Thanksgiving Week and Aron's Visit

Aron came to visit us over Thanksgiving break and the girls were loving it!  Saturday night Kira wasn't feeling well so Aron and I took Alyssa and Mackenzie to the Lighting of the Doves ceremony in The Woodlands.  We've never been, but it will have to be a new tradition.  There are all kinds of booths and food vendors.  They had this area where you could pay a few dollars and play in the snow or go on a sled ride down a little hill.  Then about 7:30 p.m. Santa arrives on a boat on the Waterway.  He came up onto stage and read "Twas the Night Before Christmas."  Then they turn on the lights in the shape of doves and light off fireworks.  We decided we didn't want to listen to the story, so we sat where we were near the waterway and drank the hot chocolate we had brought.  Turns out we had perfect seats for the fireworks.  They were lighting them off right across the river from where we were sitting.   

 The little snow man we made.

 Despite freezing temperatures, we headed to San Antonio and Sea World on Monday. 

 Subway for lunch and walking around the Alamo. 

 You can tell Mackenzie's not happy!

 The Historic Alamo! 

Then in order to kill some time and do something inside, we decided to tour the Wax Museum.  It turned out to be a total waste of money because it only took us about 20 minutes to go through the whole thing.  We did get a few funny pics. 

 Harry Potter

 Tori being interviewed by Oprah. 

Obama taking all of Ben's money.

 

We stayed the night in a hotel. . .

Mackenzie's classic pose lately.  It will pop up later in the Family Christmas Card. 

 When we first got to Sea World, we were all thinking we were crazy.  We had hats, gloves and our winter coats on and we were still freezing.  Luckily the day warmed up later when the sun came out so we only needed the coats.  Lots of good memories anyway!

 All bundled up. Last time we came it was insanely hot!   

 Kira was running a fever so she fell asleep almost right away all bundled up. 

 Trying to entice the dolphins.  Always our favorite part of Sea World. 

Close enough to pet them.

 Ben and the girls got 3 of the dolphins to spin around. . .

 . . . until they were told not to by one of the employees.  I guess they expect a treat and when you don't give it to them, they stop performing. 

 A few of the animals we saw. . . Exotic birds 

 

Sea lions and seals.



Lots of fish and sharks. 

 

 Rides we rode on.

 

A lot of the rides were shut down because of the cold weather, but they did have this one area where you could play in the snow for 15 minutes.  The kids built a little wall with these snow brick toys.

 And we took a little ride down a hill. 

 

 Of course I hiked to the top of the little slippery hill holding Kira's hand and the tube, only to be told I couldn't go down with her.  I quickly put her in the tube and gave her a push and went around to get her at the bottom.  Luckily Aron was taking pictures and was able to get her.  She was not too thrilled with me. 

Family picture with Elmo.  Kira cried the first time she saw these characters even though she loves, loves, loves Elmo.  I finally calmed her down and she acted like she wanted to go see them, but when we got close she changed her mind.  Don't ask me what Ernie and Bert are discussing. 

 This was Kira's general feeling of the whole thing.  She did give Elmo a high five at the end though. 

Of course we had to see the famous Shamu show. 

 Aron was able to get some really great pictures with his fun new DSLR Nikon camera.

 

 We had a great adventure and glad Aron could join us!