San Antonio mini vacation

 

We went to San Antonio the week of Thanksgiving. We visited Sea World, Ripley's Believe it or Not, the Wax Museum, the Alamo, and the Riverwalk.

The girls have never been to Sea World, and since Halle's favorite animal is a dolphin and wishes to be a marine biologist/zoologist, it was due time to go.  I haven't been to Sea World since high school, and as a teenager I wasn't impressed with the park.  There wasn't enough for thrill seekers there to keep me entertained.  Brian didn't remember it being all that fun either.  Surprisingly though we had a really good time watching the shows and doing the attractions.  I'm glad they've updated the park to be more enjoyable.  And as a parent, I have come to realize that I really like taking my kids to places like this because their excitement rubs off on me.   

 With Shamu.  It was Christmas all around the park since it's that time of year.  It wouldn't be San Antonio without Santa mariachis!

 

Since Sea World has a Sesame Street area, we got to meet one of our favorite Muppets, Cookie Monster!



Sesame Street Christmas show.  All of the kids broke away to stand at the base of the stage





The walrus was Brian's favorite animal.  So much blubber!

A fun action shot at the killer whale show

Halle was upset because she kept sitting in the splash zone so she could get wet, and she never got splashed.

The Dolphin Show was spectacular. This was by far my favorite show to watch

The divers and acrobats amaze me.

I really wish I could do that!



Jack enjoyed the shows, too!

The park wasn't crowded at all either day we went so we got to ride the roller coasters over and over and over!  Halle and I are both adrenaline junkies, so we had a blast.

 

My new favorite roller coaster, The Steel Eel



Seeing that Arden is so scared of heights that she doesn't even like being on Brian's shoulders.... probably means she won't be one of my future roller coaster buddies.  I kept asking her if she wanted to ride the roller coasters with me.  She couldn't because she's not tall enough, but I just wanted to see what she would say.  She played that card right away, "Nooooo!  I'm too little!"  She's a big ole scaredy cat.

This is not suppose to be a candid shot.  I'm trying to get Arden to smile for me.  She's got a choke hold on dad.

This is more of Arden's tempo....riding the Sea World Express. With the 5 of us squeezed in we surpassed the weight limit of this tiny train car, ha!





All smiles on the carousel.  Even Brian got on a horsey.

Arden did like the kiddie Shamu roller coaster.  This was her threshold. 

I tricked Arden into riding this.  I really wish I had a picture of her face when we went down the hill.  I know, I'm a mean mom.

Dancing with the dolphin. I wonder if Arden realizes at her age the difference between the real dolphins and the characters. I don't think she does yet.  Arden also got to sit on Santa's lap (no pictures.)  She told him she wanted a Barbie and skates for Christmas.  She said that only because I told her while we were in line to see him, "You have to tell Santa what you want.  What do you want?"  "I don't know..."  Me, "maybe a Barbie?  or how about skates?"  "Yes!"  So because I used those two as examples, she now tells everyone that's what she wants for Christmas.  If only the art of persuasion worked so perfect everytime.....

Feeding the dolphins




Is it laughing or mad?   I can't tell!  kinda scaring me....



since Halle missed two days of school we also got in a history lesson.  We remember.....

We visited the wax museum next

I loved that they had a whole section dedicated to Jesus

Halle knows her personally







He wishes.

That's ok, I got Johnny Depp.

with Miley Cyrus

Take it outside boys

Team Jacob





Halle making a wax hand.  I always wanted to make one of these when I was a kid.  We attempted to make Arden one, but she couldn't hold her hand still long enough to let it set.  I was kind of glad since it saved me ten bucks.
 

all ready for the 3D motion movie.  Even this scared my little sissy.

silly us

The most fun we had was at Ripley's Believe it or Not.  Didn't get many pictures here, but we spent a long time here checking out everything. 

biggest tire

next to the 1500 lb man. I didn't tell her to do this!

next to the tallest man

after riding around on Daddy's shoulders for the past few days, the choke hold has loosened up slightly

 

 

 

Brian once told Halle long ago that she would never be too big to ride on Daddy's shoulders.

dinner on the Riverwalk at HardRock Cafe

 

I always ask Halle what her favorite parts of vacations are.  #1 Steel Eel roller coaster, #2 Ripleys, #3Dolphins, #4Hotel hot tub

 

and Arden: #1 Sesame Street play area at Sea World, #2 dolphins, #3 hot tub