San Antonio, Texas

Christmas in San Antonio 2011.  Beautiful lights and some yummy Tex Mex food:)

The city is built up around the city Riverwalk.  You can get a ticket to get on and off the boats that go up and down the river all day long.  It's a sight seeing boat and can be public transportation of some kind for that area of the city. 

The next morning we drove a short distance from San Antonio to see the Natural Bridge Cavern.  Our tour was called the Lantern Tour.  There weren't any lights except for our hand held lanterns and of course, our guide had a flashlight to show more of the caves. 

 

We drove back to the city in time to get ready for dinner.

After dinner, we headed out to walk the Riverwalk and enjoy all the beautiful lights.  There were thousands of lights illuminating the trees.  It was quite magical.

Merry Christmas from our hotel room. 

Santa found us and we enjoyed room service while opening gifts.

We spent more time outdoors in the cool, crisp air.  Rides down the river.

We love to taste our way through a city.  Next stop was our Foodie Tour.  Lots of good food, interesting places and even found some interesting signs/ people...

Duck chalupas, homemade root beer, Irish stew, chicken mole tamales, prickly pear margaritas.



Kids lounging in between stops...some interesting décor.

Our last stop, we walked into a bar and found a biker with a parrot...

sounds like a joke but, it was real.

We were in San Antonio- we had to check out the Alamo!

Later that night we went on a Ghost Tour.  The tour met downtown at 9:00 PM.  Our guide was a past host on one of the tv ghost hunter shows.  We were non-believers of all the haunted movie theaters and hotels.  It was fun to hear the stories and wander downtown in the dark.  Below is the ticket booth of a theater where some ghost has been haunting for decades.

 Jose was really scared!  Or at least he's "acting" like he's scared for the picture. 

We rode to the top of the Tower of the Americas- 750 foot observation deck

Back to our best pick from Foodie Tour for lunch.

Our last night we had enjoyed a dinner cruise down the Riverwalk.  It was quite an experience. 

Maui

Summer trip to Maui- July 2011

Straight from the airport to Lahaina for Cheeseburgers in Paradise.

We spent a lot of time playing ping pong and waiting to play ping pong- it was popular.

Lots of fun at the pool's waterslide and at the beach.

A wristband for each day to use waterslide

We never spend much time at the hotels...next day we were off to Kahoma Ranch.  We drove ATVs on the old sugar cane roads through all the red dirt.

Halfway through he ATV ride, we arrived at a small lagoon where they had made three waterslides.  This was a great break to cool off.  The lagoon water was super cold.  We were covered with red dirt.

More time at the hotel after our ride.  Geckos everywhere.  Jose is really good at catching them.

We took a lei-making class...

Trilogy snorkel and sail.  While we snorkeled, the crew BBQ'd chicken for lunch.  It was a nice sail back to the Lahaina Harbor. 

 

Jose and I enjoyed a romantic night out while the kids ate room service.  When we go on vacation, the kids always ask us when we're going on a date.  They love to have time alone in the room.

Maui Hike-  2.5 miles to 5 waterfalls off the road to Hana

The second waterfall we stopped to jump- it was really high!

We hiked on trails, through water, over logs, up rock walls...it was great!  I loved all the plants- I framed this picture and have it in my office.

Lunch by the waterfall and lagoon. After we ate, the kids followed our guide up to where they could safely jump.  Jose and I relaxed and swam.

Old Lahaina Lu'au

Our last day in Paradise...lunch in Lahaina, play in the ocean and one more date!