Cousin Fun Time!

Two weekends ago we headed down to New Braunfels for our annual Cerny family vacation. Destination--Schlitterbahn. I hadn't been since my early high school days and forgot how awesome that place is! Not to mention it is perfect for a group of kids ages 3-10. It had something for everyone, including all of us adults. And Billy may have had a few moments where he was a total kid at heart. He had never been before and it was a place he heard about as a child and always wanted to go. We arrived on Saturday and jumped right in. Cate and I started off the trip with a bang. Long story short, she flipped out of her tube (no clue how) while going down a slide. Despite her wearing a life jacket, my momma bear instincts kicked in and I popped myself out of my own tube. This resulted in me going down this slide on my knees backwards while trying to slow down enough to get to her. I was unsuccessful and grabbed her at the end of the slide. Once she calmed down she was just fine. I ended up with some nasty legs wounds to show for it. Cate was such a trooper and rode the same ride later that day. I was a little worried at first that it might ruin her for the weekend, but she got right back up on that horse and wasn't letting any of her cousins leave her behind!

Our cabins and picnic table area looked right over the Lazy River--it was great to be so close to the action and able to pop in and out of our rooms!

While we were there, we got to celebrate Paw Paw's birthday

This is the first Cerny family vacay where I didn't even have a camera. Though I regret not having pictures to show, we truly had such an amazing time that couldn't be captured in photos anyway. Will really surprised Billy and I and rode so many of the "big" rides, including Dragon's Revenge (a slightly milder version of the uphill water roller coaster The Master Blaster) and the huge double tube slides that are black so you go down in complete darkness. He rode all of these rides being super brave with his Daddy. Despite Cate's Day 1 fiasco, she rode that same tube ride many more times, rode a three-person tube ride that left from the tallest point in the park, and loved the not-so-lazy-with-all-its-waves Lazy River. They played hard and long for three days before our drive home. Cate conked out less than 1 mile from the Schlitterbahn parking lot. I call that a successful trip!

The very next weekend the kids and I packed up for a 4-day trip to El Campo. The timing wasn't the most ideal since we had just gotten to see my side of the family but it ended up working out great because I was able to attend a wedding shower for my cousin, David, and his fiancee. Uncle Keith offered to take my kiddos home with his so us ladies were able to enjoy a great evening!

The groom, his bride, sisters, and nephews

The cousins all had a sleepover in the living room and this mama got a night off!

We met up the next morning at Praseks for breakfast and then onto a short playdate with friends. That afternoon I got to spend some amazing time with friends at Alicia's baby shower. Since Jeff and Brandi had a "no children invited" wedding to attend, the boys came over to my parents and the kids got to have another cousin sleepover.

We rounded out the weekend with more family fun time and a super quick playdate with Banker on Monday morning before loading up. The kids were in heaven getting to spend so much time with their cousins. Here's our yearly harvest pics. Since we likely won't be down when the cotton is ready, we settled for "Children of the Corn."