I am a little late in my spring break report, but sometimes the recovery takes longer than the actual trip! I still have laundry to do!
For the past 3 years our friends the DuBois have been brave enough to come with us. It is hard to spend time with us I am sure, we move at a pace all our own. It is called “Ivanovsky standard time”, meaning we are usually late and missing something important that we will eventually have to go back for, or re-buy. It is just the way we roll!
If you have been a reader for a while you will remember this trip HERE that we took to the diamond mines, I mean the diamond park to force/let our children look for diamonds. OMG I just looked back at that trip! I can’t believe at how little they all were…. and Pauls Coke, still makes me laugh.
Then last year we went to Florida right before the oil spill, you can read about that HERE. I talked about the difference between a family trip, and a “real” vacation!
This year, we took the easy way out and got a hotel room! What? No camping…. Yes, I am slacking! Don’t worry, we have a few trips planned this summer that you will be able to read about and thank me later for reminding you why it is such hard work to take kids camping!
I have a little advice about Sea World. If you are thinking of going this is what we did:
- Bought 1 Passport for Paul, they are $99 but you get free parking and 20% off everything in the park. We were there for 3 days so the price difference was paid for in parking alone.
- Bought the rest of us a Fun Card passes for the year, these are $59 for adults and $49 for kids. They don’t come with free parking or the discount, but Paul already had that on his card so we didn’t need it.
- You can bring some food and drinks in. You can have a small cooler the size of a 6-pack (or a little bigger) or soda. I had food packed for the little kids, cheerios, goldfish etc. and all 3 days they clearly saw it and had no problem with it. I also brought in water, quite a few bottles and they also didn’t have a problem with that.
Some advice about the rides and shows… Well, no advice, depending on your ages of kids you will have to figure out what will work for you. We had to split up. The big kids wanted to go on the big roller coasters and the little kids did also! After prying them out of line for “Great White” I took them over to the kiddie park.
- Get to the park when it opens!!! Get in line QUICKLY for the big rides. You will have about 1 1/2 to ride the big rides before the lines are 2 hours long.
- Make sure to see the main shows first. You will need to be there about 30 min before the show starts to get seats. ** Just FYI…. Babies DO NOT like sitting in the “splash zone” at the Shamu show. Just in case you think it is a good idea. Also, phones do not like 51 degree salt water. I have a new phone to prove it 🙂
On the way home we stopped by The Alamo. This is one of my favorite places in the entire world. Honestly. It is really beautiful and although in the middle of a city, seems so peaceful to me.
Wow, I love these girls. They are carbon copies of each other.Look at the thighs on that baby! Why is it just not as cute on me?!
Got sidetracked, sorry.
Then of course if you are in San Antonio you MUST eat on the Riverwalk. It is REQUIRED! We ate the oldest restaurant down there, and now I can’t remember the name! Cafe’ Rio? Something like that. It was awesome, just what we were looking for. Stay tuned to catch the review of the other restaurant we ate at! It was weird!
And this is pretty much how we all felt on the way home! Don’t worry I will destroy this picture before she stars to date, I think she is drooling….
Wrapping up, we had a great trip, it was a TON of fun. But honestly, we really missed the crazyness that comes with our standard camping trips. Maybe because I have to have an extra sense of humor and find the funny when it is exhausting, and we are dirty and tired!
Part comedian, part Dad, part athlete. He will boss around your children while they play ball.
Just as angelic as she looks, this girl could easily raise a Village by herself, and all the children would grow up to be President.
Self proclaimed, she would be a webkinz dog. Because, "they're cute, and puppies are too. And they're sweet and they always get along with other puppies."
This mini-Martha Stewart can handle ANY craft you send her way. She isn't all bows and rainbows, she's got karate kid moves!
Not "Pick-Me-Up" like caffeine, she wants you to pick her up! AND NOW!
Anything that can be destroyed WILL be destroyed!
Practically Perfect in Every Way for now! Nicknamed "The Panda" she is rolly polly and lives by the motto, "the little one, is KING!"
The resident Labradoodle, Miller got his name because Mom won and got to name the baby! Need something chewed up? He'll take care of it. Especially if it's expensive..
Oh my goodness!!! I am fairly new to your site so just now read your diamond minds trip from last year…laughing, laughing, laughing, out loud!! As ussual you are my HERO!!! Love the Coke…something all of our Hubbies would do, at least it wasn’t beer! Can you imaging that adventure…Thanks for being AWESOME!!!
That looks like they had a lot of fun! What a great spring break!
my oldest had a halo for a broken leg so we really could not do what we wanted to. So we stayed close to home. Park and movies and took them out to eat. We also did pay per view at home so he would be more comfortable. I think they had fun. When spring break in Houston is all the same week it hard to go anywhere there is not a crowd. With one in a wheelchair it is not easy. So we will try to do more in summer before the heat gets to bad. I know Good luck right!
The grandkids did not get a spring break in MO. had too many snow days to make up. But I’am so glad you all had a great time. My son is thinking about going to the beach somewhere in Texas. His little girl (3) wants to see the ocean. Good luck in your new home. P.s. What happen to the cat you found?
Looks like a lot of fun! I am the vacation planner in the family but I really don’t feel like planning three days worth of activities so I was thinking of going to Sea World this year. We are not roller coaster people so I was wondering if it has enough to do that we could spend 2 days there? I’m not sure if we will even go to the water park so it would just be with the animals. Just looking for opinions here. Thanks.
We are not from San Antonio but we had passes to Sea World last year and we went several times at different times of the year. My best advice would be to go any week but Spring Break. It is for sure the busiest week. If you want to have the place to yourself (relatively speaking of course) November/December were the best from our observation.
you have a beautiful family! Thank you for sharing them with us. 🙂
OK NO WAY! Our Sea Wold Tickets were like double that! $89 for fun card, $129 for Annual pass (with parking) We got ours for Christmas so we only paid $40 OOP for the one upgrade. I guess Orlando Sea World can price a little more competitively… thank goodness we dont have to buy 7-8 tickets! You Rock Momma! <3
We went camping for our spring break last week. I read your post about the diamond mines trip and that was awesome. The cold water for the baby bottles is something I definently have dealt with. After my third baby though, I came up with a solution. For camping, hiking, disneyland, and just running around town; I heat up some water and put it in a thermos and I carry that everywhere we go. Then when I need a bottle, I just whip it out and don’t have to go searching for a bathroom with hot water or ask the waitress to hook us up. It has been a life saver on long car rides or in the tent, I always have hot water ready to go.
I love that picture of Emma and Andie. Did you guys eat the restaurant where they have all the pinatas and other stuff hanging from the ceiling? We use to drive from Austin to San Antonio just for that place…..which I now cannot remember the name of!
This is the first time I have seen your blog! I am enjoying it and plan on watching you on Extreme Couponing. Also my family just returned from a trip to San Antonio and just like you my ultimate favorite spot is the Riverwalk. I grew up visiting here and now am able to share it with my husband and 2 boys. And they also love it. We also always eat at the mexican restuarant you mentioned, Casa Del Rio. And yes we too have always forgotten the name of it but I am hoping to remember it now! Thank you for sharing!!
Glad you and your family had fun in SA. We live 5 mins from there. SA is great! There are 3 wags and 2 cvs within 5 mins of there for your couponing pleasure next time you’re over our direction-lol
sup nice trip!!!!!!!! Pretty pics!!!!!!!!!!