Saturday, June 25, 2011

Trip to the Hottest Place on Earth, Purdy style

This year for Memorial Day weekend we visited San Antonio with my parents, sisters, brother-in-laws and kiddos, and we had a ball. My parents take this motley crew on vacation every other summer and this year we thought San Antonio would be a great place for the kids. They had never been to the Riverwalk, or Sea World and we girls love La Cantera Mall so off we headed to the Hottest place on Earth for a fun-filled family vacation! Things started out great. We checked into the Wyndham Riverwalk hotel and went to dinner.


Here's me an my sweet Lila, our honorary third child.




Honey and her granddaughters (the three C's were left at home for this trip so we just had 5 kids with us.)



After a 10 mile walk in the heat (really just 1.5 miles but seriously the hottest I've been in a while) we made it to Mi Tierra and had a great Mexican feast.





The five older, wilder cousins. This picture pretty much sums up all of their personalities!


After dinner we made the smartest decision ever to ride on an air-conditioned trolley to go see the Alamo.

The middle 3 cousins---don't let these smiles fool ya:).



And the older two BFFs


Ahhh the Alamo. Ryan loved reading all about the battle and had a million and one questions about the war, who won, why they lost, etc. It's getting harder to answer his very thoughtful questions these days. Thankful for iphone Google!




After walking in the heat, having dinner at Mi Tierra, riding a Trolley and visiting the Alamo we should have gone home but...we decided to stand in the Riverboat line. This was not such a great idea and after a long wait Honey got us rainchecks, and we promtly headed home and went to bed. The next morning was the perfect time to ride the boat on the Riverwalk. A lot less people, at least 20 degrees cooler and we could see ducks, which was the best thing to three of our 13!


Ally and her sidekick Lila



My boys



This was my favorite day. We walked around the Riverwalk, then the girls headed to La Cantera! This would not have been possible or fun at all with the kids. The daddies blessed us by taking the kids swimming and then to see Kung Fu Panda 2. This was a unexpected gift and gave us the entire day to relax, shop and finish sentences and thoughts without interruptions. Thank you Mark, Stacey, Josh and GP!!



We met one of Kacey's best friends Kelly at the Kona Grill for lunch and had a wonderful time catching up with her and her firstborn daughter. Kelly was always at our house growing up and then she went to TTU also so I feel like we helped raise this beautiful girl.



After a long day of shopping we met the rest of the gang at Chama Gaucha and Mark's brother Mike for a wonderful dinner. This is Ryan's favorite steakhouse--he ate more meat than I've ever seen him eat.


Day 3 was SEA WORLD!

These guys were very excited



Sea World is something else. It started off fine. We got there wearing our suits because the heat is unbearable unless you're a little wet. And took these pics:




Don't worry I bought squinty Ryan a pair of sunglasses immediately! The kids had a great day at Sea World but this momma did not enjoy it. A couple of things that would have been nice to know prior to this place.


The shows are good but not great.


Never go to any sort of theme park on a holiday weekend.


Make sure all the kids know the plan ya know just in case someone gets lost (Side note: We lost Wyatt for 30 minutes...he was completely fine and fortunately Caryn missed the drama but my nerves were shot after that!)


Make sure you stay hydrated because have I mentioned it's hot!!!


Eat before you get hungry because the lines are insane.


Buy the refillable drink bottle and drink all the gross Pepsi you can.


Take your camera.


Any child under 7 needs a stroller.


Skip the Shamu show.


The waterpark is not worth it.


Remember that you paid good money for this kind of fun:)!


In all honesty, my children had a blast a Sea World and would go back right now if we told them they could. And I had a wonderful time with my family. Thank you very much mom and dad for this fun trip! Even when it's blazing hot and I'm on the verge of a breakdown I can still laugh at all the planking pics that came from this trip:). I am so fortunate that my sisters and I are SO close and enjoy spending vacations together. LOVE Y'ALL!!

2 comments:

shannonmichaelis said...

Fellow firstborn, this post had me rolling!

I have never wanted to go to Sea World, as Shamu and I aren't the best of friends. I think you just sealed the deal that Justin will not go for the next decade. Ha!

Love that the fam takes such great vacays!

Jill said...

This post was hilarious. I almost started sweating just reading it. We almost took Hollyn to Sea World this year, and this made me so grateful that we did not. SUCH cute pics of CUTE kiddos!