San Antonio and the Beach 2013

Its that time again!  Vacation time with the Ferguson family!  We started out planning a mini camping trip just south of Dallas...but that fell through when all the cabins were booked for the weekend we were wanting to go on.  Kristi and I started brainstorming and decided to do a beach/Sea World trip.  It was LOTS of driving, but so much fun.  The Fergusons left their home in Oklahoma on Friday and drove down to our house.  We all had a hard time falling asleep because we were so excited for the trip!  We left Lantana (our house) at 7 am on Saturday.  Our first stop on the drive was in West, Texas.  We visited the Kolache shop that is very well known.  West is where the fertilizer plant had the major explosion a few months ago and the kolache shop is donating a portion of the money they make to help rebuild the city.  Over $150,000 has been raised already!  Oh, yes...the kolaches.  SO amazing, and I don't even like kolaches!

We continued our drive to some hillbilly little town to stop at a barbeque joint Nick has been dying to go to.  I personally wasn't a fan (Smitty's was the name of it), but it was neat to say we had been there considering it is supposed to be one of the best bbq places in Texas.

A couple hours later we arrived in Shiner, Texas.  Guess why?  You got it: the Shiner Brewery is there.  We showed up on a Saturday when they don't do tours, but it was a nice chance to let the kids out of the car to run around.  The gift shop was great too (we scored lots of great deals!)

The last stop of our LONG drive was the beach.  YAY!  Port Aransas is a nice little beach just south of Corpus Cristi.  We had heard some not so great things about Corpus Cristi, so we went South and ended up a great little location.  Our hotel was right on the beach, and the water was beautiful!  It didn't take us long to hop in our suits and hit the water!  The 5 kids LOVED it!

Our second day was spent at the beach also.  All day running and swimming in the water, playing in the sand, and looking for shells and fish.  Nick got a mighty good sunburn as he sat in the water for so many hours.  The kids were all exhausted by the end of the day.

After spending the day at the beach we went out for dinner to unwind.  We ate early leaving us time to explore other areas of the beach.  The 9 of us headed to Bob Hall Pier where the kids and husbands did some fishing while the wives took pictures and watched the younger kiddo's.  It was beautiful to be out in the ocean on the pier!

On Monday morning we drove 4 hours to San Antonio.  Hello Sea World!  What an amazing experience that was.  Anyone who knows me well, knows my favorite animals are whales.  In 6th grade we did a unit on whales and I've been hooked since.  They are amazing creatures if you ask me :)  We spent Monday and Tuesday seeing the shows and riding rides there.  So much fun!  We bought the year pass and plan to go back in late September or early October to see it again when it cools off.

 Kristi had Sea World shirts made for each kiddo with their name on it!  They turned out so good!

On Tuesday evening we went to the Riverwalk to eat dinner and take the boat tour.  What an awesome way to end our vacation!

On Wednesday we drove home.  So sad for our vacation to be over, but we know we will have another fun trip with the Fergusons in a year or so!