Yeah for Seaworld!

I have lots to update, but we'll start with a little at a time. The highlight of our month was going to Sea World! The kids had never been and my in-laws treated us to the trip Mother's Day weekend. Eric and I loaded the kids up, ready to have a spectacular weekend. We pulled Isaac out of school early so we could get to San Antonio early to enjoy our fabulous hotel with pool and splash pad included. We got out an hour later than we had planned, but all would have still been well if we didn't stop off at the Round Rock outlet mall for just a "quick 30 mins." Eric really needed some new black dress shoes and we found them - two hours later. Unfortunately, that put us into Austin right in the middle of rush hour traffic. We left town at 1:30p and finally pulled into our hotel at 6:30p. The kids were pretty good sports because they knew what was waiting. The hotel wasn't as fabulous as we had thought (we're about ready to give up on priceline), but didn't smell so bad once you were in your room! Unfortunately again, there happened to be a wedding down at the pool and the splash pad was non existant. But we had promised the boys swimming, so we kept them up past their bedtime and finally made it to the pool about 8:30p. It was SOOO cold! Ashlyn and I refused to get in, but Eric was a trooper and the three boys had a great time, shivering and all. The next morning was had a bit of a slow start with a few bumps that are bound to happen, but then we were off to the big event!

We were lucky to have Carter with us to show us around. We finally had to take the maps away from him and Isaac because they kept bumping into people instead of watching where they were going!

The first show we hit was the "Viva!" show, with divers and dolphins and it won "favorite show" by everyone but Ashlyn. People falling from high rafters was NOT her idea of fun. She's kind of a scaredy cat. We've decided that she isn't walking yet because she's too scared to. Yet, she doesn't mind climbing on top of the table!

The second big highlight of the day was the rollercoaster! By studying the map, Isaac had picked out the largest rollercoaster in the park to ride and was quite disgusted when I told him "yeah right" and pointed to the kiddy one in the middle of the park. By looks, he was not impressed. By ride, it was plenty of roller coaster for his little britches!

Eric rode with Isaac and I rode with Carter. I think my in-laws had an AWESOME time babysitting Ashlyn in the 94 degree heat with humidity while we had fun with the boys! :) Thanks again!

Let the good times roll!

The other shows were lots of fun and the kids actually did really well. Even Ashlyn. As long as we kept her fueled, she did great.

Carter waffled a little after seeing Shamu on what his favorite show was. The show itself is kind of cheesy, but who can compete with a killer whale? He and Isaac did a great job educating all within earshot about why it is called a "killer" whale. Not all kids are as lucky as they are to have a dad who is a marine biologist (on paper!) - or maybe it was our "Blue Planet" movies.

By the end of the day, Isaac wasn't in the mood for posing (Carter remarkably was), but has decided that his life's ambition is to be a whale trainer.

We had a great time, but were worried about what the boys thought of the trip with all the heat, walking, and the hotel fiasco. Our fears were put aside when we were pulling out of the park and they told us they had had "the best day ever" and "could we please stay one more night at our cool hotel?" It was just another lesson to me to just relax and enjoy - perfect or not - as long as you're with the perfect people, which I was blessed to be with!

I was going to do the whole month at once and had already uploaded these pictures of Ashlyn and didn't want to delete them and do it all over again later. They have nothing to do with Sea World, but isn't she a doll? :)

Posing in the new dress I made her. I worked hard for this picture. She's not one to perform for the camera and she finally ran to Dad for relief - sleeping and all.

"Whoa! Did you see what happened to this paper?"

What an artist!

Ashlyn was having a wonderful time playing the piano and the more she played, the more she enjoyed it until she was wild eyed and giggly. Eric ran to get the camera, which never works because they always stop before you get back , just usually not in this way.... Poor baby!

Just showing some of her jabbers!