We traveled to Houston for Thanksgiving, and after a short visit, we hit San Antonio on our way home. Sandman had to attend a conference or teach or inspect or something there at the base. We even drove by our old house (currently rented out) and that stirred up some unexpected emotions! When we arrived at that house in '07, we were a family of 3 with a 16 month old toddler. When we left, we had an almost 4 year old boy and a 2 year old toddler. Lots of deep memories.
We also enjoyed the many playgrounds on base, as one of the TLFs was actually old base housing. We managed to bring a little school with us, and the boys and I took a trip to the zoo. That brought back some memories, too, as we spent a lot of time there when the boys were little!
Nanni joined us mid-week, and after eating at one of our favorite tex-mex spots downtown, we toured the Riverwalk and walked over to the Alamo. Sandman couldn't help but throw in some Texas history. I think we're all Texans at heart, even if Nugget is the only one of us actually born in Texas.
One place we never visited while living there is Natural Bridge Caverns. I'd been twice as a kid- once with my parents, and once on a school band trip when the weather was too cold for us to go to Schlitterbahn. The boys LOVED it, and we will definitely return. Another new place for all of us was the Natural Bridge Wildlife Ranch, one of those wildlife preserves where you drive through and feed lots of hooved critters and hope they don't slobber in your car. I have GOT to find the photos and videos of that experience, because it was priceless. And hilarious. And we're thankful that Sandman was using his tablet to take pictures and resting it on his lap because that ostrich was seriously invading his personal and private space if you know what I mean. Or not....hopefully we'll find the pics.
Our last day in San Antonio, we took advantage of the free admission to Sea World for military families. Sea World was all decked out for the holidays, and personally, I LOVE THAT SO MUCH. Our last minute trip to Disneyworld in '09 was at that time of year, and it was super fun.
We made up for our free tickets while feeding the dolphins.
Oh, I can't explain how cool it is to be so close and interact with such beautiful, friendly and intelligent animals!
Candy Cane forest with a local singer performing timeless Christmas favorites.
My inner Clark Griswold enjoyed the ambiance.
It was hard to get them off this thing.
Sandman almost had to force me on to this ride. I can't believe how scared I have become of big coasters! We used to visit AstroWorld all summer long as a kid! But I made it, and it was a smoking ride! I did feel queasy afterwards, which only made me feel more like a wuss because Sandman and Nanni rode it TWICE.
The kids love whales, so watching these amazing creatures in person was a treat!
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