On Wednesday, July 15, 2009, Michelle and I celebrated our nine year anniversary.  We traveled to Marco Island, FL.  Our friends Lee and Alicia let us stay at their vacation home.  Our first no kids vacation since having no kids.  Needless to say, we had the most amazing time!

We arrived on Sunday, went swimming and relaxed on Monday, toured Everglades National Park on Tuesday, ate at Pazzo Italian Cafe in Naples on Wednesday night, took the catamaran tour on Thursday afternoon (saw dolphins, a rare sighting of  300-400 lbs female sea turtle, and a manatee) and headed home to our sweet kids on Friday.  Yes, we missed them a lot (they are great travelers), but we really needed this time away as a couple.  It was so relaxing and fun.

Why would two adults lock themselves in a motor vehicle with 3 young children for over 1200 miles?  Because we love them and, more important, they love us.  They count on Sonny and I to give them a ton of great childhood memories.  This road trip should make the short list. We will keep these stories and photos to help remind 5 and 2 year old minds of all the fun details.  For the rest of you guys that missed the first hand experience, it went something like this…

Houston to Bayside to visit Sonny’s grandparents. Bayside to San Antonio to see Michelle’s cousin and his family.  San Antonio to Brownwood to visit Sonny’s photographer friend.  Brownwood to Coppell to visit Michelle’s childhood friend and her family.  Coppell to Houston to watch the recorded final show of American Idol. (We went the whole trip without hearing who won.)

Now, here’s a little more detail of what we did and the names to match faces in photos below.  Silvia (Nana) and Richardo (Popo) Elizalde are Sonny’s mother’s parents. They do not drive to Houston too often so they were VERY excited to see their great grand kids. We rode the ferry to Port Aransas on Wednesday afternoon and drove on the beaches. Popo got the kids chocolate milk shakes from Whataburger (yummy), but Little Mo decided to wear some on her dress at the playground. Then, we drove to Corpus Christi on Thursday morning, stopped to look at the Nina replica, and visit a bigger playground at Cole Park.  It was a multilevel maze with swings and slides. The kids would probably love a Tour of Texas Playgrounds next year!

We said goodbye and headed to San Antonio to visit and eat dinner at Michelle’s cousin’s home. Curtis, Sara and Grant welcomed us with pizza, fruits and veges, kiddo play time and birthday gifts for the kids.  We were sad to leave so soon, but they had work the next day and we had another stretch of highway to cover before calling it a night.

We checked into our Brownwood hotel just before midnight. Only one person we talked to before or during the trip knew this good-size town exists. Are you looking it up on Yahoo Maps now? Heather Nix is a children/senior/family photographer that Sonny met through the Texas Photo Forum. She invited us to visit at her studio and let the kids play with all the props. Why do other people find our hyper kids so amusing?

Our longest stop was in Coppell (just north of Dallas.)  We arrived at our Irving hotel on Friday afternoon.  Josh gives this North DFW Courtyard by Marriott 2 arms up.  He climbed into our king size bed, laid back on the fluffy pillows with his hands tucked under his head and said, “Awww. This is the life.”  We met the Loomis Family for dinner at Chili’s. What a crowd we made all weekend.  Dawn, one of my best friends form grade school through Texas A&M days and Maid of Honor in our wedding, now has 4 kids (Bailey, Wesley, Jamie, Nathan), a husband (Don), a dog (Sasha), a cat (Smudge), fish (not dead yet), and a brother (Brent) that loves to hang out with the “Brady Bunch” family. So we became “a table for 12 a couple times.

The kids swam their little hearts out in the backyard on Saturday afternoon.  We were supposed to barbecue that evening, but the grill was not quite in working order. So we packed up the group and went to Cantina Laredo to eat made-table-side guacamole. The guys had more drinks and Dawn a margarita. Somehow the party got louder and the kids took over entertainment. This is how a 2 year old smashes chips, drinks soda, and takes her own photos. The other 6 kids run around and under the table. The 2 oldest have a double-jointed tricks throwdown. Everyone laughs more than usual at everything without any of the kids getting in much trouble.  That’s how you really know you’re on vacation with Sonny.

Sunday was reserved for the museum.  The IMAX show about coral and marine life in the South Pacific was beautiful. It’s worth the crick in your neck from looking up the whole time to watch huge fish swim over your head and hear the funny sound effects they added to the animals.  Then, we walked through the feature exhibit about how to be a spy and the kids played in the Children’s Museum. We went back to the Loomis home for more swimming and BBQ on the new grill.  The kids were worn out and Monday morning creeps up.  It was time to play and eat lunch with Dawn, Bailey, and Wesley one more time at Chick-Fil-A before hitting the road.

The final stretch toward home was kind of sad.  We had so much fun that our vacation seems to end too soon.  The kids survived carseats for several hours on end with no DVD.  They watched the scenery, sang, played with toys, and talked with us.  We have creative and smart kids.  There is just one last story to share.  Being Memorial Day, there’s some traffic on 45 S.  It slowed down in Huntsville.  At one point, Sonny had to hit the brakes kinda hard.  From the backseat came Sadee’s calm 5 year old voice, “What the hell?”  Sonny and I laughed for several minutes before Daddy could pull together a not-so-stern correction.  We still laugh every time we think about it.

Are we there yet? Yes… Home Sweet Home!

(The photos are not ready yet. Sonny will add some soon.)

To borrow the lyrics from The Clash, Should I Stay Or Should I Go?

What an amazing four day vacation at the Log Cabins at Jacobs Creek in Canyon Lake. This place is beautiful and I kinda wanna go home, but I also kinda don’t wanna go home either. I know for sure the kids DID NOT want to leave. They started calling the cabin their home. Either way, our 11am checkout dictates you don’t have to go home but you have to get the hell out of there .

The Canyon Lake area is smack dab in the middle of it all. 45 miles or less in any direction will get you to San Antonio, Austin, San Marcos, and New Braunfels. Definitely no shortage of things to do. Maybe we can start our own family tradition of an annual trip to Canyon Lake. We’ll see!

11am arrived quickly. The minivan is packed and we’re ready to hit the road to San Antonio for one day to visit Michelle’s cousin Curtis, his wife Sarah and their 20 month old son Grant. We visited for a few hours and had lunch together. Then it was time to hit the road once again for our final destination…..HOME SWEET HOME!

Michelle and I were eager to get home to see the progress made in the bathroom remodels while we were gone. During the ride home to Houston, Michelle spoke with Barry and we received some wonderful news. First, the guest bathroom is done with the exception of completing some minor details. WE CAN TAKE SHOWERS/BATHS AGAIN…in our own house. WHEW! Second, Barry and his crew clean out all their equipment from our master bedroom. After 4 and a half weeks of sleeping on the sofa (and not because I was in trouble with Michelle), we were able to setup and sleep on our bed again!! With that being said, it’s time for me to stop here and go to bed!!! G-nite.

What constitutes a museum?

Today we woke up without any plans. Grandma Kathy and Michelle began looking through the visitors brochures. They found some info about two museums, New Braunfels Railroad and Fire Museum. Like I mentioned in Tuesday’s post, the kids love trains so I’m sure they’re gonna love the that museum.

Now I ask again, what constitutes a museum? It’s a restored railroad station located adjacent to the Union Pacific tracks in downtown New Braunfels. This place was tiny, but the size doesn’t detract from the fun. It has three rooms. Two of which contained antiques and collections of railroad memorabilia. The third room had an impressive miniature train model. Our kids used every bit of restraint not to touch every single train in that room. Behind the station sits a real caboose and a saddle-tank steam engine. All of the kids, including the big kids like Grandpa Earl, were allowed to climb abroad and play inside.

After the train museum, we walked across the street to the New Braunfels Fire Department Museum. Unfortunately, it was closed. But next door to that was the New Braunfels Central Fire Station. We spoke with a couple of the firemen and the kids got an up close view of the fire trucks. A little irony, the kids were very thirsty so who better than a fireman to give them water? They also suggested a great local restaurant, The Red Rooster Café and Antique Company. The unique thing about the Red Rooster is you sit on the chairs and eat off the tables that are for sale. Every so often a few customers walk around while you are eating to look at these tables and chairs.

The heat and food took their toll on the kids. One minivan ride and 20 minutes later Sadee, Josh, and Morgan were knocked out in their car seats. In order to give the kids a good nap Michelle and I drove around the area. A little later I remembered seeing a street sign for the Canyon Lake Dam. We headed towards the park near the dam. This gave me a wonderful opportunity to take some shots of the dam, lake, and scenery.

You can view more photos from today…HERE

Lug camera gear or kids?

Today we toured the Natural Bridge Caverns. The Natural Bridge Caverns currently have three tours to choose from… the Discovery (original), the Hidden Illuminations, and the Adventure Tours. As suggested by an employee, we took Sadee and Josh on the Discovery tour. It’s a half-mile hike 180 feet below ground. Today the cavern temperature was 72 degrees with a relative humidity of 99%. It felt more like 95 degrees. I was a sweaty mess.

After reading a warning about wearing comfortable walking shoes, which provide good traction on steep, wet surfaces, I didn’t think it was a good idea to carry my camera gear. I thought I would have to hold a kid and assist them in the walk. Boy was I wrong ! Sadee and Josh handled the tour like seasoned pros. I missed out on some wonderful photo ops, but instead I had the chance to share the experience with our kids. Hey, there’s always the Carlsbad Caverns. I hear it’s nice and cold down there too .

I took the opportunity this evening to snap some pics of the sunset from our balcony.

Panorama

]]> http://cantufamilia.com/natural-bridge-caverns-and-sunsets/feed/ 0 http://cantufamilia.com/park-boat-and-raft/ http://cantufamilia.com/park-boat-and-raft/#comments Wed, 09 Jul 2008 05:36:23 +0000 Sonny Cantu http://cantufamilia.com/?p=14

When you’re on vacation, do you sleep late or get up early?

Today we decided to get an early start. Michelle’s cousin suggested we visit Landa Park. It’s a beautiful place. Check out this 196-acres of fun! Landa has a beautiful swimming area for adults, teenagers and tots. Paddle boats, canoes, and tricycles are available for rent. If it’s your first time visiting Landa Park, then I suggest you ride the train. For us, this accomplished two things. Sadee and Josh LOVE trains and Michelle and I had the chance to tour most of the park. During the train ride the kids spotted three playgrounds in the Playground Area. Naturally that’s what they wanted to do first after the train ride was over. We spent a good part of the morning there. It was nearing high noon and the kids were getting hot and very hungry. So we all decided to leave the park and find a local, non-chain restaurant. Unfortunately, we only saw about 1/3 of the park that day. Guess we’ll have to go back !

Before we left, Michelle stopped a park ranger and asked for restaurant suggestions. He recommended Pat’s Place. It’s all-American grill food and in an Irish atmosphere for a great price. In the middle of lunch it began to pour buckets of rain! It didn’t last too long so it was over by the time we left.

We headed back to the cabins for a short rest before heading back out to the lake in Grandpa’s boat. About 5pm everyone was ready to get wet. So we loaded up the boat with the two person float and headed to the boat ramp.

You can see all the photos from today…HERE

]]> http://cantufamilia.com/park-boat-and-raft/feed/ 0 http://cantufamilia.com/log-cabins-at-jacobs-creek/ http://cantufamilia.com/log-cabins-at-jacobs-creek/#comments Tue, 08 Jul 2008 04:45:14 +0000 Michelle http://cantufamilia.com/?p=13

“We’re going on a trip.  We’re going on a trip.”  Anyone else recognize these words from Noggins?  This was our family theme song for the week leading up to the big log cabin adventure.  Grandpa Earl and Grandma Kathy loaded up the truck and boat.  We packed half of our house into the minivan and off we headed to Canyon Lake in the Texas Hill Country.  That’s near New Braunfels and the Gaudalupe River.

The first day… The drive was nice.  A lot shorter than Florida so the kids did fine.  Arriving in New Braunfels, we found a surprisingly good restaurant called Oma’s Haus.  Sound German enough for ya?  It’s on TX-46, a block south of I-35.  Try it out the next time you are in the area.  After reaching the Log Cabins at Jacobs Creek, we spent the remaining part of the evening unpacking and setting up what will be home for the next few days.  We got an upstairs, two-bedroom space with two queen beds and full bathroom in each room, a full kitchen, living room and best-view-in-the-region balcony.  We overlook a valley and the lake.  This place is very clean and stocked with kitchen supplies.  There is no maid service (unless you pay extra) and bring your personal items like shampoo, soap and towels.  That’s not a problem since this is more of a country getaway than hotel in the city experience. This place is a great value and ideal floor plan for multiple families. And the deal sealer for Sonny is FREE Wi-Fi!!

Grandpa and Grandma couldn’t wait to see the lake by boat.  Sadee and Uncle Eric joined them for the first outing of the week.  We ate pizzas for dinner since it was getting late.  Sonny will be our chef for the week.  The kitchen is a great idea for families since you can cook, have a fridge and microwave, and not spend time taking kids out to eat every night.

Enjoy the photos below of our cabin and the balcony view. Click HERE to see a slideshow with more photos from the first day. We’ll try to post each day while “we’re going on a trip!”

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