Our Trip part III and last.

Our trip ended with a trip to the Japanese Tea Garden and the Natural Bridge Caverns. We left early in the morning for the JTG and it was kind of nice because there was nobody there but there WAS construction going on and so we could not access certain areas in the garden. It was a beautiful place and I could have spent there about an hour but Dan wanted to go the caves so badly and he was done after 15 minutes. They have this beautiful waterfall but guess what? On the day we were there they had turned it off, so no waterfall. We saw lots of fish and ducks swimming all over the place.
The caves where great, they had two tours and we took them both. With our wonderful luck we also found another couple of schools there taking the tour, so they had more than 100 kids running all over the place. We took the tour that did not have the kids in it which was really nice. It had rained so much the day before that the caves where kind of full of water and we could not go all the way down but it was still amazing to see all those formations.
The second tour consisted of just Dan and me and of course the tour guide. It was just lovely to be the only two people there. The cave wasn't as big but it went deeper than the other one.
We were told they have a special tour for people who like to go exploring a little bit more and it takes about 3 or 4 hours but knowing Dan and me we were OK not taking it.
The drive home went well and we were very happy to get back to our kids, specially Aaron since he had been sick for a while now. The look in the kids' faces was priceless and when we gave them the little things we got for them they were so happy.
I am so grateful for the time we had to go be by ourselves and relax and not have the kids with us 24/7 and I don't mean that in a bad way, we LOVE LOVE LOVE our kids but this trip was well deserved and overdue. I think we can take another next year and I would be just fine with that.

Our Trip Part II

It was so early and there was nobody around to take a picture of us, so this will do.
My studly man!!!

On Sunday morning we left and drove all the way to San Antonio. We also got a good deal on a 4 star hotel or so we thought... Priceline gave us a room that was supposed to run for over $200.00 a night, we were so happy to get a room at a super fancy hotel for only $70.00 a night. We looked it up online and it seemed like a very nice place, the downside was that they charge for overnight parking and they charge for Internet service, the room had two full size beds and the pool was under construction. Of course we did not get the wonderful view of the Alamo but we were right across the street from it and were able to walk everywhere from there. It was a great location and the Lobby was really nice, but Dan and I don't think it should be a 4 star hotel. The name of the hotel is Emily Morgan by the way.
Dan found out about a place called Stonehenge II that is located about an hour away from San Antonio so we drove all over the place looking for it and saw some beautiful places down there. We found mountains, yes mountains in Texas!!! there where trees every where and farm lands, it was just a really nice drive. The place was really cool, some guy decided to build a replica of Stonehenge and a couple of Easter Island heads, since he visited that place a some years ago. They let people come take pictures of it, there were like 3 different families that stopped by while we were there.
We drove back to San Antonio to get situated into our hotel room and then went to look for food. After coming back to our hotel we found some friends from our old ward there too. That was kind of funny, I guess living in Houston, San Antonio is a close place for a quick get away.
Dan had to do homework while we were on our trip so Sunday was kind of taken over by homework and so I enjoyed a couple of naps. Monday was awesome but Dan had a sore foot for some weird reason and we had to get a trolley pass so we could get around. Funny thing is that later on that day I stepped all wrong on the sidewalk and we were a couple of limping people all over town. The Trolley ride was kind of cool, we were able to get off and on anytime we wanted and we covered the most important sites downtown.
We went to the San Fernando Cathedral and the Tower of the Americas, it made us really nervous to be up there but it was cool to be able to see the entire city.
On the way up...


We took the River Boat Tour, last time we were there we wanted to do it but it was too expensive for the whole family to do it so being just the two of us it was cheaper and we were able to listen to the tour guide. We went to the famous Mercado that had a couple of cool stores including a Guatemalan store and I got a new purse. We were always finding things to bring back to our kids and my mom. I found a couple things to decorate the house too.
That same night we went to eat on the River Walk, at a Mexican place that is open 24 hours. They even had some guys singing and they came over to our table and sang a love song to us. That was a first for us and I really really enjoyed it.


Once again here are some pics of our days in San Antonio.

This a pic with our hotel Emily Morgan in the background just so you can see how close we were.

We also went in the wax museum and saw some interesting looking statues...
I could not resist to take a pic with my favorite actor.

We found a statue that was begging to be touched!!!

Yup, he is resting his hand on the statue's butt.

Our Trip part I

Picture fromt he Aquarium with the USS Lexington in the background.


So way before my mom came to stay with us she offered to watch my kids for a week if we wanted to go some place to be by ourselves. I was very excited about the idea and it took a lot of convincing with Dan because of school and work but he made it work in the end. So since February I have been waiting for it and last week on Friday we took of and drove all the way to Corpus Christi. Why Corpus Christi? Because I have heard so much about the beaches down there and how clean the water was and the sand all white... not so much :) Apparently there was this South Padre Island that was THE PLACE to go and we missed it :) But even if the beach was not all what I was hoping for we still manged to go there and walk in the sand and wait for the sunset... it was nice.
We got there so early on Friday morning and went straight to the Texas State Aquarium. I was dying to go that place ever since I saw pictures of it online, it was really nice but then realize that those places are better to visit with little kids other wise you are done in an hour. We did get to see the dolphins in their tanks under water and that is something I had not done before. Besides it was so hot outside and full of kids since they had tons of schools there for a field trip... just our luck.
We got a good deal on rooms down there through Priceline and the hotel had a very fancy lobby. it was the first time trying out Priceline with the "Name your Price" feature so I was a little scared but the room was nice and it had a queen size bed, the room was small but it was sufficient for our needs.
Since we were in Corpus Christi and knew that Selena used to live there and was buried down there somewhere we decided to go in search of her grave, her old house and a museum. We found the house and we found the grave. It was kind of cool to go see the grave of somebody so famous. I was always sad she was killed when she was so young and successful. We found the museum but it was closed, they are open M-F... just our luck once again.
Saturday was a very frustrating day since we had rain in the morning, thunder and lighting storm, it was crazy. We went to see the USS Lexington, a plane carrier. It was really cool and I could not believe my eyes when we realized we had spent 4 hours in there. We saw a movie in there too about Louis and Clark.
Dan had to work on homework but after that we went out again and he took me to the beach for the last time. That night we went out to eat at this awesome Mexican restaurant and I swear they had the best meal for me. I wanna go back there just to eat at that place again.
Now here are some pics of the first two days of our trip in Corpus Christi.

This is a replica of "La Nina", one of the boats used by Cristobal Colombo when he discovered the Americas, I thought it would be bigger. It was really cool.

We had breakfast at a Whataburger and they had a second floor, so of course we had to go and eat up there.

Dia de las Madres

We had a very nice Mother's day yesterday with my mom. We celebrate Mother's day on May 10 and so on Sunday it is all kind of weird to me. It is great having my mom here with me and actually spend time on this special day. I took my mom out for lunch, we had to drag along Tristan and Aaron since Dan was at work and we had a lovely time at out favorite Chinese Buffet. Afterward we went shopping but had no luck finding anything that we wanted. Dan came home early from work and sent us on our way to try shopping at Kohl's and I must say he did not need to tell us twice.
Shayna joined us in the fun and we spent about 40 minutes looking around and gathering a huge selection of items and then we realized we were running late for Shayna's piano lessons so we had like 10 minutes to try them all on and check out. I had never tried on so many clothes in a short period of time... it was kind of exciting :)
We took what we liked and when we got to the register my mom got a little nervous looking at all the numbers on the screen, I had a coupon so I knew a big chunk was going to come off at the end and it did. We got over $300.00 worth of clothes and only paid about $60.00!!! For two people? She got things that she really needed for the summer and some nice dressy tops.
Have I mentioned before that I love Kohl's?
In addition to all the fun that we had I also took the opportunity to take a few pictures of my mom and I together. She kept telling me how happy she was and how much fun she had with me laughing and just spending the whole day together.
I am so blessed to have my mom come to visit me so often and that she is healthy enough to travel so often. She has been an inspiration to me all my life and I love her so much. Don't know what I would do without her.

Aaron the thumbsucker.

I took Aaron to his 3 year old check up today, he is doing great for his age but on the other side his thumb sucking habits need to come to a complete stop.
I have tried everything I could think of, researched the WWW and tried them all, I even made him sick by applying some yucky liquid to his thumb (he threw up all night).
A while ago on the Internet I came across this thumbgard thing that is adjustable to your kid's hand and it seems simple and easy to use but also expensive. So I came up with my own design and I am giving it a try. He picked his own fabric and he really is excited about stopping.
We'll see. here is a couple of pictures of the sad little boy who is being forced to stop doing something so soothing to him but so damaging at the same time.

What a pain in the...

All I have to say is that looking for the right swimsuit is a royal pain in the bottom, especially when it comes to the bottom part. I have been looking for a long time for the right size, the right color and of course the right fit because you can find your size but the it doesn't always fit right.
Finally after three different stores I found the one. A cute tankini set, black and white. The one thing that I was not able to find is the one with the skirt bottom but still I really like it. The best thing? It was only $5.99 I am all ready for my get away next week.

Grandma Brown's visit

Last week we had Grandma Brown over for a week long visit and it was a very good week.
The kids had so much fun hugging and talking to their two grandmas and loved going places with them too. We were so happy when she told us that it was final and she had her ticket and she was going to make it to the Baptism. Victor was on 7th Heaven and could not stop saying that he was going to have his two grandmas here for that special occasion.
I tried to make G Brown feel welcome and comfortable as much as I could. She always wanted to help but I have a hard time letting my guests do housework for me. We went shopping together, took walks in the morning and some times in the afternoons (even during a rain storm!!!), went out to eat once for brunch and took her to the park for a picnic.
We appreciate her coming all the way from Virginia and hope to see her again soon.
I am including some pictures I took of the trip to the park where I was able to get a group pic with the kids and the two grandmas.
This was one of the pics that I liked the most, Shayna and her grandma smiling :)