The Vacation Post

As promised, I'm finally posting about our summer vacation. We had a blast. Really. It was a wonderful time. There are a lot of pictures here, so bear with me as they can tell the story so much better than I can.

Monday we spent the day at Schlitterbahn waterpark. Grace is a fish, so this is one of her favorite places on earth. She doesn't have the water (ehh... shark) fear that I do, so we had to ride everything. I'm much more of a roller coaster than a water slide girl, but there's nothing really out-of-control-scary at Schlitterbahn, so we were good to go.

We actually spent most of the day in the wave pool and lazy river going round and round. It's just so relaxing, and as long as I'm laying in the tube and she's free in the water to swim among the other fish, we're both happy.

Tuesday morning I surprised her by taking her horseback riding on the Lightning Ranch. She was ecstatic. It was a beautiful ride around the ranch, and much of it was shaded under the canopy of trees.

Grace rides weekly, so she's used to the feel of a horse. I was... umm... a little sore afterwards. But, man, it was fun. I understand the passion she and my dad have for horses a little more now. I loved it.

I took this shot of the inside of the girl's outhouse door for my mom. And, if you've read all the commentary on this post, you'll know why I just couldn't leave without snapping this shot for her enjoyment. ;) I had to peek and see what was plastered on the door of the men's outhouse, and it was a decoupage of beautiful horses running with their manes blowing in the wind. Figures.

After we left the ranch we drove into San Antonio to do some sight seeing. Grace loved the Alamo.

She had to read every sign, pamphlet, and plaque we saw. I was thrilled to see her take such an interest in the history and culture of our Texas. We were there for quite a bit longer than I expected her to want to be.

It was about 105 degrees outside, so we grabbed a slushy from a street vendor and left to stroll in the cool shade along the River Walk. Grace continued to surprise me with her interest in everything we saw and her attention span. She was not at all bored and wanted to see it all.

One of our favorite stops was at Garcia Art Glass, Inc. I think I carefully studied every piece in the store. It was all so beautiful and creative. Grace asked if I could buy her a bowl. Now, that was funny.

Let me clairfy that this is a "thumbs up for the River Walk" NOT a "gig 'em Aggies." thumb. *shudder*

We ate dinner at The Original Mexican restaurant before heading across the street to the stunning historic Menger Hotel for more sight seeing. (I guess I'll mention here that the food at the restaurant was fantastic and our waiter was adorable, but the hostess (blast her!) and I had words because she decided that her job description included giving the customers, aka: the people who pay her dumb salary, aka: me, some real attitude, and that did not sit well with me one bit after being in the sun and not eating much all day. But, I got over it as soon as they plopped that chimichanga down in front of my face.)

The Menger is exquisite and soaked in Texas history. We walked around wide-eyed for almost two hours taking everything in and touching as much of the elegance as we were allowed. So many textures. So much to see. And very western. I want to live there.

Grace had to get a picture in front of every piece of horse art we came across.




















After this full day we were more than ready to go back to our hotel and chillax for the night before the rest of our busy week began.

Wednesday morning we were up bright and early and headed to Sea World. This was Grace's sixth trip to Sea World, but the first time she was able to ride the big roller coasters. Sea World never gets old; only better every year.

Saying she was excited is the understatement of the century. She was jumping out of her skin. I thought I was going to have to sedate her, but lucky for her I left the Benadryl at home.

We rode all the big coasters on the front row several times. It was awesome to be there on a weekday, because we didn't wait in line for anything more than 20 minutes or so, and sometimes we walked right on to the rides without waiting at all. She definitely takes after me with the roller coaster riding. I'm a long-time front-row-is-the-only-way-to-go advocate.

We caught the shows on Wednesday. They're always amazing and the most entertaining shows around. I could watch them again and again. And since we were there for two days, we did!

Two things happened at Sea World that caused Grace to fall to the ground in hysterical laughter. Both were at my expense. 1) A lady on a Hoveround ran over my foot. It hurt. I don't know why she was laughing so hard. I was grimacing and she said, "What's wrong?" And I said, "That lady driving the Hoveround just ran over my foot!" And she keeled over laughing like a crazy person and when I said, "I may loose a toe." she began snort-laughing. 2) I got pooped on by two different birds in two different locations within a 10 minute span. Grace lost it both times. I couldn't get her to help me either time because it's hard to get the attention of someone who is having a spaz attack at your feet. *sigh*

Thursday was day two at Sea World. We spent the entire first half of the day in the waterpark. More sun. More water. More slides. Thank goodness for lazy rivers. I spent hours propped comfortably on an innertube float-following Grace as she swam around other floaters and imitated the animals in all the shows we'd seen the previous day. "Mom, I'm Shamu!" "I'm Seymour."
"Hey, I'm Dolly the Dolphin!" "Watch meeeeeee!" Did I mention my kid is a fish? If it weren't for the fear of being reported to some government agency, I'd post a picture of her gills.

We saw more shows, rode more rides, ate more food (cha-ching!) and after all of that, even she was ready for a shower and some p.j.'s and a big comfy bed.

This is what happened as soon as we got back to our room. It was inevitable.

Friday morning we decided to make our way back home after stopping in San Marcos at Aquarena Center, formerly Aquarena Springs. In 1996 Texas State bought the struggling theme park and turned it into a research center. My parents took us there when I was around Grace's age and I remember it being really cool. Underwater shows, glass bottom boat tours, a neat aquarium. So, I figured, how much could it really have changed over the years? There are still advertisements for it all over the place. Yeah... that, and the website with it's inviting photos, didn't help reveal the SUCKFEST which is Aquarena Center. What a bummer this two hours was for Grace. The glass bottom boat tour delivered an amazing four fish, some trash, a bazillion moss covered plants, and a bird.

We walked along the
"Wetlands Boardwalk" (a part of the lake that is covered with algae, lilly pads, and mossy vines) and I thought Grace was going to roll her eyes until they were permanently stuck up in her head and give me sarcastic "enthusiasm" until I gave her something to be enthused about.

To me, this part was kind of pretty. Like a tiny little piece of the Florida Everglades minus the crocs and gators and well, yeah, coolness. But she was not impressed. Totally grossed out is a more accurate description. We didn't linger.

After five fabulous days away, it was time to come home. The Austin skyline greeted us. And so did the traffic. But, we didn't mind. We were finally ready for the familiar again. Funny how that happens, huh? All we want to do is get away, but then once we do it doesn't take long to want to come back.

Or to be ready to get away again...