Beluga Whale Encounter

We spent our second day in San Antonio at Sea World.  Before entering that park, though, we had reservations to do the beluga whale swim at Discovery Point which is the animal interaction branch of Sea World San Antonio.  Swimming with beluga whales was a really big deal for Olivia.  The beluga is her favorite animal in the world.  I cannot tell you how excited she was when she found out that she was going to get to meet one.

 We checked in to Discovery Point and were fitted with long sleeve wet suites.  The beluga lives in the Arctic, and so the water in their tank is cold- we're talking 50 degrees.  After changing, we boarded a bus and were driven to beluga stadium.  Sea World San Antonio has 10 beluga whales- including two under a year old.  One of these young males is Tyonek- the whale who was famously rescued in Alaska last year.  The young belugas do not participate in any of the shows at Sea World and are not located in a viewing area where the public can see them.  But guess who did get to see Tyonek.  We did!  They were feeding him when we arrived so we got a glimpse of him- no pictures though because we were not allowed to bring our cameras (we purchased the ones that you see).  Fun fact:  baby belugas are gray so that they blend in with their mother's shadow when they swim.

 We got to interact with two belugas- Natasha and Imaq.  Natasha was first, and she was a sweet old girl.  We got to rub her belly, touch her melon, and feed her fish.  We also learned some commands and interacted with her that way.  While we were doing this, the trainer was giving us all kinds of interesting information about belugas.  We were the only ones with her, so we had plenty of opportunities to have our questions answered.

After Natasha left, we got to meet Imaq.  He has a big ol' boy, but was very loving.  We each had the chance to love on Imaq.  We couldn't really "swim" with the belugas like we did with the dolphins because they do not have a dorsal fin, so there is not much to grab on to.  Instead, we did a back float with the beluga. 

We had such a good interaction with the belugas and hated to say good-bye.  This was definitely a magical experience.

The Mission Mission

Our first full day in San Antonio was spent on a mission to see all five of the missions.  We began with the most famous of all- The Alamo.  The kids had studied the Alamo in school so they were excited to see it in person.  We walked through the building interior, around in the back courtyard, and through all of the exhibits. 

They had some historical interpreters in the courtyard, and we listened to this guy who was giving a talk on the practice of bloodletting.  The kids were fascinated.

Before leaving we visited the gift shop and got Owen a utility knife.  We couldn't find one with his name on it, so he got one that said "Proud American".  He thought that he was big stuff because he had been deemed old enough to own a blade.  For the next several days he kept volunteering the use of his knife whenever there was even the slightest hint that something may need to be cut.

 Upon leaving the Alamo we took a short stroll to the river walk for an early lunch.  We also took a boat tour along the river.  This area of the city was beautiful.

 After lunch it was time to hit up the other four missions.  The original plan was to rent bikes and ride to each one along the mission trail, but it was as hot as hades and there was no way that this plan was going to work.  We drove instead. Our first stop was Mission San José, which was the largest and best preserved of all the missions. It was also the most beautiful.  The inside was elaborately decorated.  We were not allowed to take pictures inside any of the churches, but they were all beautiful.

 Our second stop was Mission San Juan.  This was the church that we could not go inside of.  One interesting thing that we learned is that the early inhabitants built a dam and aqueduct system to provide water to this mission.

Our third stop along the mission trail was at Mission Espada.  This was the southernmost mission was therefore the most vulnerable to attack.  This mission was small but cute.

We stopped along the trail to see a portion of the old aqueduct system.  It still had water in it.

We also stopped to see the old dam.

 We finally arrived at our last mission- Mission Concepción. Like the others, it was beautiful.  We really enjoyed seeing the sites along the mission trail.  The missions played an important role in the history of the area, and it was neat to "step back in time" and see what life was like back then.

Texas Road Trip

This year's summer vacation took us to the great state of Texas and marks the half-way point in our family's quest to visit all 50 states.  We stayed in San Antonio for a week, so there will be several posts about our time there.  In this post however, I will just make a few general observations about our trip. First, I want to say that Texas has the nicest welcome center of any that we have visited.  Not only are the facilities clean, but it also has a boardwalk that leads out over a swamp.  It was nice to have a scenic place to walk around after spending so many hours in the car.

We couldn't make it through the week without eating at Whataburger- because, you know, Texas.





















Buc-cees was an unexpected favorite.  Buc-cees is a gas station on steroids.  Seriously, the first Buc-cees we stopped at had 96 gas pumps.  Ninety-six. Gas. Pumps. The inside of the gas station was also amazing.  I mean, there was a whole wall dedicated to jerky.  I have never seen any gas station as enormous as this.  It was a sight to behold.

 Another favorite was the Alamo Cafe.  My cousins live in Texas and they always post a picture of themselves eating here when they visit San Antonio.  This tells me that the restaurant is good. So, when we saw the Alamo Cafe down the road from our hotel, we had to give it a try.  We loved it- so much so that we ended up eating here three times during our stay.  Even Olivia- who never eats Mexican food- was ordering enchiladas and begging to go back.  If ever I'm in San Antonio again, this will be the place where I eat.

We also had a meal at the authentic and super-popular Mi Tierra restaurant and bakery.  It is said that this is the most authentic Mexican meal you can get outside of Mexico.  I suppose this is why the wait is so long.  We were there for an hour and a half before we were seated.  The atmosphere was awesome.  There were murals painted on the walls and mariachi bands roaming around playing tunes.  After our meal, we stopped at the bakery and I let the kids pick out a pastry.  I'm glad we ate here once, but I don't know if I'd brave the line to make a return trip.

Superhero VBS

Our church's VBS theme for this year was Hero Central.  Throughout the week the students learned that God's heros have heart, courage, wisdom, hope, and power. Anyone who has ever helped with VBS knows that it is a j-o-b, but seeing the impact that the lessons have on the kids is totally worth all of the effort. I don't have any pictures from the main area of VBS because I was working the science station and was in the "lab" every night.  I do know that we had a great time in science, and the kids reported that the crafts and story stations were good as well.  This was Olivia's last year as a VBS participant, so I'm glad that it was a good one.  Next year, we'll put her to work.

Space Camp

 The kids had their first sleep-away camp experience this summer.  Brian and I decided to send them to Space Camp Robotics in Huntsville, Alabama.  We were all a little nervous because this was their first time away from home- and they were very far away.  I took me nine hours to drive to Huntsville.  All of our worry was for nothing, though.  The kids adjusted well to being away from us and had a a great time. 

 I dropped the kids off on Sunday.  After check-in, we headed to their dormitories to help them set up their bed.  Owen was in habitat 2, which was obviously the older of the dorm buildings.  He was in the Orion room with about fifty other boys. It sounds like he had a typical camp experience with other excited boys.  He said that some of them would cut up and make "pooting" noises after lights out and that counselors would have to come in a check on them with some frequency.  Good times.

 After setting up Owen's room, we headed to habitat 1 where Olivia's room was located.  Habitat 1 is the newer building and the rooms here are set up like suites.  Olivia shared a room with six other girls- all of whom were on her robotics team.  They had a nicely painted room, individual storage closets, and places to sit.  In other words, Olivia's room was much nicer than Owen's.  When we walked in, Owen was like "what the heck?"  Because her room was so much smaller, Olivia was able to develop friendships with her bunk mates more easily.  There's one friend in particular that she hit it off with, and they've even called each other twice since they've been home from camp.

 The kids participated in many space-related activities throughout the week, but the main task was for their team to develop robots that could accomplish a series of tasks.  The teams were set up like businesses who were trying to win a contract.  Olivia and Owen were both on team Gear, but were assigned to different parts of the overall task.  Olivia's robot had to push buttons while Owen's had to knock down a wall.  Other members of their team worked on additional parts of the overall task.  In the end, their team was successful and beat the other teams to win the contract. 

I liked that the kids worked with the Lego robotics system at camp.  They use VEX at school, and I think that it was good for them to have to try something new.  The camp also introduced the kids to binary code, working with drones, and working with SeaPerch underwater robots.  I thought that, curriculum wise, it was a very well-rounded camp program.  They also got to meet an astronaut, which is pretty cool.

 Both kids had their ipods with them and could use the Wifi to text me during their meals.  Owen apparently forgot this because he didn't send me a single message all week.  Thank goodness for Olivia- she sent me a message almost every day.  I missed them and kept wondering how things were going.  Hearing from Olivia was reassuring for me.  I think the kids took being away from home better than I did.  They may have been a little homesick at first, but got over it quickly once they got involved with all of the camp activities. Either way, I was glad when Friday arrived.  I drove back to Huntsville to attend their graduation ceremony and pick them up.  The graduation was held in the museum right underneath the Saturn V rocket.  The kids had their name called and walked across the stage where they received a folder which contained a photo of their team, a graduation certificate, and a discount coupon to register for next year's camp.  They both dug the coupon out first and handed it to me before we even left the building.  I think that's a hint that they want to go back next year.