Day one, we flew in to San Antonio, got checked into our hotel and then went over to a steak house for dinner. It was AMAZING - probably the best steak I've had. We all ate so much food! We each got a dessert, and then because it was my birthday, our waiter also brought out another dessert plate and we finished that off too! It was so delicious.
Then after dinner we went downtown to the Riverwalk which was so awesome. We went to the wax museum...
we went went on a 4D movie ride which was so hilarious...
and then we went to the "Ripley's Believe it or Not" museum which was full of all kinds of interesting things. The museum was huge so we spent lots of time wondering around reading about all the strange things people do or experience. This was the world's tallest man... he was only 22 when he died. Interesting, right? :)
After these fun adventures we went down to the actual river itself and walked around the shops for a bit before boarding a tour boat that took us all through the riverwalk and explained the history behind it. It was the perfect way to get the whole experience of the riverwalk without having to walk around in the crazy heat!
Day two we went to Schlitterbahn waterpark which was an absolute blast! I don't have any pictures, except this advertisement picture I stole online. It is a 65 acre park which meant we had a full day jam packed with tons to do while we were there. We all managed to escape without any sunburns, and we slept amazingly well that night despite the trains that passed by right outside our hotel. :)
On day three we continued the adventure at Sea World, which again was so much fun! The day was really hot, but between getting splashed on the rides, and frequent breaks in the air conditioned restaurants, we managed to make it through the day.
Brad and I signed up for the Baluga Whale experience which neither of us has ever done anything like it so it was an interesting opportunity! We ended up spending quite a bit of time in the Baluga pool interacting with the whales. We touched them, and fed them fish, and learned all kinds of hand gestures to get them to do tricks. It was really neat.
Me feeding the whale a fish.
Here I'm asking the whale to "sing" from her blow hole. That was an interesting sound.
Here Brad was asking it to spin around in a circle.
Then we asked it to splash, not knowing it was going to totally soak us. It was pretty funny.
We ended up staying the whole entire day at Sea World and saw almost all the shows and went on all the rides. Because we spent the whole day extremely hot, we ended the night back at the swimming pool of our hotel and then we slept soundly again that night.
On the final day of the trip, we drove out to the huge outlets and did some shopping. There were so many stores it was quite overwhelming, but it was like a girl's dream! :) The guys were good sports, and did very well at moving from store to store. At one point though they started to complain a little, so I pulled a surprise bag of cookies from my purse and it was magical. They sat and ate cookies, while Annie and I shopped and it basically gave them a second wind to continue on with the stores. :) Lesson learned... surprise treats aren't just for kids!
After a few hours of shopping, and some significant damage to our wallets, we left the outlets and headed back downtown to see the Alamo. It was so stinkin' hot outside, and we needed to get back to the airport so we didn't last long out there. I'm glad we went though and learned a little more about the history there.
After a slight delay of our flight leaving San Antonio, we made it home safe and sound where Eden was already in bed. We couldn't resist going straight in and giving hugs and kisses though. She managed to sleep through it, and was extremely happy to see us Sunday morning.
Overall it was such an amazing and extremely fun trip. We had lots planned and we kept ourselves busy from morning until night, but at the same time we were able to sleep in and enjoy our time relaxing too. It was the perfect balance for a really great trip. I'm so grateful for my mom who was willing to take on the burden of care over Eden and all her medical work. I know it's a big job and I'm so grateful she was willing to do that for us. I'm also so grateful for the Picketts and the awesome friends they are. We can't imagine going and having this kind of fun with anyone else! :)
I definitely feel rejuvenated and ready to continue with life!
