San Antonio

We went to Austin on Saturday for a family baby shower in honor of my friend, Joni, so we thought we'd make a little trip out of it and head to San Antonio after the shower.  We had a great weekend, but naps did not happen, so my children were exhausted and cran-ky by early Sunday afternoon, which gave us some interesting moments at Sea World.  Fortunately, everyone's kids throw fits at Sea World.  It made it much less stressful for us knowing that there were at least 2 other screaming kids in the same vicinity as us during Hunter's many whining fits.

We were all really excited to get on the road for Austin on Saturday morning.  Hunter even posed for a picture on the way down...well, sort of posed...

After we checked into our hotel in San Antonio on Saturday, we got cleaned up and headed to the riverwalk for dinner.  It was already past the kids' regular dinner time, so we opted for the first Mexican restaurant we passed, and it turned out to be pretty good!

As you'll soon see, I didn't get the best pictures we've ever taken on this trip.  Partly because it was way higher on my priority list to manage Hunter's outbursts than to take pictures and partly because it's just becoming a beating to take pictures of my sweet children.  Anyone that comes around Hunter with a camera is quickly told that he does NOT want his picture taken, and Charlotte has developed a new disappearing skill where she runs or crawls out of camera shot nearly every time I take a picture.  This leaves me taking about 4 pictures for every shot I want.  I'm hoping this is short-lived.  I've actually started telling Hunter that when he's older and sees only pictures of Charlotte in our family albums, he's going to feel really sad.  Yes.  I've started the guilt-tripping alreadly.  Let's also hope that one is short-lived.

Here's the first photo failure of the trip...

 But I did get Hunter with a smile on his face, so I couldn't bring myself to delete it.  Maybe I should consider carrying around a bag of chips and some salsa with my camera.  Hunter always smiles when he sees that combo.  It's his favorite snack.

After dinner we quickly walked down the riverwalk where I realized how different it is to be there with your 2 kids than it is to be there with only adults.  The walkway is really narrow and there are a lot of people smoking.  Very stressful combo y'all.  I had to stop and try for another picture with sweet H to calm my heartrate down a little...

That would've actually made a great picture, but the flash helped us to see the huge water stain on Hunter's pants.  I promise that's not urine...he spilled James's cup of water at dinner:)

We finally made it to the elevator where there was no threat of drowning or developing lung cancer, so we were all smiles...

 ...but Charlotte was still insistent on avoiding the camera at all costs.  Clearly, trapping her in her stroller doesn't help make the perfect picture.  She'll just look away...

 Both times...

We finally made it back to the hotel, and after some Daylight Savings confusion, ended up at Sea World right when they opened at 12 on Sunday.  Our first stop was to feed the fish, turtles and alligators (who had zero interest in our fish food, even when we were able to land it right by his super sharp teeth).  Then we found this fun playground...

 Charlotte spent her entire time ruining her shoes on the slides...

And H ran all around, but his favorite thing was the little red microphones.  At least I think they were microphones?  Hunter thought they were showerheads, though.  He's really into imaginative play lately, and I heart it!

Outside of the Shamu Story show, we saw these flamingos, and thought it was a great photo op...

 Charlotte wasn't thrilled.  (It was waaaaaay past naptime at this point).

And photo #2 was even worse.

Hunter and I loved the Shamu shows.  Hunter actually loved all of the shows.  He had this look on his face the entire time...

 (Yes, my daughter is picking her nose in that picture.  Constant battle y'all.  She either has her finger up her own or someone else's nose.) 

After the shows were over, Hunter would smile really big and say, "That was so fun!" 

I was really moved by the Killer Whales.  Y'all know I don't want animals anywhere near my house, but I do have a heart to love them...just from a distance.  These animals are so beautiful.  It was amazing to watch them...

 And they always posed perfectly for my pictures:)

Charlotte was not so fond of the shows.  She'd usually last 5-10 minutes, and then one of us would take her out so she could walk around...

Toward the end of the day, this sweet family offered to take a picture of us, so of course we took them up on it.  I think the picture is perfect for the day...

We really did have a great time!  I love those 3 people more than anything and can't wait for our next trip together!