The first day we went to Sea World (I know, I know, they're evil and horrible and should be shut down, and we're evil, horrible people for funding them with our ticket money, yadda, yadda, yadda. If you take issue with it then you get to explain to these tiny tyrants in my house why they can't go to Sea World anymore.) We saw a bunch of amazing shows, ate a lot of junk food, rode all the rides the kids were tall enough to ride, and spent at least half an hour at the splash pad. The kids claim they had the most fun ever and I've listened to them beg to go back for almost two weeks straight now!
To recover from our Sea World adventures we spent the next day at the cabin where we were staying at Canyon Lake, up near New Braunfels. We played at the lake all morning; my little fish child was in heaven! It was hard to even get them to come ashore to get some lunch! We did get royally sunburned, but I don't think anyone minded much. Part of the price you pay for vacation fun.
After a day if sun and surf fun we were ready to hit the road again and see some more amazing this, so we headed to Natural Bridge Caverns. The kids had never seen a real live cave before and were fascinated. Felix asked if Batman lived there. Then he freaked out a little when the guide explained why they named one particularly dark and muddy room Grendle's Cavern. If I were a tiny person I might freak out a little about Grendel too! He was a scary dude! But all the amazing cave formations made up for it and Grendle was quickly forgotten.
They even had a spot set up at the end of the tour to have your photo taken as a group! I thought that was nice, since we went with my grandparents and usually it's either them and the kids in the pictures or me and the kids; you never get a photo with all the adults at one time!
They also apparently have a large orange dinosaur statue by the parking lot. I guess it's something of a mascot and of course the children insisted they just had to get their picture taken with the "colorsaurus". So we did.
After the caverns we headed next door to Natural Bridge Wildlife Ranch, one of those drive through safari places. The kids thought it was amazing! Most of the animals just hung out next to the drive munching their hay, but the kudu would come right up to your window and lick the feed pellets right out of your hand! The kids' little fingers were totally covered in kudu slobber very quickly (don't. Worry, they washed - with soap - before lunch!).
There was also one zebra who stuck his face right in my window, opened his mouth wide, and just waited for my to throw food in there! Then he'd smack his lips and open up for more, it was hilarious! I wish I'd gotten a picture, but it slipped my mind when he snuffled and sneezed zebra ick all over me. I squealed like a little girl and the kids were rolling with laughter in their seats!
The next day we finally hit downtown San Antonio. First up, the Alamo. I've alluded to my feelings about the Alamo in my previous post on teaching sacrifice, but having grown up in Texas it really is a place of pilgrimage for me. The chapel is now referred to as "The Alamo Shrine", and it's an apt name. It's a Thermopolae, a place of patriotic sacrifice and courage in the face of death, and seeing the bullet holes in the doors and walls and the artifacts housed their is always moving to me. I'm glad I could share that with the children.
They also had a little fifteen minute film produced by The History Channel which they play for visitors over in the old barracks. I think seeing the history in a visual format really helped our older two to understand what happened a little better and was good review of what we'd read before visiting. But to the family sitting directly in front of us, I'm so sorry! Felix talked through the entire fifteen minutes. The whole thing. I'm sure the man in front of us did not find his tiny-voiced commentary as entertaining as I did! At one point, Fe turned to me and said "you and daddy are Americans, you didn't fight this war. But grandma and grandpa are Texans, they fought dat war a looooooong time ago." I about fell out laughing! I had no idea my grandpa was quite that old! Good thing Felix is here to tell me things like that!
After the Alamo we wandered over to the Riverwalk and had lunch at Rainforest Cafe. I'm not normally a fan of chain restaurants (and the food left a lot to be desired that day) but seeing the look on the kids' faces the first time they had an indoor "thunderstorm" and all the animatronic animals started moving was priceless! And the Riverwalk is always a nice place to wander around, sit and relax and people watch. The kids enjoyed seeing the boats go by and we took the boat tour a little later as well. It was nice.
Finally our trip came to a close, we had to pack up and start the long trek home to our sun-parched garden and mountains of laundry. But the kids are still talking about all he fun we had and I expect will be talking about it for a long time to come. Hopefully we'll be able to do another week somewhere in a year or two. It's one thing to read about the world, but it's another thing entirely to go out and see it.
~ Krystal
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