Summertime and the Livin' is Easy

For the past week, Daniel and I have been on vacation from work, and it's been a whirlwind! I'll give you the Cliff's Notes version of our hectic time.

First, we traded in our Suburban for a 2007 Cadillac Escalade. We're very much enjoying all the bells and whistles this treats us to that our Chevy did not feature. We have never traded a car in, choosing to sell outright in the past, but we took the easy way out this time and do not regret it one bit. With all the research Daniel did on this and time spent working out the deal, it was exhausting, but a good deal!

On Thursday, our dear friends Maggie and Kevin had some troubles flying to Austin from South Carolina. At the last minute, we jumped in the car and booked it down to San Antonio because that was the closest American Airlines could get them to Austin without waiting another day (or more!). We decided to make a mini-vacay out of it and stayed over in a hotel and...

...put our SeaWorld season passes to work the next day. It was super hot so we mostly stuck to the water rides and splash zones at the shows. Needless to say, I don't have any pics of our fun because I didn't want to get my camera wet, but I can pass on a tip. We bought the Quick Queue passes to avoid any time spent waiting in lines, and it was well worth the money! Those things are manna from theme park heaven! I don't think I'll ever visit a theme park without getting a fast pass. Fun times!

After a day of IKEA shopping, eating, napping and being lazy, we were rested up enough to go south again, this time to San Marcos. Daniel, Abigail, Maggie and Kevin took a trip floating down the river. They said it was a great time of relaxation and staying cool in the spring-fed waters (read: super cool in our super hot weather). Meanwhile, Cooper and I stayed dry at the San Marcos outlet malls snatching up some good deals and avoiding any You're-A-Mean-Mom-For-Making-Your-Frightened-Child-Get-In-The-Water-When-He's-Scared-To-Death scenes at the river. 

On the way back into Austin, we enjoyed some yummy shrimp enchiladas at the Hula Hut on Lake Austin. But, that wasn't our only feasting for the week. Since it was a vacation, we went all out - great seafood at Pappadeax, yummy Mexican at Chuy's, tasty steak at Salt Grass, delicious pie at the Texan Cafe, Kevin's favorite Steak & Shake. Yeah, we were certainly well fed and will have to do some serious backing away from the table over the next month to make up for it.

On the last day of our staycation, we toured the State History Museum in an effort to get out of the house but escape the deadly heat outdoors. It was interesting but we were mostly bummed that we slept in too late to catch an IMAX flick at the museum. 

The only adventure I caught on film was our last sightseeing trek in Austin, which I'll share tomorrow...

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Sea World

Earlier in December, we spent a Saturday at Sea World in San Antonio. We've been trying to visit the park since we moved to Texas, but just haven't been able to be there when they were open. Finally, I was insistent that we make the time over the holidays. And, it was extremely worth it. The park was beautiful from the moment we stepped in and saw this huge tree, and where there weren't trees, there were mounds of poinsettias.

One of the most interesting events was the beluga whales and dolphins show. It was very Cirque-like in that it had crazy music and acrobats jumping and diving from all parts of the venue while the belugas and dolphins jumped and danced in the water. One of the most unique parts of this show was that one of the belugas had recently given birth and the baby would not leave the mom's side. The baby was practically attached to the beluga, but the beluga continued doing her part of the show as if the baby were never there. It was interesting interaction to see.

Of course, the best show was the Shamu show. There were three orcas and several trainers participating in the show, and they were all impressive. But, what was most impressive, was the story they told. There was accompanying video and musical performers on the side of the pool telling about the miracle of birth and especially the miracle of the birth of Jesus and the true story of Christmas. I think I'm still a bit shocked that the children were able to hear this at Sea World, of all places, but I was most pleased that this was the case.

The show that was not impressive was the sea lion show. We were a bit bored by the show, but sea lions are Abigail's favorite so it was not to be missed. The best part was getting to meet one of the sea lions, having our picture taken with him, and Abigail, Daniel and Cooper all got to pet him. I think that was certainly Abigail's highlight of the day. We also took the chance to feed the sea lions after they performed. Though, it was disappointing that we couldn't get that close to them.

There were other encounters we enjoyed, such as the dolphins. The kids and Daniel enjoyed petting and feeding the dolphins. It was nice that they were able to be so close to them as long as the dolphins were interested in eating.

And, we closed out the day by watching Abigail take a ride on a rollercoaster. She's ridden these a few times, but she was disappointed we didn't let her go on the large, adult, scary coaster. This Shamu coaster was not what she had in mind, but I think she was appeased. (You can see her in the middle cart in a red sweater, seated by herself.)

We had such a blast at Sea World that we upgraded our one-day passes for 2009 season tickets, so we're hoping to have many more days of Sea World fun in the next 12 months!