First official family vacation

The girls were excited for their first airplane ride.  Me, not so much because the idea of doing it alone scared me.  I was in charge of waking them in the morning, getting to the airport, checking the bags, going through security and finding the gate.  A little tidbit about me, I am horrible with directions.  I am horrible with N-S-E-W and I am horrible with landing at a different airport and trying to find the next gate that we are taking off from.  Doing that with a 6 and 4 year old was causing me some anxiety plus add in my not so love of flying, I was a ball of nerves. 

Joe was in San Antonio for tech school and 4 weeks into his trip the girls and I decided to fly to Texas and reunite as a family.  The girls did great and once I was in the plane, belted in, I was able to take a deep breath and enjoy the moment with my daughters.  They had a great time staring out the window and were wide-eyed looking at their different surroundings.  
Daddy left in the mornings for school and would come back to the hotel for lunch. Need ideas on how to keep a 6yr old and 4 yr old entertained in a hotel for 2 weeks?  I'm your girl.  In the mornings, we enjoyed free breakfast downstairs (I enjoyed the not having to cook breakfast part) and the girls picked flowers outside. Some mornings we either got a basketball from the front desk and bounced the ball or we drew with sidewalk chalk.  The Residence Inn was very friendly and let us draw all over their sidewalks.  We swam every afternoon and went bowling on occasion, played with play-doh and the girls got creative in the hotel room.  I unplugged the hotel phones, sanitized them of course and let the girls play "office" with them.  They also took turns riding the roller ottoman and having daily craft time.  Since daddy was off on the weekend we kept busy on the River Walk and at the Alamo.  

While on the River Walk, we ate at the most delicious restaurant, Casa Rio.  We took a boat ride, ate sno-cones, walked around the outside of the Alamo (didn't tour inside-- it was too hot to wait in the very long line) and just enjoyed the all around atmosphere of the River Walk.  The next weekend we went to SeaWorld.  SeaWorld is great to military families and our admission was free.  If you are in the military and was not aware of that amazing deal just click here for all the details.  Take your family to SeaWorld, it was worth it.  We loved the shows, Elmo's water park for kids, feeding the dolphins, roller coasters and the log ride.  We rode the log ride a grand total of 7 times.  If you do plan on visiting SeaWorld may I suggest a few tips:

A) wear your bathing suit
B) wear flip flops
C) take a washcloth with you and put it inside a Ziploc bag with ice.  You can stop and get more ice throughout the day as needed but that will cool you off and help keep your kids cooled off.
D) if you have two children invest in the $18 double stroller.  That was the best $18 ever spent and it kept the girls from having to walk around the entire park.  That right there took their "cranky meter" down to a 1. 

Once daddy was all done with his school we traveled to Corpus and spent a couple days on the beach. It just so happens that Miss Emma's birthday was that weekend so she got to spend her 4th birthday in the ocean. This was the girls first time at a beach and we all had a great time. Ava enjoyed jumping the waves and Emma enjoyed burying her mermaid barbie in the sand. I can not wait until next summer and we enjoy another family vacation. I love starting traditions and carrying through with them.

Have a great weekend and remember...support our troops! 

Enjoy your family~