Vacation Time!!

Ever since we took a trip to the Hyatt Hill Country in San Antonio last summer, all my kids could talk about was going back to "that hotel with the lazy river."  However, Jackson also put in another little request for this year's vacation... "It can't be far far away."  Lucky for us, the Gaylord Texan just opened up Paradise Springs, it's own little version of a water park.  

Lazy river? CHECK.

Reasonable driving distance? CHECK CHECK.

Summer special on room rate?  WE HAVE A WINNER!

After baseball wrapped up for the season (you can see my sad face, right?), we decided to spend a longish weekend in Grapevine.  It was a great little getaway.  The hotel has lots of neat little summer activities (balloon animals, jugglers, stilt guy, tatoos--of the temporary variety) on top of fireworks on Friday nights (FYI--the fireworks are over Lake Grapevine, so it isn't exclusive to the Gaylord.  BUT, you have a perfect view from the top of the parking garage, where they have music and refreshments.)

We had a great time at Paradise Springs.  Annabelle is just as big a fan as her big sister and brother.  She even managed to take a nap while we floated.  No, really.  For over an hour.  We spent most mornings in the water, and then took the afternoon to visit other sites like the Grapevine Vintage Railroad, which took us to the Stockyards in Ft. Worth.  The train was a neat little adventure, but boy was it hot!   It is about an hour and a half ride, and the temperature was fine as long as we were moving....but there were several stops along the way (so that other trains could cross), and it was around 100 degrees.  But the kids never complained and they loved the Stockyards. 

Another day we went to Legoland Discovery Center. 

TIP:  Visit on a weekday and buy your tickets ahead of time!!!

We went on a Saturday and had to wait about 30 minutes even with our prepaid tickets (there is a separate line for prepaid tickets and the other line was FOREVER long).  If we'd gone on Tuesday, we could've walked right in.  It is totally worth it though if your child has any interest at all in Legos.  Sadie got her first "girl" Legos, and was soooo excited.

Now, if you have older kids who are strong swimmers, your money would probably be better spent at Great Wolf Lodge.  There is definitely no comparison to the amount of water rides (there is only one water slide and it is only for kids over 48").  But if all you have smaller kids who still like to hang out with you (OR, if you don't have kids and just want to hang out on the lazy river for hours on end), Paradise Springs is great.  And even on a holiday weekend, we never had to wait for a shuttle (another slight negative--the park is at least half a mile from the hotel). Plus, right now they are having a "Summer Fest," with free tatoos, braids, balloon animals, etc, etc, etc...the kids loved it.  Balloon animals were a theme for the weekend... 

 The tattoo line was by far the longest line we waited in the whole vacation.  Luckily, the line was at the waterpark and the kids could swim while I waited (and fended off potential line jumpers...but that's another blog).  Jackson is all about the skull right now.  I couldn't believe he wanted it in the center of his back, but he was stoked about it.

 You can't tell from the picture, but Sadie got a glitter butterfly tattoo.  That thing stayed on for days...like, almost two weeks.  It finally started to peel a little and look a little ghetto, so I took it off with alcohol.  Otherwise, it would've hung on at least another week.  She loved it. :)

One of the biggest positives of the trip was the fact that my niece Holley agreed to go with us.  She was a HUGE help for us (being that we were able to play a man-to-man defense and not a zone), and Sadie was in Holley heaven! :) 

As far as "staycations" go, I highly recommend Grapevine. If you want lots to do, you've got plenty of options right there. If you're kids are older, you've got Six Flags and the Ballpark within thirty minutes.  The kids are already asking when we are going back.