Spring Break 2019!

Well here goes my first attempt at a blog post. Recently I have been thinking back at all the good times we have had as a family over the years and realized we have not been keeping up on recording these memories. I was reading through Lydia's old posts and decided to restart the blog so that we can continue our family history for our kids to have and look back on when they are older. I don't have the wit or pizazz of my better half in writing so you'll have to bear with me a little. I also plan to go back in time and catch up on some of the bigger happenings in our life over the years we failed to record, hopefully I am up to the challenge. Maybe Lydia will chime in again once in while as well, she has the better sense of humor and flare for writing anyways.

Last Week was our kid's spring break and we had to get out and do something. There is no way I wanted to leave Lydia at home alone all week with the kids driving her nuts, so I was able to take a few days off and we hit the road to San Antonio for an adventure. You may be thinking to yourself "is 8 hours in a car followed by three nights in a hotel and long days of dragging kids around San Antonio really any better than staying cooped up in the house all week?" Great question, one that I had as well, but we decided to chance if for a family adventure. The last time we all went to San Antonio to Sea World was right after Adalie was baptized and we took Grandma and Grandpa with us, it was a blast and this trip often made me think back on my Dad since he was with us the last time we were there.
 
That was a few years ago now, but I was really looking forward to this trip as well. So we headed off on Wednesday morning, got up early packed and we were on the road. We made a little stop in Vidor to have lunch with Grandmama and Grandpa, they cooked hot dogs and hamburgers. We dropped off Cooper for a little adventure there and then we hit the road again. We reached our Hotel around 6 PM, got checked in and ordered some Domino's to the room for dinner. Got settled in and got ready for the adventure of day 1 in San Antonio.

Day 1: Lydia and I went back and forth as to what we should do on day 1. We wanted to go to the Alamo and River walk but wondered if it would be too boring for the kids and thought maybe we should just take them to the San Antonio zoo. Our kids always love the zoo and we do as well, however we couldn't pass up the Alamo and decided to teach our kids a little history, so we chose the Alamo and river walk.

Here are the kids in front of the Alamo. Cason by this time was in a bad mood and wouldn't take a picture with his brother and sister and Braylee was about done as well, that will teach me to take pictures at the end of the visit when everyone is done already. We had a great time though, besides a couple of hiccups with some fighting and not listening here and there. Kids seemed to enjoy it more than I thought they would and Cason had a lot of questions about what was going on with the war and the battle that happened here.
 


After the Alamo we walked down to the River Walk, however the kids didn't last long by this time. It didn't take long for them to begin whining that they were tired of walking, bored and wanted to go back to the Hotel to swim. I was so close to getting a nice German brawt wurst at one resteraunt, alas it just wasn't meant to be, we had to get out of there before the kids drove us off the edge! At least we got a couple decent pictures.

And then it was back to the hotel for the day (it was only 2PM...) but that's what the kids wanted, they were all about the pool at this point.


For the record I did get in the pool with them for about an hour, Lydia on the other hand chickened out and said it was too cold! Just sayin'. After the pool we took a trip to Olive Garden (the one place everyone in the family enjoys when we eat out). We went back to the hotel and watched a movie together and had some popcorn before bed.

Day 2: So on to day 2, the big day we were all waiting for, Sea World!


I really enjoy sea world, it has the rides of six flags (maybe not as many but still some pretty good ones) plus you can take a break and watch some fun shows in between. We all had a great time. Cason and Adalie were now big enough to go on all the rides in the park (Cason had to stand up straight and they measured him two or three times, but he passed). Brody could go on all but one (The Great White). And Braylee had a fun time in the kids area, plus got to go on the water rides (the one that is like a raft on the river and the one that goes straight down and splashes everywhere) She took full advantage of going on the "big kid ride" and went about 8 times, by the end of the day no one was there so her, Lydia and Brody just stayed on the ride over and over again while I took Cason and Adalie on the big roller coaster.


After Sea World we drove back part way towards Vidor stopping before Houston for the night to sleep, then continuing on the next morning to Grandmama and Grandpa's house where we stayed Saturday night and left Sunday to come home. Grandpa cooked some delicious beef stew and the missionaries were over for dinner. They taught a nice lesson on the importance of the Savior in God's plan for us, it was a nice way to end a long and exciting week. Then it was back to the grind come Monday, kids were back in school and I had a full day of clinic and surgery awaiting me at work. I'm glad we can get out and have these great trips together, at times on these trips when the car rides get long, or the fighting and bickering starts I wonder if it is all worth it, but I know the answer before I ask it because when I look back at these experiences I don't remember the fighting or the bad times, I only remember that we were together as a family, and I believe the kids will do the same. I hope that these times together, both the good and the bad only bring us closer together in the end. I love my crazy family, with all the noise, yelling and everything that comes with it and am happy to spend these times together on vacation, I wouldn't trade the time for all the money in the world. Already looking forward to our next crazy adventure!