Family Vacation- Day 1

Caroline got out of school Thursday May 28th at 12:00. At 12:05 we were off for our family vacation. For a month before we left, we played 20 questions with Caroline to get her to guess where we were going. For a month she asked crazy stuff and she finally had it narrowed down to driving a car and staying in a hotel with a river in the "wild". It drove me batty! Here is a little taste of our conversations.
Caroline: "What will we see?"
Amy: "an animal."
Caroline: "What color is it?"
Amy: "Black and white."
Caroline: "Is it a zebra? Are we going to Africa?"
Amy: " No, we have to take a plane to Africa and we are driving to family vacation."
Caroline: "Oh, where does the animal live?"
Amy: "In the water."
Caroline:"Is it a zebra? They live near the water and near the wild. Are we going to Africa?"

Finally, two days before leaving it clicked. We were going to see Shamu! Actually, first she guessed Orcas and asked if we were going to Antarctica and then snapped to that we could see "that famous orca in the show" closer to home.

We stayed at the Hyatt Wild Oaks just North of San Antonio. This place was amazing! We had a one bedroom condo with a porch that looked out over "the wild" as Caroline would call it. They had nature trails around the property and a lazy river that we spent no less than 8 hours in.

Day one: Travel to SA, change into swim suits and float for three hours. Eat dinner and ice cream, watch 30 minutes of The Incredibles before falling asleep.

Family Vacation- Day 2

Day two: Caroline and I took a walk around the property and identified flowers and birds after breakfast (a selection of sugary cereals that don't exist in Tiki Island).

Then we loaded up to drive four whole miles to Sea World. Sea World is owned by Anheuser Busch so they have Clydesdale Horses on display. Caroline loves the superbowl commercial where the Dalmatian trains the horse and sure enough, at the back of the exhibit is King, the Dalmatian. C was pretty happy to meet a tv star.

One of the first things we did was feed the dolphins. Our neighbor rescued Maddy the dolphin in Galveston and after some time at the Marine Mammal rescue center in Galveston the dolphin was transferred to Sea World SA. So, Caroline and I purchased bait and tried to find Maddy. I went to college to be a Marine Biologist and had to go to Sea World to feed or pet a dolphin. It was wonderful! It was more than a little intimidating to be holding a three inch long fish and have this huge mouth full of teeth come bursting out of the water below you.

We watched the shows in the morning and headed to the rides in the afternoon.

Caroline was only tall enough for three of them. The Raging River was our first and this was pretty fun for her after being a little afraid in line. The log ride was our next choice (I will take all the credit/blame for this one). The log ride is just a little coaster right? Wrong! There is a six story drop and no seat belts. Caroline was holding on to the rails with her hands and my knees with her elbows. Everyone enjoyed it as you can see from the picture. After that, we had to end our day on a high note (and help her courage) so, we stopped at Shamu's Happy Harbor and rode the kiddie coaster and played in the nets. We were worn out by 3 so we headed back to the hotel and floated for 2 hours. That night the hotel lit the campfires at the pavilion and we made smores. Yummy.

Family Vacation- Day 3

Day three: Today was culture day as Hunter kept telling Caroline. No fun, only culture. We went shopping at the Mercado where Caroline purchased a "crack on your head egg", a marionette and a stick pony with money from her piggy bank. We then met up with our friends the Wilsey's at one of the oldest Mexican restaurants on the river walk and caught up with them while listening to Mariachi's. After leaving the riverwalk we went to the Alamo where Caroline did a scavenger hunt. There was a street fair in the square outside, so we went over to check it out. Since today was "all culture and no fun" Caroline had to do some quick thinking to convince us that she should do the "bungy thing." She had a blast. We then went back to the condo and got in the lazy river again.

Sorry the video is sideways. I have not figured out how to flip it yet.

Here fishy, fishy, fishy

Tuna season is back. Last year Hunter had a great summer of tuna fishing with his brother, dad and friends. Unfortunately we lost much of our tuna due to Ike so we were excited for this season to roll around.

Hunter, David and Trey set out mid morning on Saturday and returned mid morning Sunday with a full boat. Tuna fishing is an overnight trip from here and usually involves fishing all night. They plugged the boat in 2.5 hours and had no room left for ice or bait. They even ate one for dinner Saturday night. You gotta love fresh sashimi! After a few pictures, the boys (and I) got to work on this wonderful treat. Check out the size of one of the Yellowfin in comparison to Caroline (and her feet).

For two hours we cleaned and bagged tuna steaks for transport. We had an excellent assembly line going. Of course word had now spread and neighbors came over to see the fish and watch the process. George the Great Egret came over for some scraps, but he was a bit overwhelmed by the commotion on our side of the fence and he did not stay around long.

Four of the thirteen tuna were yellowfin (far superior meat). Caroline (who has earned the title of the fetch-it) got my bathroom scale and David weighed the loins from the yellowfin as we filleted. 120lbs later we were all pretty happy.

After all the outside work was done and the boat and deck were clean, David and Trey took their enormous cooler and headed back to Corpus while I took our cooler upstairs to vacuum pack our tuna and prepare a little fresh tuna snack. I worked for all of Mary Poppins (139 minutes of "song to move my job along") then learned to roll my own sushi. You gotta love living on the water.

Let's Go Fly a Kite

Caroline loves Mary Poppins the movie and sings the songs all day long (I am starting her early on the love of musicals). One afternoon she was in the apartment (one side of the closed-in space under our house) and found the kite Papa Marc brought to her after Ike. She REALLY wanted to fly it "just like the Banks children do." So she and Hunter put it together and let it fly. It was a busy day on the water and since they were flying it off the porch, people would drive/boat over to see what was going on. There were several crashes into the "ocean" and even a water rescue by a passing "ship." But they had a great time "sending it soaring up to the highest heights."

** Notice the blue FEMA tarp and missing walls on the house across the canal. Our neighborhood is still working on repairs with some (like the house on the right) moving a lot faster than others.**

Taking the Bait

One morning, Hunter called me to come look over the porch. He was downstairs gathering bait for the weekend fishing trip and he had a visitor.

I ran into the house and scooped up Caroline (who was still asleep) to watch Hunter feed "George" the Great Egret. As Hunter was culling the bait into things he could use for the weekend and things he couldn't, George would walk over, often within feet of Hunter, and snatch the culled fish and shrimp. This was obviously not a new trick for George since he seemed fairly tame and did not fly off when Hunter spoke, or when Caroline yelled down to "do it again."

George was also not too picky about where he got his next meal from. He would pick them up off the dock or help himself.

At some point Caroline had to be part of the action and went down to help. George ate all the bait that morning so Hunter put the shrimp trap back out. After that, every day Caroline would help bag up the bait and throw the rest to George.