Uncle Merrill's Graduation

In early March, the girls and I drove to San Antonio again, this time for Uncle Merrill's graduation!  We got in late on Wednesday evening and picked up Grandpa and Grandma from the airport before heading to our hotel.  It was a short night since we didn't get to bed until after 1am, but we were still up and on base the next morning to see Merrill be recognized as one of the top graduating airmen!  In this picture, he is 11th from the left:

One mommy and three girls - good thing grandparents and Aunt Jamie were on hand to help out!

Seeing Uncle Merrill for the first time!

Our cousin, Michael drove over from Houston and joined up with us for lunch - long lines everywhere!

That afternoon we toured a couple of museums on the base:

The old phone booth at one of them was a big hit with the girls and they took turns placing calls - 

The whole group!

The next museum had dog statues and those are always popular with our girls.  They had to go back several times to see it (too bad it was upstairs which meant lots of trips for this pregnant mom up and down).   

And another dog exhibit outside.  Yes, they're a bit obsessed.....

After that it was a quick shopping trip on base where I managed to not buy anything, but the girls did insist we pause to ride the horse outside.  

And a yummy buffet dinner rounded out the evening, with Halle tripping and smashing her head on the corner of a counter and coming away with a nice bump :)  

Our hotel had waffles, among other things, as part of the breakfast offered, so we made sure to get a Texas waffle every morning!

Due to rain, the graduation was held under the dorms and broken into four smaller ceremonies, by squadron.  It was actually kind of nice!  Shortened things up a bit and we got a better view!

Merrill was honored as both the top airman in his flight (about 50 people) and in the squadron (4 flights).  We're so proud of him!  Grandma Janet and James had arrived the night before, so got to participate in the special day too!

Aunt Jamie is a proud wife!

These girls were in awe of Uncle Merrill!

Lunch at Denny's afterward where the girls got chocolate chip pancakes - they were in heaven!

That afternoon, we headed to downtown San Antonio and had a little repeat of our trip in February for Evan's graduation - we visited the Alamo then walked the river walk - exhausting, but fun!

We paused for ice cream before dinner (probably ruined our appetites, but oh well):

Lots of carriage rides out and about and the girls loved seeing the horses!

Dinner that night was just us, Grandpa and Grandma, and Michael at Alamo Cafe and it was delicious!  We learned that Abigail likes pickles....

So fun to see Michael, or "that guy" as Halle called him :) 

On Saturday we headed over to Sea World!  Eve was so excited and wanted to ride every roller coaster with Grandpa.  Unfortunately, she was too short to go on the two big ones :(

Abigail flatly refused to get on an animal for the merry go round, so we ended up sitting on the bench together.  We went on this ride a couple of times and it was the same thing every time - bench sitting...

The girls were fascinated with the three shows we attended - orcas first!

Grandpa and Eve decided to sit down in the splash zone, but halfway through the show, Eve asked to come back up and sit with us (she thought the splashing was over).  Right after they joined us, the section they had been sitting in got splashed and Eve was so disappointed she started to cry :(  She ended up getting plenty wet later, though, so she got over it!

Here's where Eve got soaked - a little too soaked, perhaps.  She and Grandpa went on this ride and would have made it through with only minor splashes but for the waterfall they passed under at the end.  They were drenched!  And cold!  :(  

Penguins!

Beluga whale show!  The girls LOVED this one, but this is literally the only picture I took.  

After that, Grandpa went to ride the big roller coasters, Grandma took Eve and Halle on a ride, and Abigail and I chilled in the kid zone :)

Grandma on her ride with the girls!

Eve loved this play area and it was hard to get her to come down - she's at the top in the pink shirt.

A quick bite to eat!

We saw so many alligators!  (Crocodiles?!?  Still not clear on the difference....)

And fed the fish!

Sea lions!

This was literally Abigail's face for like 10 mins during the sea lion show - then she fell asleep :)  

We stayed pretty late at the park and were totally worn out - at least I was!

But what a fun day!  I was so glad to finally visit this park - in the year we lived in San Antonio, we never did.  We just wish Daddy could have been with us!

Sunday was our last day in San Antonio and I finally convinced Grandma to try a Texas waffle!

Eve did not have to be convinced :)  

We had a little time before church, so got to visit the dog statues again that we'd seen on our last trip:

And some airplanes!

After church and one last dinner with Grandpa and Grandma, we dropped them off at the airport and headed home!  The girls were totally out by the time we made it - but we were so glad to be home and see Daddy!

The girls were sad to learn that this was our last trip to San Antonio.  Eve's quote: "I hope Dad's job is in San Antonio!"  I guess that means they had fun and want to go back???  

One last big congrats to Uncle Merrill!