Our vacation was everything I hoped it would be. There were priceless memories made that I will cherish forever!
Thursday we left for our almost 4 hour trip to San Antonio. We stopped at a huge gas station/ market called Bucees. Bucee is a beaver so I told the kids, "look guys it's Bucee the beaver" Madi said, "Bucee the fever!" it was so cute! Anyway, we drove right to the Japanese Tea Gardens. I highly recommend it. Everything about it is FREE which is awesome but it's beautiful there. They have stone walkway bridges, beautiful flowers, koi fish ponds, a huge waterfall, etc. I took a ton of pictures of the kids. We had one big scare when we first got out of the car there; Brody had a seizure the second we took him out of his car seat and stood him on the ground. It was just like the one he had in December where he turned purple, his body was stiff, eyes rolling back, and making horrible noises. It was a good 5 minutes. Seizures are so horrible and so scary. He wasn't really feeling great while at the gardens. While we were there the kids spotted a train and had to go on it. They still love trains from when we went on one at Christmas time. We left the gardens and went on the train ride. Brody was back to normal by then. They had so much fun. We headed to our hotel after that, had dinner, and then it was bed time for our big day the next day.
Friday we were all up and ready by 6:30am. Hands down it was the best money ever spent going to Sea World and having breakfast with Sesame Street. We patiently waited for 9am to go to breakfast and when our kids saw Elmo, Abby Cadabby, Grover, Zoe, and Big Bird... oh my word! I can't explain it. They lit up. They were so happy and so excited and in complete shock. Our three stood out because they are triplets and people freak out over triplets (that is another story) so the characters flocked to them :) I wish everyone could have been there to see the way Madi interacted with the characters. Oh my sweetness! I have the most precious pictures of the kids with their "friends". We left breakfast and headed to see Shamu. The kids thought it was the coolest thing ever. Sea World was the best and the kids are so lucky to have the daddy they have because $130 later we were leaving the gift shop with each of them picking out a shirt and stuffed animal. I will note the kids did not like feeding/ petting the dolphins. Of course that was one of my favorite things but they kind of jump out at you looking for the fish. We left there around dinner time. I also highly recommend the all day dining pass. We got one pass and it fed all of us all day long. We saved over $100 on food, drinks, and snacks by getting this pass. We had dinner at the original Rudy's. If you don't know what Rudy's is, you must find one and eat there ASAP!
Saturday we were staying in a different hotel so we woke up that morning, packed up, went to breakfast, and then headed to Morgan's Wonderland. Morgan's Wonderland is an amusement type park specifically for kids with disabilities. It is hands down the most wonderful place. 30% of their staff are volunteers and it's probably the best experience we've ever had at a place like that. If you know of a young person with disabilities please tell them about this place. We played for hours and when the kids were finally so exhausted they had to sleep, we left and headed to a farm in Fredericksburg, TX. I've been wanting to go up to that part of the hill country for forever now but I found out about this farm called Wildseed Farm. They supply all the wildflowers along the Texas highways for the State of Texas. It was a really neat place and I was able to get really great pictures of the kids in bluebonnets. We left there and headed to our hotel on the Riverwalk, got checked in, and headed down the Riverwalk for dinner. That was the WORSE thing we could have done. For one there was a major league baseball game near there that was the first one ever so there were an extra 75,000 people in that area. UGH! It was a horrible experience with so many people smoking, adults not watching my little tribe, and just a hard walk for the kids (the triplet stroller wouldn't fit down there). We ate dinner and went back to the hotel where we went for a swim, ordered room service, and watched a movie. We all slept hard that night.
Sunday we got up, packed, and headed to San Marcos, TX to visit the Wildlife Ranch. The ranch gives you food and you drive through the ranch as the animals come into your car!! for food. It was an experience! Ricky had a run in with an ostrich and I had a run in with some hairy lama looking thing with buck teeth! The kids LOVED it! We left there and I drove home!
It was a very busy 4 days but we didn't feel rushed, didn't feel over booked, and it didn't fly by! It was so perfect and we enjoyed each others company so very much.
Our lives aren't easy. Our days, weeks, and months are jammed packed- always but I wouldn't trade a day of this life for a second of my pre kids days. This is what life is all about. This is what the dream is!
KP
