The WORST vacation EVER!

For some strange and unknown reason we decided to take a little vacation.  What we were thinking is completely beyond me.  In fact, to this day, I still wonder how two relatively intelligent people could have fallen into such stupidity!


  Brent has been working insane hours for the past...oh...9 years (that would pretty much be since he graduated.  And I need not mention that his hours improved immensely AFTER law school graduation!)  I think he and I were both feeling a little burned out on life--He at work and I at home.  Thinking a little rest and relaxation would do us all some good we decided to take a little family vacation to San Antonio.  Under normal conditions this would have been a Wonderful idea.  However, with an 18 month old and a very grossly pregnant, issue laden Momma it turned out to be just about one of the worst ideas ever.


We had toyed with the idea of staying in town and having a vacation here.  That would have been using our noggins!  Rest, relaxation and Vacation NEVER go together at our house.  The boys were all for a camping trip (without the baby or the momma), or dinner and a movie, or even swimming and staying at a local hotel.  So when we suddenly decided to hop in the van and drive 5 hours, they were less than thrilled to say the least. 

So San Antonio here we come!  Of course with my hip and back issues, I can't sit anywhere for any extended period of time.  So, we took ample opportunity to stop and see the sights on the way.  Which essentially turned our 5 hour drive into about 8.5. 


Our first stop was the fine city of Waco where we could walk down memory lane.  We liked the statue that they added out front of our old favorite bridge.  Braden isn't too fond of heights and was a tad bit nervous even looking over the edge of the bridge.  Dryden, on the other hand, had never seen anything so cool and didn't want to leave.  The vast expanse of water, in his little mind, was the greatest thing ever.
 










Of course, no stop is complete without a little refreshment.  We enjoyed a picnic (along with about 8 buses full of kids) at Cameron Park.  Despite the above average temperatures the spray park did not have the water running.  However, the kids overcame their disappointment by climbing stairs!  A little exercise does wonders for shattered hopes!

After feeding our bellies and "blowing off some stink" as Grandpa Lee always says, we were ready for our next grand adventure--the Cameron Park Zoo.  The zoo has made a lot of improvements since we lived there--I'm referring to Waco in general, not the zoo in particular.  They have made so many improvements that personally I think they completely ruined the zoo!  It used to be the best.  It was nice and small.  One could easily walk the zoo loop in 20 minutes, and all of the animals were only a ditch bank away.  It was even complete with its own playground and waterpark as well.  Not so anymore.  They did have a couple of play areas, and the kids enjoyed themselves, but since my hips were giving out it wasn't as enjoyable as it could have been.


This was Dryden's first trip to the zoo where he really understood what was going on.  He LOVED all of the animals.  He wasn't quite as excited about the flowers!

Continuing on our way we made it through Austin.  Not however without the customary traffic jam.  We just don't understand how no matter what time of day or day of the week we travel through there it is ALWAYS backed up--and generally not just a little either!  Our next stop was at the fine establishment of Cabella's!  What a grand place to stop.  Of course, all of the kids had to have a souvenir multi-tool. 


Our last brief stint in the van was between Cabella's and our hotel north of San Antonio.  Now let me remind you what traversing with 5 kids just might be like.  Please recall that EVERY seat is taken.  Never mind.  I'll let you use your imagination.  With 5 kids crammed in a car and, did I mention the VERY pregnant momma, I'm sure that you can envision just what that drive might have been like!


We are going to completely skip over the disappointing hotel.  We'll just leave it at it was awful, and they offered us a free night stay to help appease us.  We are going to move right on to the HIGHLIGHT of the trip.  Yes, you are in for a treat now.  Yes the best part of the trip for the kids was dinner that night.  Yes indeed we splurged on them and took them all to....wait for it.....wait for it....DENNY'S!  It was love at first sight.  They were in heaven.  You could even order BREAKFAST for dinner!  Now seriously what place could be better than that?  Dryden was even in his element

and hammed it up the entire time we were there.  In our defense there weren't a whole lot of choices; especially when you have a family of 5 small children.  We certainly weren't going to walk into PF Changs with all of them!  Braden particularly enjoyed his dinner and has pointed out every Denny's he has seen since then with a fond look of remembrance in his eyes for his personal Totinos looking pizza and bowl of instant mashed potatoes without gravy.


When we returned to our humble abode it was way past time for Dryden to be asleep.  Dad took the bigger kids swimming while I attempted to get baby boy to sleep.  WHAT A NIGHTMARE!!  Someone is a little attached to his crib and didn't want to have anything to do with the pack and play.  Bring on the hysterical screaming for an hour after which he FINALLY  passed out in the middle of the bed.  Unfortunately, he passed out in the middle of Braden and Camden's bed.  Remember how every seat in the van is taken by our troop.  Well, every bed has an occupant as well.  So Dryden had to be moved.  Bad idea!  He woke up periodically throughout the night to see if he had been abandoned and to whom he now belonged.  Of course, this was all accompanied by the all too frequent hysterical screaming.  Unless he could feel me touching him, he wouldn't sleep.  And of course, our grand hotel only came with double beds--not like he could even sleep next to me with my big belly.

After our good night's rest (ha ha ha ha ha) we packed up our belongings and checked out a day early!  We drove down to the Alamo.  We had planned on spending the whole day in San Antonio, spending that night swimming and enjoying ourselves and then making our way leisurely back home the next day.  Nope, we were going to put an end to the fun a little earlier than planned.  The Alamo was the main event.  We had studied it in history last year, and hadn't made it down to see it after really learning about it.  This was our big chance--a field trip that really has import and meaning.  We happened upon a tour that was in progress and Allison, Braden and Brent were enthralled.

The tour guide just happened to be in period dress, and he just happened to be well equipped with two muskets and all the accompanying accoutrements.  Those three were hooked and hung on every word that escaped his mouth.  The rest of us prefer a more general over view of events and were satisfied with the knowledge we had gleaned after about 10 minutes. 


If you have ever been to the Alamo, then you know that a self guided tour can take approximately...5 minutes.  If you are really into the Alamo and need time to ponder and reflect then it might take 10 minutes.  However, the gift shop requires serious thought and reflection and took my family nearly 45 minutes!!  After that 45 minutes what treasures did they glean...you guessed it...JUNK!

I seriously had had just about all of the fun my poor pregnant body could handle, and after our well spent hour at the Alamo we headed home.  Well, that 5 hour drive once again took us about 8.  We stopped at a little park in Old Town Buda and had a picnic once again.  Brent and the kids explored about and found an eerily turquoise green pond of water.


We only made one further stop and that was in Waco once again to stop and play at the park.  I was happy to hurry everyone along, however, and we made it home in not too terrible of shape.  We were all worn out and tired from our very relaxing, very enjoyable, very refreshing 32 hour vacation!