Vacation Part 2 - Sea World

We made our annual trip to Sea World...in the rain. It was actually kind of nice because it kept us cool. It wasn't a constant rain so it really wasn't bad. We usually stay for a few hours and are ready to leave. This year we rode together with Mike & Traci and we stayed ALL DAY! We saw lots of shows, rode rides, had lunch, and checked out all of the exhibits. Ethan had a list of things he wanted to see: Shamu, dolphins, sharks, and stinky penguins. We were in the right place for all of that!

Family picture at the entrance.

I was trying to get a picture of Ethan and Colton riding this by themselves but I didn't catch them. Ethan always has to ride this little roller coaster. Maybe next year Caleb will be big enough!

Hanging out with Shamu before the show. Ethan was in awe! He LOVES hugging the giant characters and giving them high 5's.

Trying to hug the Shamu outside of the Shamu show.

I love this little face!

I know his eyes are weird in this pic but look at his hands. At the beginning of the Shamu show, he was scared from all the loud music and people cheering so he kept a hand on each of our laps. So cute!

A little too loud...

Shamu! I think I have the exact same pic from last year. The show was lame-o! The trainers never got in the water with the whales. They only stood at the sides of the tank and on the platforms and did hand motions for them to do tricks. It's like they're scared to get drowned or something... :-)

He found another one to hug!

Caleb thinks he's just as big as Ethan. I didn't get a good shot of the amount of ropes and climbing stuff he went through...with Mommy behind him of course. I was exhausted!!

Ahh...what a nice group picture. Not really.

Ethan feeding the dolphins. This one was really friendly. Ethan got to touch him. I can't believe Ethan held those slimey fish to feed him. Yuck!

This was really cool and something we hadn't done before. We were looking for sharks and arrived just in time for the feeding of the sting rays! That guy in the tank had a special microphone in his mask so he could talk while feeding the fish. I think I enjoyed it more than the kids did.

He got swarmed by fish and sting rays...brave guy!

Poor Mommy trying to get a shot with her boys.

Ethan outside the "stinky penguins" as we call them. Every year Ethan and I go in without Mondo. He doesn't like the stench. It really is strange that the penguins are enclosed behind all of that glass yet it STINKS in there like dead fish. And the exhibit sucks. It's all dark and gloomy. I'd hate to be a penguin living at Sea World!

This was probably the coolest part of the day. We went into a new exhibit about preserving wildlife and saw this giant python. You could have your picture taken with it for the bargain price of $19.95. I chose to sneak my camera in from a weird angle and take one for free. It's not the best but you can still see him. He was not scared at all...he was so excited! He gave a big thumbs up when he was done.

Poor Caleb couldn't make it through the day without a nap. He missed Ethan holding the snake. I looked down and found him passed out. I parked him under an air vent in the arcade and let him sleep. Poor little critter.

Mondo rode this...twice! I rode it several years ago before we had kids. I really hate that I have such bad motion sickness. I can't ride roller coasters anymore.

Mondo and Ethan rode the log ride. We were so excited that he got over his fear of the unknown and tried it. He loved it! He's such a weirdo. He doesn't like to be wet unless he's in a pool. It took a lot of convincing that he wouldn't get drenched.

There they are at the top!

Here's a video of them coming down. I didn't get them from the top because I wasn't sure it was them at first.

San Antonio Vacation Part 1

We had such a great time on our vacation to San Antonio last year that we decided to make it an annual event! We stayed at the Hyatt Wild Oak Ranch again and went to Sea World. (The Sea World part will be in another post.) We drove down on Sunday morning and came back Wednesday afternoon. It was definitely easier than last year with Caleb. He wasn't into so much mischief and he can talk. The only bad part was that I was sick with a cold/sinus infection. It started the day before we left. I lived on Sudafed, Benadryl, and Ibuprofin the whole time. The worst part was that Caleb got sick the last night. He was coughing and had a runny nose. Poor baby. Good thing Daddy was smart enough to pack all of the kid's meds. Enough talk, gotta get to all of these pics!

We had to stop at McDonald's on the way there but the kids ate in the car. Caleb looked so big eating his "chicken nunnets" in his car seat.

Ethan is a professional at eating in the car!

This was when we first got there. We didn't even know that the boys had matching tops. They look like they're the same age but Carson is about 9 months younger than Caleb.

Ethan wanted to swim and was not in the mood for a photo op. Caleb tried to make him laugh. He was not amused.

Finally...swim time!

Ethan got brave and went down the big slide...with his life jacket. He doesn't like slides that dump you out in the middle of the water. I don't blame him. I was glad he had the jacket on.

Caught him in mid jump!

Caleb is my water baby! He got so confident that he would jump in if you were ready or not. That's Mondo throwing him in the air.

No, he really didn't go down that super fast slide. Mondo just held him in the end of it.

We brought plenty of "guys" to play with.

The dad's gave all 4 boys a bath together the first night...that only happened once. :-)

All tuckered out. The room was actually pitch black and I couldn't tell where Ethan was sleeping. I took this pic and saw that Ethan and Colton were all snuggled together in the middle of the bed. How cute are they?!

This was the next morning. Poor Caleb wanted to sleep with the big kids too.

"This is taking forever!" Waiting to see if the rain will clear so we can go swim.

Unfortunatly, it was stormy on the second morning and the kids had to stay out of the pool for about 30 minutes. At least there was the splashy cactus...and Tyler showed up!!

I took the opportunity to take a couple of pics of the inside pool. So beautiful!

Another view of the inside pool.

Walking down to meet Ethan and Daddy at the "beach" and lazy river. His face was excited to see Bubba! He's saying, "there he is!"

I actually took this from across the river. Ethan and Mondo were in the hot tub.

Caleb kept his life jacket on for a few minutes then was done with it for the rest of the trip. He still can't float upright in it.

Lounging with Daddy in the hammock.

He's actually pouting in this pic because he wanted some kid's big shovel and he only had a little one.

The boys building a sand castle...or maybe they just destroyed the one Mike built.

The hotel has a really cool firepit area for smores. There are 4 little sitting areas on the sides and one big one in the middle. The boys always look forward to this.

Cooking marshmallows.

Caleb was really into it. He kept saying "I do it!" but he was freaking me out!

We used the beautiful garden areas for some photo ops.

That one was pretty cute. Caleb is wearing Ethan's old shirt. :-(

This was their "are we done with all the pics yet???" face.

Finally...video games!

Caleb always finds something to climb!

Boys and their shooting games!

Here's a short clip of Ethan jumping in the pool and swimming.