Look who can ride a BIKE!

The Reason for our Trip...

The whole idea of going to San Antonio during spring break came about due to a very good friends upcoming retirement from the Air Force after 20 years.  We were privileged to get to attend Major Aaron Homjak's retirement ceremony at Lackland AFB.  We have know Aaron from our first assignment in Turkey.  He was a single First LT over there and we were brand new to the AF so he showed us around Turkey and was our unofficial tour guide on many adventures.  He always found historical sites we probably would of never gone to or known the history of without him.  We went places I know I was nervous to go but I did have two big young men to help keep me safe....and it they always turned out fun. 

Patrick, Harley and Aaron Homjak post retirement

Enjoying the refreshments post ceremony!

Downtown San Antonio!

The ALAMO! 

 

 

 

We finally were able to go downtown to explore the Alamo and the River Walk.  The kids were not to into seeing the Alamo but we all need to see and read about history!  Mariah tried to make friends with a squirrel while we were at the Alamo and it bite/scratched her.  Thankfully it didn't really break the skin, only scratched the surface.  She always keeps us wondering what what were you thinking!

Dillan, Tristan and Kayla by a huge cactus at the Alamo

The fam waiting to go inside to see the Alamo.

Kayla and Tristan entertained themselves watching the Koi fish while we read about the history and toured the museum of the Alamo. 

We watched a movie at the IMAX that really helped to explain the history to the kids about the importance of the Alamo.  Pat kept saying it was sad we had to watch a movie to get them to learn history but at least they learned something!

Next we headed down to the River Walk...it is a walk way along the San Antonio River full of shops and restaurants.  It is very picturesque and great food to have dinner.

Tristan, Dillan and Kayla

We went on a river boat tour which tells you about the different buildings surrounding the river walk, a little history and what movies were filmed where....

Tristan and Kayla at the Mirror Maze

The highlight of the day was to go to Ripley's Believe it or Not activities...we did the 4 D Mirror Maze and Laser maze. 

We needed a Vacation from our Vacation!

Today we just stayed at our resort and hung out...watched lots of tv, played video games and swam in the pool...well mostly the hot tub since it was colder outside than it had been.  But by afternoon the younger kids were going stir crazy so we took them to the Natural Bridge Wildlife Ranch. 

At the Wildlife Ranch it is like a safari...you drive thorugh and see the animals roaming freely.  You can feed the animals by dropping food on the ground outside of your car window.  The kids loved it...

As you can see a few of the animals are quite used to getting hand fed and put their head right in the window!  Mikayla loved feeding the llamas out of her hand and petting them...

I on the other hand only got this animal that kept following and putting his nose up to my window looking for more food.  He wasn't cute and he SMELLED. 

Next we went to the petting zoo and there were some pretty aggressive little goats.  They ripped Tristan feed bag right out of his hand and several attacked Mikayla trying to get the pellets out of her hand.  After we got home we had to wash all our jackets and pants because the goats jumped all over you and left hoof prints and other unwanted gobbers. 

Austin Round 2

 We went back to Austin to meet Patrick's sister Traci Eisenmann. They flew in from Dallas/Ft Worth to spend some time with us.  We meet for lunch and then got a personal tour of University of Texas ROTC by a Navy Captain, who is a friend of the Eisenmann's. 

Traci and Patrick

Kasey, Traci, Kurt and Patrick

Kasey, Mariah, Kayla, Dillan and Tristan

 After we said goodbye to the Eisenmann's we went to explore the Texas State Capitol.

 We played around in the State Capitol Museum for an hour...

Then we went to see the Capitol...on the grounds there was this well and the kids had a great time drinking out of it.  They loved how unique it was that the water came from above.

In the Rotunda of the Texas State Capitol.

We then meet up with an old Air Force friend of Patrick's, Joe Koizen for dinner...he graciously made time to meet up with us since we hadn't contacted him ahead of time.  We enjoyed seeing him and catching up.  Unfortunately, my husband didn't take any pictures of our gathering.

Sea World

 What a better way to start out the day at Sea World than at the Shamu Killer Whale Show! 

Next we stopped by the bird pond with all kinds of birds and flamingos.  The kids were feeding the birds pellets from the animal food vending machine and Alex felt left out since he wasn't feeding the birds and threw his whole banana in the pond.  He chucked it from quite a ways.  We all had a good laugh watching Kayla fishing the banana out of the water.

See how far Alex is from the wall...he made that banana fly over Tristan's head right into the pond. 

After that we gave him pellets to feed the birds instead.

The next show we watched was a Cirque du Soleil type of program with Beluga Whales, dolphins, divers, synchronized swimmers and acrobats. 

Kayla with one of the performers.

We had a great day riding roller coasters and looking at all the animal exhibits.  In fact Tristan rode his first big roller coaster....the whole time he said mommy I don't like this and I'm going to barf.  But the moment he got off the ride his story changed to I loved it can we do it again. 
The last thing we did for the day was feeding and petting the dolphins...Kayla said that was her favorite thing!

Carrie feeding the dolphins.

At the end of the day...we had to stay goodbye to Brett, Carrie and Alex!
We went to visit our friend Aaron Homjak after Sea World...we have known him since Turkey where we traveled all over the country with him.  He brought the kids an Easter surprise.  It was great to catch up!