Family Vacation Recap!

You know how there are some people that are vacation people?  They save up money, read tons of travel books, and spend countless hours planing amazing vacations!  And they want to go EVERYWHERE!  They have this incredible sense of adventure and want to go and see new places and experience tons of different types of people and cultures.

I think those people are so cool.  I have lots of friends that are like this.

Well, that is totally not us.  We are not cool vacation people.

Do we enjoy getting away together as a family and disconnecting from “normal life”?  Definitely!  But neither Chris nor myself enjoys the planning.  And to be honest, we both have a hard time parting with the money for something that’s just going to be over in 3-7 days.  I know all of you vacation people are saying, “BUT YOU HAVE THE EXPERIENCE AND THE MEMORIES!”  Yeah, well I’d rather have a new couch.  🙂  #justbeinghonest  And we are just home bodies.  Plain and simple.  We love being at home playing games or snuggled up watching a movie or favorite show.

That being said, we did manage to plan a quick getaway to San Antonio this summer, so today you are going to get a little recap of our recent trip.  We went with Chris’s cousins family, stayed at the JW Marriott, and had a blast!  It was our kind of vacation:   no muss no fuss, the adults all had a great time, the kids absolutely loved it, and it was close to home.  WIN! WIN! WIN! WIN!

Sidenote:  When Nordstrom reached out last month and asked if I wanted to partner up to talk about kid’s clothes, I immediately scheduled it for this coming Friday knowing that I would feature what Carter was wearing on his first day of school with his 1st Day of School pics!  HOWEVER.  When I looked back through our trip pictures, I was cracking up because Carter was wearing ALL UNDER ARMOUR, ALL THE TIME.  I knew I had to make it today’s post!  I mean, THE KID KNOWS WHAT HE LIKES.  #andhelikesunderarmour #andnordstromcarriesunderarmour #thankheavens

VACATION TIME!

We left on Monday morning and drove through Waco on our way to San Antonio. We stopped at a little burger dive for a quick lunch (please note Under Armour Outfit #1), and then headed to……wait for it……

Magnolia Market!!!  WooHoo!  I’ve talked several times about how much I love Chip and Joanna Gaines (click HERE to see my Joanna Gaines Told Me To series) and their show Fixer Upper, so I was super excited about this stop on our way.  It was quaint, darling, and just what I thought it would be.

The market is HUGE, and I could have spent hours in their roaming around by myself.  But since the hubby and the kid were both with me, and we were wanting to hit the pool right when we got to the hotel, I scurried through the store in like 20 minutes.   Prices ranged from around $20 for candles and small knick-knacky things all the way up to hundreds of dollars for large signs.  I feel like there was an item and a price for everybody.  Personally, I could have left with at least 20 items for myself.  That yellow pillow would actually look very nice on my family room sofa.  And the crate the pillow is sitting in would be great in the play room.  Well, I guess I’m going to have to plan a trip to go back with girlfriends!  Who is in?!?  🙂

I loved every square inch of the store.   All of the items were styled and displayed beautifully in and on one of a kind furniture pieces and counters that looked like they were found in old stores.  I was in my happy place.

I would say that the majority of the items for sale in the store are new, but there are some older items scattered here and there around the store, and I came home with one of them!  This rustic candlestick now lives on my fireplace mantle.

The actual silos are right there on the property, but they aren’t finished yet.  I’ve heard rumors that when completed that they will house Joanna’s furniture line, but I don’t really know.  And right across from the silos is an open field filled with food trucks and lots of space for kids to run and play!

The little bakery was open (I think it’s called Flour!  so cute!), but the line was pretty long, so we just headed to the car.  But just so you know, I regretted the decision to skip the bakery pretty much the rest of the trip.  Every night when we got back to the room I would think, “Dang, I sure wish I had a cookie or a cupcake right now!”

We arrived at the resort (the JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort and Spa) at about 4:00, and we were down at the pool by like 4:30!  The resort was AWESOME.  It has several pools, a kiddie pool, lots of slides, and a lazy river!  There was also a Starbucks and several restaurants on site. Our entire crew was entertained, well fed, and happy for 3 days.  I heard there is also a beach entrance pool somewhere, but we never made it there.  Here’s an aerial view from their website! WOWZA!

Each day we parked all of our stuff at the kiddie pool and made that our home base.  Willa is almost 4, and the kiddie pool was definitely her favorite part of the resort, so it was just easiest to start and end there!

Monday we spent about 3 hours at the pools and the lazy river, and the dads spent some time riding the slides with the boys.  Carter was a bit scared on the slides at first, but he quickly warmed up.  Carson was a huge fan immediately!  This was the day that we got to spend some time with Erika’s family!  To see her trip recap, click HERE.

That night, we headed (in our swimsuits and cover ups!) to Cibolo Moon, one of the restaurants on the property.   The food was fantastic, and my lemon berry margarita was delish!  We ate outside so the kids could run around on the huge lawn with all of the other kids.  I was so happy that we didn’t have to shower and get dressed to head to dinner!  To me, part of vacation is not having to get ready constantly!

On Tuesday we woke up early and headed to the Alamo.  It was about a 25 minute drive from the hotel, and we were there by 9:30 to try to beat the heat.  This next picture made me laugh.  I mean, what in the world are they talking about, and what is Miss Willa thinking about.  Please note that Carter is in Under Armour outfit #2, and Carson is fully decked out as well.

The Alamo shot!

And the kids insisted on getting a shot with the soldier.  Doesn’t he look thrilled?

Here’s what I was wearing.

shirt / similar cuffed denim shorts / similar cross body / UGG flip flops

We headed back to the resort and had an afternoon full of pool time again!  Carter mastered the slides this day and was no longer fearful.  We ate dinner at the little pool bar (I was all about the pina coladas!) and then walked the property afterwards.

Not a bad view!

And look at these cuties!

I took this shot standing on the golf course and looking back at the hotel.  Behind those trees on the left is where all of the slides and pools are.  On my right, there’s a fire pit where they have smore’s every night!

Here they are cooking up their marshmallows!  The resort actually handed us a schedule when we arrived with several kid’s activities each day, but since we left the property each morning, we opted out of them and just hung out at the pool each afternoon.  Still, it was nice to have the option, and I know that lots of families take advantage of and love the planned activities.  Before heading back to the room for the night, the kids ran loose on the lawn and played a friendly game of catch with the dads.

We were up early again on Wednesday and headed to The Buckhorn Saloon and Museum, which has tons of wildlife exhibits and a Texas Ranger museum (the law enforcement Rangers, not the baseball team).  The mamas indulged in some Bloody Mary’s.  #yesmam

The kids loved the museum, and so did the adults!  I think I’d like just about anything with a Bloody Mary in hand, but this really was interesting!  😉

Another day, another Under Armour outfit.

After leaving the museum, we headed down to the Riverwalk for lunch

After tacos for lunch, we headed straight to the pools and slides again, and then to the sports bar for dinner that night.  Again, the food was super yummy and we didn’t have to get dressed up!  Score!  We were back in the room by 9:30, snuggled up and watching the Olympics for the 3rd night in a row!

I really did love this simple little vacation! It was right up our alley, and we had lots of great quality family time. We love you, Littles!  Thanks for coming with us!!!!

And now….just in case you also have a little one who is ALL UNDER ARMOUR ALL THE TIME, I have some options highlighted for you now!  Click HERE for all the Under Armour choices for your boys!  The selection in store isn’t nearly as big as the online selection, which is huge!

Check out just some of their shirts here.  Just click on what you are interested in!

 

And here are some shorts and accessories!

 

I can’t believe I almost forgot to talk about shoes!  Crocs were the footwear of choice for the boys this trip!  You know we love Natives (Carter has light grey and bright green ones for this year) and he got THESE Under Armor sneakers (order at least 1/2 a size up) new for this year as well, but we always have a couple of pairs of Crocs in the rotation!  Thank you Nordstrom for sponsoring this post AND FOR CARRYING UNDER ARMOUR and CROCS!  It makes shopping for my little guy SUPER easy!  Here are some cute Crocs for both boys and girls.

 

 

Hope you enjoyed the trip recap (and Under Armour tribute! ha!).  Before you go, I’ve got a quick sale collage for you!

top / jacket / jeans /booties / earrings / watch / bar necklace

See y’all back here on Wednesday for some outfits that are perfect for early fall!  And get this, I actually wore them last week and didn’t die from a heat stroke!

 

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