alamo and hyatt wild oak ranch

The last few days of our vacation was spent at the Hyatt Wild Oak Ranch (vacation timeshare property) that was magical!  We had so much fun at the lazy river, giant pools, and water slides.  Wish we could have stayed there for another week!  Definitely plan on going back there!  Only regret is that we didn't take a single picture while we were there since we were so busy in the water playing and didn't want to worry about a camera!  

Before we checked in, we made sure to stop off at the Alamo and riverwalk to take a riverboat tour of the canal.  Kids weren't too impressed with learning about history, but it was nice to try something different.  We managed to get a few pictures of that day:

natural bridge caverns

We also spent a day at Natural Bridge Caverns about 30 minutes north of San Antonio.  The caverns were really cool--went on a tour that lasted about 75 minutes (3/4 mile)--and the kids enjoyed it much more than we expected.  They also had a zip line (Anden was big enough to ride with Raegan) and a ropes course called the canopy challenge (Finley, Anden and Raegan climbed).  Mckay, Graysen, Kyler and I went through a life-sized maze that was also a lot of fun.  Super hot that day, but made some great memories!

fun at sea world

After leaving Port Aransas, we headed up to San Antonio and rented a house for a few days.  Our first full day there was spent playing at Sea World and we all loved it!  It's been eight years since our last trip to Sea World and this time did not disappoint!  Kids were able to ride roller coasters for the first time and we loved watching them try new things.  Wish we lived closer so that we could justify season passes!

watchman adventures

We had a fantastic summer vacation and are already looking forward to another one next year!  We spent 9 days at the gulf coast and San Antonio (staying at three different places to try out accommodations--wanting to know which we might prefer for the future).  Our first stop was at Port Aransas (Mustang Island) and we were able to also play at Malaquite Beach on Padre Island National Seashore.  So much fun!  Kids had a blast!