Sending 2011 out with a Texas size bang! {day 3&4}

Thankfully we started off day 3 of our trip a little more lax, a little less early, and with people that we love very much. We needed a bit of a slow down. Love this baby pic of the two boy cousins Kyler & Nox at breakfast.

After Peyton & Hallie conquered a pediatric dentist apt and Heather taught me a little bit about the necessity of a fountain soda vs a can at home soda we ate a yummy lunch, prepared by none other then the talented and lovely Heather O'Brien, and headed out to Sea World for the remainder of the day!

This is about as cheezy and I get, max Audrey cheese! I heart sea world! I love water animals and they astound me, captivate me, draw tears even! So I was truly excited to experience this adventure. I found San Antonio Sea World to be a tad different then San Diego where there are a lot of exhibits and places to go watch the animals, more zoo style, San Antone is more ride and show style! Its glam so to speak.





We all had a great time! Saylor enjoyed every minute of the Atlantis roller-coaster not once but twice and that is the whole caboodle of us minus heather, me, two babies, and peyton. Even Hallie rode that thing! Heather, aaron, me, storie, & stock rode the steel eel! And storie was scared out of her pants, she ducked down to the floor the whole time! fantastic coaster and a good hiatus from being the mom to a new baby, if even for just a few minutes! Coasters just make me feel young and carefree again, who doesn't like that feeling?!

For my friends with disabled kids, did you know that Sea World offers disabled individuals a 50% off ticket a long with their caregiver?! really = one free pass.

Next day started out slow too with a little sleep in and some lax time at the O'Briens pad. A little spiritual insert here. In all my planning I could think of no better time for our families schedule to go do this, and I knew nate really wanted to visit aaron in SA. BUT it was hard to match up aarons schedule and unfortunately he could not get anytime off during our visit, so i just prayed that somehow they would get to spend a bit of time together, and as it turned out ... prayers answered! Aaron came home much earlier then usual and was able to get away from the hospital relatively easy both days we were there! so day 4 we just chilled until aaron got home around 230. and then we headed out the door for a night down town!

we went to "the river" but before that, a little stop off at none other then the ..... ALAMO!



Remember the Alamo? Well I dont, but anyhow it was a fantastic old building with great character and symbolism. We actually picked a horrible day to visit downtown san antone as it was the evening of the Alamo bowl and there were just you know maybe 60 thousand extra people and their cars! it was a bit stressful with 2 strollers a wheel chair and 7 kids! But it was fun to see and no regrets!



Its all lite up at night during the holidays so also just a little extra cheer! We ate out in the most true mexican style we could fine, because that was nates wish all along and my dismay, @ casa rio on the river and then we boarded a boat to join the ranks of what tourists do in this grand western city. It was lovely though because where else can you get that much history in 30 minutes? really truly fascinating, the architecture and engineering were divine and i found myself very intrigued by the history, must be getting old!



it was night and i only had my camera phone so good pics were few and far between but this building looks quiet interesting from this particular angle. almost like a sheer flat single wall. and this tree ... its the oldest and tallest of its kind still standing today.

Unfortunately the evening ended with us boarding our trusty Honda Odyssey and heading in a new direction for new adventures on day 5 and sending the other O'Briens back to their normal lives. But we sure did have a lovely time with them, and we most definitely appreciated their hospitality! Not to mention the priceless cousin moments!