A Sweet Fourth

 The Fourth of July was a sweet affair this year.  On July 3rd we traveled to Jacksonville because Sweet Pete's candy company was offering 4¢ factory tours in honor of the holiday.  We got to check out the room where all of the chocolaty magic happens while the guide explained to us how different types of candies are made.  Afterwards we hung out in the store.  They had a special deal where for $4 you could fill a box with as much candy as you could fit into it. Owen and Olivia were stuffing their boxes full of all sorts of candies and goodies.  They definitely got their four dollars worth. 

 Since we were already in Jacksonville, we decided to catch a minor league baseball game. We had never been to a Jumbo Shrimp game before, but we will definitely be back.  We had the best time.  We cheered and ate hot dogs and did all of the little chants.  We even got to meet Scampi, the mascot.  There were fireworks at the stadium following the game.  The fireworks were really good- better than the ones we saw in Waycross on the following night.

We spent the actual day of July 4th at home.  We had hamburgers for lunch and I boiled a big pot of peanuts.  In the evening we went to our usual spot in Waycross to view the fireworks.  The Murrays were also there and they were more than happy to help finish off the peanuts. 

Hello, Dolly!

One of our favorite summer traditions is going to a show at the Peach State Summer Theater with Granny Mel.  This year's show was Hello, Dolly!  What did I think of the play?  Wow, wow, wow, fellas!  It was really well done.  The play was well cast and the lady that played Dolly- such a good actress.  I was a little worried that the kids wouldn't find the play interesting, but that wasn't an issue.  Ava even said that it was her favorite play so far.  We look forward to this day every year, and we are so glad that Granny Mel invited us.

Ichetucknee

In early July we made a trip to Ichetucknee Springs State Park.  We enjoyed a relaxing float from the midpoint launch to the last take out.  We also visited the head spring and blue hole spring for a cool dip.  The Ichetucknee is always a fun trip, and this was no different.

Hiking in Hill Country

On our last day of vacation, we made a day trip to check out the lovely Texas hill country.  It did not disappoint.  For this excursion, we drove an hour and a half to Garner State Park.  This park had it all- hiking, swimming, camping, and we heard that there was even a dance in the evening.  We began by hiking to the top of Old Baldy.  The trail up was steep, but we made it and were rewarded with a fantastic view of the river below.

 We were hot and sweaty after our hike, so we grabbed a quick bite at the onsite concessionaire and then took a dip in the Frio River.  The water was cool and clear.  It felt so good.  Many other people were also out enjoying a day at the river.  There were several rope swings hanging from the branches of trees along the river.  We all had a go on the swings.  This was a great way to wrap up our time in Texas.

Schlitterbaun

On our fourth day in Texas, we made the short drive to New Braunfels to visit Schlitterbaun, the best waterpark in the world. I'm not just saying it's the best because I like it, I'm saying it because it is.  Schlitterbaun has won the Golden Ticket Award (the Oscars of amusement parks) for best waterpark every year since 1998.  It is such a fun and amazing place.  It was made even more amazing by the fact that the Qs met us there.  The kids haven't seen their cousins in two years, but they didn't miss a beat.  We arrived at the park a little before the Qs, so we waited on them at the front entrance.  I loved how Olivia and Owen were standing outside waiting excitedly for their cousins to arrive.  As they were walking up Olivia said "I see Rachel, and there's Andy".  Owen was like, "I see them, I see them all". This just made my heart so happy because even though we don't see them often, they are still so glad to be together.





Let me just say, the Qs are experts when it comes to navigating Schlitterbaun. The park is huge.  I mean, you have to take a bus to get from one side of it to the other.  But, they had a plan.  Leslie had packed a picnic lunch for us all, so our first stop was to claim our picnic spot and "base" for the day.  They led us to their usual spot- a nice shaded area in the older part of the park.  Once we had put everything in our spot, we caught the bus to the newer part of the park and went to ride the Master Blaster watercoaster- the most popular ride in the park. We then did a few laps in the not-so-lazy river and rode another slide or two.  We then returned to the older side of the park where we spent the remainder of our day.

 

The older side of the park is my favorite.  On this side, there are chutes which I think are just so much fun.  I'd much rather be on a chute than on a traditional water slide.  Also, a lot of the water attractions in the older area use water from the adjacent Comal River.  One of the chutes even ends in the river and you have to float down a ways to get back into the park.  We had an absolute blast at Schlitterbaun.  I think it was worth the drive to Texas just to be here with the Qs.

Six Flags Fiesta Texas

Our third day in San Antonio was spent at Six Flags Fiesta Texas.  I think the thing that impressed me the most about this park was that it was really pretty for a Six Flags Park.  The park was built by an old quarry, and the quarry wall provides a backdrop for many of the rides.  Some of them are even built using the terrain of the quarry wall itself. We arrived at the park early, stayed until the afternoon, left in the hottest part of the day, then returned in the evening for the fireworks.  Our favorite coaster was Iron Rattler.  We got several rides on it.  We were also able to ride Wonder Woman Golden Lasso coaster.  This just opened and is the first of its kind (a single rail coaster) in the world.  We knew the line for Golden Lasso would be long, so we went there first and were on the first train of the day.  The other notable coaster that we rode was Superman: Krypton Coaster which is the best floorless coaster that we've ridden.

We all agree that Six Flags Fiesta Texas is a keeper.  The rides were really good, the crowds weren't bad, and the park was clean.  The fireworks show was also a nice surprise.  We thought that we would just be getting some low-level fireworks, but that's not what happened.  The show not only had fireworks but also used the quarry wall to project images on.  There was also a fountain incorporated and at one point the water turned to flames and it was like a fountain of fire.  We left the fireworks show like, "Whoa- that was really good".  I love it when things exceed my expectations, and Fiesta Texas did in every way.



Six Flags season pass count-
Number of visits:  3
Number of parks visited:  3

Sea World San Antonio

 After completing our beluga whale encounter we spent the rest of the day inside of the actual Sea World park.  We rode the rides and saw some of the animal exhibits.  We didn't get to go to a lot of the shows because we had spent a large portion of the day at Discovery Point and only had a limited amount of time to see the rest of the park.  Since many of the shows are similar to the ones in Orlando, they got skipped.  The one show that we did attend was the the beluga/dolphin show.  I thought it was neat that the dolphins in the show were Pacific white-sided dolphins.  Sea World Orlando only has bottlenose dolphins, so it was cool to learn about a different type.