First, I went to the dentist while a friend watched the boys and took them to playgroup.
Second, we met Sam for lunch. But the boys were so exhausted from their fun morning that Alex fell asleep in the car on the way there. Then they both refused to eat anything and instead threw lemons all over the floor. Normal restaurant behavior.
Third, later that afternoon I took Alex and Edison to the dentist. They were amazing. All of the hygienists were gathered around and could not stop commenting on how good the boys were being. The boys ended up getting their teeth cleaned because they were both being so good. Originally they were just going to let them sit in the chair. I was worried because Alex's only knowledge of the dentist is Finding Nemo, which is not great. But I was really excited and I think my good attitude carried over to him. Both boys were cavity free and they loved the bags of toothbrushes, toothpaste, toys, and stickers they were given.
Fourth, this was the day we found out we are moving. Crazy, confusing day.
Fifth, I went to mutual but the boys came too because Sam and I had temple recommend interviews.
Alex's friend Bailey had her birthday party at the zoo. We usually go on free day anyway, so it was perfect. It was fun to see Alex excited about friends and animals, and watch him try to decide which one he wanted to focus on more. Usually it just ended in all of the kids running around like crazy people.
I had to wake up the boys from their naps so they were a little out of it on the drive there.
The boys were exhausted when we left to get Sam from work. They were both asleep in minutes.
I am really going to miss free day at the zoo. Going once a month is perfect for us so it has worked out really well, but I suppose we will find new things to do in the barren frozen wasteland that is North Dakota.
Just a few minutes after we got back from San Antonio, I left all of the boys at home and headed into Houston. I was so excited to hear Ron Paul speak at University of Houston. It was insanely loud in there. Chanting and screaming and all sorts of cheering. It was so fun. I took a video of when Ron Paul entered the arena, but just imagine deafening noise and that should suffice.
I really like Ron Paul and I wish more people would listen to him. I feel like he has passion with reason. A good reason.
Of course the boys were having a party at home. Popcorn and a movie in bed?! Lucky kids.
This was our last day of the work trip. It was a "travel day" so we had Sam to ourselves the whole day.
I slept in while Sam played with the boys. My mommy heart almost had an attack every time the boys were out on the balcony. But they loved it.
We packed our stuff and went downstairs to eat breakfast. Then we went back upstairs, got our stuff, had the valets bring the car, loaded our luggage, had them go park the car again, then we checked out of the hotel. The valet thing was getting a little annoying.
We started wandering around and noticed that a lot of streets were closed. We asked a police officer what was going on and she said that a parade was happening later.
Our first destination, and where we stayed for a few hours, was the Alamo.
Alex's shoe fell in the water with the fish and Sam reached in and fished it out. Oh, that's punny.
Alex was throwing a fit. He would not listen to us at all. He just angrily stood in the middle of the grass.
We had lunch and watched some of the Parade of Flowers. There were so many people there.
Sam wanted to walk along the River Walk so we did that. Alex was chasing all of the birds and freaking out people who thought there was a kid on the loose.
After a few hours of seeing downtown, we were tired so headed back to the hotel to get our car. Then we drove around trying to get on the freeway but we had a really hard time because the roads were still closed for the parade.
Alex said his farewell to "Sam Tonio" which is ridiculously adorable.
The boys slept all but ten minutes of the drive home. It was beautiful. It was such a fun vacation and I think it really prepped the boys for the longer drives they were going to have to endure in the next month.
Sam had to leave to work really early so I took the boys downstairs for breakfast at the hotel. They looked out at the River Walk while they ate.
After breakfast, we walked a few miles along the River Walk. It is so pretty. Alex loved chasing the birds.
I was surprised that no one was outside. There were a few joggers and us. Zero other tourists.
We went back to our room for Edison to take a nap, then we all got ready and headed to meet Sam for lunch at the open house where he was working. It was designed for the employees and their families to come and learn more about the company and benefits. They had a food truck there serving burgers. It took us two hours to get our food after we ordered. It was so bad and we were starving. The boys were filthy from playing with the toys outside.
We were there for three hours. I visited a lot of booths and learned tons of things I didn't know! You would think I would know more about the company since I am married to a personnel rep! Everyone was making fun of Sam because he didn't tell me about the Spouses Association.
For every booth I visited, I got entered into a raffle. They did the drawing after I took the boys home. We won tickets to Fiesta which was a celebration going on while we were there. Then we also won season passes to Sea World! But because we had already won something, they gave the Sea World passes to someone else. I was so angry when I heard that! I don't think that's how a raffle should work. I wasn't really up for dragging the boys to Fiesta that night so we ended up giving away the tickets while we were at dinner.
We went to Dough for dinner. It was so busy so we walked to Target while we waited for our table. The food was amazing. I love places that let the boys play with dough while we wait for our order. They always eat the dough though. Is that bad?
Sam had to work the whole day somewhere on the road between Alice and San Antonio. Boo hoo! I know it was a work trip, but I was trying to make it a vacation for the whole family!
After breakfast, Alex watched TV while I read and Edison took a nap. Once Edison woke up, we loaded the car and then went to check out of the hotel in Alice. I was struggling with keeping the kids together while checking out and Edison ended up getting knocked flat on his back by Alex. He was screaming and I immediately sent Alex to time out. The guy working the front desk gave both boys a pack of Oreos and then pulled up a Baby Einstein video on his phone and played it for Edison until he stopped crying. I was impressed and although I probably wouldn't have given Alex a pack of Oreos at that time, it was very nice.
After that situation was handled, I took the boys to wander around a grocery store. We bought a few snacks and then went to play at the park again. Alex was making a birthday cake out of the rocks. He put a stick in like a candle and then started singing Happy Birthday. This kid loves birthdays. He really is my child.
Edison was eating lots of rocks so he wasn't very hungry for lunch. We ate lunch at the park and then started the two hour drive to San Antonio during naptime.
The boys fell asleep immediately and I started getting sleepy, too. I ended up pulling over but after 20 minutes, Edison started waking up so I got back on the road. But he was making loud noises so Alex woke up, too. I stopped at Dairy Queen so the boys could have a break.
Once we got to the hotel, the only option at the hotel was valet parking for $27/night. I wanted to see if there was a better option so I drove around town but there was nowhere better so we ended up heading back to the hotel. This was my first experience valeting and I was so nervous that I read articles on valet etiquette that night. Did you know you are supposed to tip on your way in and out?! I am just really glad SLB was reimbursing Sam for his expenses on this trip.
This was the view from our hotel room balcony.
Sam was finally done with his site visit and setting up for the next day's open house so we went to get him. Then we went straight to meet the Montoyas for dinner.
JR was in the MTC with Sam and then they served together in the same zone. We went to Chris Madrid for dinner and the food was ridiculous. I cannot believe how much cheese was on the burger.
After dinner, we went to the Montoya's house to visit for a little longer. The boys were on a mission of destruction and since the Montoyas do not have kids, I was just holding my breath and waiting for something to get broken. It was getting late, so we said goodbye and headed back to the hotel. The boys were asleep in minutes!
Sam had to work in Alice on the second day we were there so I planned a day trip with the boys. There wasn't much to do in Alice so we set out to see a nearby city. I loaded up the boys and then drove the 45 minutes to Corpus Christi. I didn't know anything about Corpus, but I ended up absolutely loving it. It was so beautiful.
The first place we went in Corpus was the Texas State Aquarium. When we first got there, we went to the dolphin show.
Alex seemed kind of confused. It was like he couldn't figure out why the dolphins were flipping all over the place. Edison was also skeptical.
We walked around the whole Aquarium twice. It was so awesome and the boys loved it.
We walked back out after going around the inside of the Aquarium. I noticed that one dolphin was still swimming around in the tank. I let Alex go right up to the window and watch it. We were the only ones out there. It was pretty cool to see this beautiful animal shoot around the tank. Then the trainer came out and had it do more tricks. We were getting our own personal dolphin show! Alex is pretty cute, so the trainer came over to him. Then she let him feed him. Amazing. We were planning to go to Sea World San Antonio later in the week, but after he got to feed the dolphin, I decided we didn't need Sea World.
The picture where Alex is facing backwards is because he was spinning in circles and then the dolphin copied him.
He talked about feeding Jello and fish to the dolphin for weeks and he was telling everyone about it. Definitely the highlight of our trip.
I almost got in an accident driving over the bridge because I was trying to look out at the water. I was imagining moving here.
We went out to our car for lunch. I am too cheap to eat in places like that, and the boys ate better in the parking lot than they ever do at home!
The Aquarium also has a lot to do outside. We got to see an otter show and a sting ray show. Alex has a love/hate relationship with petting sting rays. He gets so excited and then scared when they get close. After he touched them, he would go get hand sanitizer which dispensed automatically. But it was so incredibly windy and the hand sanitizer kept flying into his face. It was hilarious.
We went upstairs into the little library so Alex could sit down and color during Edison's nap. But then Edison woke up grumpy that we were coloring without giving him any crayons to snack on.
We went to get some Dippin' Dots. I love these things and it was hard to share with kids who don't appreciate the deliciousness. So we saved our money by eating lunch in the parking lot, and then bought expensive ice cream. Worth it.
By the afternoon, very few people were at the Aquarium. Our second time walking around, we had the whole place to ourselves and we stayed in front of the shark tank for about an hour. We were at the Aquarium 9:30am-2:30pm.
We were driving around and the boys fell asleep so I parked along the seawall and let them finish their naps. Then we spent an hour walking along the seawall. It is a 1.75 mile long wall with eight gazebos along it. I know it was a weekday, but I could not believe that there were no people. I loved how it wasn't touristy. Pictures cannot capture the full feeling of this place. It was windy and sunny and beautiful.
Alex was saying, "This is a castle. I live in this castle."
Alex said, "I super Batman. I mean, look at my eyes!"
Sam beat us back to the hotel. Alex was so animated telling Sam about the day. Then he said, "I eating my foot, Mommy! It deeee-licious!" I said, "It is?" And he responded, "Yeah, they're very yummy." So matter of fact. This kid is blowing my mind with all of the growing up he is doing.
We went to the tiniest and ghettoist restaurant in Alice. It was teensy. There were flies everywhere and when we walked in, the waitress informed us that they had run out of a lot of things. Bizarre, but we decided to share one plate and it was pretty good.
After dinner, we took the boys to play at the park. The only park in Alice.
They switched us into a hotel room that was handicap accessible and it was amazing. We put both boys in the bathroom so we were able to have the lights on in the room! It helped Edison sleep for eight hours straight, which is good for him. Sam worked out in the hotel's gym while I read. Then Sam went swimming and came back to watch a Jazz game. Vacation is kind of fun!
Sam and Emily were sealed for time and all eternity on 2 May 2008. Alexander joined our family on 1 August 2009. Edison joined our family on 27 March 2011. Declan joined our family on 18 April 2013. We love our lives!
