the hotel Ben took Kevin in to check in. I asked him what he told the guy at the hotel when he walked in. Ben’s response… “we’re here to CHECK IN LATE”. Kevin thought the name of the hotel was “the check in late” (chicken wait). We laughed so hard!!! He’s such a funny kid. I also enjoyed watching the boys play together in the hotel room and Kevin sharing his toys with Eli – most of the time – and Eli being adventurous crawling all over the hotel! I love my little family and this was a great vacation together. I look forward to many more in the years to come.
Pictures coming soon…..
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