Sea World '09

So back in February (or maybe before that) Sharon called me to see what time in May would be a good time for a family vacation. After much going back and forth and changing dates, we finally decided on a weekend in May for a trip to Sea World and a two night stay at the Hill Country Hyatt. So early Friday morning, Mama, Daddy Mike, Riley, Jace, Aunt Katie, Uncle Jordan, Mommy, Daddy, Cameron and Cade all packed in two cars and headed for San Antonio.

This was by far one of the best places for kiddos and I highly recommend this vacation to anyone with children. The Hill Country Hyatt is amazing with these wonderful pools, a lazy river, activities all throughout the day and so, so much more. Sharon and Mike hooked us up with a joining room complete with a living area and a balcony. The kiddos would run back and forth to each other's room which made sleep time in the morning slim to none!! (thank you Riley for knocking on our door over and over again at 7:00...we love you!) Sharon and Mike took a room for themselves at the end of the hallway, and as Katie said, I think it was planned!!

We got there Friday afternoon and after seeing the place, we decided to forgo naps for the day. The kids loved the pools and swam and swam and floated and floated... (you get the idea). Cade was a trooper and slept in his stroller the whole afternoon. After swimming for most of the afternoon, we headed to the lobby for some face painting! Cameron went with Shamu, Riley chose the ever popular A&M logo, and Jace, well, he chose the nice pink ice cream cone with sprinkles. His daddy was not too proud and his ice cream cone only lasted about an hour before it suspiciously disappeared!!

That night, we headed to a Mexican food restaurant for some yummy food and margaritas! Yes, even Sharon had a rita!! You go girl! The highlight of the evening was right before they served our dinner. Let me paint a picture for you...

Remember the no nap decision we made earlier? Well, we were paying for it now, so we decided to bring in the DVD player for a little movie during dinner! Many stares headed our way.
Then, Mike order an appetizer for the table. Guacamole, how simple is that? Well, all of sudden some man shows up at our table complete with all the guacamole fixin's. Many stares headed our way once again as we had a live guacamole demonstration at our table! Then, the best of all. During the quac making, the live mariachi band showed up at our table to serenade Josh for his 31st birthday!! I was laughing so hard I was crying!! Josh HATES and I mean HATES any kind of attention directed at him!! Sharon and Mike got him real good!!

Josh enjoying his serenade:

At this point the whole restaurant was staring. Yes, we were that table....Kids watching a movie at the table, live appetizer making at the table, and a live mariachi band in action!! This was one great night!!

After our entertaining dinner, we headed back to the hotel for smores on the beach!! I might of had two smores, but whose counting right? Daddy Mike helped the kiddos build a sand castle and we sat around and enjoyed the evening! What a great place to be!

The next morning, I dropped Cade off with my mom and grandma so that we could all go and enjoy Sea World. By 11:30, this is what we got to enjoy...

Cameron enjoying himself during the rain out:
Yes, that is rain. Lots of rain. So we sat inside a restaurant and tried to wait for the rain to pass. That didn't happen, so we made a run for it. This was fun with three toddlers!! We got back to the hotel, took some much needed naps, and luckily woke up to a cool breeze in the air and no rain...so we headed back to Sea World!! We practically had the whole park to ourselves and enjoyed seeing the dolphins, watching Shamu and riding the roller coasters.

Overall this was a great trip!! We are so lucky and thankful to Sharon and Mike for spoiling us with such a great vacation!! Hopefully this will continue each year...