I cannot believe how fast this summer is flying by.  How is it already July?  We have been soaking it all up over here, but I wish time would slow down.  A couple weeks ago we went on a fun family vacation to San Antonio.  If you follow me on Instagram I shared some behind the scenes of our trip, but here are all the details.

FAMILY VACAY: SAN ANTONIO EDITION

A couple of years ago we started taking family vacations with some of our very best friends the Tuckers.  We take 1 adult only vacation and 1 family vacation and we all have the best time.  Even though we are friends, it is really more like family.  My kids call their kids cousins, etc.  It is such a great way to travel because we all have friends with us.  The kids have playmates and so do the adults.

Living in Texas a popular destination for vacation is the JW Marriott in San Antonio.  I have many friends who have gone before and it has always been on our list so this summer we did just that.  San Antonio is about 4.5 hours from McKinney.  Instead of taking 2 cars and following each other we decided to rent a huge van and carpool for our road trip.  Yall, this was THE BEST IDEA!!  Seriously, it was one of my kids favorite parts of the trip and they typically hate car rides.  We got a 12 passenger van and loaded everyone up with blankets, pillows, movies and snacks.  The kids LOVED it and were totally occupied with their movies and the adults loved it because there was no “are we there yet” 1000 times!!  If yall are taking a road trip I highly recommend this.  Even though there were 8 of us we got a 12 person van so that we were not all squished.  There were 3 rows in the back and this worked out perfectly.  We rented it through Costco.

We headed out on Monday morning and ended up hitting Austin around 1:30 so decided this was a perfect pit stop to have a yummy lunch, get out, stretch our legs, let out some energy, etc.  Austin is one of my favorite places every ( I went to college there and Braden’s middle name is Austin after my love for this city) so we all stopped at one of my favorite places in Austin. . .Hula Hut!  Some chips & queso, a margarita for the adults and we were refreshed and ready to finish up our drive to San Antonio.

Driving through the hill country really is such a beautiful drive.  We arrived at the hotel and the kids were so excited.  The JW Marriott is absolutely beautiful! We unpacked, changed and hit up the pool for a couple of hours before dinner.  There are 3 main pools at the hotel.  The beach pool, the main large pool and the kid pool.  These are not the technical names for them, but they are how we referred to them all week.  The first night we went to the beach pool.  It is a really nice area with a huge sandy beach for the kids to play.  They were having a blast burying each other, building sand castles, etc.  Don’t worry about bringing your own toys, they hotel had TONS and TONS of sandcastle building things.  After we got sand everywhere we headed up to our rooms to clean up and go down to dinner.  We ended up eating at the same restaurant every night for dinner. . . Cibolo Moon.  It was really great because there was a huge patio right on this grassy area so the kids could run and play during dinner!  It really made for the most enjoyable evenings.

We got so lucky with the crowds and the weather while we were there.  It was not busy at all and the weather was really mild especially for Texas summers!

The next day we headed out and camped by the kid pool.  The kids played, did the lazy river, rode the slides, etc.  There are so many activities for them to do that no one ever got bored!  The JW also has activities throughout the day you can take part in like slime making, etc (for a small extra fee), but honestly the kids were having so much fun at the pools that they didn’t even want to do any of these.  There were 2 medium tube slides that were fun for the bigger kids, 2 really thrilling slides that were good for the dads and then 1 fun tube slide that was fun for everyone including Braden.  They also had a few little kid slides in the kid pool area.  The resort really had a lot to offer.

HAT  $14.97| SUNGLASSES $8 | SWIMSUIT 

After a fun filled day we headed back to dinner again and then enjoyed smores!

The night was so nice that we all sat on the golf course, took lots of pictures, the kids rolled down the hills, the adults drank wine. . .it was amazing.

Then we went up to the rooms and put all the kids in one room with a movie and the adults played hours of games.  We always make sure to get joining rooms so we can do this when we travel.  It is so much fun.  The kids stay up late, watch movies and then fall asleep like the best slumber party ever and the adults typically play cut throat Heads Up on our phones.  It is the best time!!  Especially since the girls typically win 😉  Then when we are ready for bed, we carry our kids back to the other room and all go to sleep with our families in our own rooms.  It is such a great set up.

The kids were loving seeing actual landline phones!

Day 3 was much of the same, but this time we camped out at the main pool.  We decided to try them all while we were there!  More playing, swimming, reading, eating, etc took place and then that night we did the same thing.  Dinner, movies and games.  We went to bed a little earlier this night because we had to wake up early in the morning and head out to Sea World!

TOP | SKIRT | EARRINGS | SANDALS

Day 4 we checked out of the hotel and headed over to Sea World.  It opened at 10 and we wanted to make sure to get there on time.  It was about a 45 min drive so no big deal.  Another day we got so lucky with weather and crowds.  It was over cast all morning so it kept it reasonably cool and there was no one there!  I mean literally the guys rode the roller coasters and were able to stay on the ride and go again and again!  They never even made them get off.  It was crazy!!

We saw lots of animal shows, ate our fair share of junk, rode some fun rides and soaked in all Sea World had to offer.  The kids LOVED all the shows!  It was fun seeing it through their eyes. We went to the Sea Lion show, the Dolphin & Beluga Whale show and the “Shamu” show ( I still call it that from when I was a kid).

We saw turtles, penguins, alligators and my favorite part was seeing the dolphins up close.  That was just amazing.  Dolphins are my favorite animals so I could have stayed there all day long.  There is a HUGE kids play zone in the middle of the park that was tons of fun.  Braden love it and was able to enjoy lots of rides perfect for his size.

The dads had a blast on the bigger roller coasters and we had fun on the family rides of the Rio Loco (raging rapids) and Journey to Atlantis (similar to Splash Mountain).  There is a whole other water park called Aquatica, but we didn’t have time to experience everything while we were there.  Next time we will have to go for a longer time.  If you are headed to Sea World be sure to purchase your tickets online at least 3 days early to save $15 per ticket!!

We ended up leaving the park around 5 and headed down to the River Walk for dinner.  We stayed at the Hilton right on the River Walk so we were able to park the van and walk to dinner.  The kids thought it was just the coolest.  We were all pretty wiped so it was an early night, but the perfect end to the trip!

The next morning we loaded up the van and headed back home.  We all had the best time and made tons of memories.  If you are looking to travel to San Antonio I highly recommend JW Marriott.  We all loved it.

ROADTRIP/VACAY ESSENTIALS

THESE ARE SOME OF THE THINGS WE BROUGH ON VACATION!

This post contains affiliate links.  If you purchase I may receive a small commission.  Also thank you to Sea World for tickets in exchange for a review.  All opinions are my own