Sea World 2012

My mom and I wanted to take Laine somewhere this summer and since Jackson couldn't really take off and my dad can't walk very far anymore without his leg hurting we decided to just make it a girls trip and go to San Antonio. I found a hotel on the riverwalk that offered a good government rate so we booked there for three nights so that we could eat on the river, go explore the downtown area and go to Sea World. It was such a great decision because we had SO much fun. We got up on Sunday early and drove to San Marcos to shop at the outlet mall. We both had been to the Round Rock outlet mall, but not the one in San Marcos so we made a stop there first. It's HUGE, and we only made it about 1/2 way around and we skipped A LOT of stores. I had 16 on my list that I had to go in and those are really the only ones we had time for. We got there at like 11 and stayed until 2:30. My mom got a great deal on a Coach purse and I bought a few things including an adorable picture from the PBK outlet that was only $9.97. When we left there, we drove in to SA and checked in to our hotel. I made a slight error in booking the room because I thought the government rate was included in the Sea World package that the hotel offered, but I was wrong so we ended up having to pay for parking (which was supposed to be included), didn't get the buffet breakfast, and my mom ended up having to buy a ticket to Sea World..Other than that we LOVED our hotel. It was right on the river, had really clean, nice rooms and a few shops downstairs. We unloaded all of our stuff and got in our bathing suits and spent some time at the pool before dinner. That night we went to a really good mexican food restaurant suggested by my brother's girlfriend and sat right on the river. Laine LOVED it because she got to wave to all the passing boats and get really close to the ducks. Quick sidenote**Those ducks are NOT afraid to come up to you and peck your leg, my mom found out firsthand. They are for sure city ducks! I think we chose the perfect time of week to go (Sunday-Wednesday) because it was not crowded at all on the river and if it had been it would have been much less relaxing. The next day, Monday we got up early and got ready for our park day at Sea World. We got there and got nearly a front row parking spot, hardly waited in line at all and basically had the park to ourselves. It was SO nice. We got to see some really great shows, ride rides in the Bay of Play area and just wander around exploring without the hustle and bustle of a million people. Two funny things about that day..1. Laine HATED the dolphins. My mom bought some fish for her to feed them and I put her up on the wall to see them and she freaked out. She wouldn't go near the wall, so my mom ended up feeding the dolphins alone. 2. One of the shows was canceled in the middle of the show because the sea lion would not cooperate. He wouldn't come on stage to do his part and so the trainers had to basically tell the audience that they had an uncooperative sea lion and they were stopping the show. Ha! That night we got ready and went back down to the river for another round of wonderful mexican food. We were pretty tired though so we ate and then went back to our room and went to bed. The next morning we got up early again and put our bathing suits on and headed back to Sea World for the waterpark day!! We LOVED Aquatica!! It had SO many different pools for Laine to play in and slides to go down and rides to ride. We actually only rode one ride because it was the only one that she met the height requirement for, but it was really fun. She didn't like the end so much because it was a raft ride and the rapids at the end to stop the raft splashed up in the raft and got her all wet. Other than that she really liked it. They had kiddie areas, a place to feed stingrays and just such wonderful features. I really want to go back to just that waterpark part. We stayed there for about 5 hours and then when we were all good and sunburned we headed back to our hotel. We rested for a bit and then got ready and walked about 2 blocks to the Alamo. It was fun to go in and look around..I've been twice before, but never with Laine. We took some good pictures and then walked through the River Center mall and came back down the riverwalk for dinner. We went in to a restaurant that we thought would be good because it was not mexican and we wanted something other than that. We got our drinks, me a margarita, mom a water and I ordered Laine a cranberry. The waiter brought the drinks, but didn't bring Laine's in a kiddie cup. I was too tired to ask for one, so I was just careful with her and made sure she didn't tip it over. Next thing we know, a manager that we hadn't even seen yet comes up to our table and asks what is in Laine's drink. I responded with cranberry and the lady said, "Are you sure there's no alcohol in that drink?". I about came unglued and my mom did come unglued. She told the lady that her question was very offensive and that basically we refused to eat there and left. I couldn't believe someone thought we put alcohol in my three year old's cranberry juice. There are SO many things wrong with what she did, but I'm not going to list them all on here. I think you can probably figure them out. Thankfully that was our last night because we were pretty tired by that point and all just wanted to be back in our own beds. The next morning we got up and got on the road. It wasn't a bad drive and we had TONS of fun on our girls trip. It's possible that next summer it won't just be girls anymore ;)..That is if Lainey has a baby brother! The aquarium in the park Sea lion show The park on the first day Riding the carousel with mimi Watching Azul, the most awesome show at Sea World Sitting near the 100 year old tree inside the Alamo Dinner on the river