San Antonio

We have some friends in Lubbock who take all of their children on a special trip for their fifth birthday. We thought it was a great tradition so we've decided to do that in our family. Ollie is our first five year old so Spencer and I took him to San Antonio for his birthday. (Grandma Beck came from Utah to stay with Lily.)

Friday we drove down. We stayed in a hotel by the Riverwalk. We strolled along the Riverwalk and had dinner in a Mexican restaurant because Ollie said he wanted Mexican food. After dinner we walked back to the hotel and watched some TV. Then we went to bed. All of us in the same bed... Ollie ended up sleeping snuggled right up next to me. He thought it was fun to all sleep in the same bed. I thought he was much to wiggly to do it again anytime soon. :)



The next morning we dressed warm and headed off to Sea World. Ollie was super excited. Here's Ollie and Mom outside the entrance.



Ollie wanted to feed the dolphins first. They were hungry and playful. Ollie was very brave and fed them fish and he also touched them. One of the dolphins splashed Mom and Ollie and got them all wet. Later, on the drive home, Ollie just randomly said, "What do eyeballs taste like?" Spencer and I were a bit mystified as to what sparked the question, and we told him that we don't eat eyeballs. He replied that dolphins do. We explained that dolphins eat the whole fish and we only eat the meat part of the fish. He's a very observant kid.



Here's Ollie with a shark in the background.



Ollie's first roller coaster ride-- the shamu ride at Sea World. This picture is actually the second time he went on it. The first time he went with Mom and she taught him how to wave his arms in the air and scream. He thought it was a lot of fun. The ride are crowded in the summer but not in the winter. We were able to go on the rides as much as we wanted. They have this one ride where you sit on a boat type thing and go on a rapids ride. We did this ride twice. The first time we didn't get that wet so we decided to go again. The second time Spencer and Ollie got soaked. Ollie was wearing warm up pants so he just brushed the water off. Spencer, however, got soaked and very cold. Luckily it was towards the end of the day. Plus it was a fun ride. I went on the roller coasters (by myself). They have one called "The Great White Shark" that was really fun!



We were able to see the Shamu show twice. The second time Ollie and Spencer sat really close (not much splashing in the winter). I sat back a few rows because I did NOT want to get at all wet. Spencer and Ollie sat right next to the area where the whale comes. During the preshow they got to sing into a microphone and be on the TV screen. They also got to see Shamu close up. In this picture you can see the whale and in the bottom left corner you can see Spencer's bald head and the back of Ollie's head.



Here's a picture of all of us with a Christmas dolphin. Ollie had a lot of fun.