After Gabriella's death my best friend Sadie decided that they wanted to to drive to San Antonio for the summer vacation. They took 3 days and camped along the way. They are my hero's, camping is a lot of work.
It was so fun to have them here. Our first real visitors. I love Sadie and Cory so much. They are great people who get me!! Sadie is definitely the Sister that I never had!
We had a lot of things planned to do so we were busy all the the time. The first day we went to the Natural Bridge Caverns. It was cool! The big dinosaur out front is always a big draw!
The entrance into the cave! Both the kids were a little nervous at first, I think they though it was going to be dark and scary inside!
Right at the entrance there is a stalagmite that you can touch. It is the only time you are allowed to touch them in the cave. Our kids mostly followed that rule!
Walking through the cool tunnels!
They weren't so scared once we started going through it!
Sitting patiently listening to the tour guide talk about the cave!
There was some really cool formations inside the cave!
These two picked right up where they always do although it is definitely starting to show that they are completely difference being boy and girl and have different interest but they still play together!
The cool walkways. We walked about 1/2 mile total in the cave, down really deep and then we had to climb back up!
It was also really hot in the cave. The temp. is supposedly like 72 all year round but the humidity was 100% so it felt way hotter!
The cool jellyfish formation!
The gang! Chloe, Cory, Kailie, Isaak, McKean and Sadie
Kean always chewing on his finger nails. I wonder where he gets it from!
Silly Kailie always making funny faces!
Afterwards we headed to New Braunfels to float the Comal and stopped to eat a late lunch before we floated it. We went to this little restaurant right on the Guadalupe river. It was so hot and the indoor sitting had no ac so we just sat outside. Sadie who is 6 months pregnant said she has never experienced heat like that before. Welcome to South Texas! And truly it wasn't even that hot!
The kids playing while we wait for our food!
Then we met Daddy at the Comal river and floated down it a bit! We were all so hot by the time we got in but the water was so cold we all ended up being cold!!
The kids floating down with Daddy.
Cute Isaak!
Cory pulls the tube down the very slow moving river!
We did enjoy the nice cool water for a bit!
The kids were happy in the tubes!
Chloe enjoying her time!
Daddy pushed Kean out the tube, how mean!! The kid was not happy!!
I kiss those cheeks at least 30 times a day!
The Knudsen family plus Kai Kai!
The Comal is definitely gorgeous!
We finally got to the stairs and everyone who was cold got out and was going to walk down to the chute. Turns out, you have to pay just to walk down it that way so we had to stroke the tubes back up the river to pick them all up!
Chloe and Cory getting ready to ride the chute!
Sadie just chilling with her kids on their way to the chute.
Here comes Mommy and the kiddos.!
We sure love the chute!
Sadie and the kids make it down!
Here comes Cory, popping up after floating down the chute!
Then we headed down the second chute and the kids got out and played.
It was super slippery!
Playing in the little waterfall!
I made Sadie walk across the slippery part so I could get a family photo for them!!
Cory and Chloe head down the chute!
I can't tell if Chloe is crying or smiling!
Isaak tries it out!
Kailie made her own little slide down the concrete!
One last time down the river.
Kai and Isaak go down together!
It was a fun, long day! And we were all wiped out when we got home. I am pretty sure the kids all fell asleep on the way home!
The next day we headed out to this ghost town in Helena. On the way there we passed this beautiful little church in Panna Maria and stopped to take a look at it! Turns out it was the first Polish settlement in all of America, how and why they ended up there is a mystery but they build this beautiful church!
We got to the "ghost town" and it was closed. Only open on the weekends apparently. Sadie was so mad since we had driven over an hour to get to it so she insisted that Cory sneak through the fence with the kids and at least let them look in the windows. The town was the tiniest town I have ever seen and she was like who is going to see us. Well while they were in there a car drives by and the driver sees them walking around inside the fence and turns around to come over to us. I made Sadie talk to him since she is the one that made them go in there. He was super nice after he found out why they were in their and told us that there was a number on the sign we could have called to get in!! Oops, oh well! We had to get back to San Antonio!
The ghost town was a bust but it was fun to drive out there and see a new part of Texas that I have never seen before!
This is where the guy saw them! Haha I thought for sure we would get in trouble!
Then we headed straight downtown and went the Alamo. After living here for 3 years I think I finally understand what happened at the Alamo!
The grounds there were really pretty and this tree was really cool it's branches come down and run across the ground!
One fun fact we learned was that there was no roof on during the actual battle of the Alamo and the little intricate part on top in the middle of the front of building was not there either!
Daddy was able to join us at the Alamo and then we headed down the to the River walk to walk around and eat some dinner.
We have never been on this part of the river walk and it was really beautiful and had a lot of better restaurant options!
It was a fun day even though we didn't get to see anything of the ghost town!
The next day we headed up to Austin but stopped on the way at the temple. Sadie and Cory did some work while I watched the kids outside. They did pretty good, we walked around. Looked at the pretty stained glass windows!
Kean giving Chloe a hug!
One shot in front of the temple. We have lived here for 3 year and this is the first time the kids have seen the San Antonio Temple. They kept asking to come see it, so finally we made it!
This is pretty much what they did most of the time we were waiting. They rode the cement sides down like they were a slide!
After the temple we headed up to Austin. First stop, Lady Bird Lake where we rented a Kayak and a Canoe and headed up the lake! It was so beautiful!
We switched around who was in what boat.
The Kayak was definitely the best one. We love Kayaking, you can go so fast!
My little helpers, helping me row!
Checking out all the cool turtles that look like statues!
The only bad part was where all this muck stuff was. It made it hard to row!
The Beautiful skyline of Austin!
Sadie takes a crack at the kayak with her two kiddos.
We took a few minutes to cool off and jump in the water before we had to head back!
Chloe and Kean trying to figure out how to maneuver in a boat!
Our plan was to go swimming at Barton Springs pool but of course it was closed for cleaning that day!! We were having bad luck with closures. We headed to right outside the springs and just played in the water there. It was freezing!! Even though it was so hot outside it was still super cold in the water.
The kids did not want to get in!
This kid just wanted to sit back and do what he does best, eat Pita Chips!
There was this opening where the water from Barton Springs runs over. It was cool and we tried to lean back into the best we could.
Cory was brave and went first. It is super cold but also really powerful. It pulls down your shorts!
Silly Sadie
Sadie and I took a turn!
This was the closest we could get! It was so powerful!
I tried to lean my head back!
Isaak and Kai only wanted to stay where it was super shallow!
I made Kai go with me. Normally she loves this kind of stuff even if it is cold but she was not to thrilled. I bet if Daddy was there she would have been fine. They are Adventure Buddies!
Then we had some dinner at our favorite Shady Grove restaraunt and then headed down to the watch the bats. You never know exactly what time they will come out. We got there about 30 minutes before they were supposed to and they came out a few minutes after we got there!
We of course stopped and got a cupcake from the cupcake truck. Kai and McKean had to share one much to their dismay!
It was so fun to have them out here. They got here monday afternoon and left Friday morning so it was a quick trip but we had a fun jammed packed time! It was fun to have visitors and made me appreciate the great things that we do have. We don't love San Antonio but we are definitely trying to enjoy all that it has to offer while we are here!
