Living it up at the JW Marriott

The past couple of days have been so much fun, but before I go any further, let it be known that we will never again go on a family vacation without Puppy Lovey.  Not only did Puppy miss out on a super fun trip, but we also realized this weekend just how much better Jackson goes to sleep {and stays asleep} when he's around.  We definitely didn't intend to leave him at home, but unfortunately, the bag that held Puppy and Jackson's other beloved stuffies got left on the hall tree by the front door.  We didn't realize that bag was missing until it was time for Jackson to go down for a nap, and we instantly knew that we were in for it.  Ben set out to find a replacement, but because Puppy Lovey is somewhat of a specialty item, he didn't have any luck, and although Jackson does love the stuffed Nemo that Ben came home with instead, it just wasn't the same.  Unfortunately, things seemed to get worse each time he went down, but thankfully we made it through, and other than that little mishap, the weekend was perfect.

The bag that we will never again leave home without.

This past weekend, my mom treated all of us to a family vacation at the JW Marriott Hill Country in San Antonio, and similar to the weekend that we went to the ranch, we left as soon as Jackson woke up on Friday morning.  This time, in addition to the iPad and donuts, we also armed ourselves with both Holly and Mimi {Nelson joined us in San Antonio later that night}, and between the sugar and the constant entertainment, our hour-and-a-half drive went off without a hitch.

As soon as we got to the hotel and checked in, we headed to the kids' pool, which pretty much ended up being where we spent the majority of our weekend.  It was such a fun little area complete with two big slides {that both Jackson and Mimi really enjoyed}, lots of fountains that either sprayed up or rained down, another smaller slide in the middle of the pool, a catfish and an armadillo to climb/sit on, and nearby water guns to spray the people floating by on the lazy river.

After wearing him out for a couple of hours and eating lunch by the pool, we headed upstairs for Jackson's nap, which is when we realized that we had left a bag at home.  I ended up having to lie down and snuggle him until he fell asleep while Ben went in search of a Puppy replacement and to the pharmacy to get a steroid shot for poison ivy that he had gotten into the day before and that was quickly spreading.  Definitely not how we intended to spend our first afternoon on vacation, but at least the snuggling was nice.

As soon as Jackson was up from his nap, we went back down to float the lazy river, which was so much fun!  Jackson sat on his own tube for a little bit, but for the most part, he moved from one lap to the next.  

I can only imagine how graceful I looked pulling myself up into my tube with my big ol' belly, but I'd be lying if I didn't admit that the image of a beached whale came to mind.  Needless to say, I didn't have much of a lap for Jackson to sit on, but he didn't appear to mind in the slightest.

Baby brother, on the other hand...I can only imagine that he was feeling pretty squished.

Over the weekend, we ate all of our meals at the Cibolo Moon restaurant {except for lunch, which we always ate at the pool}, and all of the food was amazing.  For breakfast, we all usually ate off the breakfast buffet, and then during dinner, we always requested to sit outside on the patio, which was right next to the great lawn and gave Jackson an area to run around after he finished eating.  Because we got a late start to dinner on Friday night and didn't want Jackson to miss out on the s'mores before having to go to bed, he and Ben headed over there as soon as they were done with their meal and brought one back.

Jackson was quite pleased with the sticky, crumbly goodness, but I'm pretty sure Ben and his hair/neck were not.

Yesterday, Jackson wanted nothing more than to take a tube up the huge wooden stair case and go down the big water slides.  We did our best to explain to him that he wasn't tall enough {and even took a picture so that he could see for himself}, but thankfully, they had another water slide in another area that he was able to go down -- and I figured if it was safe enough for Jackson that it was safe enough for me, too.  I obviously didn't bring my phone with me, so I didn't get any pictures, but it was pretty fun, and Jackson seemed to love it.  He rode down on a tube with Ben who said he was laughing and grinning the entire way down.

Other than our trip down the slide and some floating in the lazy river, we spent most of our day just kickin' it at the kids' pool again.

I should also mention that every time we went to or left the pool, Jackson just couldn't pass up the opportunity to play a quick game of corn hole.  I'll admit that he has a great throw, but considering he throws every single bean bag that he can find into one single hole and never gives anyone else a chance, I'm not quite sure he understands the game.

That afternoon, Ben offered to be the one to take a nap with Jackson, so I made the most of my freedom and spent a couple of hours hanging out at the adult pool with my mom, Holly, and Nelson while sipping on overpriced cocktails {lemonade for me}.  That evening, we actually had time to shower before dinner and decided to snap a few family pictures before heading over to make s'mores {a.k.a. before Jackson had the opportunity to get chocolate all over himself and us}.

Waiting in line to make a s'more is tough work...

...but thankfully, when you're the only kid and on vacation with five of your biggest fans, there is always at least someone who has enough energy to throw you up into the air and to keep you entertained.

Mmmmmm.....s'mores.

I think it's safe to say that he's a fan.

Last night, we decided to keep Jackson up a little later than normal in hopes that he would crash earlier than 10:30, which was when he finally fell asleep the night before.  Spoiler alert...our plan didn't work, but we did have fun listening {and dancing} to some live music and then watching "Wreck-It Ralph" outside on the big screen.

Eeesh...again with the beached whale look.

Unfortunately, Jackson had an even harder time going down last night than he did the night before, and although he was completely exhausted, he just couldn't settle himself down enough to fall asleep.  Ben finally ended up taking him downstairs to rock outside not once but twice, only to have him wake up and start sobbing as soon as he got him back up and into the room.  Thankfully, he did finally fall asleep at around 12:30, but only after I held him on top of my belly with his head on my shoulder and bounced him like a tiny baby {which he most definitely is NOT} for close to 30 minutes.  Talk about a workout.  And then, when he woke up at 5-something in the morning, I had to do it all over again.  Being the mom is hard sometimes.

Thankfully, he slept in a little later this morning, and as soon as he was up and we had eaten breakfast, we headed down to the pool to make the most of our trip.  We watched Holly and Nelson come down the big slides and fall off their tube, which Jackson thought was hilarious, and then spent the rest of the morning at the kids' pool.

We had originally planned to go down the slide that we had ridden the day before {and as you can see, Jackson even found the perfect tube, which also happened to be the most deflated one at the resort}, but by the time we got everything packed up and loaded into the car, Jackson was pretty much done for the day and ready for a nap, so we jumped in the cars and headed home.

Our two-year-old little prince.

Shockingly enough, he never ended up falling asleep on the way home and instead just kept himself entertained with the iPad.  As soon as we got home though, and Jackson was reunited with all of his friends, a nap was inevitable.  The first thing he did when he saw Puppy was stick him in his mouth, and just like that, he was out.

I love going on vacation and have never really looked forward to coming back home and back to real life, but I gotta admit...it's good to be home, in our own beds, and under the same roof as Puppy Lovey.