Once that was decided (on Thursday afternoon) I packed up everyone and we left the next morning. New Braunfels is a long way away, and even farther when you are traveling with 3 kids 4 and under! So you won't be surprised to hear that we left about 10:30 and didn't arrive until 6. In our defense though, we did have a couple stops to make.
First we stopped in Hamilton for a late DQ lunch. The kids slept up to this point and were ready to get out when they woke up in route. We ate a burger, stretched our legs and hopped back in the car. The next stop was a friend's house in Burnet. Unfortunately we missed our turn and went about 20 miles out of the way and our gas light came on in the middle of nowhere. By the time we arrived, everyone was cranky, but we did make it without running out of gas! It was a great visit, as we got to meet their baby boy for the first time. We visited, changed two stinky diapers and then loaded back up…..realizing that we still had a long way to go!
You can see all three on the road. And thank goodness for Iphones on this trip!
Photo op with Luke. Ace didn't want to participate, so surprising.
The rest of the drive is a bit of a blur that involved lots of kid songs, some TV, crying baby, snacks and a constant checking of the map to see if we were about to arrive. Arrive we did, and bursted into Garrett's house with all the noise and chaos that we always have. We visited there for about 20 minutes, and then to the kids' dislike, loaded up again to head to a restaurant to eat. We made a pit stop to check in at our hotel (it was really hard to get the kids back in the car after that!) and at the dollar general for puffs and baby cheetos…must haves at a restaurant. When I checked in, everyone else was in the car, so I'm sure the staff was surprised when I returned with not only my bag, but a husband and three little ones in tow,
all to a room with just one bed! Thankfully the kids did great at the restaurant, despite being tired after their car ride. We enjoyed some delicious food and meeting Amy's mom. After dinner we headed to our hotel, excited to stay in one but also a little iffy about the fact that all that was available was a King bed. We set up Tucker's pack n play, made Cooper a pallet on the floor and then showered and got to bed…late. The kids had to play on the phones (we unplugged them first), bounce on the bed and open every cabinet door.
"Hello, what would you like?" "Cheeseburger and french fries please." "Okay, that'll be $25" "Okay"
Everyone's excited about the room. When I asked "Who wants to stay at Garrett's with GG and Papa?" (thinking maybe we could unload someone to save bed space) the reply from Cooper was "Not Me!"
As you might have guessed, by the next morning all 5 of us were in the King size bed, which felt more like a twin at that point! Dalton got up and took the boys to breakfast while I hung out with a sleeping Tucker. Then I got dressed and we all went back down so I could eat. Mid-breakfast Dalton ditched me to go shoot skeet with Dad, Garrett and a couple of Amy's family members. I say ditched because this weekend went from a girls' weekend with few kids to me watching all three boys alone at a hotel while Dalton went out and had a good ol' time with the guys. Finally I got over my irritation and Mom and I took the kids to the river. Looking back I'm glad he got to go and have fun with the guys, something he doesn't get to do much up here.
Looking for minnows and splashing around. Ace preferred to be belly down most of the time.
Tucker even splashed around a bit.
These boys are something else. I'll be glad when Tucker is big enough to stand on his own so that he doesn't always look like the blob that covers his brothers! And he always has that funny look on his face.
They splashed, looked, walked and flopped around for a while. Cooper said he was ready to rent a tube but we told him we didn't have enough adults for that. Maybe next year. Then we got a bite to eat and took it back to the hotel to eat. After that we debated whether or not to try to get them to nap. We'd just settled in, ready to watch Frozen on the laptop when the guys arrived.
We debated about our next move then took action. Naps would be in the car that day so we changed and loaded up once more. I needed some jeans and this would be our only chance so we headed to the outlet mall so I could shop at the Gap. I think it took us longer to get to the store than it did for me to find jeans. It was so crowded, stop and go traffic and people everywhere! I jumped out (all boys were sleeping at this time) and did my shopping. As I was checking out I got a text from Dalton that Tucker was awake. Hmmm. I paid, weaved through the mob and hopped into the car. From there we went to the Mercer ranch and spent the evening with Amy's family.
They were sweet and bought the boys a pool to play in, as well as some games. This was a big help for me….I didn't have to constantly follow them and tell them no! Then we took a ride to look at the ranch on a Kubota?Ranger? something of that sort. I took Tucker hoping he'd fall asleep, and he did. So we sweated and he slept.
Enjoying the pool that they had for the boys. And a very tired crew!
Finally we went and looked at some land that Garrett just bought. It was very nice and it will be a great place to build a house. By the time we got back to the hotel we were all very tired.
Papa and the boys snuck up on some deer and GG entertained Tucker.
Happy couple and proud land owners.
Checking out the boundaries and pretend land owners, hehe.
Tucker stared at Garrett's beard a while before he touched it.
The next morning we got up, dressed, packed and had breakfast with Mom, Dad and Garrett. Then we said our goodbyes and headed to the Natural Bridge Wildlife Ranch to drive through the safari park. It was great fun and the boys wanted to go back through again (but we didn't). We saw lots of animals, fed them by hand, petted a goat (which was Ace's first encounter since the goat at the play day gave him a black eye), had lunch and bought a souvenir.
The animals were very friendly!
That zebra has almost as big of a mouth as I do.
Tucker doesn't look too impressed with this animal.
These were our favorites: the Kudu.
Our tour guide. He identified each animal from our booklet and read us the facts.
Cooper got a better view hanging out the window. We enjoyed the zebras a lot too.
We fed the fish, Ace picked a basketball and Cooper picked a hat for souvenirs.
Then we took the classic picture in front of the entrance.
It was good to have a getaway and mini-vacation but it was also great to be reminded why home is so nice!
"Like a bird that strays from its nest is a man who strays from his home." Proverbs 27:8 (that's how we felt by the end of the ride home)
"How many are your works, O Lord! In wisdom you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures." Psalm 104:24
"Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good. His love endures forever….and who gives food to every creature. His love endures forever." Psalm 136:1,25
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