Tag: Texas

Hometown Adventures

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Other than the beach, we didn’t have any big plans this summer so we decided to spend a weekend in our hometown. We went to visit family, but we also wanted to take the boys to do some fun things, so we decided on the Perot Museum of Nature and Science in Dallas.

The museum is huge and each floor has a different exhibit. Several of the exhibits are interactive, which was fun for the littles, however, I think some of it was just a little too advanced for our 5 and 3 year old. The museum did have a newly renovated kids area on the bottom floor but was overly crowded and much smaller than expected. All in all we still found plenty to do and it was a fun day. I think we will visit again when they’re a little bit older (bonus: teachers get in free!)

The next morning the Bearded One helped his family with a building project while I took the littles around to explore downtown Garland, our home town. First stop was coffee at Rosalind’s. The coffee shop was beautiful and right on the square. Once I was caffeinated I let the boys explore the green space and playground that was right in the middle of the square. They ran, they climbed, they played, and I enjoyed the outdoor environment. It was still pretty early so none of the shops were open yet but we were able to walk around and look at the many murals and beautifully renovated buildings.

I think the next time we visit I will look for an Air B&B in the area so we can walk around and enjoy the downtown amenities.

Overall, we had a great little adventure in our hometown. Up next, time to explore Houston.

Lazy Beach Days

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We spent our first vacation of the summer at the beach, and of course we had a great time.

Once again we traveled to our favorite little condo in Corpus Christi, right on the beach. Everyday the Bearded One set up our tents and chairs and we basked in the Texas sun with our toes in the sand. Our whole family came with us this year and the boys had so much fun. We played in the sand, painted seashells, fed the seagulls, and braved the ocean with the yucky jellyfish 🪼 (yes we all got stung!)

We only had one day of bad weather so we decided to take the boys to the Corpus Christi Museum of Science and History. It was fun for the kiddos, lots of history and interactive exhibits for the boys. Plus, teacher get a discount!

We had a fabulous beach trip, as always, and I already miss the salty air!

Pro Beach Tips:

  • Bring lots of snacks of course
  • Vinegar helps neutralize a jellyfish sting (thanks lifeguards)!
  • Bring watercolors to paint seashells
  • If you check out the museum, you have to eat next door at Railroad Seafood and Brewery (best crab cake I’ve ever had!)

Christmas At Kalahari

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Christmas time at Kalahari year three did not disappoint.

We’ve always been able to enjoy the resort during the week around Christmas time, however, this year we had to book the weekend before. I was a little nervous that it would be entirely too crowded and unenjoyable. Although it was more crowded than we’ve experienced in the past, it wasn’t overwhelming and I feel like there were lots more holiday activities to enjoy.

The boys were able to see Santa and Mrs. Claus, color in an igloo, search for Kalvin the elf daily, and participate in other fun Christmas activities.

If you’re on the fence about waterparks in general ( I’m genuinely not a fan) then I suggest you try Kalahari. Everything is in close proximity, the resort overall is clean, the staff is friendly, there’s so much for kids and adults to try. 10/10 we will continue to come back and enjoy the holidays at Kalahari in Round Rock, TX.

We’ve contemplated visiting the resort during the summer season but I truly enjoy the holiday magic 🎄🎅🏻

Link: Kalahari

Camping Chaos

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The Bearded One and I have enjoyed camping since we were kids. We’ve always camped in a tent, cooked over an open fire, and all those other seemingly baffling outdoorsy things some people just don’t understand. We really want our boys (currently 4 and 2) to experience and love all the same adventures as us, but we decided they’re a little too small to sleep on the ground and run around an open flame. We desperately wanted them to experience the spirit of camping but in a safer, less taxing kind of way. So I did my research and settled on Jellystone Park in Waller, TX.

Of course I’ve heard Jellystone before but I’ve never experienced it for myself. After reading reviews, checking out fellow traveler pictures and blogs, and looking for discount codes, I settled on the perfect cabin.

If you’ve never seen or heard of Jellystone do yourself a favor and check it out. Their website gives so much information on the lodging, amenities, and overall experience. They have everything from tents sites, to multi room cabins. Activities and amenities include a fishing pond, pillow jumper, gem mining, restaurant, and my favorite, the thing that sold me, a pool and waterpark playground.

The night before our Jellystone adventure we packed up and hyped up the boys about their first camping trip. I didn’t realize camping required so much, but it definitely was quite a bit to pack.

The Bearded One and I took a half day off work in preparation for grocery shopping before our arrival. About 30 minutes before we were supposed to leave I received an email from Jellystone Waller saying they had to cancel our reservations due to the previous night’s storm and massive power outages!

Of course I was in panic mode, but long story short, I was able to cancel for a full refund and rebook the Jellystone Tyler location (which was an extra 2 hours away).

The boys did pretty well in the car, and it honestly wasn’t as bad as I was anticipating.

We arrived around 5pm and still had plenty of time to check out the waterpark, which the boys absolutely loved. The waterpark stayed open until 7pm and opened the next morning around 11 (the sign said 11 but it was open at like 1030ish).

After a night of s’mores and late bedtimes we were excited to wake up and explore all the park had to offer. We started with the pillow bouncer, then drove around to find the playground, and finally did a little gem mining for treasures. You have to buy the bag of gems which was about $9 but it was totally worth it.

I think the waterpark was our favorite, our boys love the water. We spent hours at the water playground, enjoying the waterslides, getting ice cream and of course purchasing a few adult beverages at the bar (yes the campground has a bar!).

There was so much more to explore and do at the park but we just didn’t have the time. They have an app that you can download that gives you a play-by-play schedule of events happening around the park. It was very family friendly and we will definitely be back. Despite the unexpected turn of events, I give our first experience at Jellystone a 9/10.

Travel Notes:

Packing with toddlers is no joke, here’s an example of my packing list for reference.

Dashing Through the…

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Dashing Through the 75 degree Texas December weather to our latest vacation, our favorite, Gruene.

We took our annual Christmas in Gruene trip and once again it didn’t disappoint. But, as the kids get bigger and older I’ve realized that as much as we love the nostalgia of Gruene, there truly isn’t much for our littles to do.

Of course we had a great time with our besties and the kid absolutely adore each other, but the actual activities in Gruene are kind of lacking for kiddos, even during the holiday season.

I think I’ll start my research for a new Christmas trip next year, so if you have any kid centered, Christmasy themed vacations for next year please do share! (maybe the river lights in SA?)

Up next a surprise Christmas trip for O and baby L! Stay tuned …

Much Needed Getaway

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This was a well deserved, much needed, beach vacation. After a tremulous end to our year, full of change and the unknown, we throughly enjoyed our stress free week away from it all. I honestly feel that the salty ocean air and sand between my toes, brings new perspectives on what is truly important in our lives. There’s no where else I’d rather be than on vacation with my boys.

I know Texas beaches get a bad rap but we really do love Corpus Christi. We’ve spend countless hours on the murky beaches of Galveston, which are nothing compared to the clear, clean beaches of Corpus.

We stumbled upon our vacation spot by chance a few years ago. We were looking for a place to take baby O and had already attempted Galveston. I researched beachfront condos on the coast and found El Constante Condos on North Padre Island in CC. We were presently surprised with the locations, amenities, and cleanliness of our condo and have been returning ever since ( this was year three).

It can be kind of daunting taking a toddler and baby to the beach but I think we pretty much have it figured out. The most important aspects of baby beach travel are 1-sunscreen 2-shade 3-snacks and 4-toys. Once you have those four figured out it’s smooth sailing.

We did our best to stick to a schedule and our boys loved very minute of beach, pool and family time. We can’t wait for our next end of June vacation! Stay tuned for something new.

Kalahari Resort-Round Rock

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We tried something new for Christmas vacation this year and decided to book a few nights at the indoor water park, Kalahari. The park is advertised as the largest indoor water park and it’s not too far away from us, about 2.5 hours. It’s located in Round Rock, TX which is just outside of Austin. On the day of departure we loaded up the car and the boys and headed off on our little adventure.

To be completely honest I didn’t have very high expectations, I am not a water park fan. Kalahari completely changed my mind, I absolutely loved it! More importantly, our boys loved it too!

We were a little nervous that there wouldn’t be many activities for the littles but half the park was designed just for them. My toddler went down so many slides, floated the lazy river, and enjoyed all the water table activities with his baby brother. We spent hours splashing around and playing in the water. I do have to say it was a tad bit chilly but we acclimated quickly. The water is kept at 84* but good ole Texas was having some pretty cold weather and we could tell while in the park. Anytime the boys seemed chilly we just hopped in the giant hot tub for a few minutes. Overall it wasn’t too bad.

The water park is the resorts biggest attraction but it also has an enormous arcade and adventure park with rides and activities such as rock climbing, bowling, escape rooms and several other things. We spent a good amount of time in the adventure park playing kid friendly games with our toddler. He’s never been to an arcade and absolutely loved all the games. He was even able to pick some pretty cool prizes with all the tickets we won.

Kalahari also has several resultants and shops which we took full advantage of. Before we left I followed the advice of my fellow travelers and we stopped at the store to pick up snacks and easy meals for the kids. Our room had a microwave and fridge so we were able to do simple breakfasts and lunches in the room. We did however grab pizza at the Italian restaurant, cocktails at the lounge, coffee and desserts at the cafe, and on our last night we had dinner at the resorts burger place. The food was pretty good, priced as you would expected for a resort. I’d definitely eat there again, it was super convenient and there were quite a few restaurants to choose from.

This place had any and everything you could possibly need to have a wonderful family vacation. Since it was the holiday season the resort was decked out in beautiful Christmas decor and made our trip that much more magical. I would definitely recommend Kalahari Resort to anyone looking for a family vacation. As a matter of fact, I’m already planning next years trip!

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Pre-Christmas Vacation

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Every year for the past 3 years we’ve been celebrating the holidays in our favorite little tiny Texas town, Gruene. We meet up with our friends and enjoy the shops, food, and holiday festivities. The kiddos take pictures with Santa and the parents enjoy each others company. We sip, we shop and we end the evening by watching Santa ride in to town and light up the Christmas lights.

If you’ve never been to Gruene, I highly suggest you check it out. It’s a small little town right by New Braunfels. It’s famous for Gruene Hall which has hosted numerous famous musicians over the years. Since having children we go we rent an Air B&B. Before kiddos we stayed at Gruene River Inn, which is perfect for couples (I honestly miss staying there!). We get garlic fries at Mozies, blackberry wine at The Grapevine and listen to live music at Gruene Grove. If you need tips or advice about things to do and see in Gruene, just ask! We literally love everything place there!

This was the first year we traveled with two little ones and overall, they did fabulous! They napped in the car, enjoyed snacks at Buc-ee’s and were minimally fussy.

Our little pre-Christmas vacation made me so excited for the future and all the adventures we will plan.

We can’t wait to take our sweet boys on many more adventures!

Up next Kalahari Resort in Round Rock, TX ! We can’t wait!

Merry Christmas 🎄!

Another Summer in the Books

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Summer is my absolute favorite time of the year. I work exponentially hard throughout the school year so I can relax and enjoy my vacations, which is exactly what we did this year.

From Mexico to the Texas coast, we had quite a few adventures with our little man in tow.

Corpus Christi

After Mexico we decided venture somewhere a little more local. Usually we enjoy South Padre Island in the summer but we decided to try our luck in Corpus Christi. I’ve heard good and bad things about CC and honesty, we enjoyed our trip and we will definitely be back. I found a great little beachfront Air B&B that we really loved. The only bummer was all the rain! But, even with the torrential down pours, we were able to enjoy the beach and explore the Corpus Christi Museum off Science.

Rainy Day Fun in Corpus
The Beach in Corpus

Schlitterbahn New Braunfels

We booked a trip to Schlitterbahn in New Braunfels early in the spring and honestly, I was only slightly looking forward to it. I did my research and found a ton of toddler activities throughout the parks so I knew there would plenty for our little water baby to enjoy. I on the other hand, am not a fan of water parks. We decided to stay in a little cabin located in the park and the location was great but other than that, I was unimpressed. I think we will save water parks for when baby O gets just a little bit older.

We did however have a pretty good little road trip and stopped at our favorite restaurant in Bastrop, Maxine’s on Main (check it out if you’re every there!)

Galveston

Our final trip of the season was just this past weekend. We decided to join our friends on a little last-minute getaway to Galveston. Of course, it once again rained, but we were still able to soak up the sun, play in the sand, and enjoy our time together.

Unfortunately our sweet little summer is coming to an end but don’t worry, we already have lots of adventures planned for the fall!!!

Elephants!

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I know I’m not alone when I say this school year was beyond exhausting for teachers across the globe. We have undoubtedly earned this years summer vacation. But, instead of spending our first weekend at home recuperating and decompressing, we packed up and headed to Fredericksburg to visit the elephants at The Preserve.

When I first heard that there was an elephant preserve in Texas I knew I had to go. Elephants are hands down my favorite animals and I’ve always been fascinated with them. After doing my research I booked our Air B&B and tickets to see the elephants. I figured this would be the perfect way to celebrate the end of a rough school year.

As always our Air B&B did not disappoint. If you’ve never rented an Air B&B I highly recommend you do so.

We checked in the night before so we had time to relax before the big elephant adventure. It was a good thing we prepared ahead of time because the Bearded One was a little under the weather. Lucky for us me and baby O had plenty of room to run around the AirB&B while the Bearded One rested up.

The day of our elephant encounter started off rainy but cleared up by the time we arrived. I was a little nervous that baby O would be scared of the elephants and I didn’t know what to exactly what to expect.

Each encounter only allows about 30 people so it wasn’t crowded and we all were able to interact with the 3 beautiful Asian Elephants (Rosie, Kitty and Becky).

They staff did an amazing job explaining everything about these fascinating animals. They were knowledgeable and made the experience not just educational but interactive and fun.

We were able to give Rosie a bath, take pictures with Becky, watch Kitty get a pedicure, and so much more. Everyone was allowed to interact with “the girls” and baby O wasn’t even scared!

Elephant Encounter at The Preserve
Giving Rosie A Bath
Elephant Feet!

Overall I give this experience 10/10 and I would definitely do it again! (We might wait until Baby O is a little older and more attentive).

If you’d like more information please follow this link:https://www.visitthepreserve.com/ . The staff said they would soon be adding more animals and exhibits so stay tuned!