(I put this post together weeks ago and just realized it never posted because I had gone over my BLOGGER limit! Oops!!)
Hunter went on his very first vacation this month. We went to San Antonio for a few days – stayed at the Hyatt Wild Oak Ranch, which is right across the highway from Sea World.
Hunter started his vacation at the farm, at Mema’s house. He and Jenna headed that way after her baptism so that Mommy and Daddy could have some time alone without the kids. Mommy actually had complete aloneness (is that a word?) while Daddy went out of town for work. Talk about an empty nest!! That is when I posted all those pictures to catch up, at 1:00 in the morning, because sleeping in this empty house wasn’t easy.
Jenna stayed with Mema and Pa the whole week, but I did get to see her briefly when they brought Hunter to us in Columbus on our way out of town. We were on our way!!!
The hotel was superb! It was a one-bedroom apartment, fully loaded with a huge bathroom and nice sized kitchen (for a hotel). If you haven’t been here or to the Hyatt Hill Country (which is right down the road), you HAVE to stay there next time you go to San Antonio. The main benefit of Wild Oak Ranch vs Hill Country is the condo atmosphere (separate bedrooms for the kids) and the indoor/outdoor heated pool. Not to brag or anything, but God was very good to us when he set the weather map up that week. It was 40-something in the morning and 70-something in the afternoon – hardly a cloud in the sky.
Now, the pictures, because I know that’s all you come here for anyway. Not to read my ramblings.
Hunter couldn’t seem to take naps when we wanted him to on this trip. He fell asleep about 20 minutes before we got to the hotel the first day – a 2-hour car ride and he would NOT fall asleep, until we wanted him to be looking out the window, anxious to see where we were headed!
These were taken on our balcony. You may be able to see under the windmill in the picture with just Hunter, there was a water slide that started there. There was one outside and one inside. Hunter climbed up with me to the one inside, but decided to go back down the stairs. A bit scary with that water rushing out at you!
We had so much fun at the pool. I think we went every day except the last day we were there. Hunter was fearless, which scared me to death. So he’ll be starting swim lessons in May!
Hunter waiting for us to get ready to leave for the zoo. This was our bedroom and Hunter slept on the fold-away bed in the living room. Only disadvantage to that was that we were on the 3rd floor which had a skylight, so when the sun came up, Hunter was up. This was before DST started, so he was up before 7:00 every day. We’ll get a 2-bedroom next time, for sure!
The kimono dragon is the closest thing to a dinosaur at the San Antonio zoo. We didn’t get to see the real deal, but I think Hunter thought he was actually sitting on a dinosaur. At least, that is what he was calling it!
And we did the Riverwalk boat tour, with Mexican food to follow. Can’t beat that!
The hotel also had a playground, which we didn’t realize until the last full day at the hotel, but Hunter was a very happy camper there. We spent that whole day at the hotel, just chillin, swimmin, playin. Even tried the lazy river, if you call sticking your foot in to see how cold it is “trying” it. They had just turned the heater on the night before for the lazy river, so it hadn’t quite gotten up to par for my liking.
Probably don’t need to tell you where these pictures are from. They are a bit out of order because I wanted to put the pics with Shamu first, just because they depict how great the day was. Next time, we will spend at least 2 days at Sea World. Hunter could have stayed there forever if we’d let him. We watched one show (Azul), fed the sea lions, tried to pet the dolphins in their feeding pool, hunted for sharks and I don’t remember what else. Oh, and we ate Turkey Legs…can’t beat that!
The guy who starts the show at Azul literally sat down right next to Daddy. We didn’t have a clue when he was rustling past us to take his seat that he was going to be the star of the show. It was a great show and I took a zillion pictures, but my camera wasn’t nearly fast enough. I need to learn some tricks with it before we take our next trip.
