First Family Vacation

Mid-May we went on our first family vacation. It was so much fun and so exhausting all in one. We left on a Thursday morning and headed to San Antonio. The first night, we went to the Riverwalk which was crazy with a 2-year-old. She just couldn't figure out why she couldn't walk right up to the ducks and pet them. The water was black from heavy rain they had that morning so we were scared to death she was going to fall in and we would never find her in that murky water. We ate at a Mexican restaurant by the water and took a boat tour which I endured a bird pooping ALL over me. I would clean one of my legs and find more somewhere else on me. It was the most bird poop I had ever seen in my life. I couldn't wait to get back to the hotel and take a shower. Yuck!

The next morning we got up super early to be at Sea World by 8am for our Ultimate Seafari Tour. It was incredible! There were about 18 of us that were given a behind-the-scenes tour of Sea World. We got to get up-close and personal with the dolphins, a tegu iguana, snake, alligator, sea lions, seals and topped it off with special viewing seats at the Shamu show. We felt really special and Haisley couldn't contain herself with getting to pet all of the animals.

We went back to Sea World the next day and watched more shows, fed the beautiful birds and ended the day with going to their water park and exploring the lazy river, slides and splash parks. We decided to add a day at the hotel so we could spend as much time as we could at the park, have a good night's rest and head back the next day.

The last morning, we went to the Guenther House Restaurant where the Pioneer Flour Mills' founding family lived. It is the second time Justin and I had been there and we couldn't forget how good their breakfast is and how beautiful the venue is. We truly had a fabulous first family vacation!

Dinner on the Riverwalk

Cheese!

Boat tour

One of the many beautiful bridges along the Riverwalk

She loved waving at all the people lining the Riverwalk and at the other boats!

About to go into Sea World!

Posing!

Daddy and Haisley

They were cleaning some of the tanks so Haisley had to say hi.

She got really close to the dolphins at first until one of them splashed her and scared her to death. It was pretty funny, I have to admit. Once she realized they were playing, she wanted to try and feed them.

Daddy was the only one brave enough to touch one of the dolphins.

Okay, I decided to feed the dolphins but there was one problem. When you show them the fish, they open their mouths and all I could see were hundreds of sharp teeth staring back at me. I just ended up throwing a few fish at them and never actually touched one. Oh well! Maybe I'll be more brave next time!

Haisley checkin' out the sea lions and seals.

So calm...

Taking a little siesta

We were able to feed them as well!

This was one of Haisley's highlights of Sea World. This tegu iguana freaked most everyone out except for the kids. So brave!

She was in heaven!

The worker noticed how enamored Haisley was with all of the reptiles, so she pulled out this snake for her to pet. What is wrong with my child? So crazy that she has no fear of these creatures!

The Sesame Street Bay of Play just opened this season and they have a splash park that Haisley loved!

So much fun!

She LOVES water!

All smiles!

She just recently started liking carousel rides. She was waving at me in this one.

Hi there!

The Shamu show is just incredible.

Beautiful!

So hard to capture in a picture the beauty of these mammals.

Okay, look really closely. Shamu "relieved himself" while doing one of his tricks. Haha!

Yay, Shamu!

The Sesame Street characters were out in full force and she was so excited to see them even though she could care less about watching Sesame Street at home. Kinda funny.

Bert and Ernie with Haisley

This was the Azul show and was spectacular. A must see!

Us

One of the Sesame Street shows we watched

Big Bird and Haisley ~ I had to go up and touch his feathers and tell her that Big Bird wears a tie just like daddy to entice her to go near this intimidating bird. It worked!

She wanted to hug all of the characters which was so cute!

Zoe!

Amazing!

We were able to feed the birds nectar. They would come right up to you, grab onto your arm and enjoy their snack. They were landing all over Justin. I thought surely one of them would poop on him but he got lucky, unlike me at the Riverwalk!

She would walk right up to one and get as close as she could, face to face. So silly!

We can't wait to go back again!

Here's a video of some footage we took while at Sea World. If you are viewing this through email, make sure to go to our actual blog to watch the video!