First...those of you who have actually been to Laredo, TX are probably wondering WHY we actually picked Laredo, TX as one of your 2009 adventure destinations. A small border town with Mexico, it's mostly known for crime and drug wars...
While our adventures are mostly local, we decided to travel a little farther from home every other month. This adventure really had three fronts. First, we've never been to Laredo. Second, having low expectations, we decided to "wing" the trip and not plan anything. And, third, we decided to stay in a $27 hotel room (so we can financially keep doing these trips).
There were some ups:
Mason had a lot of fun (and so did Tori);
the hotel wasn't near as bad as we thought it would be (though crowded for us 4);
and Ashlee found some great deals while shopping (and spent all money we saved from the hotel);
and downs:
Jes getting mad and repeatidly yelling at everyone at airshow (and eventually running people over with the stroller);
the explosions scaring Mason at airshow (and making him scared the rest of the show);
and Mason dumping the entire glass of water on himself at the restaurant (and ate undressed the rest of the time).
We went to the Exploratorium at the Mall de Norte. It was pretty fun for Mason and Tori. We spent half the day there...Then we went to eat, and then to the Planetarium; however, since we didn't call ahead, we missed the good shows (planning is good sometimes).
Sunday we spent the day at the President's Day Air Show. It started out good (good parking spot, quick entry, good seat)...and then went downhill. We waited an hour for the show to start (which was horrible for the kids) then when it did start, there was a LOUD explosion and an F-16 flyover the scared Mason really bad. So then Mason was crying for a while...by the time we got him calmed down, everyone crowded around us and was standing in front of us (we were on the bleachers) and so Jes started yelling at them to get out of the way over and over. And then Jes finally got pissed (since we couldn't see), grabbed the stroller and started pushing through the crowd (yelling at everyone on his way and hitting them with the stroller!).
The show pretty much had hit a bottom point...
Once Jes calmed down, everything got better from there on...
In summary, since our expectations were for this trip to be a disaster (bad hotel room, crowded air show, nothing to do, crying kids, kidnapped to Mexico, etc), we were ultimately happy with the result (nice hotel room, stayed in budget, had fun, laughed a lot, ate a lot, had good family time, etc).
But I don't forsee us ever ending up in Laredo again.
Skydivers!
Covering one ear because of noise...
$1 slide...wasn't worth $1.
A&M Planatarium (picture is Mason running to it!) He loves planets and stars so we felt bad that we couldn't see a show.
Exploratorium
Shirtless at Applebees!
Merry-go-round
Exploratorium
A balloon man.
The starting line.
Before the race. The temperature was in the 40's so it took a mile or so to get warm.
