Trip to San Antonio, part 2

I hoped the kids would sleep in on Saturday morning after going to bed so late the night before, but of course they were all up by 7:30 playing! 

Andrew made us yummy pancakes for breakfast, we packed up, and headed to SeaWorld! 

We spent the day going around to as many shows as we could. First up was sea lions and otters.

Then of course killer whales.

We stopped for lunch and these cute kids were too cool for our table.

Harvey was being so cute and talkative. He was such an angel all day (as long as he was being held of course).

We took any opportunity we could to get in air conditioned areas. Definitely hung out with the penguins for a long time even though the smell was atrocious.

We let the kids cool off in a splash pad too. Millie insisted she and Eva wear the same shirt and that I do her hair like Eva's. She sure looks up to her sweet cousin!

And Max loves Leighton as much as ever, even though he says his name correctly now. Darn.

All in all we saw two sea lion and otter shows, two killer whale shows, and a dolphin and beluga whale show. The shark tanks were super cool too.

These kids spent several minutes trying to get a photo booth to work (without putting money in it of course). So I told them I'd take a picture for them.

It was just about the hottest day ever! We had so much fun. We arrived just after 10am and left at 5pm. We said goodbye to the Webbs and drove home from SeaWorld. I caught another sunset in the rearview mirror to close out the trip. We can't wait for our next family adventure!

Trip to San Antonio, part 1

We are trying to take advantage of Tyler's paternity leave and do some fun stuff! So last weekend we went to San Antonio. I felt a little bit guilty having Millie miss a day in her first week, but it was supposed to be her 3rd week when we planned it. We decided the hurricane had ruined enough fun and we were doing it anyway.

When Millie got off the bus we headed out. I got to sit in the back, thanks to this boy who would cry anytime he wasn't laughing. 

We were welcomed into the city with a beautiful sunset.

We stayed in a hotel downtown for one night which was super exciting for the kids. They loved riding the luggage cart up to our room.

Of course the beds had to be tested!

Even though it was late the kids had napped in the car and we hadn't eaten dinner, so we went out on the riverwalk after we dropped our stuff in the hotel. It was about 9pm and the riverwalk was hoppin!

We grabbed some chicken nuggets for the kids and brought them to Casa Rio where Tyler and I ate. It was the first restaurant to open on the riverwalk, back in 1946. Yummy Tex-Mex! Notice Max's cute hand. He spent the entire meal waving at every boat that went by (which was a lot). He got a lot of waves back and everyone was laughing and smiling at him. 

Everyone slept well and we were only slightly crazy at the hotel breakfast. Just one cup of orange juice was spilled and the kids had stickers all over their faces by the end of the meal. Par for the course.

We headed to the riverwalk again, and this time we were the only ones on it! Very different from the bustle the night before. 

After a few unsuccessful attempts we finally found a place that was open to get tickets for the boat tour on the San Antonio River!

It was such a fun tour and we learned a lot. The tour guide was funny and informative and the boat ride was so peaceful.

So peaceful in fact that Harvey fell asleep!

After the boat ride we walked over to the Alamo. Harvey stayed asleep the whole time. It was so hot and carrying his dead-asleep weight all over downtown San Antonio was the workout of a lifetime!

We rested a little bit before checking out of the hotel. The kids were so fascinated by television. We just use Netflix so they didn't understand the concept that we couldn't pause it and finish it later. Millie said once that she wanted to get back to the hotel so she didn't miss the shows haha. Luckily that was a fleeting thought and we were having much more fun out and about.

After checking out we grabbed some lunch and went to the San Antonio Missions National Park! I'd seen this church while looking up things to do in San Antonio and really wanted to check it out. We weren't sure we'd have time but were so glad it worked out. This mission, Mission Concepcion, was built in 1755! 

We learned that a mission was so much more than just a church, even though that's all that is left today. It was really a community with schools, shops, and people living in and around it.

This one in particular is still used for worship services each week. It was neat to see their chapel. The kids were instantly reverent and quiet which I so appreciated.

Max thought it was the coolest church ever! I thought we'd be dragging them through but they were so excited to check everything out.

Once we'd seen that we headed to the Webb's house! We were excited to see them. Their kids weren't quite home from school when we got there so our kids anxiously awaited their arrival.

Once they got there and settled in, Tyler and Leighton did some tae kwon do moves together.

We went to Kneaders for dinner. Yum!

Steph and Andrew were so nice to watch our kids while Tyler and I went to the temple. Our temple is closed for a while so we were especially glad to be able to go! Neither of us had been in the San Antonio temple before and it was so so beautiful. We enjoyed a session and then walked around to admire all the beautiful stained glass windows.

We went back to the Webb's and stayed up late talking with Steph and Andrew. Millie and Max had a hard time falling asleep (so exciting to be with cousins!) but we finally got them down around 10:30. Yikes. More San Antonio fun to come!

First days of school

We are finally in school! Millie started Monday, Sept. 11 after a 2-week delay thanks to the hurricane. She kept praying that no more schools would flood so she could "actually go to kindergarten." She was so excited! 

We were expecting the bus to be a little bit slow since it was the first day. We were out there and ready but our parting felt a little abrupt! I was determined to get a video so Tyler could see (he wasn't back from Utah yet) but of course I started the video when I thought I was ending it. Thankfully Sharon took these cute pictures.

I totally did cry when she left. Sharon was at the school and also sent me this pic of her at her desk, smiling and happy, which made me feel so much better.

It felt pretty weird to go on a walk with just my boys!

Millie had a great first day but was a little bummed they spent so much time going over rules. She was excited to get into the nitty gritty haha. She spent the rest of the day making up for all the headstands and handstands she can't do at school. 

The next day was Max's first day of preschool! Also my first day as his preschool teacher. I spent the morning frantically trying to finish everything.

Max didn't seem too nervous but he protested when Tyler "dropped him off" in the preschool room haha. The number of kids made him nervous for a second I guess. But he was fine after a second.

We had a great first day! It definitely wore both of us out.

And this was his "school picture" that we took during outside play. What a handsome boy.

And my favorite part of the day was when Millie came home and the big kids sat down with a cookie and were so excited to tell each other about their days. So sweet.