More Sea World

After 2 days of relaxing in Bandera & playing in the waterpark, we headed back to San Antonio for one more day of Sea World.  The only show we missed the first time was the Sea Lion show.  That show is always pretty funny and this one actually had a really cute story line that went with it.

After the show, we headed to the where they keep & feed the sea lions.  For some reason in the past, we had always missed this part.  This year we were delighted to see a mama sea lion with her baby cubs.

After this last show, we headed to the water park.  Majority of our time was spent jumping in the wave pool.  Even Alex enjoyed this a little more this year.  I tried, in vain, to get Riley to go down one big slide.  We stood in line and carried our tubes all the way to the top.  But as it became time to get on the ride, Riley freaked out.  The life guard came over and told me that I could not make him go down the ride.  I tried to explain to this young kid, who obviously does not have any kids, that in 5 feet he will be just fine and having lots of fun.  He didn't seem to care.  So Riley and I deposited our tubes at the top, and walked the walk of shame all the way to the bottom.  Not to mention the fact that we burned our feet all the way down because now we were completely dry and that concrete was hot!

After our adventure in the water park, we decided it was time to EAT!  But instead we decided to feed the dolphins and head to a real restaurant to eat a late lunch/early dinner.

Finally it was time to go home, but not without one family picture.

We made two souvenir purchases while we were at Sea World.  The first was a pair of matching Shamu pajamas for the kids.  Alex's were pink & Riley's were blue.  Then Riley only asked for one thing while there and that was a stuffed Shamu`.  Riley has always been so good about that kind of thing.  He does not ask for much.  In fact he asked on Tuesday and Nana told him if he still wanted it on Friday, then he could have one.  Sure enough as were leaving, he turned and said, "What about the Shamu?"  So of course, he & Alex had to have matching stuffed Shamus as well.

A busy trip, but two very happy kids!

Bandera- Flying L Ranch

After we left Sea World, we drove an hour to the Flying L Ranch, in Bandera where my parents have a timeshare.  We only stayed 2 nights, but we absolutely loved the waterpark and slowing things down a little.  After we checked in, we quickly got our swimsuits on and headed to the water park.  The kids had a blast.

Then we realized it was getting late, so we threw on some clothes and grabbed a quick dinner from Dairy Queen.  Then we rushed out to catch the wagon ride for the night.

The kids really enjoyed seeing all the property.  Then we were amazed at ALL the deer.  There are SO MANY of them.  Good thing, Randy wasn't there.  He would be dying to hunt.

Along the trail ride, we saw this quiet serene river.  But then we got stuck and everyone had to pile out of the wagon, so that the tractor could get up the hill.  It was really funny and all the kids thought it was great fun.  Then we went down to visit their make believe ghost town.  Where we of course put Riley in jail.

Then I visited the bar with my children.

Finally we made it back just in time to enjoy some smores.  This was Riley's & Alex's first smores experience.

He loved it, but Alex not so much.  No problem.  More smores for Mommy!

Sea World- Shamu!

       Since we decided not to do a Disney trip this year, my parents wanted to take the kids somewhere special.  Of course we thought of Sea World.  Riley absolutely loves Shamu and it was still a trip out of town.  On Tuesday, we drove down to San Antonio and checked into the hotel.  Since we were short on time and plenty on heat, we decided to head out to Sea World that night to get our passes and catch the night shows.  Even for late in the day we were melting.  But we managed to squeeze in the Shamu Rocks! show and the other whale show.  We really enjoyed it, but were a little disappointed in the night Shamu show.  It didn't have much action and the whales were not that involved. 

The next morning, after a busy breakfast at the hotel we headed out for day 2 of Sea World.  The kids did great.  We caught most of the shows.  This time the Shamu show really did rock!  I am always mesmerized by the amazing things that those gigantic whales can do.  They look so graceful in the water.

Although Alex was more interested in studying the map than the show.  She takes after her mother & brother.

My other favorite show is the water ski show.  I really felt like this show had improved since last year also.  Lots more action and less of the dumb story line. 

After seeing several shows, Riley decided it was time for some action. This year he was tall enough to ride all but one rollar coaster, but one look at them and he decided he wasn't really ready.  So we headed to the "log ride".  Unfortunately the line was really slow, it took us about an hour and 15 minutes to get on the ride.  I can't imagine how long the big rollar coaster lines must have been. 

But he did love it.  Alex got in the posed picture, but her and Nana did not actually ride the ride.  We weren't sure she would like the ride, but we KNEW she would never stand in that long line.  After it was all over, Alex decided that she MUST have a snow cone to top off the day.  In fact I even bought a "chipwich" first for us to share.  That was not good enough.  So Gampa bought a snow cone! :)

Alex may not have gotten into all the shows or done much riding, but she did have fun dancing in the streets.

Finally as we were heading out the door, Riley wanted to pose with the Nascar.  He still says he wants to be a race car driver when he grows up.   Only if he is really successful, because otherwise this mamma thinks its too dangerous.

We had lots of fun at Sea World, but our reservations for that night were in Bandera, TX.  So we packed up and headed out for our hour drive.

4th of July

4th of July was spent with most of the day at the beach.  So I have no pictures to represent.  We took the boat over to Pensacola Beach and anchored it to the dock.  Then we swam for about an hour.  We learned that Alex loves the water, but hates the sand.  No sand castles built on this trip!  Then Richard, Karyn, Kalee, Roy, and Lance met us for lunch.  We went to Flounders because Randy just HAD to add the 2010 mug to his collection.  Lunch was an interesting experience.  Since we had docked out a little ways, we put all of our clothes in a bag and then walked in the water to shore.  Just as Randy was getting Riley off his shoulders, he preceeded to dip the bag in the water.  Guess what?  All of our dry clothes were now sopping wet!  So for the first time ever,  we all went in to a restaurant and ate in our swimsuits.  I didn't even eat in just my bikini while in Mexico!  At least we were eating outside!  But I was a little embarrassed!

After spending several more hours at the beach, we decided to start the hour long boat ride back to the house.  That was the bumpiest ride of my life.  It was miserable.  Poor Riley just kept crying that he wanted to get off the boat.  I did too, but there was no where to go!

Eventually we made it back in time for my favorite meal of Pensacola, fresh shrimp, corn, & potatoes!  YUM!  Then we headed outside for all the big fireworks.

Unfortunately these were the best pics that I got of the evening.  As you can tell Riley was so sunburned.  But only on his face.  Next time I will make sure that I put the sunscreen on his face, and not him!

Everything is fixed!

Saturday morning we got up and the men got busy fixing everything that had broke the day before.

Finally it was time to enjoy some boat riding with the family. 

Look Mommy finally made a picture!

Alex & Papaw

Riley & Grandma Karyn

Daddy even let Riley drive the boat a little.  He did ok, until he decided the boat should go in a circle.  Is this the same kid who wouldn't let me drive the jet ski in a circle the day before?

Whatever Riley does, Alex must do.  So she wanted to drive the boat, too.

OK, enough with the slow stuff.  It was time for some tubing!  Riley wasn't too sure at first.  Notice the nice leisurely pose.  It doesn't last long...

Then when you ride with daddy, you are sure to end up in the water instead of the tube.  No this did not happen from the leisurely ride above.

Here is an example of how Randy likes to ride.  This time he was by himself.

Trip to Pensacola

Each year the week of July 4th we head to the Farris house in Pensacola, FL. We laugh and call it our resort that we head to each year. Just think a gorgeous house, meals cooked, and full use of jet skis & boat, not to mention baby sitting any time we want to go out. It doesn't get much better than that. So here is our first full day there.

This was Alex's first time on the jetski. She loved it. But she loves anything she does with Daddy.

Riley rode with me, but for some reason he was being a scaredy cat that day. He wouldn't let me go fast or turn in circles.

Unfortunately right after this, I killed the jet ski. Actually all I did was turn it off to let Riley off and then it wouldn't start again. This was after the lift wouldn't come down to let the jet ski in the water. Then following that we found out the battery was dead on the boat. Not a good start for the trip....but it all turned around the next day.

July 4th & Randy's Birthday-actually July 3rd

July 4th is also Randy's birthday. This year we celebrated it on July 3rd because by the time we go to the beach and need to shoot off fireworks, there isn't much time left for cake & ice cream & present opening. We enjoyed a yummy family dinner after spending the day on the jet skis and then had an ice cream cake. Richard & Karyn did not get to come in town this year for Riley's party so we also celebrated Riley's birthday at the same time. Daddy got some new work boots that he desperately needed.
It takes 2 to blow out all those candles!

Riley got a nerf gun. He was so excited. Yea more bullets for me to pick up around the house. :)
After dinner, we had time to shoot off a few of the smaller fireworks. Alex enjoyed her sparkler, but didn't quite understand to be careful that it would burn you. She walked right up to Randy and tried to hand him the sparkler. It almost burned his hand before we got his attention to look at her! Luckily no one got hurt.

Finally this year, Riley was not afraid of the fireworks and really got in on the excitement. Uncle Ryan is trying to keep Riley from burning himself or anyone else.