Start to Summer Trip

Earlier this Spring I booked our family a couple of nights at the JW Marriott Hill Country Resort in San Antonio and on Tuesday morning we surprised the kids with ROAD TRIP!!!  They quickly packed up a little backpack of car stuff (I had packed their clothes and bathing suits the night before) and we hit the road around 10.  I'd heard A LOT of great things about the resort and we were excited to have a chance to check it out before Texas public schools were out for summer.  #mamadoesntloveacrowd

About 2.5 hours into our trip (just south of Waco) we stopped in to introduce the kids to Buc-ee's.  If you've neve rbeen to a Buc-ee's before it's like the world's biggest gas station and convenience store with the BEST BATHROOMS around . I know that sounds like a weird thing to be excited about - but if you've road tripped before you'll probably share in my excitement.  Buc-ee's is like a mini-department store and gift shop and is the perfect place to stretch your legs, grab a fresh barbecue sandwich and buy a smoker (seriously - you can buy grills there) :) 

They have an insane amount of Buc-ee's merchandise (like these cheerleader and football player outfits for DOGS!!!) as well as gift type stuff....

... and we let each of the kids spend their "souvenir money" here because we didn't have any plans to leave the resort once we were in San Antonio.  Griffin picked a mermaid sparkle sequined notebook, Luke picked a bow and arrow and Mason picked a plush Buc-ee the beaver.  Soooooo their little personalities personified!

We grabbed our snacks, beef jerkey and souvenirs and posed with the Buc-ee statue because #whynot :)  And because Gibi and Haha needed a proof-of-life picture :)

Can y'all even believe I just talked as long as I did about a GAS STATION?!?!?  I feel like you can't really understand until you've experienced one - and hopefully you get to experience one for yourself soon!

Another two and a half hours on the road and we arrived!!! 

We checked in, dropped our stuff and pretty much RAN to the water :)  Luke was a teeny bit excited (just a little)

We did the lazy river, conquered a couple of water slides (I'll let you guess who was the bravest and who was the most hesitant) :) and settled in at the beach pool...

... which pretty much confirmed why I'm not a beach person... ALL THAT SAND!  ;)

We ate dinner "beachside" and then went straight to the s'mores pit...

Is there anything better than s'mores in your swimsuit?  I think not :)

We all CRASHED hard that night and woke up to the best view from our balcony the next morning.  We grabbed a quick breakfast and then headed down to grab a spot at the pool and settle in for the day.  

After a solid 20 trips down the slides (Holy stairs, Batman!) we settled in at the pool...

... and I didn't mine one bit.  :)  

Neither did this chick!  Living her best life poolside...

I read,  Dave took the kids to do more slides, we ran into my principal and his family and hung out with them, some of us took a nap, we lazy rivered and the kids broke out the underwater camera...

We stayed at the pool until after 6... until we were sunkissed and wiped OUT!

We grabbed dinner and then made a beeline for the s'mores pit again :)

I'm pretty sure he was trying to help her and she was removing his hand - but it still looks sweet :)

We stayed out to watch the sunset and Luke tried out his new bow and arrow...

... while I caught these two having a sweet little moment. 

It was a GORGEOUS night and I wish I could capture in photo how beautiful the sky is out there at night.

Something we really loved about the resort was that we were able to login to our Netflix account on the GIANT TV in our room, so we fell asleep that night watching a movie as a family.  FUN!

The next morning Griffin hung out on the balcony singing...

... and we decided to nix our plans of heading out early and tubing the Comal river and opted for a late checkout and more swimming instead.

We were at the pool by 9 am and made the most of our last few hours...

That's Mason coming out on the right...

... and Luke on the left...

... and Dave and Griffin :)

It was hard to say goodbye to this view...

... and this view :)

We ran back up to the room (we'd made sure to pack the night before), quickly cleaned up and got changed and then checked out.  There MAY have been tears about not wanting to leave because we had THAT MUCH FUN.

We grabbed lunch on the road and were home in time for a late dinner.  It was the PERFECT little getaway and we couldn't have had a more fun start to summer.  If you've been considering checking out the JW Marriott we HIGHLY recommend it!!!  

PS - The link for the underwater camera was an affiliate link - thanks so much for reading and supporting my blog!!!  If you want more information on the camera be sure to check out my instagram highlights!  (I'll blog about it later as well - promise!)