Day Three in San Antonio

So day three in San Antonio.  We went to Sea World again!  Like you didn’t know, right?  Well this morning we were moving pretty slow and instead of going out for breakfast, the IT Guy went down to the lobby and got us some muffins, coffee, and fruit for breakfast.  Nothing special!

So we headed to Sea World again, and this time the IT Guy remembered to bring the tickets!  yeah!  Well, since we did most of the kiddie rides the day before, we decided to see most of the shows on this day.  But we made it in time to feed the dolphins.  And I have to say this was my favorite part of our trip.  They were the sweetest animals!  Of course, I had dead fish in my hand and that probably helped a lot too, but hey I like to think that maybe they liked my cheery disposition…okay maybe not!  But look at this sweet baby!  Doesn’t it look like its smiling?  

Emma wasn’t quiet sure about sticking her hand down there for them to eat out of her hand, but after the first time, she was really excited, and I have to say so was I.  They had no fear about coming right up to you and letting you feed them right out of your hand.  I declared then that I needed a dolphin.  The IT Guy wanted to know where I was going to keep it and I told him that we could put one in Emma’s wading pool.  Problem solved!  I really don’t see the problem with this.

Look how close it got!  It was so pretty, and the skin was so soft yet rubbery too.  They were the sweetest creatures and Emma and I wanted to stay in that section for a while.  I think I was more impressed with them than she was.

This guy was the biggest dolphin there and he was darker than the smaller ones, and he/she would push the smaller ones out of the way and get as close to me as he/she possibly could.  And even though I didn’t have any food left, he/she wanted to be the center of attention.

Then we went to Shamu’s Happy Harbor/Splash Zone. As you can see we were smart this day, and dressed Emma in her bikini and a pair of shorts.  I knew she would love this and I was right.  We were waiting for another show to start and we had about an hour and a half to kill, so we let her have at it.  She had so much fun and for about 45 minutes, she didn’t gripe (about anything)!  

The IT Guy and I just found a shady spot and just enjoyed watching her.  Knowing that she was having such a great time made us smile.  I mean come on, look at this face.  This my friends, is the look of pure joy or maybe she was just happy that she was cool and not sweating to death.  Who knows.

After having so much fun, Emma was hungry and wanted pizza!  UGH!  Hot pizza in a 104 degree heat?  I don’t think so, but hey its what she wanted, and plus the line was short and the IT Guy didn’t have to wait 20 minutes to get her food, which meant she wasn’t griping at me, telling me that she was hungry and she wanted food.  Got that?  Good!

After Emma ate lunch, we went to the Dolphin show, which was also very cool, but we were so high up in the bleachers, I didn’t get good pictures!  Sorry!  Photoshop can only do so much people!

And after the dolphin show we went to see the sea lion show.  Oh my!  This was hysterical.  If you go to Sea World, make sure you see this show.  It was great!  Emma laughed through the whole thing, as did her parents. 

And once again, I saw their cute little faces, and wanted to take one home with me.  We did get to feed them but you couldn’t get up close and touch them like you could the dolphins.   

 

Again, Emma had a hard time picking those dead fish up and throwing them over the edge.  Especially when she saw the dead squid!  Which I gotta say, I was a little grossed out about that one too! But she did it!

And look at this little guy, when I looked at it, he reminded me of someone or something.  Then it hit me, he reminded me of our dog Oreo, our little stray Schnauzer with that impossibly cute face begging for attention.  Yeah, I could have taken him home in a heartbeat.   

After the sea lion show, we went to see some of the fish aquariums and like the day before Emma was ready to go by 5:30.  And again, we went back to the hotel and took a nap before heading out to dinner. 

But that night, we went to the market downtown, and ate at La Margarita’s.  We had been once before with some friends when the IT Guy was on a business trip.  We remembered that they had great margaritas and the best Mexican food.  We sat outside and just enjoyed being with each other.  Then I caught sight of the two Chinese or maybe the were Japanese guys at the table next to us.  They had no idea what to order or how to eat it!  Oh Lordy!  The IT Guy almost peed his pants.  They were so cute, and I felt so bad for them but they just smiled and picked up that fajita beef and went for it.  And one of them had a big ole Nikon camera and I really wanted to smash his little face in my big ol’ margarita glass and high tail it out of the restaurant with that camera. They had no clue how to eat fajitas, but they looked like they were having fun!  So who was I to judge, plus I had had a large margarita and could have cared less what anyone was doing. 

After dinner, the IT Guy and I wanted to walk around the market but Emma said she was really tired, so we headed back to the hotel, and went to bed.  It was such a fun day and I hated it to end!  Check back for our last day in San Antonio!

Day Two in San Antonio

So, day two in San Antonio starts with us waking up and heading down to a little dive on the River Walk, named Rita’s.  It was fabulous, and cheap!  Robert and Emma both got two scrambled eggs, two pieces of Texas toast, and two stripes of bacon for $2.99!  I on the other hand, got the breakfast taco, and that was $2.99!  We ate breakfast and drinks for under $10!  You can’t beat that!

As you can see we had a great time getting all fueled up for Sea World! And let me tell you, we needed it!

 

So we head out to Sea World, and Robert realizes half way that he left the tickets at the hotel!  Yes, he did!  So, we had to drive all the way back downtown to get the tickets.  By this time it was 10:30 and Emma is really ticked off!  She was so ready to get to Sea World. 

Let me give you parents some advice, rent the darn strollers by the front gate, it is worth every stinking penny or dollar.  But the first ride that she saw was the Shamu ride.  As you can see, its geared towards little kids.  It was like a mini roller coaster. Let me tell you, she rode the heck out of that thing.  I think she rode that stupid ride at least five times.  But she had fun and that’s all that matters.

Emma made Robert ride with her (over and over and over).

Then we headed over to see the Shamu show.  It was pretty darn cool!  Those magnificent creatures are so amazing.  Of course, we had no idea that there was a “splash zone”.  Yeah, you guessed it, we were sitting right in the middle of it.  And of course, Emma and I got soaked.  Robert on the other hand didn’t.  Emma was completely soaked and at first, she was a little upset about being wet but when she realized that she wasn’t the only one wet, everything was fine.

I have to say that the show was pretty amazing.  The trainers were really good with the whales, and the whales were spectacular.  If you go to Sea World, make sure that this show!

After the show, we passed a little stand that did face painting.  Emma about fell out of that stroller.  She HAD to have her face painted.  The little guy painted her face and as soon as Robert paid the little dude, she wiped her forehead and smeared the paint.  The poor little guy had to paint her face over again.  Then Robert threatened her not to touch her face. 

We then headed to the kiddie section where they have rides for small children.  And again, this was a big hit for Miss Thing. 

This one was a mini-ferris wheel and of course Robert was the sacrificial lamb!  I got to take pictures!  Yeah me!

This one, just went up and then came back down…not too impressed with this one, but again Emma loved it!

The rest of the day was a blur.  As the day worn on, the hotter it became.  We did do some water rides and that seemed to help with the heat, but by 5 pm, Emma said that she was ready to go, and so we did.  By the time we got back to the hotel, Robert and I had the worst headaches….lol.  We both took some medicine, and laid down on the bed and snoozed for about an hour. 

That day was pretty special because that was mine and Robert’s 9th anniversary!  We decided to head out and get some Mexican food on the River Walk.  We went to one of the oldest Mexican restaurants in San Antonio, named Casa Rio.  I had a big ole margarita and Robert had a big ole beer, and we just sat back and waited for a table.  We finally got in and we ordered and Robert said that he still wasn’t feeling good, and by the time our food arrived, Robert had a full fledged migraine, and we paid our bill and left.  We went back to the hotel and went to bed!  The end!  In all seriousness, it was a pretty darn good anniversary!

Stay tuned for day three in San Antonio!

San Antonio Day 1

So, we went to San Antonio for our vacation.  We wanted to take Emma to Sea World, the Alamo, the River Walk, etc…you know all that fun stuff.  Well, late Sunday night Emma said she wasn’t feeling well, and she was really tired.  Of course, I thought she just didn’t want to clean her toys up!  But at 6:30 that night, she made the announcement that she was going to go take a nap upstairs in her bedroom.  First off, there were several things wrong with that.  One, she never takes a nap without me, seriously, she won’t take one without me laying down with her.  Second, she never sleeps in her own room.  She usually sleeps in my scrapbook room, or in my bedroom.  Well, anyway, she took a nap until about 8 that night and when she got up from her nap, she was running about a 101.  Not good!  We were suppose to leave on Tuesday to go to San Antonio! 

Monday she woke up and she was running 102, so I made an appointment for her to see the doctor.  The doctor said she just had a virus, and that within a couple of days she should be fine.  Well, at that point we didn’t know if we should cancel or just give her Tylenol and prayed that by the time we got there she would be fine. 

Monday, night I checked her temp and it was almost normal, but when I checked on her that night before we went to bed, she was running 101 again.  So once again, I gave her the Tylenol and went to bed praying that we were going to go.  We woke up Tuesday morning, and she had no fever!  We packed up and headed out. 

We got a great deal on our hotel room at the Hyatt, and Emma thought it was way cool that the elevators were glass and you could see through them. 

After we got checked in, we decided to go to the Alamo.  It was right across the street from our hotel so, it was pretty easy to get to.  

Emma really didn’t get the Alamo, but the IT guy and I did.  But you know what’s sad?  Robert had never been to the Alamo!!  I know!

Went went into the courtyard and I took a ton of pictures of her, and as you can see she looked really thrilled about it!

The tree behind her is one of the oldest trees in San Antonio!  Cool eh?

And of course, I had to take a picture with her and her daddy!

After the Alamo, which by the way was a big bust with Emma, we went to the River Walk.  Which was not a bust with little miss thing.  She loved it!

I made her stand on a bridge above me and got this cute little picture!  And this is when the gripping started.  She was hungry!  

And she wouldn’t eat anywhere but the Rainforest Cafe.  We have one here in Dallas, and I got to say I really wasn’t thrilled by the idea of going but hey it made her happy and kept her quiet! 

After we ate, we went to ride the boats on the River Walk.  It was almost dusk and it was starting to cool off some, so it was a really nice way to end our first day!  Emma thought it was really cool to see all the buildings right on the water, and from that moment on, every time we were at the hotel she wanted to go walk on the River Walk.   

More later, on the first day of Sea World!

Birthday Surprise

So, on the day of Emma’s birthday party, we had a little surprise.  Robert had gone to Party City to pick up balloons for Emma’s birthday party and everyone else in the house was asleep.  Well, Emma let the dogs outside and decided she was going to play on her swing set while I fixed her breakfast.  As I was doing this, I heard Emma yelling for me.  When I went out to see what she was doing, I heard this little squeal and for the life of me, I couldn’t figure out what it was.  Now mind you,  we have 4 dogs in this house.  My two and mom and dad’s two.  Well, all the dogs and Emma were staring at the ground.  I asked her what she was doing and said that one of the dogs found an animal.  Now, we have a lot of snakes around here, and that’s what I thought, so I screamed at Emma and told her to back away.  When I went over there, I found this:

At first I thought they were rats, and that really grossed me out and to tell the truth, I almost threw them over the fence and go in and have Hazmat come and spray me down….seriously!  But upon looking at these cute little things, I realized they were bunnies! 

We’ve noticed a big rabbit running in the backyard.  So we figured we had a rabbit nest under our deck.  Well, it wasn’t under the deck.  It was under Emma’s swing set.  And there were other babies but they were “sleeping”.  At least that’s what I told Emma.  I think the dogs found them and had a little too much fun, if you know what I mean! 

But I did find one that was still alive.  He looked pretty bad.  He had blood on his ear and it down his back.  Well,  I got a box and some rags and put them inside.  I had no clue what to do with them but I knew I couldn’t let them die, and they would have, had I not gotten to them. 

But I had a bigger problem, what to do with the “sleeping” bunnies.  Dad was up by then and told him about it.  I mean,  like four “sleeping” bunnies underneath Emma’s swing set.  I had nine kids coming for a party, they couldn’t see that.  So dad came to the rescue.  And what did he do?  Yes, wait for it!  He threw them over the fence!  I totally freaked.  But dad in his sarcastic voice said, “what did you want me to do with them?”.

Now this was Saturday, and we were leaving Monday to go to Louisiana.  What was I going to do with them?  They wouldn’t survive the trip, especially with two dogs in the car.  So, you know what I did?  I pawned them off on my neighbor.  She took them in. She went and got little bottles and formula.  She is such a sweet friend.  Plus she loves animals and I KNEW she would take them in! 

Sad to say, that while we were gone, only one made it.  But it was definitely a learning experience!  And one I hope to not experience again…thank you very much!

Emma’s Luau Birthday Party!

So my baby is now 5…sigh.  And to mark this momentous occasion, we had a luau birthday party.  My mom is a teacher and the last week of school she had a luau for the kids, so she had a lot of decorations, and she was nice enough to let us borrow them.  But you guys know me, I had to have more decorations!  But to tell you the truth, we didn’t have to buy a lot of stuff!  Yeah!  Which by the way, the IT Guy loved.  

 

These were some of the decorations that we had.  The Tiki God was mom’s, as was the pineapple banner.  She had lanterns and we bought luau balloons and I just went crazy decorating.

Emma picked out this cake by herself.  I loved how it turned out!  And it was delicious!  We got it from Tom Thumb, and Emma wanted chocolate cake, with butter cream frosting in between the layer with a butter cream frosting on top.  It was moist and delicious!  And very rich!

I didn’t do a big spread like I did last year.  Of course, last year I grilled hamburgers, and hot dogs, and everything else that goes along with a BBQ.  But not this year, nope, we went easy this year, and you know what, it was pretty good.  Instead of chips and dip, we did fruit kebobs, with mangos, strawberries, cherries, pineapple, grapes, and apples.  And it was a hit!  We had no kebobs when the party was over! 

The kids played outside for a while.  The playscape is always a big hit with kids. 

And here’s the birthday girl showing her BFF Carly how to hula dance.  And we know how well she hula dances…if you haven’t seen the video on my facebook page, don’t worry, I’ll post it again!   You’re welcome dad!

 

 

See the palm tree?  Yeah, it is a drink cooler.  You put the ice and drinks in the bottom, but ours had a leak!  And it looked like a dying palm tree!  But for $19, I wasn’t gonna buy another one!

This sweet boy, is Ryan.  I keep him 3 days a week.  And Emma and I love him to death.  Isn’t he cute?  Such a sweetie!

Here’s Emma patiently waiting for me to light the candles on her birthday cake!

We sang happy birthday….

and she blew out the candles!!!

 

Now, it was time to eat! 

This is JD,  he’s my boyfriend!  Seriously!  Love this little kid!

This is Auston, he’s was on Emma’s T-Ball team, and he is too funny! And he will be an awesome baseball player.  That kid can slide into a base like no one’s business!

This is Miss Maddie!  She is JD’s sister, and Emma loves her to pieces!  Emma and Maddie take dance together.

 

This is Carly, Emma’s BFF.  We live next door to Carly’s family, and I am so glad that they love each other so much!

 

And this cute little guy, is Sawyer!  He is going to be a heartbreaker when he grows up. 

After cake and ice cream, the kids wanted to go play outside again.

 

And then it was time to open presents!!  Woohoo!

The birthday girl, got a lot of stuff.  And as you can see, her daddy got her a light saber.  Yes, a light saber.  She loves Star Wars and Star Wars the Clone Wars, so this was a big hit for her.  She told the IT Guy that he needed one so they can go outside after dark and play against each other.  LOL!   So all in all, it was a success!  But now, I’m thinking of what to do next year!

Emma’s Party Invite

So I know I told you that I would show you guys the party invite for Emma’s birthday party.  Well, wait no more!

I found these cute little plastic bottles at Party City, on the bottom shelf, looking all sad and lonely.  And just begging me to take them home.  

Inside the bottle was sand and a little lei.  I rolled the invitation and tied a red ribbon around it.  Then I put the invitation in the bottle, and put the cork in and viola, a message in a bottle invite.  Too cute!   

After I got all 12 assembled I then put the label on the outside, and it was ready to mail out.  Emma was really stoked about these and I have to say, so was I.  I mean you don’t see cute invitations like these all the time. 

I made the IT Guy put some black electrical tape on the outside to keep the cork from coming out.  And I think they turned out really cute!  Now, how do I top this next year?  Of course, I need to make see if I survive this party first!