First 2 weeks in a Hotel

When we first got to San Antonio the first thing to do was to find a place to live. We had look at several places online. We were working with 2 relators. We got in a Wednesday night and Thursday morning we were out looking at places. We had 5 houses set up to look that morning. The first house we pulled up to was the house I really wanted. There was a pool and playground right across the street. It would be perfect for the girls and I. It would be in the same ward as our friends the Berry's and Farnsworth's. We walked in and of course we both loved it. All of the space, 2 car garage, a back yard. Even though the yards in Texas are horrible, to us it was still a fenced-in back yard. I loved it! We went on to see the other houses and there weren't as nice as the first one. They all had something wrong with them. So we decided to just go with the first house. The only problem is that we couldn't move in until the 17 of July. That meant almost 6 weeks in a hotel. 

We thought it wouldn't be that bad, but there were times that I was done! 

Our first hotel was really nice. We stayed at a Residence Inn-Marriott. We had a little kitchen and we had a separate room so we weren't all sleeping in the same room. 



The first week we went swimming 2 times a day until the both the girls got ear infections. Hallee loved her ladybug floaty's. She just plays in the water by herself now. She loves swimming. 

The second week both girls got sick with ear infections. It was not a fun way to end Jared's vacation. We did get to go to SeaWorld which Hallee loved! After the two weeks we moved to the military hotel. It was definitely a couple steps down from what we had been staying in--but it worked.

San Antonio Temple

Our hotel was close to the San Antonio Temple. It is a small temple so you have to make an appointment if you want to do a session or anything. 

Hallee loved looking around and Mckenna was all smiles. 



Hallee didn't want her picture taken, she wasn't feeling well. 



We are lucky once again to have a temple close. With living in Live Oak it is the farthest away we have lived from a temple. I'm hoping Jared and I can make it to this temple before the end of the year. 

Sea World

We are very lucky and got season passes to Sea World. We figured it would be worth the money with how much Hallee loved it! It's been so nice to have. We can go for a few hours and not worry about wasting money. The first time we went Hallee was a little unsure about everything. 

The first show was about the beluga whale. The beginning of the show was loud and 3 dolphins came out were jumping in the air and Hallee started crying. We were totally shocked. After she calmed down she loved the shows, she was just a little nervous.  



She LOVED the carousel! She rode it 3 times our first time there. 




I promise Mckenna does get out of the stroller. :)




She was so brave and went on a bunch of rides with Jared. She went on the Shamu roller coaster. 




At the Shamu show, it was SO hot! We didn't really prepare very well. 



Hallee's favorite show is the Shamu show. 



We fed the ducks and the flamingos. 




We watched other people feed the dolphins. Maybe one day we will get to do it. 



Such a good happy baby! 



We all loved going to SeaWorld. Hallee ended up getting sick that night. I wondered if that was why she cried at the Beluga Whale show. She ended up having a really high fever which then became an ear infection. 

Our Drive from Maryland to Texas

We checked out of our apartment on Monday morning, June 11. We finally got on the road around 11 am--Two hours behind schedule. The military housing forgot that we were checking out, so we had to sit around and wait for them. I was anxious to leave. My emotions were all over the place. I was so sad to leave such wonderful people. I loved our ward and made so many great friends. My sister, who had been living with us, was moving back to Utah. I loved how green Maryland was. I loved how close we were to so many cool places. I was also anxious to get to Texas to see what we were getting ourselves into.

The girls were great the first day. We stopped for a later lunch at 

Chick-fil-a and Hallee played in the playground. We made it to Knoxville TN around 7:30pm. We stayed at a Best Western, ordered pizza, and went swimming. 

This was Jared's attempt at getting the "Welcome to Tennessee" sign.  It was raining pretty hard. 



Leaving the Best Western 

 Our next stop was Little Rock, Arkansas. We got stuck in HORRIBLE traffic. Our Garmin said there was a 2 hour delay. We thought there is no way there could be that long of a delay. Well the Garmin was right for once. We were stopped completely for a good 2 hours. We were less than 2 hours from our hotel. It was brutal. We let the kids out of their carseats while we waited. We finally got to our hotel around 7pm. We stayed at another Best Western. Which they both were very nice. We ate Subway and went swimming. 

Arkansas was really pretty, lots of trees. 



We hit the 1,000 mile mark just before entering TX. 



I'm not going to lie, I got emotional when we saw this sign. I  thought to myself is this really where we are going to live... There were hardly any trees, it was just dirt and cactus everywhere. I immediately missed Maryland! 

Day 3: This was going to be our longest day, the girls did really well the other 2 days. But day 3 was hard for Mckenna. She was not having it anymore. She would only sleep for 45 minutes and then wake up crying. So I sat in the back for the first 5 hours, and then Jared sat back there some of the time while I drove. 


such a little sweetheart

We stopped for lunch at DQ, and then found a park. We fed the ducks and let hallee run around. It was pretty hot so it didn't last long. 

Hallee was a champ! I was more worried about her, but she watched shows and played games on the IPAD. That saved us! She also got to open present 2 times a day--I just got things from the dollar store. She also read books, played with magnets on a cookie sheet and ate snacks. She was awesome!!

We got stuck in traffic in Austin! By then we had all had it! Mckenna was crying, nothing would make her happy and Hallee wanted to go back to Maryland to play with her friend Calle. It made me so sad that Hallee, who was 2 already missed her friend. We finally made it to our hotel at 8pm. When we pulled up our thermostat said 100 degrees. We were shocked that it was still that hot, that late into the evening. We got the car unpacked, ordered pizza again, and went swimming. The pool water was like a hot tub.
Jared and I just laughed.
We were so blessed to make it to San Antonio without any car problems or accidents. We just dealt with pretty bad traffic. We were glad that we made it safely, but I was still unsure about it all.

Baltimore

The Sunday before we left Maryland, we decided to check out Baltimore. After church we drove down there. It was a hot, humid day but it was fun to look around. 

It was fun to have my mom there for a short 2 days. She helped us clean our apartment! She was a lifesaver! 

They had fun musical instruments for you to play. Hallee loved it. 

playing in the fountain with the ducks

mckenna is the best baby, just hanging out in the stroller. 

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We enjoyed the afternoon there, we decided to leave the same time the baseball game got over so we were stuck in traffic for FOREVER!! Baltimore was beautiful! I wish we would've gone down there more with the 2 years that we lived in Maryland.