Thursday, August 9, 2018
San Antonio Weekend
We left home on Friday afternoon and stayed in Texas until Monday, so our weekend was extended by a day which was nice!
Our fist stop upon arriving in New Braunfels was at In-n-Out Burger. We couldn't pass it up!
Since we were there for Brian's birthday, we celebrated that evening with cake and presents!
This boy LOVES cookie cake - it's his favorite.
On Saturday morning, we spent time shopping at the outlet malls in San Marcos. This area was HUGE and grew packed with people not long after I took this photo. Thankfully they had a Disney Store, so we were able to enjoy that! Oh yes, and a Banana Republic. That one ranks high on my list of favorite stores.
Saturday was my brother's actual birthday and he wanted to celebrate with a little Mexican food at Uncle Julio's in Austin. To be honest, we actually went to this restaurant because we heard so much about their chocolate pinata...
Jason and I split an order of fajitas and they were delicious! The tortillas were thick and homemade and just so so good.
After dinner, we ordered the famous chocolate pinata for dessert.
Y'all.
Oh my goodness this thing was amazing!
Once he busted into it, churros, strawberries, pineapples, and blackberries fell out. The dipping sauces were raspberry, chocolate, some kind of caramel concoction, and whipped cream!
The five of us devoured this thing - let's just say there wasn't much left by the time we were done!
On Sunday morning, Brian asked if I wanted to go for a run and I couldn't pass that up, especially after eating so much chocolate the evening before.
We saw a ton of deer along the way. It was so peaceful and serene!
We completed 2.5 miles, then cleaned up for our trip to Sea World! This was my first time to visit Sea World in San Antonio, although I have visited the one in San Diego and Orlando in the past. I wasn't sure what to expect, but this park was completely different from the others which was really nice.
Brayden loved seeing all of the marine animals!
We also enjoyed riding the roller coasters, too!
This park was so much fun and had so many things for kids to do. Feeding the ducks and flamingos was another favorite.
The kids area was themed after Sesame Street and included a giant splash pad.
Of course we couldn't pass up a ride on the carousel!
Brayden would have stayed in this area for hours had we let him!
We literally spent all day at Sea World. We had such a fun time and I do hope to visit again soon.
On Monday morning, I decided to get my first Orangetheory workout in for the week. I knew the week back home would be busy and wasn't sure when I would be able to get two workouts in, so Monday morning it was!
Visiting a different studio was interesting and fun at the same time. It was neat to see the similarities and differences between this one and my home gym. The coach for this class was amazing and I loved her!
After leaving Orangetheory, I happened to see a Hallmark. If you've been a blog follower for a while, you know I love Hallmark ornaments at Christmas and our store closed down a few years ago. Since the ornaments were out, I could NOT let this opportunity pass me by!
Another favorite of mine that we no longer have is McAlister's. Imagine my delight to see one in New Braunfels. As I'm sure you've guessed by now, McAlister's is what we had for lunch on Monday!
After lunch, we drove home and somehow managed to drive straight through without any stops. In all, it was a great weekend! We had so much fun visiting with my brother and his wife and exploring their new area. We can't wait to visit again!
Monday, June 18, 2018
Father's Day Weekend 2018
We had so much fun on our Texas adventures, I wanted to share them with you today!
No trip to Texas is complete without a stop at Buc-ee's! This "rest stop" seriously has it ALL including home decor, clothing, and food!
We also got to meet the "real" Buc-ee and Brayden gave him a high five! :)
On Saturday, we spent the morning at the San Antonio Zoo! It took us about 3 hours to walk all around and see everything the zoo had to offer. We also arrived just as the zoo was opening, so it wasn't terribly hot and the animals were all out for us to see!
This was also Brayden's very first zoo experience! Fun times!
He LOVED the fish!
Randomly, we saw that one of their elephants was named Karen! Of course, I had to take a picture!
We arrived at the giraffe area, just in time to feed a few of them. It was so cool to take part in this "extra" experience and see the pure joy on Brayden's face. He LOVED it!
One of the giraffes was named Brayden, so we (of course) had to take a picture with his sign!
Birds are also another favorite of Brayden's, and he loved seeing the pink flamingos!
After the zoo, we cleaned up then had a Father's Day dinner of BBQ to celebrate my dad.
The brisket was melt-in-your-mouth kinda good! YUM!
It was a delicious meal!
Sunday was travel day, but we still spent the morning exploring the surrounding areas around my brother and sister-in-law's home.
This pancake at Granny D's was seriously as big as my child!
The downtown area of Gruene is precious! We walked through a flea market type area and a few of the downtown shops. We also explored the oldest dance hall in Texas, the Gruene Hall! (This is where George Strait used to play, back before he was discovered!
The river was also pretty busy over the weekend...campers and tubers were all over the place!
It really was a beautiful weekend with perfect weather! The view from my brother and sister-in-law's back porch isn't too shabby, either! :)
Our weekend ended at In-N-Out Burger, something I only get to have when I travel to California and it had been YEARS since I'd had a burger from there! This place always reminds me of Disneyland!
I might have also purchased a burger for Jason and surprised him with it! :)
That pretty much sums up our Father's Day Weekend in Texas! I loved spending time with my family (minus Jason) and can't wait to do it all over again! We are already planning our next trip! :)
How was your Father's Day Weekend? Did you do anything extra special?
Tuesday, September 24, 2013
Racecation Day 1: San Diego Adventures
Sunday, August 25, 2013 – Astros game; Houston, TX & Vlog
>>Monday, August 26, 2013 – San Diego and Old Town<<
Tuesday, August 27, 2013 – My Birthday and Sea World
Wednesday, August 28, 2013 – San Diego Zoo
Thursday, August 29, 2013 – Travelling to Disneyland/Downtown Disney
Friday, August 30, 2013 – DCA and the Disneyland Half Expo & Vlog
Saturday, August 31, 2013 – Disneyland 10K and Park time & Vlog
Sunday, September 1, 2013 – Disneyland Half Marathon and more park time & Vlog
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San Diego was absolutely beautiful! I loved the weather, the sights, and the food. I have lots of pictures to share so let’s begin!
The terrain of the West amazes me - I come from completely flat land and marshes/swamp terrain. As we flew into Cali, I kept my eyes glued on the window! Beautiful!
We made it. Too bad the Padres weren’t in town…would have loved to catch a game!
I have to interject here with a funny story. Several months ago, I reserved a car for our SoCal vacay – 3 days in San Diego. My husband is in LOVE with convertible Mustangs and although I reserved a vehicle under the “convertible” category, there was no guarantee to which car we would end up with. After picking up our luggage at the San Diego airport, we rode a bus to the Alamo distribution center. We checked in, then walked outside to the car area and were asked by the attendant which car we reserved. I told the attendant that our reservation said “Chrysler Sebring or similar”. She looked around then informed us that she was out of Sebrings. Jason spoke up immediately and said, “That’s ok! We’ll take that white Mustang right there!” The attendant looked at our paperwork, shrugged her shoulders, and said OK! She had NO idea how happy she made my husband.
He was seriously like a kid on Christmas morning.
I found it rather adorable! :0) Glad he was happy!
After putting the top down (of course), we drove to the nearest In-N-Out Burger for our first taste of this SoCal goodness!
Jason ordered everything Animal Style. I had my fries and burger “regular style” and it was delicious!! I wasn’t too keen on his animal style fries. I’ll take just ketchup, please!
After lunch, we checked into our resort, Paradise Point.
It was a lovely resort with little bungalow type rooms near the bay. Stay tuned for a review of our beautiful resort!
All we had to do was walk out our door, take a few steps, and there was the beach.
We dropped off our luggage, then hopped back in the ‘Stang for a little San Diego exploring.
Why hello there! :0)
First stop: Coronado Island and the Hotel Del Coronado.
I’m so glad we stopped by to visit this gorgeous resort, especially since the Grand Floridian was modeled after this one. (Side note: several months ago, we watched a Marilyn Monroe movie called “Some Like it Hot” – this movie was filmed at the Hotel Coronado! Pretty neat!)
We quickly discovered that parking would be an issue in San Diego – parking lots were scarce, most people parked on the side of the road. Hotel Del Coronado charged $20 for use of their parking lot and because we couldn’t stay long, we decided to drive down the beach and find a spot along the side of the road (ie: FREE!).
We spent only a short while at the Hotel Del Coronado, then we made our way to Old Town.
Old Town is a Historical Park and is known as the “Birthplace of California”.
Along the road were several historical buildings depicting life in San Diego around the time period of 1820-1870.
Funny…..I buy this at my local Wal-Mart for $1.50.
We enjoyed shopping the markets and seeing the sights around town. After spending several hours sightseeing, dinner began calling our name. Lucky for us, there were several Mexican restaurants inside of Old Town to choose from!
Jason had nachos…
I had quesadillas….
…and because of FourSquare, a dessert of churros was on the house!
After dinner, we watched dancers on stage for a few minutes, then said goodbye to Old Town!
On our way out, we chased the sunset to the nearest beach.
It was absolutely breathtaking, and we caught the sun just as the tail end dipped into the ocean.
We had a fabulous first day in San Diego and really enjoyed seeing the sights! (Now I’m hungry for a burger!) :0)
Stay tuned for a Vlog of Day 1 – up on the blog tomorrow!
If you’ve been to San Diego, what was your favorite thing to see?