family vacation 2011 day 1: san antonio

this year, we were so excited that everyone's schedules cooperated and allowed us to take an extended family vacation.  there were 8 of us total:  john, me and the boys;  my mom and dad; and my sister and her little boy, known as porkchop here on the blog.

we thought it would be fun to take the boys to san antonio to sea world, and then on to the gulf coast for a few days at the beach.

day 1 started with a carefully planned departure time so that we would end up in austin for lunch.  all of our trips always revolve around food in austin, ha!  this time we ate lunch at guero's taco bar, and it did not disappoint!  gotta love some good mexican food!

we left austin bound for some outlet mall shopping in san marcos.  we all enjoyed getting out of the car and walking around a bit, despite the ridiculously hot temperatures.  the three boys were spoiled on a visit to the children's place.

after a little shopping, we hopped back in for the completion of our trip to san antonio.  this last leg of the trip seemed to take FOREVER!  we were so ready to make it to our hotel.  despite the crazy person that STOPPED on the HIGHWAY because they were going to miss their exit, we arrived safely and even had a little time to rest before heading out to dinner on the famed river walk.

we ate outside (with the gluttonous pigeons), and then walked around near the river a bit before deciding to head back to the hotel for a little evening swim.  we wanted to make sure the boys were good and tired before bedtime!  the indoor pool was fun for the boys, but i'm pretty sure the heat and humidity inside that room were far worse than the air outside.  after suffocating for about 30 minutes, we headed upstairs to our room for showers.  just as the boys were pulling off their wet trunks to jump in the shower, the fire alarms in the hotel began going off.  burrito was so spooked he was ready to head out of there naked!  they quickly put on dry swim trunks and crocs, and we headed out to the parking lot.  little porkshop was about to take a bath too, so he came out in only a diaper.  after a visit from the fire department, it was determined that someone in the pool room pulled the fire alarm.  we joked that the HEAT in there was what tripped the alarm!  and for days after, porkchop would say, "beep, beep, truck," talking about the alarm and subsequent fire truck.

this is a terrible picture but i just had to include the three boys outside while the alarms were going off

watching the fire truck (nice pool hair!)

so a relaxing bedtime routine went totally out the window!  i was a little apprehensive to see how the boys would do sleeping in a bed together with us all in the same hotel room, but they did great!  it's amazing the difference a few years makes!  it used to be a nightmare to get them to sleep in a hotel.  in fact, this was actually enjoyable.  we stayed up late watching soccer on television, and the boys fell asleep without any begging or prodding on our part.

and a good night's rest was in order for the next day's adventure:  sea world!