The Wyatt Family: Family Vacation: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

Well, we took the girls on our first family vacation last weekend. We went for a long weekend to San Antonio to do Sea World and Aquatica (Sea World's water park). It was..... interesting. It was really good at times and really bad at times. I'll start with the good.

Day 1 (the good): We left super early Friday morning to head to San Antonio. Our plan was to leave at 6am to beat the Dallas morning rush hour and get to the water park before lunch. We ended up pulling out of the garage at about 5:45am! We hoped the girls would go back to sleep once in the car but they didn't. They were really good on the drive though . They just watched movies the whole time. Early morning traveling is the way to go. Nobody has the energy to fight with their sister or constantly ask, "When are we going to be there?" We got to SA around 11:00 so we stopped at a McDonalds near Sea World and ate lunch before going in. Aquatica is inside Sea World so you have the option to do both in one day but we decided to just focus on the water park the first day. The girls loved it! I couldn't believe how brave they were with some of the water slides. They tend to be scaredy cats sometimes so I didn't know what to expect but they didn't hesitate to do every slide they could. In my current pregnant condition, I couldn't do the slides so my job was picture taker, backpack holder, and water drinker. Kind of a bummer for me but it was fun to see what a blast they were having. They also LOVED the wave pool. So, after all that excitement, everyone was having so much fun that we decided to dry off and head into Sea World for dinner and maybe a show or to see some animals. After dinner, we went to a sea lion show which was really funny and kind of amazing that they can train sea lions to basically "act" in a skit. Macy fell asleep and missed some of it but Ava loved it. Next, we went to a pirate 4-D movie and then decided to call it quits after that. It had been a long day and we were all pretty tired so we stopped off for ice cream and then crashed at the hotel. Day 1 = success!

This is the first really big slide that they went down. They rode with Ben in an intertube down huge, twisting tunnels. One of the tunnels was made of glass and you could see sting rays swimming above you. In this picture, I am trying to capture the LONG line they had to wait in. The picture doesn't really do it justice but it took 50 minutes from the start of the line until their turn.

This is the slide. You can see the sting rays swimming around in the bottom of the picture.

Here they come!

Telling me all about the slide.

This is what they did next. Ben could only ride with one of them. So he rode with one while the other rode by herself. They took turns doing that then they both wanted to ride alone and didn't want Ben anymore!

Day 2 (the bad... with some good too): We got back to Sea World around 9am the next morning. First, we went to see and feed the Dolphins. The dolphin feeding started at 10:00 so we stood in line for a while to get our fish to feed them. I was able to take the girls to see the dolphins for a bit while Ben stood in line but they still had to wait for a while. Feeding and petting the dolphins was really cool though and definitely worth the wait. Next, we moved on to the Bay of Play which is a huge play area with jungle gyms, carnival rides and games, and a splash park. It is all themed around Sesame Street characters. Obviously, this was their favorite part of Sea World. Forget Shamu and petting dolphins. They rode some of the rides then Elmo, Cookie Monster and some of the other characters came out and did a performance then walked around for a meet and greet. The girls got a picture with all of them then we headed for some lunch. So far, so good. There were a few cranky moments in there but nothing to really write about. I could tell the waiting for the dolphins, waiting in line for rides, waiting in line for pictures, and waiting in line for lunch was starting to wear on Macy but she was holding it together okay at this point. After lunch we went to a show called Azule. This was kind of like Cirque du Soleil with acrobats, dolphins, and birds. It was very entertaining but this is where Macy started her descent into "the bad." Ava was very interested in what the animals were doing and watched the show attentively but Macy started to get antsy and whiny. She had a hard time sitting still and paying attention. Not a huge deal but I could tell it was going to take a miracle for her to snap out of this mood. After the show, we went to check out one of the "big" rides. It was a roller coaster/ water ride. The sign said the girls were tall enough to ride as long as an adult was with them. I couldn't ride so Ben and the girls headed to get in line. I was going to find a bathroom when I noticed the sign that said, "the current wait for this ride is 1 hour and 30 minutes." They would have never made it waiting that long! They had waited about 50 minutes for the water slide the day before but that was when they were fresh and not already cranky. I fought my through the line of people and found them. Ben was already fussing at them about waiting patienty when I got to them. We decided to leave the line and try coming back later that evening when some of the crowds had dwindled. Well, this did not go over well with already tired and cranky and easy to upset Macy. She did not handle getting out of line well. And things descended rapidly from there. It was SO hot and SO crowded. We decided to get a drink and a snack and then go see the penguins which is inside and we hoped cooler (has to be cool where the penguins are, right?). The line to get a drink was crazy long but we stuck it out and got a drink and a snack. Of course, there were no available tables so we went back out into the heat and sat in the grass to eat and drink. Macy just kept on with the whining and fit throwing. She was hot, she didn't want to sit on the grass, she wanted gatorade not apple juice, Ava had more pudding than her, and on and on. It went from whining into full blown tantruming. Now, I know my girls and their moods, and I knew that she wasn't going to recover from this. She might have been okay if we had been at home and she could have napped for a while but there was no way she was going to be able to make it in the heat, waiting in lines for the next 6 hours. We had been threatening for the last 2 hours that we were going to take her home if she didn't straighten up and finally when people started to stare at our screaming child in the middle of Sea World Ben looked at me and said, "I'll take her to the hotel and you and Ava stay." I agreed without hesitation. Usually, I am the queen of empty threats. But this time, I knew we had to follow through and really take her home. At least this way, Ava and I still had a fun day versus all of us leaving or Macy staying and ruining it for all of us. Of course, she screamed bloody murder when Ben was taking her out of the park. He said he was sure people thought he was kidnapping her the way she was screaming. I don't know if that was the right parenting move, and I still feel kind of guilty about it but I knew that there was no way that she was going to be able to get it together and enjoy the rest of the day. And it wasn't fair to Ava if we all left. Ava and I actually had a great time together after all of the Macy drama. I felt terrible for Macy and even worse for Ben, but Ava and I saw the penguins, went to dinner, went to the Shamu show, and she rode more rides. It was so nice being able to give her all of my attention and letting her choose whatever she wanted to do without having to take turns with anyone. I wish I could spend more one on one time with them, but it is just so hard to do (and only going to get harder when #3 gets here!).

I realize that I just wrote a novel and I doubt that anyone is still reading but here is the moral of the story: vacationing with little kids is NOT a vacation! It is actually more work than just staying at home. However, I know we will have many more family vacations to come, because there actually were some really great parts too.

Watching the dolphins while waiting in line to feed them.

Looking at the fish before feeding the dolphins.

This is the Shamu roller coaster. They are in the second cart. You can barely see their little heads in the cart.

The Sesame Street characters came out during one of their performances and gave high fives to kids in the audience. It was funny to see how star struck the girls were with them. They kept saying it's the REAL Elmo not just somebody dressed up.