Jesse Coulter

Every year my sister, sis-in-law and mom take a girls trip to celebrate my mother's birthday. It's a great time to get away, relax and connect just us girls. This year we decided to visit Boerne, TX, which is only 2 hours from Austin and 20 min. north of San Antonio. Boerne is located in the beautiful Texas Hill Country and was founded by German immigrants over 150 years ago. It's a great place for a family vacation, couples weekend and girls trip.

Being an Aunt is one of the greatest gifts I've ever been given. I have 5 nieces and 1 nephew, and thankfully they all live within 2 hours from me.  I'll be honest and say that I might know one or two of their birth dates. Whoops! Every summer we celebrate my niece Ella's birthday, and this year we headed to Hawaiian Falls in Plflugerville to celebrate her 6th!

I have the fondest memories of vacationing with my family at Mo-Ranch in Hunt, TX. Growing up I looked forward to it every summer, and now as a parent I am beyond excited to continue the tradition with my family. Mo-Ranch is a Presbyterian Encampment so there are many Presbyterian camps and conferences throughout the year, but is open to the public to stay.

We didn't complete all 25 activities on our Summer bucket list, but we added many more unexpectedly. After #14 you'll see the extra activities we added to the list, and the best part about it was that many of these activities were Turner's FIRSTS. He definitely had a summer full of new experiences!

1.) Cool off with a Snow Cone - discovered Hula Cowgirl Shaved Ice in Georgetown...amazing!

2.) Kayak or Paddle board Lady Bird Lake - no picture of this, but we were lucky enough to go with our neighbors as well as take our host daughter, Sophie.

3.) Have a picnic at the Round Rock Splash Pad


4.) Date night out dancing - One of my favorite things to do for date night. Not always Alex's favorite, but he knows how much I love two stepping.


5.) Neighborhood BBQ - We had lots of game nights and pot lucks with our neighbors. We are truly blessed to be surrounded by such awesome people!


6.) Attend Free Yoga on the Lawn at the Domain


7.) Spend the day at Hawaiian Falls water park


8.) Paint master bedroom furniture


9.) Redecorate guest bedroom in preparation for host daughter - Bed Frame: $15 from a garage sale, Bedding: SteinMart, Gold Trunk: Estate Sale, Lamp: Target


10.) Vacation in Maui, Hawaii sans toddler


12.) Swim at Round Rock's Rock'N River Family Aquatic Center

13.) Take Turner to his first movie at the Dollar Theatre. Turner's first movie, Home, was a huge success...thank you popcorn and ICEEs. Since he did so good, I took him to see Minions on a week night later in the summer when Alex was out of town.


14.) Swim with my niece's in their new pool


15.) Take Turner Bowling -  He absolutely loved wearing the bowling shoes, and danced the entire time.  We had to bribe him with the arcade so he wouldn't have a meltdown over taking off the shoes.

 
16.)  Republic of Texas (ROT) Biker Rally - Talk about a little boy's heaven. To say Turner LOVES motorcycles is an understatement, so he was in absolute awe during the biker parade.


17.) Transfer Turner to a big boy bed - The first night went AMAZING and he went right to sleep. We've been pretty successful ever since. It's honestly super cute when he barges in to our bedroom in the morning and gets in our bed to cuddle....except when he does that before 7am.


21.) Visit downtown San Antonio - We visited Gruene and ate at the Gristmill on our way down to SA. We toured the Alamo, Riverwalk, and ate lunch at one of my favorite Tex-Mex restaurants, Mi Tierra. While walking around the mercado, we had fresh watermelon juice and churros! 


22.) Co-hosted the 4th ATX Blogger Mixer


23.) Visit TopGolf


24.) Saw Garth Brooks live in concert - We were lucky enough to grab 3 tickets, and took our host daughter with us!


This truly has been one of my favorite summers! Lots of unexpected turns (with totaling both our cars and finding out we're having twins), but we have been extremely lucky to experience some great vacations and many firsts with Turner. I can't even imagine what next summer will look like as a family of FIVE!

A few weeks ago Alex, Turner and I headed south to Boerne, TX to spend the weekend at Tapatio Springs, a hill country resort and spa.  It was a great getaway and only a short 2 hour drive from Austin. It was just what we needed for a short family vacation.  We spent most of our time in the pool, and if we weren't in the pool we were hanging out outside. It's nestled in the TX Hill Country so it's quiet and you are surrounded by trees.

Tapatio Springs’ new $1 million pool and bar area features an expanded pool deck, curved-tube water slide, hot tub, fire pits, shuffleboard courts and an outdoor bar with flat-screen televisions. Turner went down that slide over 100 times by himself. To say he was obsessed is an understatement.

The best PB&J we've ever had....double stacked with local TX strawberry jam!

It was a short and sweet mini vacation, and I highly recommend checking it out! Great for families, romantic getaways, a girls weekend and more. It's much more affordable than other resorts in Texas, and the quaint town of Boerne is only a ten minute drive away. Boerne has a historic downtown and a ton of antique shops (my favorite kind of shopping)!

Now to the best part. I'm very excited to be hosting a GIVEAWAY of a 1 Night Stay for 4 (including complimentary meals) and 4 tickets to Six Flags Fiesta Texas to one lucky winner! Please enter using the Rafflecopter entry form below. Good luck!

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