Well, I'm writing this a month late, but I definitely wanted to chronicle this year's vacation. We had a great time, but some mishaps along the way. I hope you enjoy reading this!
It's always good to be flexible-- I just didn't realize how flexible we would need to be! The past three months, we have been planning our vacation. We were going to head to springfield, mo, and spend a few days in branson as well. We had everything planned, hotels booked and were just waiting to go. About a week before, my parents mentioned that they saw Missouri was going to get a bunch of thunderstorms that next week. We checked the forecast, and saw that it was supposed to rain the ENTIRE time we were there. And with two small rambunctious little boys, that didn't sound like too much fun. Little did we know we were supposed to be going to missouri the same time the tornados hit joplin. So needless to say, we are very thankful for God's protection.
So, we chose San Antonio instead (mostly because their forecast was 95% sunny). Some of our good friends had gone down there the week before and stayed at an amazing resort with great pools (definitely a must for us!), for a great price, so I was inspired to dig around for some deals. We were able to get a room at this resort for 1/2 the price. The staff were so nice and welcoming, and we absolutely loved the pool, lazy river and playground.
Matthew had been around one of his little friends who got a stomach the weekend before we left, so I knew there was a VERY good chance Matthew would get sick at some point on our trip. So, on the ride to san antonio, I put covered the car seats with towels, hung a sheet on the back of the front seats, and put a trashcan in the middle (just in case). I also brought clorox spray and wipes, and laundry detergent-- can't hurt to be too prepared! We made our way to San Antonio, and stopped for lunch in Temple. Matthew had a slight fever and wasn't eating (and when he doesn't each chicken nuggets or fries, you know something is up). So we got back on the road, and got into SA about 3:30. We stopped at mcdonalds for ice cream (at the most scary mcdonalds in SA), and got to the hotel about 4:30. I ran in to check us in, and when I got back, Brett and I got the boys out of the car and had the bellhop start unloading the car. We're getting stuff out, when all of a sudden the man unloading the trunk says, "ma'am, you're son...." and I look over and Matthew had thrown up all over the pavement and my very full bag of coupons. Totally scarred from past throw up experiences, I told the bellhop to just throw away the whole bag-- I didn't really want to cut coupons anyway =). At this point Matthew is crying and upset and has to have mommy pick him up- so he and I go to our hotel room-- and I'm covered in Matthew's barf now too. I give Matthew a bath and start rinsing out his clothes and using my very handy clorox spray. In the meantime, Brett was so frazzled, he had the guys go ahead and valet the car and he and Joseph headed upstairs. Crazy enough, Matthew ate 2 pieces of pizza for dinner, so after he threw up, his appetite came back immediately. He did have a small fever still, so Tuesday morning (the next day), he and I had some snuggle time in the hotel room (which, if you know Matthew, he only snuggles when he's sick). During this same time, Joseph got a hold of Brett's credit cards, and put them in the return vent in the room-- so we had to call maintenance to come and rescue our cards. Also, I had one project I had to work on for CutieTooley, and had brought our laptop. What I didn't realize was that I had put the laptop cord in the coupon bag, which was in the dumpster at this point- so Brett and Joseph went and bought another new cord. We also stayed in Austin a few days, and accidentally left the boys sandals in one of the drawers. When we called to ask if someone had found them, they said the sandals weren't there (who would want 2 pairs of stinky boys' sandals? arghhhhh)
But aside all that, we had some great memories....
-Watching the boys in the kiddie pool have the best time splashing and playing
-Building a sandcastle with Matthew
-Going down the lazy river together
-Dinner out at a Mexican Food restaurant, ice cream afterwards, and seeing the fiesta texas fireworks show from the ice cream shop (the boys LOVE fireworks!)
-shopping in San Marcos (this may not be on the boys top 10 list =))
-getting to visit some of Brett's family- Uncle Roger, Aunt Martha, Ryan, Aunt Gracie and Uncle Jack
-riding the miniature choo-choo train in Austin
-going to the Oasis restaurant in Austin and seeing the sunset over the lake- just beautiful
-watching part of a movie together every day before nap time
-getting away from the metroplex- no cooking, and no dishes!
-saying, we'll laugh about all these mishaps someday!
-spending time together as a family
We really had a great time-- I'm just sad it's already over! Can't wait to make more crazy memories next year =). I will post pictures someday.....
