Vacation Day 1

Life is good on vacation and we've had terriffic weather.

We left Shreveport on Thursday about 3pm and made it to the Hampton Inn at San Marcos around 9pm. Jack was excited about spending the night in a hotel and thought that the Hampton Inn was our final destination. He had a blast jumping in the bed and running around in the lobby.

We woke up on Friday am and went to the outlet stores in San Marcos. There were plenty of great shops. Chris is lucky that I can only wear maternity clothes and that ruled out about 90% of the potential shopping bill.

We left the stores around lunch and went just a little ways down I-35 to Gruene, TX. This has been my favorite part of the trip so far. The small, quaint town had lots of character .... if I could have shared a few drinks with Chris there I think we would've spent more time in Gruene. We had lunch at the historic Gristmill. The restaurant had several outdoor seating areas and we were able to grab a table outdoors and enjoy the sunshine. After lunch Jack and I roamed the grounds (with beautiful landscaping) while Dad enjoyed a beer in historic Gruene Hall. Robert Earl Keene is playing there at a festival on Sunday .... I'm trying to talk Chris into going back to see the concert.

After our pleasant afternoon in Greune we jumped in the car and went to the resort to check-in. The Hyatt Hill Country resort is the "Four Seasons" for families. The grounds are beautiful and this place is huge!! We walked around and found the park, spa and tire swing. After seeing that kids were in the pool ... Jack insisted to go put his swimsuit on and get in too. The water was chilly. But wow what a pool!! It is huge and made to match the natural surroundings. Jack had a blast tubing down the lazy river and going thru the waterfalls. He has no fear of the water ... which is very scary!!

We later got dressed and went down to the River Walk for dinner. This has been the worst part of the trip so far. The River Walk was packed full of people and was very dirty. We were all tired and so we opted to just head back to the hotel and grab a bite on the way back. I think that we'll try going back down there on Sunday when the crowd may be thinner.