Texas Family Vacation, Part 2

The 2nd week of our vacation, we left Nana & Papa's to go to San Antonio. We had a quick lunch with Brett's sister Brenda & her family, who happened to be spending the day there. Her boys are so big now! It was short but it was good to catch up for just a few minutes.

Then we decided to spend the day doing some things in San Antonio. We saw the Alamo, which is not as exciting for kids, so we only spent a few minutes. 

When you walk around outside the Alamo they have some living history tents set up and this lady was telling them about medicine during the time of the Battle of the Alamo. The part about screwing a hole in your skull to relieve pressure and prevent your brain from bleeding was really interesting!

Of course we had to have some fun with the cannons, too. We also walked down to the Riverwalk, just to see what it was like. There wasn't really much to do there, either, and it was a hot day, so we came, we saw, we conquered, and then we left, after only a couple hours in San Antonio downtown.

For the next two days, Brett's sister Karen had arranged for us to stay with them at their time share, which is a super nice hotel that had a sort of water park with a lazy river, slides, and several pools to choose from. Our room was more like a house with two bedrooms & bathrooms and a giant kitchen and living area. Unfortunately we really didn't even spend much time there, but we were thankful to have such comfortable living conditions!

The first night we went out and enjoyed the water area. The kids loved the lazy river. Jacob loved playing in the water fountains. He even loved climbing up and down the steps into the shallow end of the pool. He was a fish! Leah and Andrew even got on a rather long, fast waterslide. We were out till about 9:30 that night.

The last day we went out to Sea World for the day. It was a hot, tiring day but we managed to cram a lot in and have a lot of fun!

Even Jacob loved seeing Elmo and getting his picture taken with the Sesame Street characters. He surprised me by even asking to stop to watch their show when they were singing and dancing.

All three older kids loved the rides in the kids' section.

We saw three different shows. The first was the dolphins and beluga whales. Next was sea lions. And then the orcas (killer whales). Our favorite was probably the killer whales. The first two were more talking and explaining, whereas the whales did more jumping and showing off to music.

While Brett & I went off to ride a couple roller coasters, Aunt Karen and her boys took the kids to feed the sea lions, get tons of souvenirs (they were completely spoiled!) and go back to the water area at the kids' section.

We left the park around dinner time and went back to the resort for a huge buffet dinner. Again we were spoiled with great food.

We hated to leave, but we had to get home. We spent an entire day on planes and in the car. Our first flight to Tampa was not full so Jacob got to stretch out and took a great nap. However, after a five hour layover in the airport, made even longer due to thunderstorms, he didn't want to sleep on the second flight. He would sleep for a minute or two, then wake up uncomfortable, whine a little, sleep some more then do it all over again. Andrew watched a movie the entire flight (mind you, this was about 10pm-1am) and Leah and Abi fell asleep after an hour or so of being uncomfortable and over-tired. We still had a two-hour drive when we got back in to Albany and arrived home-- at last-- at almost 4 am! Thankfully, everyone slept in till almost 10.

(In the airport we took a shuttle to the main terminal to eat a nice dinner. Then we had to go back through security again to get back to our terminal. The time in the airport actually passed quickly. It was time on the plane that dragged by slowly!)

Summer Fun

Summer in Vermont is our favorite time of the year. We have several different activities every year that we look forward to. Most days are already filled before the summer even arrives. There's usually less than 10 weeks where we are not doing formal school work. But there are days when we get to just be outside and enjoy the weather with no plan. These are the days when "school" really happens. We're learning through exploring-- learning about the world God made, learning how to get along with each other, and learning how to see things in a different way. Here are a few things we did in June:

We have a little dirt bike road that runs alongside our house. It's fairly short and ends in a huge open field/ farm. We have started walking it pretty regularly, just to see what we can see. Jacob is now able to walk most of the way on his own-- he just needs a little carrying past the mud puddles or he'd walk right through. Of course we stop a lot to pick up rocks, or to listen to the frogs and bugs.

We also love going strawberry picking. There are several pick-your-own around here. It only takes a few minutes, but it's fun for the kids to get to see how they grow and help bring some home. Jacob doesn't really like strawberries much, so he just kinda wandered and stepped all over the plants while we picked.

The kids were gifted new bikes from a guy at church who found them "in a dumpster" and fixed them up for them. They have never owned bikes, so even at 6 and 8 they don't know how to ride. Our yard is primarily thick grass, so it's difficult to pedal in, but if they fall they have a soft landing. They haven't had much time to practice balancing and riding, and I'm not sure if they'll get it this summer, but they enjoy that they have the opportunity.

Texas Family Vacation, Part 1

We were so blessed to be able to go to Texas for the first half of June to visit Brett's family, whom we get to see only every-so-often. The kids loved the chance to get to visit Nana & Papa and get to know them better! The first half of the week was relaxing, spending time around the house, in the backyard pool Nana got for us, eating lots of good food, and taking small day trips.

This pool had a cool sprinkler attachment so the kids could control the hose themselves & spray each other. Jacob wasn't so sure about it at first, but after seeing his brother & sisters cannonball and run around a few minutes, he became a fish and you couldn't get him out!!

One day we took a family adventure to the Victoria Zoo. It was a small zoo, and only took about 2 hours to see the whole thing, but it was perfect for our kids who don't get to see zoos often. They especially loved the lions and jaguar, and I think Jacob loved the birds the best.

We also did mini golf that same afternoon, which ended up being TOO hot for us, especially a certain cranky little boy that hadn't had a nap, so it was quick but still fun.

Jacob's idea of golf was just catching the balls that were rolling around and then putting them into the holes. Easy way to win!

Friday all the kids but Andrew got their haircuts by Nana. Jacob was not at all thrilled, even though he was fine the other two times he's gotten it cut. It was especially long this time so it took a little longer, and he was more interested in doing other things. We managed to hold him down long enough to get a cute cut, though.

Then we went to the playground that day, too.

Sunday after church we got some family photos with Nana & Papa & even Uncle Brian.