San Antonio, Take 1

 Ok, let me start this post with a warning--there are a LOT of pictures!  I just couldn't down-select anymore, so bear with me (or skip this post--you certainly won't offend me! :-)). 

We had a fabulous family vacation this spring to the Wild Oak Ranch in San Antonio.  The reality of Anna starting kindergarten in the fall and us having to vacation with the "rest of the world" was hitting us, so we decided to take a mid-May vacation while we still could!

The hotel was just fabulous...tons of walking trails, hammocks, and much more (see following pics :-))...

 Having our own condo with its own patio was a real draw for us for this hotel...it was like our little "home away from home" for a few days.  The girls thought having our own patio was too fun...

 Mommy joined in the silliness at dinner...they're only little once, right?

Me and my sweet girl, Anna at dinner at the hotel...

 The whole fam at dinner...beautiful weather and surroundings for an outdoor dinner.

The girls thought camping out on this pullout couch bed and watching TV and eating breakfast was just the best!  Kate wasn't quite big enough to sleep in this bed yet (she's still Pack N Play'in' it), but she ran here as quick as she could each morning!

 The hotel had a lazy river with a beach--hours of fun!

 Both the girls had so much fun playing in the sand...

 ...and, floating along the lazy river...

 Even Kate joined in the fun at the lazy river.

 Hanging out in the rocking chairs at the hotel...

 They also had a little "Camp Armadillo" where the kids could go play and do crafts.

 Silly ladies!

 The game room was awfully exciting for them too!  Most of the games were a little too big for them, but they were able to have some serious fun with the air hockey table.

 More lazy river fun...

 Kate is such the beach bunny--she'd play in the sand all day every day if we let her...

Mama joined in the laziness!

Dinner on the patio...such an incredibly relaxing vacation, even with little ones!

Swing batter!

We had another great season of t-ball this spring, this time with our former soccer coaches and good friends, Ramie and Adam.  Anna learned SO much about t-ball, and had a fabulous time!  Now I just need to convince Ramie to coach Anna's softball teams even after her son has gone on to play Little League.

 Quite the big hitter this year.  Or, at least big swinger...

 Let's all be honest.  Playing with your friends in the dirt is at least as fun as actually playing t-ball.  At least.

 Our little first base-woman!

 Kate loved the whole experience too!  I think she's chomping at the bit for when she can play too!

Slide pile!

A little bit of culture...

One of my favorite "special events" at the girls' school is Multicultural Day.  Each room is a "country", and the families bring in food, decorations, activities, etc., from that country.  This year both of the girls had fun, pretty easy countries...Anna's class was Mexico, and Kate's was Japan.

I couldn't resist making these "tortilla chip" cookies for Anna's class.  They're actually lemon poppyseed cookies!  Yum!  I was going through a bit of a panic thinking that I might not be able to make little homemade goodies for her once she started kindergarten (I guess every school has their own rules), but WHEW--disaster averted...I can indeed still bring homemade goodies to school for her and her little buddies!  These were a hit...might have to make a repeat performance in kindergarten...

This picture doesn't really belong in this set, other than to explain the general "blueness" of Kate in the subsequent pictures.  It was snowcone day with her playgroup prior to Multicultural Day!

My little Japanese doll...

The sweetest sisters...

Enjoying an Italian flag cookie.  Italy always seems to be one of the most popular rooms with the girls.  Who can blame them?

Some candy "sushi"...

Playing with the Matroshka dolls in "Russia".  This was one of the coolest rooms.  The girls have quite a few Russian kids that go to school with them, so a group of them did some authentic Russian dancing.  Beautiful.

A beautiful day at Hermann Park...

We had the MOST fun day at Hermann Park earlier this spring!  I think the reality of Anna starting kindergarten in the fall was really starting to hit me, so we made our best effort to squeeze as much fun as humanly possible into this day!  We were lucky enough to have my good friend Melanie and her sweet girls Julia and Jocelyn (our adventure buddies!) join us!  We started with a train ride from the zoo to the play area...

The play area was a hit with all of the girls!

Kate was quite adventurous, see-sawing...

 ...doing the rings with Ms. Melanie...

 ...and sliding, sliding, sliding!

Anna also enjoyed trying out some of her new gymnastics skills.

We fed the ducks...

...and, the pigeons...

We really were meaning to feed the ducks.  Really.

SUCH an amazingly fun day with my sweet girls!

We were having such a great day, and feeling so adventurous, that we decided to take a boat ride!

The girls' first paddleboat trip...

We were sad that Melanie and her girls didn't join us on the paddleboat, but sure appreciated having our own personal photographer dockside!

The boat ride?  Success!  The girls are still talking about it...

Happy ladies...

Dancing Queen

Anna had her first dance recital in May.  Oh seriously happy Mommy.  I think this is one of those things that when I found out we were having girls, I was the most excited about!  Its just a right of passage of little girl childhood!  But, no pressure or anything...

 She had so much fun, and did such a good job...

We somehow managed to not capture it photographically, but Grammie and Bucko came and surprised Anna for her recital.  She was elated!

Snuggling her new "ballerina monkey"...

Pooltime with Nana

We enjoyed a weekend of fun in the sun when Nana came to visit.  The girls barely let her get in the door and get settled before they demanded she come outside for some counter service at their "cafe".

And, showing off her mad ladder climbing + sliding skills was tops on Kate's list as well...

I think we pretty much stayed outside the whole weekend.  Even when they tired of the pool, the girls decided to do some "science" outside, and play "name that food".  Anna ensured that Kate's mask was securely tightened...

...and then helped her self to some of the "samples" once Kate was done guessing.

Kate thought the whole activity was just fabulous!

And, what could be more fun than a giant turtle...

And, a giant shark (DBA a dolphin).

A great relaxing weekend had by all!

THANKS for coming to visit us, Nana!!

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

 Anna had one of her most fun field trips yet to Taqueria Arandas.  The people that own it and hosted the field trip could not have possibly been nicer!  I highly recommend stopping by there if you're in the area...definitely a business worth supporting!

 Are these little chef hats too much, or what?

 (Ok, blogger confounds me...why do these pictures turn on their side??)  Anyway, each child got their own cake, and own bag of icing and were set free!  What cute (and SWEET!) cakes they made!

Anna with her final product--quite the fancy clown cake!

We also enjoyed a wonderful lunch of fantastic Mexican food after the field trip.  And, the wonderful Arandas family didn't let us pay for a thing.  Now, that's outrageous. Will definitely be visiting them again...