House of Estrogen

The High Highs and the Low Lows

J.C. had his first physical therapy appointment yesterday. It went well, and the P.T. unlocked his brace about 50 degrees which allowed J.C. to fit in his car! Today was the first time in nearly a month that he has been able to drive, and it felt like a Christmas miracle. We both felt so liberated. He was able to leave work to meet the school bus without my having to drive him there! Maybe our luck was turning.

Then my mom called. My uncle passed away this morning. He fought a fierce but short battle against lung cancer. I miss him already. I know not everyone has a close relationship with their aunts and uncles, but I do with several of mine. Uncle John lived near my parents and would pick me up from the airport if they were busy, help out my parents with anything they needed, and always fit me in his schedule for a good Mexican dinner any time I was in town. Now he's gone, and besides all of us losing a really wonderful family member, the Dallas Zoo is losing a truly outstanding volunteer and Zoo advocate.

It has been a hard day riding this roller coaster of life. The news about my uncle was certainly a reality check that J.C.'s injury really isn't all that bad in the big picture of life, but it was also another hard pill to swallow in what has been a tough month emotionally.

J.C.'s new found driving privilege couldn't have come at a better time. Now I can hop on a plane this weekend for a quick trip to Dallas and feel reasonably confident that he can muddle through a few days alone with the kids. As long as he doesn't have to chase Addie anywhere, I think he'll do OK. I'm pretty sure she would beat him in any race.

Is it 2010 yet? I'm just about ready for 2009 to be over.

Zoom, Zoom, Zoom!

The last two days of our trip were spent at my aunt and uncle's lake house with my best friend M and her family. Her boys are 6 and 8, and they got along fabulously with our girls. The older one, K, was so sweet with Addie, especially. One of the rooms at the lake house has two sets of bunk beds, so the kids thought that was a real treat... like going to camp!

To show all the kids how long M and I have been friends, M brought a picture of the two of us in a church performance of the Christmas story. She played Mary, and I was an angel. I'm guessing maybe we were in fourth grade or so? I have NO memory of ever being in that play, so needless to say, we've been friends a LONG time!

This is going to be a seriously picture-heavy post, but I'm using the excuse that the pictures cover two days to justify it. There were just so many fun pictures because we were all having such a great time!

The view off the lake house porch...

 

The younger sibs... B and Nina - both a bit timid on the slide.

 

The hot shot older kids, Elise and K showing them how it is done!

 

And even the parents got in on the fun! M taking the plunge...

And the dads!

 

I guess age 7 is when you get brave enough for a rope swing. I don't think the younger kids tried it.

 

And then there is this move. JC is anxiously waiting a call from the Olympic diving team...

 

After swimming and playing for a while, R got the jetskis gassed up for us, and ZOOM, ZOOM!... we were OFF!!!

 

Elise with R

 

Nina looking oh so cool.

Even Addie went out for a spin! We thought the noisy motor might scare her, but she loved it and threw a serious tantrum when it was time to get off!

 

 

The race is ON!!!

 

 

Moms gone WILD!  I think the guys were a little nervous that we might not come back!  M and I had a blast zooming around the lake. It took us back to our high school days with summers spent on her dad's boat. The other boaters on the lake were spared a scary sight since thankfully we've outgrown mooning people!

 

Look at that grin on B's face! Love it!

 

I think JC looks slightly nervous here with me in the driver's seat!

M loved getting a little girlie time, and JC got to borrow a son for a couple days!

  

 

We spent the majority of our days swimming and jetskiing, but we did take the boat out for a spin a couple times as well.

 

  

 

Gotta stay hydrated when you're out in the sun all day... with Kool-Aid, of course! Love the pinky up in the air, all dainty like she's having afternoon tea.

Saying goodbye to Uncle D and Aunt D (my dad's twin sister)

I know, I know... enough with the pictures already! You get it... a boat, some jet skis, and smiling, happy people. I'll be back to regularly scheduled programming tomorrow. Vacation posts are now over. Unfortunately, that means the vacation is too.

Goodbye, Hill Country Hyatt, We'll Miss You!!

Sniff, sniff... Friday was our last day at the Hill Country Hyatt. Have I mentioned I love this place? Have I convinced you to take a trip there yet? We had another great day just taking advantage of all the fun activities at the hotel. The girls' cousin 'I' came over to spend the morning with us, and the girls thought they were hot stuff showing him around and introducing him to the lazy river. Elise won the jackpot when a family said, "We have to leave for the airport, so you are welcome to have these floats." Ahhh... the coveted dolphin float... Elise had been begging for one all week, and now it was hers! We had lunch delivered poolside - complete with froofy island drinks. Life is good.

  

 

 

Is it just me, or is it a little scary how tall Addie looks in this picture? 'I' is four, and she is just 17 months! What do you bet she weighs more than he does?

 

The agenda for the afternoon included face painting and ice cream.

 

  

There's my mom!

Family vacation heaven, I tell ya!

Now I get to the one really rotten part of our trip (well, in addition to the flight, but I'm trying hard to forget that part).... dinner Friday night. I hate to even mention it because it does put a small chink in the armor of the HCH since the concierge is the one who gave us the recommendation. I'll try not to hold a grudge. My parents had come in town for a couple days, so I asked the concierge for a recommendation for a Mexican restaurant for us.  She recommended a place called Perico's. I do not second the recommendation. The 20 minute quoted wait was an hour. Service was awful. Food was awful, and IN WHAT UNIVERSE IS IT OK TO PUT AMERICAN CHEESE ON NACHOS???  Hello??? American cheese?  I shudder just thinking about it. That's almost worse than North Carolina nachos with their drippy, melted cheese goo making the chips all soggy. At least with those, you know what you are getting as soon as you see the plate. These nachos looked like authentic Texas nachos but then BAM! the smell of the American cheese knocks you off your feet. I'm really thinking Ann's Nacho Hut is in my future. Any venture capitalists out there wanna get in on this? Anyway, it was a bad night and it put me in a foul mood, but s'mores back at the HCH put me back in my happy place, so all was good.

The next morning, we said good-bye to the Hill Country Hyatt to embark on the next leg of our San Antonio adventure!

Zebras and Peacocks and Elk! OH MY!

Thursday was our day to hit the Natural Bridge Wildlife Ranch. Before heading out there, I attempted to take a few pictures of the girls together on the grounds of the Hill Country Hyatt. It is so beautiful there that I had high hopes for a cute picture, but as I've said before... there is a reason that people with more than two kids use separate pictures of each child on their Christmas cards!  I have a great respect for photographers who can get great pictures of several chidren together. I am not one of them. Most of my pictures looked about like this.

  

Despite the protesting toddler, I kept trying and managed a few OK shots. I'll be glad when the "must be walking every waking moment" phase passes.

 

 

  

  

 

 

After that, we were off to the Wildlife Ranch. It is one of those drive-through wildlife places where you feed animals from the car.  The girls were pretty timid, making sure to throw out food and quickly close their windows, so we didn't end up with any zebra bites or ostrich heads in the car on this trip! We all enjoyed seeing the animals though.

 

 

Addie had absolutely no fear of this peacock even though they were about the same size. She kept chasing him, and I would race to stop her just as she would reach to grab a tail feather. I'm a little surprised she didn't get pecked!

 

Dinner that night was our favorite San Antonio treat... my uncle's venison! Mmmmm. The girls never asked what we were eating, so fortunately, we didn't have to tell them it was Bambi! After dinner, I ran Addie to an urgent care place, and as we suspected, her ear infection was still raging. In fact, not only had the antibiotic done nothing to help the single ear infection she started with, now both ears were infected. We clearly had our answer to why our flight was so miserable. The poor baby was in pain. Anyway, with new antibiotics on board, we had hope for our flight home a few days later. When we returned to the hotel, it was too late for s'mores, but at least we still had one more night there! Whew!

San Antonio Riverwalk

No trip to San Antonio is complete without a visit to the Riverwalk, so we headed downtown to the river one evening for dinner. By the time we got there, we were all ravenous and decided whatever Mexican restaurant we stumbled upon first would be the winner. We had no time or energy for leisurely reading menus to choose a favorite. It all worked out great though since the first place we found was Casa Rio which was the first business to open its doors to the River in 1946. The nachos and margaritas were great, along with everything else. The girls were completely freaked out by the pigeons though. They were all over the place, and despite our assurances that the pigeons weren't going to bother them, the girls sat through the whole meal with their feet up in their chairs.  Of course, after all of our promises that they didn't need to worry about the pigeons, one of those stupid birds flew right into my back and nearly scared me to death! Better me than the kids, I suppose. That might have scarred them for life; however, since it was me, they found the situation quite comical (not so funny on my end).  We didn't get a chance to take a river taxi, so the girls were a bit disappointed, but that episode was quickly laid to rest with giant desserts at The Republic of Texas. All in all, it was a fun evening, and we certainly considered it a success since nobody fell in the river.

 

Mmmmmm.... Mexican food!

 

 

Love those curls...

 

...and the giggles!

 

New Camera - Lesson Learned

I bought a new camera a couple weeks ago and a new lens to go with it. The lens is a prime (no zoom), and since it is fairly small and lightweight, I figured it would be an easy one to take on the trip instead of lugging around a big zoom. That sounded like a good idea at the time. Hindsight is 20/20.

Lesson learned... never hand a camera over to a theme park employee for a family photo without a zoom lens.

This was the first picture he took... cute picture, huh?  IF WE ONLY HAD TWO KIDS!

So, instead of taking a couple steps back to include the WHOLE family, he took this lovely shot.  Awesome.

 

Don't mock my fanny pack. It is the easiest way to lug around the big camera, so I can get great pictures like those.

Sea World was a blast. Do you ever wonder about the first person who thought, "You know... I bet I could train one of those ginormous killer whales that eats seals for breakfast to do tricks. I think I could ride him and teach him to do flips!" Who comes up with that?

 

 

The shows were great, but the highlight of the day was feeding and petting the dolphins. We stopped by the dolphin pool on our way out at the end of the day. We leaned over the side for several minutes in hopes that a dolphin would come our way, but we quickly realized that the dolphins only hang out on the side of the pool where they are being fed. The only way to get to that side of the pool is to plop down $5 for a tray of sardines. We initially scoffed at the idea, but then I came to the realization that we had just paid $200 to get into the place, what was $5 more at this point?  Off we went to buy our sardines. That was the best $5 ever spent! The girls were completely enamoured, and I felt like a kid again petting those animals. It was so exciting every time they came by. If you ever go to Sea World, splurge on the sardines... totally worth it!

 

  

 

San Antonio - Pictures Galore!

 Warning: The next few posts will be photo heavy and potentially only of interest to the House of Estrogen grandmothers, but I'm going with it anyway!

Our trip to San Antonio was truly wonderful... relaxing, fun, and a much needed break from the routine at home. I really can't say enough good things about the Hill Country Hyatt and hope to return there soon!  If you have children and have any desire or reason to go to San Antonio, I highly recommend a stay there.

I already posted about the first day of our trip, but here are a few more pictures... from swimming at my aunt and uncle's house and the fire pit and the hammock at the hotel.

 

"I may be having fun, but I will NOT smile for that camera, no matter how many rubber duckies you give me."

 

 

 

This was the only night Nina actually ate a s'more. The rest of the week, she simply ate the chocolate and graham crackers alone without the ooey gooey goodness of a roasted marshmallow inside. How did I raise a child who doesn't like s'mores?

 

 

 

Ahhhhhh..... this is the life!

 

Fun in the Sun - HCH Style

More Hill Country Hyatt fun today... why go anywhere else?

 

So Sweet - Chocolate and Gratitude

We got off to a rough start with this vacation, but after tonight, I can say definitively that it has all been worth the pains it took to get here. We spent the day at Sea World, feeding dolphins, being dazzled by Shamu, and eating ice cream bars during the water ski show. It was a perfect day - a little overcast, so not too hot, and even Addie seemed to enjoy all the shows. She napped in the stroller when the day got too long.

 

As we were making s'mores by the fire pit tonight, Nina walked up to me and gave me a section from her little square of Hershey bar. I said, "That's so nice, Nina. You're giving me some of your chocolate?" She replied, "Yes, Mommy. I'm sharing with you to say thank you for taking us on this really great trip."

I believe that little square of chocolate is the best thank you I've ever received.

Heaven in Hill Country

Hill Country Hyatt - I love you. Several friends had recommended the Hill Country Hyatt to me, one in particular gushing about it saying that she wants to just move in here and stay forever. Their rave reviews brought us here, but I have to say this place has exceeded even my high expectations. If I lived within driving distance, I am quite certain I would never vacation anywhere else ever again. Of course, since we have decided we aren't setting foot on a plane with a toddler again, perhaps we can just live here for the next couple of years. Do you think they have a cheaper rate if you rent a room by the month?

I'm not even sure where to begin to describe the perfection that is the Hill Country Hyatt. They have somehow manged to walk a fine line creating a perfect balance between luxury for adults and non-stop fun for kids of all ages. Every detail strikes this balance: the attentive bell hops and valet parking attendants for adults and the housekeeping staff who carefully arrange stuffed animals on the bed for kids, the shallow baby pool and raucous activity pool along with the quiet, secluded adults-only pool, the fun, shaded lazy river complete with a float-up bar, the big sandy playground and the hammock hidden away in a grove of trees, s'mores at the fire pit every evening with animated movies on the lawn for little ones or luxury spa treatments for their parents. They seem to have thought of everything. It is all wrapped up in such a pretty package too. The beautiful limestone buildings are surrounded by perfectly manicured Texas native trees and flowers with winding paths and bridges running through it all. It seems as though every time we go on a walk, we discover a new hidden treasure - a tire swing in a grove of trees, or hummingbirds happily zooming around a hummingbird feeder.

We started the day with the buffet breakfast - every breakfast item imaginable, all perfectly prepared and presented, complete with custom omelets from the omelet chef and a pancake/waffle bar. It was a great way to start the day after the atrocities of yesterday.

Then, we spent the entire morning playing in the sand, floating half-comatose along the lazy river, and just relaxing. If we were parched, no need to get out of the inner tube, we just floated up to the bar and got a bottle of water. Heaven, I tell ya! The girls decided to forgo the face painting on the schedule to spend more time in the water but then chose to get their hair braided just before lunch. We ate lunch poolside... it doesn't get much easier than that. After a nap, more swimming, and dinner, we roasted marshmallows and made s'mores at the firepit and lounged in a hammock. The photos from the big camera will have to wait until I get back home, but here are a few snapshots from this morning.

 

 

 

 

 

I recently finished the book "The Five People You Meet in Heaven", by Mitch Albom. In it, he theorizes that heaven is different for each person. An individual's heaven is the time and place in his life when he was happiest. I think my heaven will be the Hill Country Hyatt.