texas vacation.

Driving an entire day in the car each day will be fine, we said. We can make some fun road trip stops, we said. We lied. Actually, the driving itself wasn't bad but we are not the leisurely road trip types. We're the drive-til-you're-out-of-gas-and-your-bladder-may explode type of travelers. After lots of caffeine, singing marathons, and passenger-only Neflix bingeing, we finally made it to our Texas destination!

Trip Highlights: 

• Natural Bridge Wildlife Ranch
• McKenna Children's Museum
• San Antonio River Walk
• Boating on Canyon Lake

After spending most of the week with Chris's parents, we traveled down to spend some time with Chris's grandparents and go to a wedding. I love that Chris's grandparents are always the last couple left in the 'married the longest' dance. It's so incredibly sweet. After saying our goodbyes to nearly ten entire extended family, we hit the road again. The perfect way to end our time in Texas! 

Naturally the trip home was a bit different, with seemingly thousands more of "are we there yet?" questions. Thankfully, Nate is a pretty good traveler and kept himself pretty content with his arsenal of toys in the backseat. While we didn't see any real sights on the way home, we managed to have fun at the truck stops where we stretched our legs and filled up our coffees. 

Until next time, Texas! 

canyon lake.

It wouldn't be a family vacation without spending time out on the boat! We explored Canyon Lake one evening. After finding a spot to dock the boat and explore, we spent a long time swimming. I'm so glad that we did Nate's swimming lessons this summer! Even though he still had a life jacket in the lake, his confidence level to jump in the water and swim around was impressive.

Not too many pictures from our time out, but here was where we docked. A nice little inlet area that wasn't too deep.

What a gorgeous day!

the alamo + san antonio river walk.

We spent one of our San Antonio nights going to see The Alamo and sights along the San Antonio River Walk. Unfortunately The Alamo was already closed by the time that we made it down there, but we got a few pictures outside and enjoyed the sunset on a boat ride around the city.

Our river boat operator was a lively lady who knew how to cheer up a cranky five year old (much to my utter relief!) and also how to give a spirited, well-informed tour around the city.

After our river boat tour, we enjoyed a great Tex-Mex dinner along the river, complete with a serenade from the mariachi band (which I think embarrassed Nate just a bit). 

mckenna's children's museum.

As part of our Texas vacation, we checked out another children's museum! We went to the McKenna Children's Museum and had an absolute blast! In addition to being a sweet respite from the summer heat, the inexpensive price, ample parking, and many activities made this a great activity-turned-day-trip! Nate just did not want to leave!

The children's museum is all on one level, but is packed to the brim with different centers for kids to learn about different daily activities, as well as some eye in the sky careers.

Outside: amazing water table, climbing structure, sound stations, foam track building, rock wall and animals to climb on - all with a thoughtful overhead canopy to keep most of the sun off! I really can't say enough about how much we all loved the water table. We spent so much time there!

Inside: cowboy ranch, camp site, cave, bank, grocery store, train table, hospital (ER, ambulance, nursery), space exploration, and a ton more. There are a lot of indoor activities, but they are organized to give the appearance of a little town! Very cute and helps kiddos to self-structure the visit. Nathan's favorite indoor areas by far were the hospital and space exploration site.

We had a great time and plan to go again once we head down to the San Antonio area for another visit.

For information on our previous children's museum fun at the Shenandoah Valley Discovery Museum, click here!

natural bridge wildlife ranch.

Our first big San Antonio outing! I don't do well in all of this Texas summer heat, so a car trip through the safari seemed like a good option to me!  Our trip through the Natural Bridge Wildlife Ranch was more than eventful and a huge hit all around!

We saw lots of animals, as promised, and most were more than happy to wander up to our car to let us drop food out to feed them. Just a word of caution - try not to have open food or drinks in the car. The bugs love the food as much as the animals and I think we had about thirty flies in the car by the time we left!

Nathan talked endlessly about seeing the rhino, but the zebras ended up being the absolute hit of the trip! I am more than skittish around animals, so my near panic attack when one of the zebras stuck his whole head in my window more than made that the talk of the trip. Thankfully, there were no bites or bruises from our face-to-face meeting. Just a ridiculous amount of adrenaline coursing through me!

After the drive-thru safari, we made our way through the petting zoo, some of the walk through displays, and (of course) the gift shop! 

shenandoah valley discovery museum.

We've recently discovered our love of children's museums, so I wanted to share some of our favorite things about each one that we visit. We went to the Shenandoah Valley Discovery Museum today for a birthday party and had the best time! Even if you're not going as part of a group, the admission price is very inexpensive for hours worth of fun!

First of all, the fact that birthday parties are a possibility here are an excellent alternative to the not-to-be-named overdone options that parents dread. The kids had a great time celebrating and learning together!

The layout of this kids' museum is on multiple floors (with elevator access), including the roof! Each level has different activities that tie into the theme of that particular floor. Some of Nathan's favorite activities included:

Apple Packing Shed -- learning about pulleys, how to make 'work' easier, gathering apples, putting them through the 'machine'

Climbing Maze - a maze that replicates the path through the human body, the exit of which made me giggle like I was five (lucky that my five year old didn't 'get it')

Health Works -- from climbing through an ambulance, to seeing how an x-ray works, to playing doctor, this area was a huge hit!

Newton's Cradle -- because what kid wouldn't like this?

Lego's -- my kiddo is obsessed! This table was his happy place!

Triceratops Skeleton -- a huge hit with Nathan because he loves the Little Critter book about the lost dinosaur bone

If you're looking for a fun and educational family outing, I highly recommend this location!

five.

Another year older, another year wise, and another year further away from being my little baby. Nathan turned five this weekend! This kiddo is sweet, energetic, a little shy at times, and absolutely hilarious. I took him out to the battlefield this weekend to do some golden hour photos for his fifth birthday. Here are some of my favorites!

At five years old, Nathan:

• Absolutely adores playing Lego's and spends hours after school each day playing 
• Is so close to swimming on his own! The swimming lessons that he's been taken over the last two months have made such an improvement in his confidence and his basic swimming skills
• Loves all things disgusting - including body parts, noises, smells, etc. 
• Telling stories, real and imaginary, to his parents, teachers, and friends
• Negotiating...bed time, play time, treats, you name it. The kid likes to stall and look for loopholes
• Saying things that are hilariously insightful or just plain out there. Nate has a quirky little personality and it's been shining through a lot lately in some of the funny things he's been saying (check out the most recent round of nathan-isms)

And now, for the questions that I ask Nathan every six months. It always makes me smile to see how these change over time (check out his answers from four and four and a half)

1. What is your favorite color? Green
2. What is your favorite food? Pizza
3. What is your favorite t.v. show? Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
4. Who is your best friend? Owen
5. What is your favorite animal? Lion
6. What is your favorite song? Honey, I'm Good by Andy Grammer
7. What is your favorite toy? Lego's
8. What is your favorite movie? Bolt
9. What is your favorite stuffed animal to sleep with at night? Winnie the Pooh
10. What do you want to be when you grow up? A cop

Happy 5th Birthday, little love!