Category: Vacations

We woke up late on Saturday (June 28th). It was nice waking up next to Mario and just talking while we lay in bed. Mario was going to work on Moncy’s car that day so we went to pick up some parts he needed and then we went to Wal-Mart and H-E-B to stock up on things we’d need for our trip to the beach the next day. I spent the rest of the day cleaning and packing our stuff and Mario spent it working on the car. Yadira and the girls came over for a while so we chilled out outside watching Matthew trying to ride the boys’ scooters.

We woke up bright and early the next day and got everything and everyone into the cars. We picked up breakfast at Burger King and ate on the road. Our first stop was the Port Isabel Lighthouse.

I was actually really excited about the Lighthouse. Mario and I’d never been there in our lives, so this would be our first experience in a Lighthouse along with our kids. We took tons of pictures when we got there and since Alaethia was too small to climb on her own, Mary told us to go ahead and she’d stay with her and then we’d switch. Mom went along with us. Jaylen was scared but I convinced him to go up the stairs. They were small circular stairs and I never ever thought I had a fear of heights or enclosed spaces until I was climbing those stairs! I had to keep taking deep breaths and remind myself not to look down because my legs were shaking! I had to put on a brave face since I was trying to convince Jaylen to go up.

We finally got to the platform before the top of the Lighthouse and I could hear Mom wheezing as she tried to catch up. Mario was behind her, just in case. Between gasps she says, “I can’t…go up there.” So she waits on the platform. Jaylen wants to wait too and he looks pretty shook up so we don’t prod at him. Mario, Eenan and I went up to the top of the lighthouse. I was pleasantly surprised that Eenan went up so easily went up the stairs and to the top. He used to be so afraid of heights! I guess their clubhouse has helped him out.

It was an amazing view!

I finally have a good tan on my arms; I got rid of the farmer’s tan!

We eventually convinced Jaylen to come up with us and he got over his fear a little.

Mary went up after we did, accompanied by Eenan and then we chilled out and took more pictures. I love Port Isabel, just being there. I could totally live there. Well, except for hurricane season…

After the Lighthouse we went straight to the beach. Adan, Jason and Brianna had been fishing and we met up with them at the Andie Bowie Park. We rented two umbrellas with chairs, took down our cooler and sand toys and while our moms lounged under the umbrellas we took the kids to the water.

Alaethia was attached to me like a little jellyfish; she was terrified of the water. She didn’t even want the water to touch her when I sat with her at the point where the tide rolls in. She eventually warmed up to the water and even splashed a little with one hand while still vice-gripped onto my arm with her other.

Alaethia had a blast playing with Brianna in the sand. They’d made a little pool and stuck their feet in there. They used their sand toys for a while, then got tired and ran to where the men were playing in the water. Adan had brought a boogie board so the guys were busy trying to catch some waves. Jason brought along two tubes with ropes to pull with. Eenan, Jaylen and Brianna took turns on the two tubes. I had Alaethia on my hip while I held on to one of the kiddos, while Jason and Mario took turns with the other. When I wasn’t holding onto one of the tubes I would dip Alaethia’s bootie into the water when a wave would come in. She HATED it at first but got used to it. The waves were really strong that day. I kept a vigilant eye on each of the kids. I’ve got to say that the beach and swimming pools are the areas I’m most paranoid in as a parent.

My arms were so sore from carrying Alaethia for about 2 straight hours. One of the times Mary went to get in the water she scooped Alaethia up and took her with her to the shade. Alaethia ended up falling asleep for a good while. She was worn out!

We put on another layer of sun block since we were all looking a bit lobsterish. We went back out to the water and I held onto the older kids while the waves splashed us while the guys played again. Eenan was freaking out because he found a little teeny crab.

Then Jason and Jaylen started looking for little clams. They had a whole net full of them (well, Jason did most of the scavenging really; Jaylen lost interest). Jason, Adan and Brianna left and the rest of us spent about 20 minutes working on sandcastles. Once I started getting really tired I told the kids that was it for me. I went and relaxed under the shade. The weather felt delicious; it was sunny, of course, but there was such a wonderful breeze. Add the shade of the huge umbrella and the sounds of the waves inhaling and exhaling — perfect recipe for a nap! I couldn’t relax at all though because Eenan and Jaylen were still playing in the sand and running back and forth for water for the moats and bridges of their sandcastles.

It was almost 4pm when we finally decided to call it a day. Mario, Mary, the boys and my mom started hauling stuff to the car while I stayed behind with Alaethia and disposed of trash I’d find around our area. I love the beach, but man, by the time you’re done playing you have sand in just about every crevice of your body. And no matter how much you try to brush it or water it off, it just gets worse!

Mary took the boys to wash up and change first and then Mom, Mary, Alaethia and I went to do the same. There was a huge line of people and a group of ladies ended up cutting in front of us. Grr! I have no idea why there aren’t any doors or shower curtains at the place, so we had to hold a towel up as best as possible so the others could shower. Poor Alaethia was having the fit of the century because she felt so gross. We got her done first, left her with Mario and then I went next so I could tend to Aly so Mario could go wash up.

We had lunch on the deck: sandwiches we’d packed up in our cooler. I must have been starving because that sandwich, chips, pickles and diet Dr. Pepper tasted like the best thing in the world!

We noticed a group of people was cooking on the dock, and that’s the #1 rule: no bar-b-q’ing or cooking on the deck. Mother, being a finger-pointer as always, told the attendant at the umbrella place when she was passing and a cop came over and scolded the family. How embarrassing.

When my kiddos were eating their Cheetos Puffs and Fruit Roll Ups, two little kids from that family were just staring my mine, so we gave them some (with the parent’s permission of course). They were so grateful that they sent us 3 tacos that they made. They were delicious. As I was taking a bite and Mom was taking one, too, I tell her, “You told on them and now you’re eating a taco…how do you feel?” and you’ll never guess what happened? I freaking choked on my food! I was talking and the next minute I was gasping for air. Mary looked at me and asks, “Are you okay?!” I shake my head and just as I’m praying to God to save me, I swallow down the lump of taco and take a deep breath! I shook for about an hour after that. I’d never choked in my life and it was the worst feeling ever. It was only seconds that I felt that way, but it felt like it was never going to end!! And of course Mom laughs and says, “That’s what you get!”

After we finished with lunch we went to a gift shop in Port Isabel. I didn’t find much; I didn’t really feel like buying shells with googley eyes or something pirate-y. I just got the kids something each and a shot glass for dad, whom we’d be visiting that evening.

Mary got us some ice cream (I felt fine afterwards, even though I didn’t check my sugar) and we paid and left. We were going to visit Dad right after that and of course Mother wanted to tag along. I don’t know why she insists on going: she’s always talking smack about him. But she went with us and Eenan decided to go home with Mary.

It was nice seeing Dad after, well, like 5 years. He last visited when Jaylen was born and we might have visited again after that but it was probably 5 years ago, too. We sat and chatted with Dad, catching up on things. He told us about how he gets bored and starts painting the house or fixing things. He’s still doing the same thing for a living, repairing TVs and electronics. I was amazed when he told us he even fixes Xboxes! This man has never had proper training for these more modern electronics and he’s good at everything he does. Much like Mario, I think they were programmed from birth to be good at these things.

Dad asked for pictures of the kids so Mario told him we’d print some out and take them to him later during the week. I was pretty pleased that Mario so willingly decided to take another long drive over there. Alaethia was pretty comfortable around Dad; she even called him Grampa a few times. Jaylen was doing just fine at first, but once he noticed we were taking a little too long (for his taste) and his DS was running out of juice he started throwing a fit. He didn’t even want to take pictures because he was “too tired”. I don’t know what to do with that boy.

I won’t even post the pictures because I looked so RED in them! I was barely getting over my sunburn from San Antonio and then I gave myself another one.

We got home pretty late that night and just relaxed. It felt so good to be home but we had an amazing day!

Thursday was our last day in San Antonio. As much fun as I was having I missed Mario terribly and couldn’t wait to get home and see him.

We got up, got ready, and packed up all our stuff. While we waited for everyone else, Mary, the kids and I went to Walmart to get a few things for the road. We got packages of ham for Alaethia (one of the only things she wanted to eat during the trip), fruit, milk and drinks.

We had breakfast at Denny’s (yum) with Jose, Elda, their kids and Jorge. Tommy, Yadira and their kids arrived later since they were going their own way.

Our first stop was Cabela’s after breakfast, which is this huge sporting goods store in Buda, TX. All the men in our family love some type of hunting so they all loved this place. It was really amazing, actually. It had huge dioramas of stuffed animals in their natural habitats such as the mountains or Africa. It was really cool. My boys were throwing fits while I was taking photos and looking around because they were desperate to get to the shooting range upstairs. So after I’d taken at least 50 pictures of all the animals we went up there. And then they were upset because they couldn’t shoot the targets correctly. After they’d played there for a while they took pictures and then we went to the aquarium. It was a nice aquarium; lots of bass fish and a funny one called a Black Crappie LOL. I became 5 years old when I saw that one and laughed along with the kids.

We hit the road again and stopped for gas. While we were there we asked for directions to the Inner Space Cavern. Nobody knew the way except that it was in Georgetown. We followed Jose and Elda through Austin and then Round Rock and then got to Georgetown. The kids were antsy and hungry (mine were throwing spectacular fits not wanting to leave the gift shop—which is quite rude of the people to put it right at the entrance!)

We went back to Round Rock to have lunch a T.G.I.Fridays. What a shame that we didn’t have a truck or money…Ikea was right in from of Fridays!

I ate the usual plate I’d get when we actually had a Fridays in the Valley, the Sizzling Chicken and Shrimp, or something like that. It was so good.

We went back to the Cavern and waited for the tour to start. They told us no food or drinks were allowed but they were crazy if they thought Alaethia would stay quiet the whole tour without a sippy of milk. It’s not like we were going to graffiti the walls with it or anything. So we smuggled one in in Sammy’s shorts.

We got on the trolley to go into the cave and right at the point the tour guide told us the 95° heat would change to a cool 70°, it did!

The kids were amazed by the formations; I especially liked the straws. We weren’t allowed to touch anything except for the Formation of Temptation, or something like that, and other places he told us we could.

He told us the history of the cave and how some DOT people found it while checking the ground in preparation of a new highway. The owner of the land wanted to explore so they dug a huge hole through the ground and dropped him in with a rope. He landed on a pile of prehistoric bat droppings. The only bats that inhabit the cave right now are teeny tiny ones, can’t remember their name. He said, “Imagine a chicken nugget with wings,” and they totally look like that!

Alaethia was so sleepy halfway through the tour that she threw the fit of all fits. Not fun in the confined spaces of the cave “rooms”. Mary and I stayed behind the group, away from the eyes of the tour guide, and gave Alaethia her sippy while trying to put her to sleep. I don’t know how Mary does it. I eventually get Aly to fall asleep, but Mary just rocks her and hums to her and voila! She’s out!

Mary passed her on to Jorge on the way back, since it was kind of slippery and uphill. The boys had such a great time looking around, feeling mysterious and like explorers. Even Jaylen, who hates to even walk through Wal-mart, had a great time and only complained a handful of times about his feet hurting (he’s in such a tattle-telling, whiny mood lately!).

I took tons of pictures; it was so interesting. We were the last tour so we only had a bit of time to look through the gift shop, which sucks because I wanted to look around more and get a souvenir, since I didn’t get one anywhere else. But oh well, at least I got my babe something.

We got some ice cream (I craved a Snickers ice cream bar immediately and had one. I was a naughty diabetic the whole time we were over there!)

Alaethia was moody all the way home. She desperately needed to sleep, but didn’t want to. She’s so dramatic—she’d cover her face with her hands and scream “Aye, aye, ayyyyee!” We heard that till we stopped at a rest stop. I got her down to distract her for a little bit but as soon as she got in the car seat again it was Scream City. She eventually got so tired that she passed out and stayed asleep till we got home at midnight. All the way over I was texting Mario a play-by-play of our location.

We got home and left everything in the car; we were too tired to bother with luggage. The boys slept over at Mary’s and Aly, Mario and I came home and watched TV. Mario surprised me with a Jensen iPod docking station/stereo, which he’d already set up on my desk in our bedroom. He’s so sweet to me. We put Aly in her crib and updated each other on the goings on of the past 4 days. It was so nice to be home!

We were up by 8am, but everyone else was having a hard time getting out of bed. I was rolling around being lazy and then I hear Jorge hurling in the bathroom. I quickly became nauseous.

Mary, the kids and I decided to walk to Whataburger right next door instead of waiting around. We had a quick breakfast then went back to the hotel to finish packing up the diaper bag and made sure we had everything we needed for our sure-to-be long day.

When everyone had already had breakfast we followed Tommy, our leader, to Sea World again. I was so hot the day before I decided to wear a tank top, regardless of how huge I thought my arms looked. Besides, it would do some good to get rid of my horrible “Farmer’s Tan.” All the other ladies at the park seemed to be comfortable with their bodies, why couldn’t I?

We were supposed to start off with the rides, but of course, Eenan and the kids wanted to go to the Lost Lagoon, where you get wet. Their first stop was the tubing place. I was really nervous about them going in there, especially since they were bobbing all over the place even with life jackets on. I wanted to get in there with them to help them out and take Alaethia around a few times, but I stupidly didn’t take a change of clothes and didn’t feel like walking around feeling damp like the day before. Sammy, Brandon, and Jose went in so I left the boys with them. They always stick together, so I felt confident that nobody would stray.

Meanwhile Elda and I went into one of the shops to either find an over-dress, shorts, or a bathing suit. Everything was super expensive but I bought myself some board shorts even though they were a size bigger. When I’ve gotten changed and I’ve got Alaethia in my arms I see Sammy and Jose, soaked, walking towards us. I ask them, “Is Brandon still with the boys?” Sammy replies, “Yes. But Jaylen’s looking for you.” I stop dead in my tracks and think What do you mean Jaylen’s looking for me!? As my heart starts racing and I go into a panic because I imagine him lost and helpless in this huge park, a lifeguard with a clipboard is turning around a corner and is asking someone, “…what was she wearing?” I crane my neck to see who’s behind him and its Jaylen sobbing. I scream, “JAYLEN!” and grab him. I ask the lifeguard, “How long’s he been with you?! Has he been lost long?” and he smiles nicely and says, “No, ma’am. He just came up to me a few seconds ago.” I gave him the usual lecture of, “You NEVER, EVER wander off alone!!!” and walk him over to where Mary is waiting with Jorge and Tommy (neither of them got in the water) because Jaylen’s too shook up to go back.

When Alaethia and I went to meet Yadira, Yazmin, Angela and Matthew at the tubes I ask if they’ve seen Eenan and Brandon floating around. They tell me no, not the whole time that they’ve been there. My heart sinks. Not again!

Tommy had been filming Matthew in the tubes with Yadira and he said Mary was with the boys. Thank God. I managed to have a pretty relaxing time floating around with Alaethia. She enjoyed it a lot. We went around about 3 times and then got out to go to the kiddie pool. I tried getting Alaethia to go on the tiny slide or under the splashing mushroom but she was terrified, clinging onto me for dear life. So we just sat in the foot of water for a bit until she became brave enough to splash a little.

We changed and met everyone at the table and chairs we’d claimed “ours”. I was in pain. Stupid shorts I’d bought had some plastic stitching and scratched up my legs. I didn’t notice till I slid my jean capris back on and rubbed my thigh. It hurts just thinking about it.

Alaethia fell asleep for a good long while. I couldn’t change her tank top, but I removed her little water undies and diaper and just left her in a clean diaper. She was nice and fresh.

If I remember correctly our next stop was the Journey to Atlantis ride. It was Jose, Jaylen, Yazmin, Angela, Yadira and me. I’m not a big fan of roller coasters; I hate that feeling you get in the pit of your stomach…that pressure. But, Yadira had, as always, convinced me to go on it. As soon as we got in line I was chickening out. And then I realized I had my Centro in my pocket. I called Mary and poor thing came all the way to get my phone. Once we got on the ride (and my heart felt like it would pop out of my nostrils) it wasn’t too bad. I mean, yeah, it was all I expected it to be (scary) but it wasn’t THAT BAD. We slowly went up, had a little spin that turned us backwards and down we went, took another spin and then BOOM! Straight down we went into the water. That was the part I liked the least. Jaylen was probably braver than I was; he wanted another go! So Jose left and the rest of us got back on.

It was me, Jaylen and Yazmin this time around in our row, which was the 3rd one or so. The first time Jaylen was between Jose and Yadira in the very front row! So we’re on our way up we’re excited and then we just suddenly stop. There’s another boat in right in front of us on the part that turns you backwards and up ahead was another boat backwards right before the part that spins you forward again. We were up there for 10 minutes, at least. Turns out a little girl in the very first boat had thrown up and they needed to clean it up. I got SO SUNBURNED while we were up there. When they got the girl and her mom down and everything went back to normal Jaylen wanted another turn! We said, after that, yeah right!

We met everyone at the bottom and sat around a little. Then we decided to go to lunch. We went to Ray’s Bar-b-q. They had the best brisket and creamed corn! When we went back we went to the Haunted Lighthouse show again, because we’d missed Pirates 4-D. It’s sort of the same thing; a show in 3-d where they splash you with water, air and so forth. I figured Alaethia would be terrified again, so I sat near the exit and when she started screaming I went outside with her since I’d watched it the day before and Mary didn’t get to. It was so hot out we went into one of the shops and just basked in the cool air conditioning. We walked around and when we passed some walrus plushes she cooed, “Doggy!” so I promised her that when everyone came out of the show (and I got my money from my camera bag which stayed with Mary) I’d get her one.

We sat atop a stone wall while she drank her cup of milk in my lap. Everyone came out and we headed to the gift shop. She wanted a small walrus, but then I showed her the pup that Jaylen got and she wanted that one instead. She hugged it so tightly, it was too cute.

We missed the Rockin’ Ski Party and Waggin’ Tales shows so we headed to Sea Lions Tonight again. This time I took video of it, but it wasn’t as funny as the day before since it wasn’t the same guy acting.

The boys complained for a good while that they wanted these darn spray bottle fans. I kept telling them the past two days to save their money, because we’d be going to Fiesta Texas on Thursday but we decided not to go after all. So I spent $15 for each bottle…grr.

All the shows were over by then so we all went to a bench and sat down. Then Elda remembered the Rio Loco ride. I told Mary, “Go ahead, go! You haven’t ridden anything.” She smiled and said, “No thanks. Go ahead. I’ll watch Alaethia.”

So Eenan, Jaylen, Elda, Jose, Sammy, Brandon and me went to the ride. It was pretty quick getting to the beginning of the line since it was almost closing. The first way around I realize I have my darn cell phone again. Never learn. I had nowhere to hide it; I was getting soaked fast! So I stuck it in my undies LOL. It stayed pretty dry!

The boys wanted to go around again so this time Elda and I asked the ride attendant to hold our phones. He already had 4 other ones in his pocket LOL. We went around two more times and it was awesome. When we’d pass by this certain point Jorge would wet us with this water gun thing and Mary would show Alaethia where we were and she’d wave. The boys had so much fun on it, especially when it was their turn to get soaked under the waterfall.

We had to get creative in the truck so as not to wet the seats too much.

I’d sent my cousin Jessica a message that we were in town and she left me her number. I called her back and we talked for a good while. It was so nice to hear from her! We wanted to meet up but she’d be at Fiesta Texas he next day and we’d be at the caverns. She’s coming down this month so we decided to meet when she was in the Valley.

I got Jaylen bathed and Mary got Eenan and Aly bathed while I spoke to Jessica. I ate dinner (can’t remember what) and then I took a shower. I had a harder time sleeping that night; everything was waking me up. Even Alaethia stirred for a cup of milk and as I was getting up to get it, Mary had already come back with it and Alaethia had fallen back to sleep.