Grandmas and the Sea World Adventure!

Caleb was so excited to go to Sea World!  He brought his killer whale to sleep with and was anxious for the day to begin.  Isn't he so cute!

We made it!  

First we hit the dolphin viewing area to watch people feed the dolphins.  The line was long and so we passed on feeding them ourselves.  They are beautiful animals and so fun to watch.

Then we walked through the aquarium to check out the exhibits.

On our way through the park, we saw this amazing sand castle!

Since we get into Sea World for free, we gave Caleb a choice for his birthday this year.  Mom and Dad could give him normal presents or we could do a special behind the scenes experience at Sea World.  Caleb is definitely an animal lover and so choose the behind scene.  We were really excited for the experience!  We got a reservation to see the Sea Lions.  It included special seating for the "Cannery Row Caper", a photo with a Sea Lion, time to feed the Sea Lions, and a special chat with the trainers and our own personal tour guide.  It was a wonderful experience.

Waiting for the show to begin was a bit miserable.  Our special seating was directly in the sun and out of the splash range, so we kind of fried!  But they did bring us cups of ice water, which was very kind.

It is a cute comedy and the animals are amazing but hey it is Sea World!

Getting ready for our group shot with the Sea Lion and Trainers.

Isn't it cute how they get him to smile and our guide was nice and offered to take pictures for us.

We were able to touch the Sea Lion.  Just a neat experience.

Getting to feed the Sea Lions and learning about the river otters and seals.  The sea lions are funny!  Caleb wasn't convinced he should touch fish to feed them though.

Yeah!!!  Fun Group Pictures!

Caleb loved playing in the splash park when we had a break or the adults just needed to sit down.

The Grandmas enjoying a minute of down time.

Caleb really wanted to ride the Rio Loco, and so we decided to make it a whole family affair.  It is a pretty tame ride and until right at the end, everyone stayed dry.

Then we came to the waterfall!  Here it comes....

And it got them!  Brydon and I escaped without getting too wet but ...

It took the Grandmas and Caleb out pretty well.  At least everyone was smiling and it did help cool us down!

The shows at Sea World really are the highlight and I love watching Caleb's face during them.  Azul is an amazing show with divers, synchronized swimming, beluga whales, dolphins, and acrobats.  Next year I really want to do the behind the scenes for this show!  Beluga whales are such unique and stunning animals.

We even got to hang out and get some great pictures with the cast.

While we were waiting for the Shamu show to begin, we played some of the games on the overhead screen.  You can actually see Caleb's name on the board.

This show pretty much makes me cry.  (I know I am crazy!)  But it is that stunning.  These animals are amazing and they do a great job of teaching people to respect the earth.  I find it awfully touching.  We had great seats that I pretty much had to kill a couple of people to get but Caleb was a bit disappointed that we didn't get more wet.  

This trainer was kind enough to chat with Caleb.  Caleb would love to be an animal trainer and so loved the time with the trainers.  They told him to "Study what you love (in college) and take a few psychology courses if you want to."  That works for Caleb.....future veterinarian, animal trainer, and over all animal advocate!

Cool Vibrations was a classic show with ski tricks and a fun plot.  You got to love playing in the water and the super cute guys who really know how to ski!

This year Caleb was tall enough to ride the Steel Eel, one of the roller coasters.  He was really excited and decided to try it out.  So mom and dad grabbed him and went to take him on his first roller coaster ride.  Unfortunately when it was almost our time to get on the ride, the ride broke!  And was broken for the rest of the day.  So we settled for another adventure on the Journey to Atlantis, which we did last year.  When we got off the ride, Caleb was crying a little bit and was really scared, however, a few minutes later he looked at us and declared that he was crying because he was so happy and brave!  So there you have it!  He is brave.  I love his face in this picture.  Grandma was kind enough to buy him this picture for his birthday. 

Check out this hilarious walrus from the special night show with the Sea Lions.

For the final show of the night, we had to see Shamu Rocks!  Caleb loved rockin' out and was really excited about our seats.  This time we made sure Caleb would get wet enough and sat in a prime splash zone.  I don't think our moms really knew what they were in for!

Just waiting for the show to begin and hangin out!

Did you know these guys can get you pretty wet?

Well we got hit pretty good the first time.  The Grandmas took a pretty good hit but they just weren't wet enough!

Then the big whale was sent our way and we got hit with this sucker!

(Have I mentioned how much I love our water camera!)

Check out that happy face1

Mission Accomplished!  Grandmas thoroughly soaked!

They were good sports!

Caleb was thrilled and had a great day!

We ended the day checking out the Penguin Encounter, which was the final exhibit.  And Brydon and I even got to ride the Great White (twice).  I forgot how awesome those rides are and it was fun to go on a mini date with the hubby.

It was such a great day!  We literally went until we dropped and fit in everything we could.  We played from 10:30 am until 10 pm when it closed.  Caleb was such a trooper and is the best kid ever!  We are so glad the grandmas came to celebrate with us in Sea World.

Caleb and his new mommy and baby Shamu (or Willy has he prefers to call them) would agree, 

Sea World is pretty Magical!

2 Grandmas, a Birthday Boy, and San Antonio

The last few days have been filled with making some last minute memories with my soon to be 1st grader, but I have really wanted to post pictures from our trip to San Antonio and Caleb's birthday.  We had such a great time and we got some great pictures!

Last year after we went to Sea World for our free military day, Caleb decided he wanted to go on his birthday next time.  We invited both our moms to come with us and make it a fun Grandma event!  A few days before his birthday, both Grandmas were able to fly out and join us for the journey to San Antonio.  We were so lucky to get both of them to come.

Our first day there, we spent touring downtown and checking out the sights.

Of course, we had to check out the Alamo!   Neither of our mothers had ever been to San Antonio so this was their first time visiting the Alamo.  

Grandma Manning

Grandma Barton

The Riverwalk was one of Brydon and I's favorite spots in San Antonio and we were really excited to let our moms see it.  It is so beautiful and fun!  I think the only downer was that it was really hot and we almost melted!

The best way to get a good view of the Riverwalk is to take a boat tour.  

There are some beautiful sights on the tour.  Our guide was a bit strange but he did try to keep us in the shade as much as he could and not bake us all in the boat.

We were on a boat just like this one.

My Super Super Handsome Boys!!  Sure do love them!

We had to get our picture with Saint Anthony or San Antonio.  Apparently he is the Patron Saint of Infertility and Lost Things.  Wouldn't it be nice if he could help us out!

Caleb is getting pretty good at this picture thing :)

I don't think we got a single family picture the whole trip where Caleb is actually looking at the camera.  

Oh well, they are still cute pictures.  Crazy Kid! 

Caleb captured a cute picture of Grandma.

There we two things we had to try in San Antonio, Mexican food and Ice cream!  It wasn't Blue Bell ice cream but it was really good ice cream and the Mexican food was good too.  

Caleb loved the Ice cream!  As you can see.

It was a great, but hot day!  San Antonio is beautiful.  We learned about some other forts we could visit next time and some other places I would love to explore.  It sure is a city I wish we could visit more often and it was fun to check it out with the Grandmas.

Our First Refurbishing

We did it!!  Our first refurbishing project is finally done!  We now have a new TV stand.  We have never done anything like this before and it took us longer than we would have liked but we learned a few things and love the end product. 

We were given this China hutch from a good friend.  We discarded the top glass piece and began working on stripping off the stain.  After an attempt at just sanding it off, we learned about paint stripper.  It still took 3 layers of stripper and scrapping to get to where we could finally sand it done.  This definitely took us longer than planned!  But Texas heat didn't help us feel very motivated to spend time in the garage.  After stripping it all down, then the hubby did a quick sand down.

After sanding it down, we added a couple shelves and made a few changes.  We (with a good friend's help) added a shelf up top and took out 2 of the drawers so we could put the Blu-ray player up top, then we took off the middle cabinet door and added two side pieces of wood to make a decorative shelf in the middle.  Then we filled all the nail holes with wood filler and cleaned it all up.

Since the wood was a large grain oak, we added a single coat of primer.  Plus we decided that for our first time we would do everything by the book and not cut corners.  So we primed with high coverage primer, then sanded, and cleaned.

My favorite part was picking out colors.  We have always rented, so I have never picked out and customized paint before.  We found a cream for the body of the piece, a dark green for the base, and added a dark brown edging to make it a little more fancy.  (I love those really sample containers you can tint for the small projects.  They were the perfect size and cost.)  We like a more fancy, chique look (my husband is not into the shabby, but he loves fancy).  So we wanted to add a few accent pieces on the furniture.  They are just glued on with wood glue along the top and a small strip along the bottom.  After two coats of paint and then distressing the edges, we were ready to glaze!

I was really scared to glaze!  I had no idea how it would really look in the end, but was excited to try it out.  Valspar has a tintable glaze that it super easy to use.  I tinted the glaze a really dark brown and then painted a thin layer on a small area of the cabinet.  I used rages to wipe off the glaze as much as I could.  It is quite forgiving and you can wipe it off and add more color easily.  I loved how it got into the grain of the wood.  I did learn that you should do an entire area at a time.  I tried to divide the top in half and it was hard to blend the two areas well.  I was a bit worried the glaze was too dark at first but after wiping and curing, I love the color.  It did lighten some as it dried.  

I have to admit that I am a terrible painter!  My painting projects never turn out well because I don't have a steady hand and always make a mess.  But between the distressing and the glaze, you can't tell how horrible of a painter I am.  It looks like I meant it that way and actually looks really good.  I am a big fan of anything that hides my mistakes well.

We let the glaze cure for a week before adding they Minwax Polycrylic coat.  

I love the accents on the doors.  The added color and then gluing on the flower piece add a lot.

After 3 coats of Polycrylic, sanding, and letting it set for 24 hours, we were ready to put it all back together.  We found some distressed hardware and it was all complete.  I may still change the hinges, if I can find something better and might need to come up with something for the back behind the Blu-ray player.  But otherwise I love it!  I think all the sanding and curing time was worth it.  We are a military family, so I am hoping this piece will survive a few moves.  Still can't believe we designed and made a piece of furniture and it actually turned at out well.   

We Love It!