Fun with Friends at the Kiddie Park

Sidney, Sophie, Abbie, and Caleb

Uncle Phil and Abbie

Caleb and Abbie holding hands (aww!)

Sophie and Abbie riding in a flying saucer

Abbie and Caleb

One of our few attempts at a family picture!

Sophie & Sidney in October 2011

Sidney and Sophie in March 2006

Our kids got along really really well with the Davies children. It was really cool to see Sophie and Sidney together again because they were both born during the year that we lived in Maryland. We were really good friends with Brett and Stacy Davies during that time. Then we moved away and we had only seen each other once when Sophie and Sidney were less than a year old. They are only about 4 months apart and I told Sophie that Sidney was one of her very first friends. Caleb, their middle child, is only 3 months older than Abbie. They were celebrating his 4th birthday while we were there and they invited us to come along. Stacy and Brett also have an almost 1 year old little boy named Tyler. He is so adorable but boy is he a fast little walker! Our girls loved him! On Saturday night, after going back to Sea World that day, we had dinner with the Davies (except for Ms. Stacy). Sunday morning we went to church with them. That afternoon, the kids played some and then we checked into a hotel.

Later, we met up with the Davies and some of their friends at the Kiddie Park. It is a little amusement park with carnival type rides. This park has been open since the late 1920's and all of the rides are old but charming. Sophie and Sidney loved hanging out together and were the best of friends after our visit to TX. Abbie and Caleb became buddies too and they enjoyed riding some rides together. Caleb had a cute monster cake and after the kids had ridden some rides, the kids got to try to knock down a pinata. It was Abbie's first experience with this and she was pretty hilarious! I forgot to mention that my brother, Phil, decided to come down to San Antonio at the last minute and stay with us for a day or two. He decided to go to a baseball game in Dallas where he saw the Rangers play. Then, on Sunday, he drove over to San Antonio and met up with us. I think that the girls were surprised to see him when he showed up at the Kiddie Park.

Fall Break Trip to Texas

Matt and Abbie feeding the dolphins!

Abbie, Sophie, & Matt by the dolphins.

Mama and Abbie are ready to ride the Shamu roller coaster!

Here we are riding the carousel.

Sophie and Abbie are ready to go!

Last week was Sophie's fall break. They were only out for 2 days but we took Sophie out of school about a day and a half early and flew to San Antonio. It was the girls' first time to visit Texas. For our first day there, we headed to Sea World. We were ready to enter the park when it opened and we headed straight for the dolphins so that we could feed them. Dolphins are Sophie's favorite animal and Matt had found out that if you want to feed them, first thing in the morning is best. You can buy little trays of fish and feed them yourself! It's not cheap to feed them but it is pretty amazing to reach out and pet a dolphin. I did it (though Matt had to handle the fish). Our girls were so excited to see the dolphins but they became kind of timid when they saw the dolphins with their mouths open wide and all of those teeth coming near them. Sophie was a little disappointed that she didn't touch one but after we had bought two trays of fish (which were gone in no time), we decided that maybe she'd have to work up her courage to do it in the future.

We had a wonderful time checking out the rides in the kiddie area, seeing some amazing shows, the girls trick or treated in the park one day, etc. On Friday afternoon, we headed over to the Davies, friends of ours from Maryland who Matt also went to college with, and we hung out with them on Friday night. They were gracious enough to let us stay with them. We didn't want to wear out their hospitality too much so we spent 2 nights with them and went back to a hotel. We went back to Sea World again on Saturday. Abbie's favorite ride was this boat ride which she was barely tall enough to ride. It's a water ride and if you asked Abbie what she wanted to do, she'd say, "the boat ride." She just loved it! It was hard for me to believe because this boat ride had a huge drop at the end.