Austin. Mom. Blog. » vacation

Fiesta Texas in San Antonio

Dianna — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 16:19:34 +0000

We finally made our first trip of the summer to Fiesta Texas. By this time last year, we would have been three times already. Time is really getting away from us this summer. Our trip was made on a Wednesday. It was not crowded. We didn’t arrive until twelve so we went directly to the waterpark. That was the best decision to make since we were already sweating at that point. The water really helped keeping us cool. The areas throughout the waterpark included a wave pool, tube rides, a lazy river, slides, and two areas designed especially for kids. The kids’ areas were shallow and had multiple fun objects to play on. It included a small whale to slide through, a huge cowboy hat to stand under and get soaked, a boat to climb, and so much more.

It took hours to finally get the boys to want to go ride roller coasters. We timed it just right. When it was time to ride, it wasn’t so hot. There honestly are a lot of rides the boys can go on. It kept us busy for the rest of the day. There were bumper cars, roller coasters, a Scooby Doo ride to shoot ghosts and goblins, airplanes, diesel trucks, a train that travels the whole park, and swings. At the end of the night there is a firework show, but our family gets way too tired to make it. There is plenty of entertainment at Fiesta Texas and as soon as time allows, we will return.

Wiggles Roller Coaster

Andrew on the Swings

Vacation

Dianna — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 03:36:51 +0000

We have been on vacation and still are on vacation. I have been so exhausted that I usually just fall asleep instead of making time to write. My eyes are closing as I write this. As soon as I recuperate, I can’t wait to share all of our adventures.

Great Wolf Lodge in Grapevine, Texas

Dianna — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 17:11:46 +0000

Our family loves Great Wolf Lodge in Grapevine, Texas. We have been there a total of four times now. Our last visit was this past Thursday and Friday before Easter. The lodge was 75% full. We have been when it’s 100% full and 20% full. We absolutely loved it when it only was 20% full, but even when it’s full capacity the lodge can handle it. We don’t have to wait two hours to ride something. It’s the perfect vacation for our two boys. Andrew is five and Collin is four. Great Wolf Lodge’s main attraction is an indoor waterpark with tube rides, waterslides, a wave pool, and a huge treehouse with water overflowing each way you look. Since I’m a huge water fan myself, I also love it. There are several places you can dine at when you visit. They include Pizza Hut Express, Bear Paw Sweets and Eats (where we enjoyed ice cream), Starbucks, and Loose Moose Cottage (a restaurant). Inside the waterpark is a snack bar where you can buy small pizzas, hamburgers, fries, and miscellaneous snacks. We purchased a hot dog, a chicken burger, and fries. It was actually pretty good. The prices were typical. A hot dog cost us three dollars, the chicken burger was six dollars, and the fries were two dollars. I believe Six Flags prices are much higher. The lodge has so many activities for kids including a cub club with painting, coloring, or decorating items. Some items may have to be purchased. There’s also an arcade, a kids’ spa, and a game called MagiQuest where you have a wand and go through the hotel to conquer challenges. The game can last hours so this last time we didn’t purchase the game, but we will next time. Our boys were disappointed, but since we only stayed one night, time wasn’t in our favor. Our next visit we will stay two nights. When you visit Great Wolf Lodge, you are able to start enjoying the park as early as one o’clock and can stay until it closes the next day at nine. You have to check out of your room by eleven, but can still stay to enjoy the lodge. We always take advantage of staying. We all were truly exhausted after visiting Great Wolf, but we can’t wait to go back. It is truly a kid friendly, family friendly hotel.

Andrew and Collin Loving Great Wolf Lodge

Indoor Waterpark

Spring Break Continues

Dianna — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 18:06:35 +0000

I am finally getting the chance to finish our spring break vacation details. The last time I wrote, we had finished up with the zoo. We still had a lot of time on our hands for the rest of the day, so we decided to go to Six Flags. Our plan was to go the next day, but we decided to go both days. We arrived at 5:30. It was perfect. There were not any lines for the season pass processing center or hardly any lines for the kids’ rides. We left at 8:30 since we were going to come back the next day. We didn’t want to drag it out too long and have the kids exhausted. Wednesday arrives and we head out to Six Flags again. The time is 11:30 a.m. and we are in stop and go traffic to proceed through the gates of Six Flags. It took us one hour to go through the gates and park our vehicle. During the wait, my husband decided to go in and check out how long the lines were for the rides. It was ridiculous. The rides we rode the day before would now take us an hour to get on. It just wasn’t worth it. We decided not to park and head home. Luckily, we have season passes and could easily come again another time. I am happy we went the night before and got to enjoy the park for a little while. I’m not sure why it wasn’t busy that night, but I honestly believe we will not attempt to go to any theme parks another spring break. The boys were pretty disappointed we didn’t go, so we decided to visit Cameron Park Zoo in Waco. By far, this is our favorite zoo. It’s the perfect size for Andrew and Collin. Andrew is five and Collin is four. It’s not so big where it’s overwhelming. The zoo has a new area that is called Asian Forest. It includes orangutans, tigers, and komodo dragons. It included a play area for the children to climb on or hang from ropes like an orangutan. We have been to the Cameron Park Zoo before, but the Asian Forest hadn’t been opened yet. We finished touring the zoo in two hours and finally headed for home. I love being on vacation, but there’s no place like home.

Cameron Park Zoo

Dave & Buster’s

Dianna — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 02:51:49 +0000

Today we asked our oldest son Andrew what he wanted to do for his last day of vacation since he goes back to school tomorrow. He told us he wanted to go to Dave & Buster’s. We enjoy going there as a family, so off we went. We arrived at 12:00 and stayed until 3:00. During that time we not only played a lot of games, we also ate lunch. In my opinion, the food is pretty good. I usually order the grilled chicken quesadillas and I haven’t been disappointed yet. I enjoy eating there because if my youngest son starts to get restless I take him over to a few games before the food arrives. I used to think Dave & Buster’s was focused more for adults, but now I see a lot more famililes there. They have a ton of games for my boys to play. I believe the selection is better than Chuck-e-Cheese. I guess I say that because my boys are getting bigger and have outgrown a lot of games at Chuck-e-Cheese. The only downfall is Dave & Buster’s games are a whole lot more expensive than Chuck-e-Cheese. Dave & Buster’s games aren’t one token games. The games are fun, the prizes are cool and different, and the food is good. My son, Andrew had the right idea.

Galveston Trip

Dianna — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 04:49:05 +0000

We went to Galveston on the 20th and 21st. We stayed at the Moody Gardens hotel and loved it. We have stayed at the hotel before so we weren’t surprised on how kid friendly the hotel was. The hotel had a room set up as “Santa’s Workshop” where the kids could do multiple Christmas crafts. We got to enjoy writing a letter to Santa, making gingerbread necklaces, Christmas door hangers, cookie decorating, and playing several board games. The hotel also had a heated pool. We enjoyed the buffet breakfast in the Terrace Restaurant (which did cost) in the morning. It was a little pricey, but for a kid friendly hotel and the walking distance from the hotel to the Moody Gardens resort, it was worth it. We paid approximately $150, which included taxes. We stayed at the hotel because we were aware of the activities it offered for kids. We knew we wanted to enjoy the Festival of Lights at Moody Gardens. The lights were really nice and we had plenty walking room through the trail. We weren’t inching our way through like we were at “The Trail of Lights” in Austin last year. Last year it was too crowded for us and instead of looking at lights we were just fighting our way to get through. At the Festival of Lights there is a fee of $5.95 a person, but I believe it was worth it. They had an ice skating rink you could have paid to use, but our boys are too little for that. Also, there was plenty of concession stands you could buy hot dogs, nachos, hot chocolate, kettle corn, drinks, and even smores. We got each of our boys a smore kit and they had sticks where you could roast the marshmallows over a large fire pit. The boys really enjoyed it. The cost was $2 per kit. After the lights we had the option to enjoy the aquarium($5 a person), enjoy the 4D theatre Polar Express film ($5 a person), or go sit on Santa’s lap, but we decided to call it a night. We used to have Moody Gardens season passes a few years ago and enjoyed it back then. I would recommend Moody Gardens to any family looking for a small vacation. The weather was so nice over the weekend that we also got to enjoy the beach both days. We couldn’t have asked for a more perfect small mini-vacation.