Summer Vacation 2019!

We had a little trouble deciding where to go this summer to get away for a week!  First, it was hard to pick a week!  We had to pick a week where there were no camps, no cheer practice, etc.  Then, we had to pick somewhere we could afford!  (We are going on a massive 3 week trip to Zambia in December, so most of our funds are going that direction!). We finally (in June!) settled on a week in New Braunfels/San Antonio to experience Schlitterbahn, SeaWorld, and Aquatica!  Our kids had never been to any of those places, and Blu and I had never been to SeaWorld/Aquatica, so we were all pretty pumped!

Ready to go at 5:30am!  Why so early?? Because we made a stop on the way to deliver a unit set!  (Delivery = free diesel, free use of the truck!)

Soon after 5:30am...

This was the kids' first time to actually help with a delivery!  We dropped this off at a brand new middle school in Boerne, TX!

From there, it was a quick stop to drop the trailer at our hotel and head to Schlitterbahn!  We decided, since we had 2 days at the park, to stick to the old side of Schlitterbahn for Day 1! 

Quick snack break in the middle of the day!  Schlitterbahn has free parking and lets you bring all of your own food in, which is nice!  We didn't buy ANYTHING in the park on Day 1!  We loved the tube rides on the river!  The waits weren't too bad - we didn't know what to expect in July.  It was hot, and our longest wait for our last ride was 1 1/2 hours, which is long, but Blu and I stood in line and let the kids ride the other slides while we held their place in line!  #parentsoftheyear.  We were done by 6pm and headed to our family favorite, IHOP, for supper!

Day 2 at Schlitterbahn!  We read some online tips that said to get there at 9:30am to beat the crowds (park opens at 10am) and sure enough, it worked!  We were able to ride the 3 biggest rides on the other side of the park right when it opened with wait times of 45 minutes or less!  The rest of the day we spent in the lazy river, trying out the Boogie Bahn, and riding a few more rides! 

How cute is her new swimsuit?!

We even got there early enough to get a shaded picnic table!

Dippin' Dots!

Cason doesn't love his freckles, but I sure do!

Once again, we were done by 6pm and decided to introduce the kids to Golden Corral!  They LOVED the buffet!

I lost count of how many chocolate covered strawberries he ate!

This girl pretty much lives on fruit and took up half the table with her peaches, pineapples, and watermelon!

I was SOOOOO excited for Day 3 - SeaWorld for the first time!!!!! (I might have all of Free Willy memorized...and had my teenage room decorated with killer whales...and Jonathan Taylor Thomas.... ;)

We hit the jackpot with a Wednesday at SeaWorld..  There was pretty much nobody there and we waited maybe 10 minutes as our longest wait for any ride!  

Blu and I did NOT ride this one...but the kids rode it twice in a row!  

We rode Journey to Atlantis with them once and then they rode it by themselves 3 or 4 more times in a row!

Front row!

We loved the shows too!  Getting ready for Sea Lion High!

Checking out Turtle Reef

I was SOOOOO excited :)

Chilling in the heat while the kids ride rides!

And then they were DONE!

We went to Fuddruckers for supper and it was SO. GOOD.

Blu used some free time back at the hotel to go out and buy some tools for his new building project!

Caedmon modeling his new necklace he bought for himself!

Day 4 was Aquatica, which is the waterpark section of SeaWorld!  We enjoyed the massive slides and rode until we were tired - then we all opted to head back to SeaWorld to ride rides (again!) and catch the KILLER WHALE SHOW!!!!! 

Did I mention I was excited?!  When the first killer whale came out and I saw it for the first time, the kids were laughing so hard at my faces!  I kept grabbing them!  

It was everything I hoped it would be and more!

The walk back through the park and out to the truck seemed SO long!  We were so tired! 

As we left, I snapped one more pic of the entrance to SeaWorld because I loved it so much!  We ended the night with McDonald's for supper and (almost) everybody was happy!

On Friday, we still had one day left of our SeaWorld/Aquatica tickets, but we were all so tired we decided to  hit the town and shop for some school clothes!  Blu was miserable thrilled with all the shopping!  

Blu was in charge of Cason, so I would get pictures like this from the dressing room.  To which I would respond, "No...he doesn't need church clothes!"

We hit up some Goodwills in the area, and Cason was SO PUMPED to find this $6 scooter!  

Guess what we found for lunch?!  When I was about 7, I told my mom that when I had kids I was going to take them to Chuck E Cheese's every single day.  That didn't quite happen, but I do still love going there!

Somehow Cambree got me in a fabric store...

We ended our night with Popeye's Chicken for the boys and Jason's Deli for the girls and a quick swim at the hotel pool!

On Saturday, we headed home!  We made a quick stop at the San Marcos Outlet Mall for a few more school clothes, and then we found a Chick-fil-a for lunch!  Unfortunately, it was SUPER crowded and we couldn't park with the trailer, but have no fear - Blu was willing to hike as far as he needed to to get us our food!  #chickfilaforlife

We had a great trip and never regret a single moment of getting away with our family!  Next trip - Zambia!