New Braunfels Trip 2017

Our trip to New Braunfels this year was super special to me. It was Atlas and Ellis' first trip to New Braunfels and it was all the cousins first time to experience Schlitterbahn. Our trips to New Braunfels growing up were my favorite vacations! To this day it is still my favorite place to be other than home.

We're here!!

Jumping out the car cabin fever. ;)

When I was growing up we used to stay on the Comal river at the Schlitterbahn resort. Until one year, when I was around 11, we were a little late booking our room and Schlitterbahn was booked solid already. So we had to look around for another place to stay. That's when my mom found The Other Place. It's 2 minutes down the road from Schlitterbahn and it is located on a beautiful horseshoe of the Comal river. Once we stayed there we realized we liked it way more than staying at Schlitterbahn. Ever since then it's been our go to New Braunfels spot!

Look at those excited faces!!

Checking out the Comal River.

My kiddos love a good trip! Jane was super excited to go this year. I was able to show her some old pictures and videos she said "Can we go there please?!" I was pretty sure the whole trip would be a hit with Jane. Atlas is a little more of a wild card. He likes to go places, but he also doesn't like too much excitement and seems to be more of an observer. They both enjoyed jumping on the bed, running around on the porch, sitting on the chairs and looking at the river soon after arriving. We told Atlas the water down there was called a river, so from that point on every time he looked at it he would point at it and say "river!".

First tube ride for Atlas!

Atlas wasn't happy about his life jacket. I think if he didn't have to wear it he would have been happier, but there was no way I was letting him in that river without one. After a minute or two of me convincing Atlas that the river was fun and he could play with the water while he rode he started to enjoy it. Jane was absolutely in love with tubing the river. She liked it 2 years ago, but this time she didn't ever want to stop! A little over halfway through our 20 minute ride around the horseshoe Atlas started saying, "All done." He liked it in small portions. We got out of our tubes at a shallow spot to swim around a little. Soon Atlas was done being in the water all together. I think he didn't like being cold. So he and I went ahead and got out while Marmee and Jane swam the rest of the way to the normal exit. One of the things I love most about The Other Place is you can get out and walk across the parking lot and get back in the river again or walk right back to your room since it's on a perfect horseshoe.

Jane was a pro!

We got out and swam around at a shallow spot

Jane rode the river a couple more times with at least one adult each time that evening before we set off to find some dinner. We went to our favorite pizza place, Mod Pizza and stopped by HEB for weekend supplies where Scott and Pappaw took turns picking up a giant pumpkin. They even had a passerby take a video. :D Ellis and Atlas went to bed after we got back and I let Jane fell asleep on the couch. Once the kiddos were asleep we spent the night playing Texas Hold em. Just for fun, no real betting involved, but it can still get pretty competitive at times. ;)

We made it to Schlitterbahn!

Off to find some fun!

In the morning we headed out to Schlitterbahn! I was so excited for Jane to have her first Schlitterbahn day! She was pretty thrilled too. I have a multitude of amazing memories there. It's just the best water park ever! It's so huge and there's so much to do you have to get a game plan together. We always start at the new parks and once we've exhausted the rides there we head to the old parks and hang out there the rest of the day. To start out the day we lathered everyone up with sunscreen and headed over to the biggest and coolest kid play area, Hans Hideout. 

Waiting for Jane to slide down

They found water!

I think she liked it. ;)

Jane climbed up with Marmee to slide and I stayed at the bottom with Atlas to play in the puddles. It's pretty easy to tell how much she enjoyed it! This was her face every time she went down. :D She went down a bunch of times, half the time with Marmee and the other half with Aunt Anna. There was a light at the top that was red when you had to wait and green when you could slide down. Jane caught on quickly. Anna told me that one time the lifeguard told Jane she could go when the light was still red, but Jane wouldn't go because it was still red. She's a stickler for rules sometimes. ;)

Marmee is such a good sport

Beautiful family!

Atlas was a little too overwhelmed by it all.

While Jane was absolutely in love with Schlitterbahn as soon as we arrived, Atlas was a different story. I think it was a combination the water being cold and his first slide being a little too much for him. He didn't want to be in the water or go on anything at first. He just wanted me to hold him. :( Ellis was also not thrilled about the water. I think it was too cold for her as well. At one point, with all kiddos accounted for by one adult, Scott and I snuck off to ride the Black Knight together. Just like old times!

Very special to be here with my kids!

Riding a whale is awesome!

I always have to get some dippin' dots when I'm at Schlitterbahn.

Jane and I took a few rides on the Torrent wave ride. Of course she loved it! She screamed with a smile on her face every time a wave came around. We headed back to the tables to regroup and see what we wanted to do next. Ellis was seeming a little too hot and since she doesn't seem to be a fan of Schlitterbahn yet, Scott and Anna thought it would be best to take her back to our room to cool down and wait until mid afternoon when Anna's sister would be available to babysit. We all decided it was a good time to head back to the room for lunch and so Atlas might catch a nap. Unfortunately Atlas only napped in the car for about 30 minutes while we went through the Chicken Express drive thru and I ate half my lunch in the car with him. Such is life on vacation!

Who knew Schlitterbahn hair was so gorgeous?

At least he was enjoying this park. ;)

She looks so grown up in this picture to me!

Jane and Atlas wanted to play at The Other Place park before we headed back to Schlitterbahn for round two. It was a good break from the water and full sun for the kiddos. On a side note, I wish I had Jane's hair... All I did was take it out of the ponytail it was in and it dried to look like that. So jealous. ;)

Atlas was starting to warm up

My monkey!

Finally something he liked!

We spent our whole morning trip to Schlitterbahn at Blastenhoff. So when we went back we started at Surfenburg. It has some of the most memorable kids play areas that still haven't changed since I was a kid. I remember playing on the pirate ship and submarine. It was pretty fun to watch Jane enjoy it just as much as I did. 

Wheeee

Incoming missile!

Who doesn't love to frolic through water?

The mushroom waterfalls are another personal favorite. :) The only thing Jane tried once and then decided she didn't want to do again were the octopus slides down the submarine. They actually might have been a little too fast for her liking at this point or maybe it was because there were a lot of bigger kids running around on that one. Everything else she wanted to do over and over again!

Cutest Schlitterbahners I know! ;)

We waited around the table while Scott, Anna, Marmee and Pappaw went to ride the newest ride, The Falls. We shared some ice cream treats as a distraction while we waited. I wanted to share a funnel cake with them, but the snack shack I went to was really far behind and they told me it would take 30 minutes to make. No way I was waiting around that long with two little kiddos. Ice cream did the trick though. Marmee and Pappaw returned pretty quickly after they realized how busy the ride was that day. They don't like crowds. Anna and Scott braved the busyness and enjoyed themselves.

This tube was worth the wait!

Since Marmee and Pappaw were back to watch Atlas, Jane and I rode the Krystal River around a few times. It took me a while to secure a tube with a bottom for Jane to ride in. It really was a busy day. The weather was perfect. Sometimes it's better if there is a chance of rain so it drives some of the crowd away. The best days are when there is a storm in the morning that moves off quickly. Then there are no lines!! Since it was great weather all day the crowd stayed all day too. We didn't let it bother us though! Jane liked riding in the tube for a while and then she wanted to get out and swim with me. She did awesome. Of course she kept her life jacket on the whole time.

Going through the car wash

Sillies!

Exploring

Their favorite spot

At last we had exhausted the new parks and it was time to ride the tram over to the old parks. Atlas and Jane really enjoyed the tram ride. Jane said she wanted to sit next to the window. Our first stop at the old parks was Schatze's Cental Park. It was known to me Hansel and Gretel's play area. They have changed all names of the candy houses from Fairy Tales to stuff called Schatze's Soda parlor or Candy shoppe. It's essentially all the same play structures from when I was Jane's age. My favorite little house in the area was the spot they both seemed to like the most too! When we first walked into the park the Schatze mascot was there to greet the kids. Jane was terrified! She kept looking behind her back to see if it was still around. Atlas on the other hand took no notice of the big dog like man and immediately started enjoying himself at the splash pad. He was finally happy!! Yay! We finally made a Schlitterbahn believer out of Atlas.

Having fun with Marmee!

One of the last slides of the day

So good to see a happy face from Atlas!

We moved over to the other kid parks in the old area. Everything is the same from when I was a kid. Atlas continued to enjoy himself. He got so comfortable he kept trying to walk into water that was too deep for him. He was having a blast! Jane was too, but that was all day long! (except for when the dog mascot was around) Scott and Anna spent some time riding some rides together. When they returned Anna suggested that she would stay and play with Atlas and the old Daugherty crew could take Jane on her first tube ride. Atlas was doing well enough I that I felt comfortable about it. We only had about an hour until closing so we grabbed some tubes and headed over to Raging River. It was my favorite tube ride as a little kid. There are a few fast moments, but nothing too scary and the lifeguards don't make you let go of your kids tube at any point of that ride. She did amazing. I mean she's a tube chute natural! She didn't get scared once. She was absolutely in love. It's the longest tube ride of the park so by the time we were done and walked back to Atlas and Anna it was almost time for the park to close. Anna said that Atlas was happy the whole time we were gone. Both kiddos were pretty sad we had to leave. Every time Jane sees a picture of Schlitterbahn she says, "PLEASE can we go there?? Please, please please!!". I keep telling her it's closed because it's too cold, but it's never a good enough reason for her. Maybe we can make the shorter trek to Galveston and check out the Schlitterbahn there. They have an indoor watermark that opens in the spring. I know it's not New Braunfels, but it's something!

One last river ride

Jane wanted to swim!

The most gorgeous river I've ever seen.

Everyone was pretty exhausted from a busy day at Schlitterbahn. so we ordered Olive Garden take out and watched the Longhorn game. Which actually ended up being a pretty stressful game to watch, Longhorns lost in OT. We tried to relax by playing a fun game of Say Anything before heading to bed. Through the weekend I felt better than I had my whole pregnancy! I guess I was so distracted by all of the activity that it made me forget about morning sickness. It was a nice break from feeling nauseous for a little while. Actually the last 3 times we vacationed in New Braunfels I've been pregnant. :D (I guess we've been going every 2 years lately) When I was pregnant with Jane I didn't even know I was pregnant yet, with Atlas I remember feeling him kick Jane while we tubed down the river together and this time I felt my very first baby flutters sitting in The Other Place room. So far each of the Daniels babies first vacation in and out of the womb has been to New Braunfels. :) 

Pappaw and Ellis

The closest Atlas has been to a duck!

We all got up a little slow the next morning, but we still had enough time for one more river ride before we checked out and headed to Gruene. Tubing the Comal with Jane through the weekend was so much fun. She loved being in her own tube, sharing a tube with me and swimming without a tube and just her life jacket. She's a river lover already. Atlas is going to take a little more convincing. ;) But he did enjoy walking next to the river and watching the ducks with Marmee and Pappaw.

Waiting for our table at the Gristmill

Clapping to the live music

Atlas in his Gruene Hall shirt in front of Gruene Hall. (you can tell how tired they were by then!)

We dried off, packed up and said goodbye to The Other Place for this year's visit. Our first stop in Gruene was the Gristmill. We've been having lunch there to finish off our trip for years now! We had to wait a little while for a table, but Jane and Atlas liked the live music. Once we were seated we quickly realized that, unfortunately, we had a terrible server. It took FOREVER to get through lunch. With three kiddos three and under in attendance it was no easy task to keep them all content during that time. It was such a bad experience that we might have to take a few years off from the Gristmill to get the bad taste out of our mouths. Once lunch was finally over we stopped at a couple of our favorite stores, Cotton Eyed Joes and Gruene General Store. Marmee got a souvenir for each of the kiddos and I found my first item bought specifically for Alexandria.

The kids were getting tired and cranky and honestly, so was I. It was time to hit the road. We grabbed a quick family photo before heading out. Anna's sister Leslie was sweet to take it for us. Even with the unfortunate lunch experience, 2017 was definitely one of my favorite New Braunfels trips of all time. I have no idea if we'll be able to go back next year or not, but I'm excited to go back whenever that may be. :) Thanks for another generation of memories New Braunfels. We love ya.

John 7:37-38

On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.”

1 Peter 1:8-9

whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith—the salvation of your souls.