Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Spring Break in San Antonio, Texas

This Spring Break we decided to do a bit of exploring. We'd never been to Texas so we decided to take a road trip and see what San Antonio was like. After 14 hours of driving we made it. Our first exploration took us to see The Alamo. For those of you who may not know--"There ain't no basement in The Alamo." This history was something I didn't know much about. Many men lost their lives here trying to protect Texas from the Spaniards. Texas Pride is something you can feel in the air here. Once control of Texas was taken by the American men and women who lived here--they became part of the United States only after making it very clear that they would be able to fly their state flag by itself. The rest of the country can only fly their state flag with the flag of the United States with it. There are huge Texas flags flown everywhere here. This is where the battle grounds are located.


The men knew it was most likely a hopeless cause when they went against the Spaniards (there were so few of them to fight). The leader asked those who would stay and fight to the death to step across this line. All but one stepped across it. They all lost their lives in that fight but because of it Texas' freedom was realized years later. You never know the difference you might make in your lifetime.
I sang praises to the sun and enjoyed every last minute of that 80 degree weather.


Then we took a stroll down the River Walk. The river goes right through the town and they've made beautiful walk ways, bridges, and restaurants all along it. It was a lot of fun to hang out down here.


We had some Mexican food on the River walk. It was so nice to be out in the warm air enjoying lunch with my family.



We took a boat ride down the river and learned all about the area. The kids really loved it.





Then we had to stop for ice cream. You can't have Spring Break without it if you ask me!






A few days later we did some cave exploring. We'd never done anything like this before with the kids. It was really amazing and I think they'll remember it always.









We also did some shopping, miniature golfing, movie watching and swimming but the finale was Sea World. We'd been to Sea World before in Florida so the kids knew what to expect and they were so excited! We started out with feeding the Dolphins. You couldn't ask for a better beginning. The kids just loved those Dolphins.




How adorable is this cute little dolphin?



We explored their amazing aquariums.



We rode the Shamu Roller Coaster.
We saw amazing shows with Beluga Whales, dolphins, Walrus', and killer whales. They were all amazing.







This show was incredible. There were probably 15 acrobatic divers, dolphins, and beluga whales. The girls insisted on getting pictures with some of the acrobats after it was over.
Amelia went on her first scary ride. BJ took Cardon, Brinly, and Amelia on the log, water ride.

She loved it and wanted to go on it over and over again but we had other adventures to explore.
This was the next adventure. Since BJ took the kids on the last water ride it was my turn to take them on this one. I've been on this kind of ride before and hardly got wet--so I took the challenge. We went along getting sprayed a few times. No biggie---and then we saw the waterfall--and I'm not talking about a little waterfall--I'm talking about a HUGE WATERFALL. The raft turned just before we got there so that I was headed right for it. We all got completely drenched--like I took a shower with my clothes on. BJ thought it was very funny--Me---not so much. I spent the rest of the day chaffing and cold in soaking wet clothes. BJ bought me a funnel cake to make me feel better. It did.
The killer whales are always a sight to see--even if they didn't ride them.


We ended the day with a 4-D movie. Amelia and Jace were completely freaked out by it. Amelia couldn't take it anymore and hid her face but Jace couldn't take his eyes off of it. He just kept crying and watching. I think he wanted to know what was coming next.
On the way home we stayed at our friends-The Stevens house. It was sooo much fun to see them and the kids had such a great time re-uniting with their friends. We had a wonderful Sunday meal with them, relaxed, visited, stayed the night and then got up to an incredible breakfast. Thank you so much for a great visit! I would recommend San Antonio to anyone. It was a great Spring Break!!!!!


Wednesday, March 3, 2010

BJ's 34th Birthday

BJ was such a good sport on his birthday. He took the day off, dressed up in a tuxedo and spent the afternoon playing the "Butler" for Amelia's birthday tea party. He welcomed in all the guests, served them lunch, took pictures and helped clean it all up. He's such a sweet man! Then after piano lessons and cheer leading classes we all headed to get some barbecue for dinner. When we got home we all had BJ's favorite dessert---banana cheesecake. We just dug right in with our forks---family style.




Happy Birthday BJ---We Love You!!!!!!!!!


Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Amelia's 5th Birthday Tea Party

Amelia decided that for her 1st real friend party she wanted to have a tea party. Invitations were sent out. We decorated the house and made yummy food for lunch and got all dressed up in our pearls and party dresses and waited for the guests to arrive. Two bears having there own tea party on the front porch awaited the guests.


I dressed up in a beautiful gown as the queen of the house and Amelia put on her Princess Party Dress. She couldn't wait for her friends to arrive.

BJ the Butler (daddy) took the day off of work (his birthday), dressed up in a tuxedo, welcomed the guests as they arrived, seated them at the table, served them lunch and even took pictures of the party. What a guy!!!!!

The table was decorated with tea pots, candles, pearls, etc. and each of the girls had accessories to put on (white gloves, jeweled rings, pearls, lip gloss, and hats). I talked to the girls about how we sit at the table, drink our tea (pink lemonade) with our pinkies up, eat our food with our mouths closed and talk nicely to each other using "please and thank you's". I was surprised at how well they did.
We had fruit and petit fours.........



Turkey and cheese or peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in fun princess shapes, fruit kabobs and string cheese.









After lunch the girls each decorated their hats with flowers and ribbon--the fancier the better at a tea party!




Then it was time to play "Pin the Cup on the Saucer". No one got very close to a saucer but they all had fun wearing the blind fold anyway.






After the games it was time for birthday cake and singing. I made giant cupcakes with princess sparkles and each girl got to blow out there own tall candle in the cupcake. Everyone loves to blow out a candle--why not let them?


To make present time fun for everyone we played "Musical Tea Pot" to determine who's present Amelia would open. She loved each of her gifts.




After all the presents were opened the girls gave Amelia a big birthday hug. That was really sweet.




Happy Birthday Amelia! We love you!!!!