Wild Oak Ranch 2011

As part of our parents Christmas present, we told them we were taking everyone on a family vacation...but they'd have to wait until summer! We took both set of grandparents with us to Wild Oak Ranch in San Antonio. We (Josh, Alex and I) went last year and loved it, but we thought it would be so much fun with the grandparents too! We had 2 connecting room, one with a full kitchen. I spent the week prior planning meals, grocery shopping and packing. Josh worked a half day Thursday and Nomi, Terri and Ray drove to our house. We left soon after Alex got out of school. Once we got to the resort, we had dinner and Josh and I went to the grocery store for the cold stuff. Alex was spoiled rotten with both sets of grandparents there. She even slept in bed with us the first night! Popi met us there on Friday.

It was a perfect vacation for multiple people. We had plenty of room between both rooms and having the kitchen was a life saver because we could cook pretty much every meal there. I LOVE that the kitchen was stocked with all necessary utensils. The only thing I took was an extra pan because I knew cooking so many meals in the room for 7 people would be a little difficult with the 3 pans the hotel provided.

We spent our mornings in the room taking our time with coffee and breakfast. We went to the lazy river for a few hours then went to the room in shifts for lunch so someone could hold our cabana and Alex could get in a nap in the room with someone with her. We had a prime cabana with 6 lounge chairs, shade and a lazy river entrance.

We spent our afternoons floating the river, reading books and napping by the water! It was PERFECT! Friday night was a movie under the stars. They showed Tangled, which is an Alex favorite! Grandma and Nomi liked it too! Saturday night we did dinner at the restaurant on the property then went to the fire pits for smores! I LOVE how kid and family friendly the entire resort is.

I met a really sweet mom who happened to be from Bryan! Crazy small world! Alex also made friends with two boys from Houston. She enlisted them to help her make princess sand castles. They were soo cute with her! We had so much fun and are talking about making this a yearly trip!

Alex getting in a little nap on the way to San Antonio

Nomi, Alex and Grandma post breakfast, playing in the room

Ray and Josh catching up over coffee

Terri and Ray floating the river

Daddy and his girl!

our little river entrance from our cabana!

Josh relaxing!

a little break from floating

our perfect cabana!

Nomi and Popi

me and my sweetie!

Wild Oak Ranch

We left Monday for our first family vacation. We've been on trips before, but it was always to see family. This was our first, just the 3 of us, family vacation. We went to Wild Oak Ranch in San Antonio.

I love the drive. We go through Bastrop. I love all the tree lined roads!

Our first stop was for lunch. Without even asking, Josh pulled right into Pizza Hut. Alex LOVES pizza! She gave Daddy a huge pizza kiss to thank him!

We checked in to our room, unloaded the car then checked out our room! We loved it! It was a one bedroom condo with a living room, dining room, kitchen and washer and dryer! The kitchen was fully stocked with any cooking utensils we needed so we made a list and went to the grocery store! We went a little crazy and decided since we were on vacation we would get things we don't normally get at home like cookie dough, root beer, french onion dip and real potato chips (not baked lays!), Alex picked out juice and a meal of hot dogs! That evening we walked around the property then went back to our room and had dinner. After dinner we relaxed in our room and had warm chocolate chip cookies and milk!

That evening we set Alex up on the pull out couch. She went to sleep just fine but woke up crying at 1:30 so I put her in bed with us. She woke up a little before 7 so we let her watch cartoons in bed. I got up and put some delicious Grands cinnamon rolls in the oven. Alex sat at the table without a high chair for every meal!

After breakfast, we put on our swimsuits so we could head to the Rattlesnake River! Alex hammed it up for the camera!

Alex loved pushing the elevator button every time we left the room.

Since it was still early, there wasn't anyone there so we had the place to ourselves. We picked a table and I grabbed the sunscreen to put on Alex. I took my rings off like I always do and set them on the table. Somehow they took a bounce and my wedding band fell on the ground...on the deck...and fell right through the boards.

My sweet husband trying to get my ring.

Unfortunately, he wasn't able to get it so the WONDERFUL staff at the resort helped out. The maintenance guy actually removed all the screws from a board in the deck so I could get my ring back!

While I was waiting for all of that to happen, Josh and Alex headed for the water! Alex had so much fun floating the river. She started walking, then just picked up her feet and floated along! Her favorite part was getting near the jets on the river to gain speed. She'd laugh her head off and say More Fast!!!

After we left the beach/river area, we went to the outdoor/indoor pool. Alex didn't like it as much because there was a huge slide she was too short to go down. Josh and I each went down and Alex would start screaming AGAIN AGAIN because she wanted us to keep going down.

After a little more swimming we headed back to our room for lunch and naps. Alex napped in our bed while Josh and I fell asleep on the couch. As soon as she got up we put on dry swimsuits and headed back for round 2. We hung out at the beach for a while, got a yummy margarita and a cherry slush for Alex then we decided to move to a cabana. There were several great cabanas right off the river. We sat around for a bit then Josh decided to take a few laps around the river. Alex and I waved and blew him kisses every time we went by. I painted Alex's toes and fingernail then she hopped down and danced around the cabana! When Josh got back, I took a few laps, then we all got back in.

When we were all worn out, we went back to our room, showered and got ready for dinner. We went to our favorite place, La Fonda on Main. Alex was super excited to eat chips and sauce. When we got back we put Alex down in our bed and watched a little TV. We actually bought a bottle of wine to enjoy on our balcony but we were too tired so we saved it. I made the rest of our cookies, we ate them then crawled into bed with Alex. She never sleeps with us because she usually tosses and turns but this time she was great. We were both actually looking forward to going to bed so we could snuggle Alex!

Josh and I kept talking about how much fun we had. Alex is at such a FUN age! She cracked us up the entire time. When we got up Saturday morning we asked her if she knew where we were, she answered, Vacation! She kept talking about vacation the entire time. We can not wait to plan another family vacation. We will definitely be going back to Wild Oak Ranch sometime!