Whale Tales

The theme for this weekend would be "unprepared." Ha!

We have the car loaded and are ready to head out the door. I am online getting ready to print off some showtimes and such, when I realize that Sea World is closed on Veterans' Day. I had been planning this overnight trip to San Antonio, centered around maximizing our paid-for Sea World passes and they aren't even going to be open for the majority of the time we planned to spend there, not until 12:00 on Saturday! Jeremy suggested that since we had a hotel reservation, we should go and make the best of it. It is San Antonio, after all, and there are plenty of things to do.

First stop, the San Antonio Zoo. Only, it was late in the afternoon, so we didn't actually pay to go in, we just rode the train, which was all Noah cared about anyway.



Waving to the adoring fans...

Cute little train. Cute little boy.

We checked into the Hyatt Place on the Riverwalk for our free night's stay. (Yes, I was proud of how cheap this little trip was supposed to be. I am sure they will get their money's worth out of us, as we keep going back. Great service!

Next stop, Casa Rio for dinner on the Riverwalk. Noah really liked the river and the ducks. I held on for dear life.

And some hand-dipped Blue Bell for dessert in an ice cream shop.

Day 2! Since we had to wait on Sea World to open, we decided to kill the morning at the San Antonio Children's Museum downtown. Great find, JB! Noah was able to pretty much run anywhere, touch everything, and push all the buttons he could find!

This was like a giant Lite Brite.

Bank managers get to answer the phone and push buttons. Great career choice.

There was a bubble area and water table.

Father and son cow milking.

No, really, you can actually milk this cow.

Shopping the "HEB" grocery store. Complete with checkout lanes and working scanners.

And the piece de' resistance. (I am too lazy to look up the correct spelling right now.) The Airplane exhibit. His favorite part of the whole museum. Didn't think we were getting him out of there without some tears and kicking. He insisted on being buckled in.

This exhibit, complete with cockpit (more buttons) and storage area (with suitcases), was maybe the size of one of those tiny commuter jets. The kind that only seats maybe 8 passengers.

Super excited.
We finished the morning off with another train ride, grabbed an early lunch, and headed back to the hotel for a quick nap. Bless them, they let us keep the (free) room until 2:00 so Noah could get a nap before the wonders of Sea World.

The Bay of Play was open for business in November, spray and all. Gotta love Texas! It was really a perfect day for this. I believe 80 was the high.

Noah was terrified of Big Bird, but okay with Bert and Ernie.

The "Azul" show was a hit again.

Next, we headed over to Dolphin Cove, bought a couple trays of fish, and had a great time feeding the dolphins their 4:00 snack.

Noah even got to feed one! He did it but I think it scared him a little.

Then we hurried over to catch a performance of Shamu's new "One World" show.

Watching the whales.
My planning disaster turned out to be a really fun little trip for us! We kept saying that Saturday was probably "the best day of Noah's life!" since he got to do so many things he loves all in one day. :) In fact, we are planning to head back after Thanksgiving to take Noah to the Sesame Street holiday brunch! He will be so excited. And, yes, I looked. I am aware of Sea World's operating hours for the weekend we are planning. ;)

The Down Low

Pictures courtesy of Samantha, who sends me plenty of great ones!

So what's been going on in our day-to-day grind lately? Sickness! For 3 weeks straight, either Noah or I was sick. It started with the old hand, foot, & mouth, and switched over to this weird cold/allergy thing with a cough. After basically 4 days of fever, I requested from our pediatrician that we go ahead and try some antibiotics, feeling like a sinus infection made the most sense. The next day, the fever was gone! So relieved because being at home was really getting to both of us. We are ready for some fun...and good sleep!

Two cute buddies hanging out.

We also held a cookout at our house last Saturday evening and invited everyone we know around these parts to come out and meet our friends, Ross & Kelly, who just moved to the area. Fun was had by all but Noah, who was just not feeling his best. Sadly, I did not take any pictures.

The gang at Samantha's house, adorned in Froot Loop necklaces.

I must blog about our latest mishap from this morning, even though I'm pretty sure there's no way I could ever forget it. This morning, Noah and I headed out of the house to go to Wal-Mart. I hit the button on the garage door opener, as I have done a hundred times, and we go out into the garage. I go over to the fridge and get a drink out. This couldn't have taken more than 5 or 10 seconds. I hear screaming, look over, and see Noah dangling from the ceiling. Yes, dangling. Apparently, he caught hold of the door as it went up and just never let go. I rush over and lift him down, thinking his poor fingers must be trapped. Talk about a moment of sheer panic. But, no, he is just holding on for dear life, hanging like a little monkey from the garage door. He cried and I think was just scared, but then on the way to Wal-Mart I started giggling, which made Noah start laughing, and we both laughed the whole way. It was hard to decide if I should keep shaking or just laugh. That was truly one of the funniest, and initially scariest, sights I've ever seen. Too bad there wasn't time for a camera! :)

Tomorrow we head out on a quick overnight trip to San Antonio. I have been dying to take advantage of our already paid-for Sea World passes and a free stay at the Hyatt Place on the Riverwalk, compliments of my Chase Freedom card! Cheap, mini-family vacations rock! Wish us luck and safer adventures. :)

Trick or Treat Fun

Here are some of the pics from Monday night trick-or-treating and a few pre-Halloween ones as well.

As previously mentioned, Noah shared his hand,foot, and mouth disease with his best buddy, Adam. As promised to Adam's mommy, we invited them over to play since there is no where you can get out of the house to for several days while trying to avoid the spread of the contagion. :)

The boys had a great time playing together and painting pumpkins!


The finished products.
And now for the trick-or-treating. This was Noah's first time going out. I think he thought everyone had lost their minds but he seemed to enjoy himself anyway. :)

Ross, Kelly, & baby duck Madison joined us!

Such cuties!