WOW

Anne loved playing with the eggs that sister Jamie was filling up this weekend. We can hardly wait for Easter Sunday!

Sunday

We finally were able to get out of the house and attend a small group discussion with adults! It gave me hope that we can move past sickness and survival! We have had several discussions this week about what values are important to our family and what legacy are we leaving our kids (and what did our mothers pass on to us): things like regular church attendance, prayer, education, reading, music, square dancing as well as things like a love of seashells and the water (ocean and pool). And James got a bonus and decided to finally invest in an above ground pool for our family so we can spend time together at home enjoying the outdoors in a way that we can all enjoy. Jamie is so excited that we finally did it. We hope to have it ready for her birthday. We miss our pool from VA but someone gave it to us and we passed it on when we moved. Making family memories!

Weekend

Jamie spent Friday afternoon making a kite at Grandma's house and then begged us to please go fly a kite for National Kite Day. We just made it to the park before dark but there was a game still going on so we had the bright light to fly our kite by for a few minutes. Really different experience! It got a little chilly. We also picked up her new glasses. She had a growth spurt and her vision changed quite a bit. We stopped by Barnes and Nobles to pick up a gift card for a friend and read several Easter stories to the kids. I miss doing that. They have storytime once a month - hope to go some time.

Saturday we were up early and at the shoe store when it opened. An hour later Jamie finally decided on a pair of shoes. We also visited Target, Dollar Tree, and Walmart today. Jamie got a bathing suit and a new blue dress with some early birthday money. We found lots of fun Easter toys and candy for the kids.

Seaworld - Big Bird's Beach Party

After the children's museum, we drove to Seaworld only 20-30 minutes away for the afternoon. We really wanted to see the Big Bird Beach Party. We love kids stuff and good music. Well that was really the only thing we got to see that day. Everything was totally packed - standing room only. We stood outside Shamu's theater and heard about the new baby whale born in January. We are going back to see him soon - this summer. There is also a Christian praise band competition in May as well as Jars of Clay and Steven Curtis Chapman - one of our favorite artists that sings "I will dance with Cinderella".

The kids' market

Jamie's favorite was the HEB kids' market in the basement. It took up the entire floor and had little carts and real cash registers with digital pictures for them to highlight. Amazing! Jamie now wants to be an HEB cashier.

Jamie at children's museum

Jamie really liked it too. She said it was much better than the Austin one. It had a bubble ranch similar to VA. I think it was just something different from all the walking the day before.

San Antonio Children's museum

Anne really liked the new tot lot at the San Antonio Children's Museum where she spent about 2 hours playing. Her dad made sure she walked/flew through the other parts for a little bit.

Bakery and Breakfast

We had Texas shaped waffles for breakfast at the hotel. But I had promised we would go back to the bakery also. We grabbed a few items for later. James and I tried Campechenas - something like a turnover - mine had vanilla filling and his had caramel. Jamie got an eclair. We also saw the gingerbread - like at Williamsburg - that we had to get for the memory.

Giant Pizza

When we got back to the hotel, it was getting late for the kids. So we took a quick trip to the pool to dip our feet in but Jamie actually jumped in - it was freezing. I think my one pool photo is on my other camera phone. Then we went back and ordered a giant pizza from a local place. It was somewhat burnt but fairly cheap. You get what you pay for. Anne might have had a few bites of it, but she mainly ate peaches and drank milk. Unfortunately, she threw up sometime in the night/early morning. I held her for 2 hours so they could sleep not knowing what had happened but knew she stunk bad. Had to give her a bath as soon as the lights came on.

Park

On the walk back to the hotel, we stopped at the park across from the hospital and the kids loved the swings. Simple things!

Ice Cream

We stopped for ice cream - chocolate for Jamie and vanilla for Anne. It was a long day and we saw lots of green outfits for St. Patrick's Day. It was way too crowded on the River Walk - but definitely interesting. We will know better next time. Been there done that.

Green thing

This green thing (alligator or crocodile) was located in the wishing pond at Rainforest Cafe and I jumped. Jamie looked all over the ground until she found money to throw in. She is braver than me.

Gimme Some Chocolate

We were getting really tired and all of a sudden, Anne says BEAR! So off we went to the chocolate shop for family photos.

Boat tour

When we finally got there, the boat tours were booked for several hours. The kids would have been in bed by the late night tour. It was a lot more walking, but we decided to see what we could on foot. I loved all the waterfalls along the way. We stopped in several places just to look - like Hard Rock Cafe and Rainforest Cafe.

Free Children's Activities

As we were walking down to the River Walk access, Jamie saw a sign for free fun stuff and she detoured into the courtyard of the Governor's Palace. They have been closed for several months but they open up the courtyard for the kids. Jamie loved the sewing and dress up.

Mexican costumes

Mexican food and dancing

For a few days during spring break, we went to San Antonio. Our first stop was the River Walk. James found a hotel (with help from AAA) that was on the outskirts - at least 6 city blocks away. It was a lot of walking. However, right across the street was a cafe/bakery and we were starving so we went right over for a late lunch - the food was really cheap compared to the higher priced places on the River Walk. There were Mexican dancers right out the back door that we watched while we waited our turn. The costumes were beautiful. The walls were covered with paintings - Sha would love it.

Bluebonnets

Yesterday we went for a long walk to a field nearby and took several photos of Anne in the bluebonnets. It was really sunny so the white dress didn't show up well and it was windy. Here is one with her looking at the camera. We hope to try again later. Jamie was tired and took a long nap and didn't go with us.

Laugh for the Day: The Pond

The pond is finally full and James decided to brave the log "bridge" to the island. He made it and was so excited. Jamie decided to follow him but she scooted along there and back. James tried to get back and couldn't do it. His mom suggested he lose the shoes and other articles of clothing and walk through it to the shallow end. I laughed so hard. Those pictures are not allowed to be blogged of course.

What did you do on your spring break . . . I went skinny dipping! haha

Visit to the farm/Christine's property

We wanted to go out to visit Christine and see her baby animals - chicks, goats and puppy. We are all sick but the Watkins family went anyway today. We try to go about every 3 months. Jamie had fun collecting eggs - she found 21 and was allowed to keep them. We saw Christine's huge gardening area and new parking spaces.