Once Phil and Sue left, our time in San Antonio flew by – there was so much we had to get done before we continued our trip. Here’s some of the things we did:
I think he likes the new setup
Cleaned the RV
Bye bye Suburban
Sold the Suburban
Cleanings a lot harder with kids
Organized the trailer
Mini-man was not happy he had to share with little-dude
Lots of shopping for supplies!
All ready for Christmas
Decorated the RV for Christmas
Getting in some last minute Christmas lights
Visited Elf Acres for their lights
Rare picture of my boys together
Rang in 2018 with a New Year’s Day tradition – watching the Rose Parade
And all of this had to get done while taking care of an active toddler and a teething baby.
Gotta swim when you can
But, it wasn’t all work – we took time to enjoy ourselves, which is a big part of why we are doing things.
Not feeling well
By the end of the week, I’d barely gotten any sleep and my headaches we’re getting pretty bad. Unfortunately, for me, we were running out of time and needed to get these things done so we could move on. Just one of the few downfalls of full-time RVing with little kids.
Enjoying the RV ❤️
Hopefully, all of our hard work and new RV will all be worth it in the end and it’ll be the start of a great next leg. Where are we going? Stay tuned!
Sure, cause who wouldn’t want to move during the holiday while sick with kids 😝 But we only had a few days to get everything moved – thank goodness we had some help.
Ready to move!
Thursday: Damon’s parents showed up in the morning and we got to work moving into our new RV. Fortunately, we were able to park both trailers near each other, so we didn’t have to move our stuff too far.
Me and my boys ❤️
It is very interesting to try to move when you have two kids and you love to be the one organizing everything. After some trial and error, I ended up at the new RV directing people where to put stuff.
I think they were trying to tell me something
After a fairly productive day, we rewarded ourselves with a trip to the San Antonio Zoo to see their Christmas lights.
Amazing lights!
It was nice to walk around the zoo and enjoy the atomosphere.
Building a fort
Friday: We managed to 90% of the trailer enpty by the end of the day. Which gave us time to relax outside and enjoy the day. It’s nice to move without too much stress.
Three men standing around the RV with the hood open … This can’t be good
During this time, we realized that the batteries on the RV weren’t holding a charge! Luckily, people in the RV community are very friendly and we had someone helping us instantly. After charging the driving battery all night, we learned that we needed a new one. Glad we learned that now while we have time to fix it than in the middle of nowhere, like we did in the past.
Back to a minivan!!!
Saturday: New RV means we didn’t need our Chevy Suburban any more. Now we have a 2009 Honda Odyssey. To be honest, I’m not going to miss the suburban and thrilled to be back in a mini van – it’s quiet, more fuel efficient, much more comfortable and there’s room for me to be near both kids in the back.
Playing with the grandparents
Sunday: As the old saying goes ‘All good things must come to an end’. We managed to clean out the trailer and get her ready to sell by the end of the afternoon (not too bad for four days of work). And after spending some time in the new RV, I’m not going to miss our old one. I love our adventures in it but I’m thrilled to have our new one and can’t wait for new adventures to come.
First, big drink in a long time – let’s just say it ended in giggles
We capped off the trip at the RiverWalk and eating at a fabulous Mexican restaurant, called Rita’s (Very good!).
Now to get everything organized and ready for the road in just two weeks!
We started our third week with each of us in various stages of illness. Guess that’s what happens when you go full speed for two weeks 😆
Beautiful day and I’m sick 😞
Thursday: Since we were all sick, and it was rainy and cold outside, we decided to stay in and take it easy.
Our tree looks festive in the snow
After putting the kids to bed, we experienced a wonderful surprise – snow!
It’s snowing!!!
I threw on a jacket and ran outside with Damon and my camera. I’m a California/Florida girl, so experiencing snow for me usually involved a car trip.
Well that didn’t last long
Friday: by the morning the snow had started to melt. At least we had it for a while.
Ready to roll
Since we were all still sick, we took things slow but still ventured out for lunch and some errands.
Needed to get out of the trailer
Sunday/Monday: All sick, so we spent our time recovering. Kinda nice to slow down but starting to get antsy. We were ready to jump on something that we’d been working on.
The boys helping Damon put up Christmas decorations
By Monday, it was hard to believe that so much had happened during our short time in San Antonio – the RiverWalk, SeaWorld, rental houses – and yet, we somehow managed to make things even more interesting
Were movin’ on up!
Monday: we spent the morning doing research for the next leg of our journey and came to a big decision that we’ll tell you about very soon.
Pool time!
By the afternoon, we realized that we owed the boys some fun, and seeing as it was the last warm day for a while, we took them to the pool (mini-man’s favorite activity)
Me and my sous chef
Tuesday: After all of our activities, our RV was starting to looking like a tornado hit it (or an unsupervised toddler), so we spent the majority of the day cleaning and organizing – and man, do I feel so much better!
So you can eat and play at the same time
Wednesday: after a long night with a sick, teething baby, I became a home body trying to catch up on sleep and help little-dude feel better.
As busy as week 1 was, week 2 seemed even more eventful.
Hello from the Alamo
Thursday: another good night’s rest enabled us to do some more exploring. We spent the morning at the playground to give the boys some play time. Then we headed for the famous Alamo.
Did you know this was originally a church?
I have to say, for a city that promotes this fort so much, it really was a let down. First off, we’d been passing it all week and I had no idea. Second, for all the talk of the Alamo, it was actually a huge defeat for the city, which they try to gloss over.
What happens when you can’t get any sleep during the night
After our visit, we headed to the store to get some stuff for dinner, which turned into a very long walk. While it was tiring, the days activities helped tire out the boys and get them to bed early that night. However, we were met with an unpleasant surprise. Apparently, Thursday night is music night at a nearby restaurant. And. They. We’re. LOUD!
Keeping him asleep was difficult, to say the least
I’m all for music but not at 9p on a Thursday night near an neighborhood!! When we complained, they basically said ‘well they’re booked til 11. There’s nothing we can do’. So we called the police to complain. However, we have no idea if it worked as they did stop after 11p. (Not great for my sleep).
According to a neighbor we met during all this, this happens every week and Fridays are worse, since more restaurants hosts their music nights. Definitely not information that was included on Airbnb when we rented the house.
So happy to have our baby back
Friday: Thank goodness our car and RV were ready – I was NOT going to try to get my kids to sleep with so much loud music planned for the evening. So while I spent the morning with the boys (mini-man fell asleep), Damon picked up and delivered our RV back to our RV resort. I’ve never been so happy to see my RV in a long time.
Saturday: Even though we just got the RV back to the RV resort, this was our final day. Due to availability, we booked ourselves at two different sites while were in San Antonio.
Having fun at Walmart
So after some morning errands, we spent a wonderful afternoon enjoying our resort.
We got some cascarones, or confetti eggs, at a local store, which mini-man loved destroying
Enjoying the pool
Then we went to the pool, which mini-man adored and little-dude, not so much (he preferred to nap).
Im ready to drive
All of these activities added up to early bedtimes for the boys. Good thing, too, since we’re moving in the morning.
Sunday: although we had a slow start, we managed to get out of our campsite on time. However, we didn’t realize that most of our path would be blocked by the San Antonio Rock-n-Roll Marathon. Slightly annoyed, we had to figure out where we could go while the marathon finished.
Hanging out while we wait
Thank goodness for Walmart. There was one accessible and close to our campsite with plenty of parking. We were able to pickup something’s and have lunch while we waited for the roads to clear up.
Christmas decorations up!
After setting up and Naptime, we decided to decorate the RV for Christmas.
While this was happening, little-dude achieved a major milestone – he started crawling!!!
And, if you can believe it, even more happened during the rest of the week.
SeaWorld has a special place in my heart. I grew up going to the park in San Diego and worked for the Orlando park marketing for many years. So I was very excited to have the opportunity to visit the San Antonio park.
Some of my favorite SeaWorld memories
Now before I talk about our visit, I want to make something clear – I support Seaworld. They aren’t perfect, but no company is. As a whole, their efforts help marine animals around the world is incredible. I don’t care if you’ve seen that film. Seeing a 90 minute documentary doesn’t make you an expert. Educating yourself, helping animals, dedicating your life to conservation – that makes you an expert. Which is what SeaWorld is all about – teaching the public how to care for our oceans. Because if we don’t, then we’re in danger of losing a whole, valuable eco-system. Now I will step off my soap box and tell you about our wonderful trip!
Main entrance to the park
Unlike her sister parks, SeaWorld San Antonio is a seasonal park. Right now, they are only open on weekends and start letting people in at 1p. Another difference is their entrance plaza. Unlike San Diego and Orlando, all of San Antonio’s parks are next to each other.
Entrance to SeaWorld
So when we arrived, we were greeted by a nice, albeit slightly confusing, entrance plaza.
Both boys enjoyed the Bay of Play area
Once we entered the park, the first thing we see is Bay of Play, the kids play area. This is great for us, as we could get the kids out instantly and start playing.
The comedy styling of Clyde and Seamore
Next we headed to see everyones favorite sea lions – Clyde and Seamore. I’ve always loved them since I was a child. However, the jokes in the show only made sense to locals, which I guess is their primary audience.
I. ❤️. 🐧!
Afterwards we headed to see the penguins, one of the few animal exhibits in the park. I love penguins and felt giddy going through the exhibit. Mini-man even enjoyed seeing the penguins!
The area outside of Shamu Stadium was beautiful
At this point, the sun is setting and the Christmas lights are starting to come one. The park was absolutely beautiful covered in 8 million lights.
Im super proud of this picture. I’m no photographer, so the fact that this came out makes me really happy.
Next up, was an impromptu stop to see Shamu’s Christmas Miracle. I’m so glad we stopped. It’s a beautiful show filled with Wonder music. Plus, their staduim wraps around their killer whale pool, giving everyone a nice view of the show.
Loved all the lights
At this point, we we’re all tired, so we started to head towards the front of the park. This worked out well as most of the pathway was lined with Christmas lights.
We had a great time and highly recommend visiting the park if you ever get the chance.
Since our RV was in the shop, we spent the second half of the week in a rental house, near downtown.
The famous San Antonio RiverWalk
Monday: After relaxing in the morning, we decided to take advantage of our proximity to downtown and headed to the RiverWalk. I’ve heard wonderful stories about the RiverWalk, and it did not disappoint – it was beautiful and really lovely place to walk around (although I could imagine it’s not so nice when it’s busy).
Happy to get some good Mexican food. Not the greatest I’ve ever had, but still satisfying
Mini-man fell asleep, so we decided to stop and have some food. It was enjoyable to eat and drink by the river front. The food was good but the service was terrible – we ordered just appetizers, which hadn’t come when I saw another table receive their entree’s, which were ordered after ours. We didn’t get anything until we complained. Super annoying
Mini-man made himself at home in the rental house. Nice layout, but too big for us
Tuesday: What. A. Rough. Day. Little-dude hit the peak of teething, so I was up most of the night nursing him. I was exhausted. When I finally got him to sleep, mini-man woke up and started making tons of noise. Resigned to no sleep, Damon and I traded kids – I played with mini-man and he carried little-dude.
Little-dude loves playing with the other baby
But of course, when mini-man got tired, we switched back – mini-man went down for a nap with Damon and little-dude woke up wanting to play. Don’t know how I ended up with the awake child all day. By the end of the day, I was tired and very cranky. Fortunately, Damon and I stopped and talked, which always helps. We eventually got both kids to bed and I managed to catch up on sleep.
This playground was just a short walk from our rental and was great for mini-man
Wednesday: This time, everyone got great sleep, which means energy. We took advantage and headed out to play. We found this amazing playground the mini-man loved. Lots of things to touch, splash, climb, and play on. And it was empty! It also gave Damon and me some ideas for a future project.
Huge slide!
Interesting story: while mini-man was playing on the splash pad, some people come by with their dogs and were high on something. They start letting their dogs go into the water (which isn’t allowed), intentionally scaring them, and let them drink the water. I’m an animal person and hate seeing animals harmed, so I mentioned that the dogs could get sick from drinking the water. Two of the group were nice about it, but the third (obviously the dumbest of the group), took offense and started arguing that I was accusing him of mistreating his dog.
The playground was so amazing, Damon couldn’t resist playing on it himself
Luckily, the other two pulled him away before anything could happen, but I really couldn’t believe what was happening and got very upset. I was trying to help and get attacked. I truly feel sorry for the dogs.
Fortunately, we didn’t let that little episode ruin our day. We spent the rest of the morning, enjoying the playground.
Lovin’ my new clothes
After a lunch break, we head to the mall for a much needed shopping trip for me. My body’s changed since having two kids and many of my clothes are either maternity or nursing tops. I was ready for some new clothes that fit better but still allowed me to nurse. I feel so much better with my new clothes!
One week down, four to go and so many more things that we want to do.
During our walk through downtown Corsicana, I learned of a local Christmas light attraction, The Land of Lights. So after our time in Waco, we decided to visit. What we found blew us away – almost two miles of lights, music and vignettes. It was very well done and we all had a great time.
Heartswell Adventures 