Stamper Family Vacation

*scroll to the bottom of the page to turn off the music, there are two videos in this post*
Rusty and I took Rowynn on a family getaway before the poor guy has to deal with a sibling! We headed south and decided that a trip to Sea World (in San Antonio) would be a perfect vacation for such a little guy, especially since he is such an animal lover.

We learned a valuable lesson, plans and little ones do NOT go together!! We definitely learned a lot about flexibility over this trip.

Our original plan was to drive to Dallas and hit one of the zoos that they have in the area and then grab a bite at one of our favorite Dallas restaurants before continuing our drive south. Well, we left the house by 10 am and pretty much made a stop every two hours so that our little man could "stretch" his legs. By the time we got to the Dallas area the zoo was close to closing time, there was the beginning of Dallas traffic and he had finally fallen asleep so a stop to eat was out of the question.

We journeyed on and stopped to eat in Waco. After the limited research I could do on my phone, we stopped to eat at a little Cajun place on the water where Rowynn got to enjoy his first coloring experience!

It was so fun to watch him "color"! I just love watching him hit milestones and develop into a little toddler.

Plus, he did great about not eating the crayons!

Enjoying the fish pond river outside of the restaurant.

After dinner our goal was to make it the Round Rock, TX. My BRILLIANT husband had remembered watching the show Donut Paradise on the Travel Channel and that there was a donut shop in Round Rock that was supposed to have AMAZING donuts.

Well, at 8 pm we decided that a stop 30 minutes from the donut shop was work well seeing that our little man was getting a little restless and needed some much needed walking/crawling time.

The next morning we hit the road and stopped to devour this:

The Big Texan at Round Rock Donuts!!

Let me just state, these were the BEST donuts that have ever passed through my lips and over my taste buds. They were so good that we hit up Round Rock on our way home! I will not tell you how many donuts I ate because the number is just flat embarrassing. But I will say, if you are in the vicinity of Round Rock Donut... STOP AND EAT A DONUT!!!!

Thankfully, after my glutenous encounter at Round Rock Donut, we headed straight for the San Antonio Zoo. We did a few hours of walking and I was pleasantly surprised by how many birds they have. Rowynn really enjoyed watching all of the different kinds of birds. Probably a mix of the colors and all the movement.

This bird was 4 feet from Rowynn! If Rusty wouldn't have moved the fishy crackers from Rowynn's snack tray, I have a feeling this guy would have perched himself on Rowynn's stroller and helped himself to a little afternoon snack!

Between these porcupines and the hippopotamuses, my zoo trip was a total success! There were three porcupines and one food bowl that had food still in it and these porcupines, fighting over food, were hilarious to watch.

Rowynn loved having his own vantage point where we didn't have to hold him!

After a full day at the zoo, it was time to check in to our hotel. We booked a room at Omni Hotel and I am so glad we did. Our room was spacious and much more compatible with the pack-and-play than what our room in Salado plus they had an indoor/outdoor pool that was refreshing in the 90 degree heat.

Seeing we had such a taxing day of walking, we decided to grab dinner at our FAVORITE steakhouse in Texas, Saltgrass Steakhouse. Once again, we were taught flexibility because Rowynn did not want to sit and watch us eat! We were forced to take our order to our room and eat it luke warm in the comfort of our room and the comfort of Rowynn toys!!

Friday was our big adventure day! We were headed for Sea World and we were excited. Rusty and I had not been to Sea World since Abigayl passed and we were really excited to get to take our little man to a place that helped us smile after such a huge loss.

Isn't that quite a site?!

Rowynn enjoyed the penguin experience!

Look, it's Shamu! No not me silly... BEHIND me!

Rowynn enjoyed an ice cream snack before heading in to watch Believe (the killer whale show).

Ready Rowynn?

Though he didn't pay much attention to the show and I was to busy juggling him to get much out of it, I do know that it was better when we went three years ago (click the link to see some great pictures).

The highlight of the day had to be this water sprayer and the kids water park! Rowynn had a ball at both.

He would actually point down because he knew that when I stepped on the button the water would spray! I loved listening to him giggle when the mist would hit his face.

 I guess I had some fun as well :)

Crazy as it sounds, we actually made the dive home in one day! We made a few stops on the way home but we were still able to make the drive in eleven hours. Thank goodness I had some Round Rock Donuts to keep me company. 

I am also thankful that we had bought a car DVD system for Rowynn and a Wiggles DVD and Finding Nemo. If it wasn't for those things on the way home, I believe it would have made for a much longer trip. All-in-all, it was a great trip and I am so thankful we were able to do it before our family gets bigger.