Sea World.....Again

We've got to get as much use of our passes as we can....in a few weeks it's only going to be open on the weekends. We spent 4 hours there today! It actually went by really fast. We got to see a lot more of the park this time.

 The girls and I rode one of the kiddie rides.

yes, this was the first thing we did....look how hot she is already!

Then we went on to see the sea lions

After that it was definitely time to hit up the water park!

Lil Gator Pool

I later convinced them to try something else in the water park. We went to the lazy river. It's probably one of the best lazy rivers I've ever been on! It was more of a workout for me though...carrying Avery and trying to keep up with Allie. After 3 laps my legs felt like jello!

We managed to get in 2 shows this visit.

The Cannery Row Caper

Cool Vibrations

One last stop to see the flamingos

Don't let this fool you........this was at the beginning of the day. By the end, Avery was SO ready to be out of there. She fell asleep before I even left the parking lot!

Mony and Papa's Visit

We were so sad to see Mony and Papa leave for home today. It was so great to see them and show them a little bit of San Antonio. We're going to miss them a lot.....and look forward to seeing them again 2 months when we head back to Indiana. The ride to the airport this morning was a quiet ride. When we pulled up we all got out to give our hugs. I know that Avery had no idea that Mony and Papa were leaving. I do believe that Allie knew and she was being so strong. I could tell that there were moments where she was trying so hard not to cry (as was I). Once Mony and Papa went through the doors into the airport we put the girls back in the van. Right away Avery starts crying for Mama (that's what she calls my Mom). That was Allie's breaking point........she said, "Avery want's Mony and Papa to come back." Then she just let all of her tears out. That, in turn, lead to my breaking point. After that we ran some errands and Avery started crying for her Papa. I'm sure we'll hear that a lot over the next few days. Love you Mom and Dad! So glad you were able to come and visit and can't wait for the next one!

While I'm thinking about it I have to share a cute story from dinner last night. We went out to eat and my Dad and Derek were throwing their money back and forth at each other because they both wanted to pay. My Dad starts handing the money to me, Avery and Allie. We all gave it back, but Allie's response was super cute. I don't remember the exact words but she said something like - We don't need that Papa we already have a bunch of it! - it was soo funny!

And I can't believe I didn't mention Allie's arm coming out of socket again. I don't even remember what night it was now. Her and Derek were just playing and she took off while Derek still had her hand and it popped out. She was in a lot of pain. It took forever for us to get approval to take her to Urgent Care. We hate going to the ER because the waits are always so long. We finally get to urgent care and the paper work is almost completely filled out and it pops back in! We were all relieved and we just left. Anyway, I just wanted to get that down for our record.

The Slippery Road

Schlitterbahn - in German this means slippery road. Derek, however, would translate it as "toilet flush." We were at the park for 7 hours and we rode THREE rides!  Total waste of money and time. Don't get me wrong though, the rides were a lot of fun....but come on........3 rides in 7 hours and $40 a ticket (that's at a discounted price). The three rides we rode were, Master Blaster, Black Knight, and Cliffhanger/Tunnel Chute. Master Blaster is rated the #1 waterpark ride in America - it was AWESOME! According to the Travel Channel, Schlitterbahn itself is rated the #1 waterpark in America. (at least the last time I watched it anyway).  Allie rode the Cliffhanger ride with us. We didn't realize how long the line was - it ended up being a 2 hour wait for that, right in the hottest part of the day too. She was such a trooper. I felt so bad though. She was so hot she was sweating. You don't see many kids sweat when they aren't doing anything! Then when we got on the ride I thought she was going to freak out. The whole ride was basically a river ride with big drop offs every 10 ft or so. Allie had to be in her own tube (luckily hers had a bottom to it). Derek held on to her tube...I went first and it kind of freaked me out a bit. I looked back at Derek and Allie coming down and it looked like Allie was crying, but then I got a closer look and she was laughing! Too bad we don't have a waterproof digital camera - we don't have any pics of the rides.
We did, however, get a few pictures of the girls swimming around in the kiddie pools. They had so much fun! My Mom said Allie never stopped. She just ran from one slide to the next. Once Avery got warmed up (about 5 hours in) then she couldn't be stopped either!

Photo Session and Riverwalk

Yesterday the girls had their photos taken. Allie, for her 4 year shoot and Avery, for her 2 year. I was kind of worried about going back to a regular ol' photo studio after being spoiled by my awesome friend who is an amazing photographer (nicolebarkerphotography.blogspot.com  - holla!) I haven't had enough time to really research anyone around here yet BUT I was pleasantly surprised by the pictures that were taken especially since Avery was being so ornery. If you want to view them here is the link: (just enter my name as the customer name (https://www.smilesbywire.com/home.asp?AC=LTPP0300105792JCP).

My Mom bribed them with Build -A- Bear. I don't think Allie really needed the bribing because she is such a a natural when it comes to posing for the camera. It didn't work at all for Avery, but since she's spoiled rotten she got a bear too.

Still posing

Last night we went to the Riverwalk, but it poured down rain the whole time we were there so we didn't get very far or do much. Just tried to stay dry and then ate at a restaurant that I had bought a $25 gift certificate for (it only cost me $2 to buy it though through restaurant.com) The catch was that we had to spend at least $45 dollars to use the gift certificate. That was so easy with 6 of us and I have a feeling that all of the restaurants on the riverwalk are going to be pricey.

Allie's reaction to the thunder. In her defense, it was REALLY loud!

At the restaurant, La Poloma, this trio came in and played the chicken dance for the girls. Derek got the pic right as they finished. Check out the guys fly!

Today we just chilled. The girls were up super early for going to bed so late. I think we were all tired. We didn't get out of the house until 1! Derek and I had our first softball practice tonight. Well, it wasn't THE first practice.....just the first that we've been able to make it to since we had someone to watch the kiddos. I jammed my finger pretty good. It's been like 18 years or something since I've played. I'm pretty rusty!

Not too much planned for tomorrow, but Thursday is Schlitterbaun! I'm so excited for that...it's always one of the top 3 waterparks on the travel channel. Can't wait!

Here is the tubing I was talking about - I didn't realize my Mom got a pic!

swimming fun at the lake

Allie and I tubing

eating at our fav, El Chapperal

I recruited the girls to help me wash the van. They enjoy it because they can cool themselves off in this heat.

After their doctor's appointments. Allie had to get 5 shots! She's still itty bitty. Bottom 5% in height and weight. Avery was being seen for her nasty toenails. Possible fungus?

Mony & Papa are here!! We're all excited for our first visitors. Of course we have a lot planned. First stop - Kiddie Park. All of the rides are for kids 12 and under. Allie LOVED it! Avery didn't want to ride at all. Funny story behind the airplane ride. We were standing in line for it and Allie kept saying she wanted the pink plane. It was all boys in front of her so we were pretty sure she would get it. Well, then some little girl comes up right as they are getting ready to stop the ride and cuts in front of her. She goes right for the pink plane. We tell Allie she can ride again later and get the pink plane. During the whole ride she just glared at this girl like she was going to kick some booty. It was quite hilarious. As you can see in the pic above, she was all smiles once she got to ride her pink plane.

.... until she saw sissy riding the boat. Then she kept saying, "boat" so she rode it and then we couldn't get her to stop.

next stop - day at Canyon Lake. First time getting the boat out here. Tons of fun even with the super crowded and choppy water! Lots of laughs..it was great.

Oh, and I should mention that we drove by the Guadalupe River and I just have to say I have never seen so many people tubing down a river before! You could literally walk across the water stepping from tube to tube.

And after the lake we met some of my parents old friends that live near here in New Braunfels. We hadn't seen them in like 20 years. Their daughter and I wrote one another for the longest time. I found out the last time we wrote was right after high school, so 10 years ago. It was good to see her and I'm excited that they live so close!

Grand Canyon

Yeah, that's right. Our trip hasn't ended yet : )

After Zion, we headed towards Arizona for a visit at the Grand Canyon. We made a little stop on the way @ Lake Powell. Derek was drooling (no joke). He was smiling and all giddy, but depressed that he didn't have his boat with him. I will admit the little that we did see of the lake was gorgeous and we've heard only great things about it.  That's where Derek would love to retire. We're even contemplating a trip there in September.

We were so tired by the time we got to the Grand Canyon. I really enjoyed it there though because we actually relaxed and weren't constantly on the go. Very little hiking - awesome campsite - great family bonding. Loved it!

Zion National Park

ZION NATIONAL PARK
Virgin, Utah {July 11, 2010}

After the family reunion we stopped by Zion National Park to hike and camp!

Virgin River

Hiking! "Hike" is now in Avery's vocabulary. She gets really excited when we say we're going for a hike.

We got kind of lucky with our campsite. It was one of a few sites with a tree to provide a little bit of shade. It was pretty hot there. I didn't sleep very well that night though (I really don't think any of us did). We got back from hiking quite late and there was a big group of foreigners next to us that were all just laying on the ground with sleeping bags - no tent. We went into the tent for the night and I kept hearing noises thinking that someone was walking up to our tent. I would look out and never see anything right there, but our neighbors were still up and that just freaked me out. They weren't talking or anything but I knew they were up because I could see the dim lights of cigarette butts floating around in the dark. I was soooo tired the next day!

This part of the hike was our absolute favorite and is what really made us love Zion National Park. We took the riverwalk hike to the start of "The Narrows". Those are canyon walls that surround us and they got more narrow the further we went. We wish we would have done this hike from the get-go. It was so peaceful and cooled us off. The girls loved playing in the water. We didn't start hiking back through the water to the trail until 9:30 and so by the time we did reach the trail it was DARK! We didn't intend on staying out that late so we didn't have a flashlight. I think I was a little scared because the walk back was pretty quick. The girls were exhaused and they both fell asleep while we were carrying them back. I don't know how they can do that - they have to be bouncing around with every step we take!

Anyway, it was a short trip. We'd love to go back and be able to hike Angel's Landing and do the complete Narrows trip! The complete trip is a 16 mile hike and takes about 12 hours.....you have to have a permit for it. Or you can make it an overnight trip- there are a few places you can camp at en route (as long as rain isn't in the forecast!) That's another thing, while we were hiking to the beginning of the Narrows it started thundering and lightning like crazy. We passed some guy who told us we should turn around because a storm was coming. He was a big guy, like looked tough, but he was so freaked out. We contemplated turning around but we weren't too worried about it - and it never did rain. It would be crazy to be back in there during something like that.