When last I wrote, we had gotten up early for an eclipse that we didn’t get to see… then I moved on to my doctor’s appointment (see my other blog for that post)…and we all loaded up in the van and drove off for New Braunfels, TX to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles.
The first night we arrived later than we expected and our accommodations were quite a bit different than we were expecting, but after five and a half hours in the van, we were grateful to be anywhere that had beds (even in bedrooms with no attached bathrooms or door locks).
The next day I spent the day entertaining & attempting to feed the vomiting child, so I missed out on everything. Nick took the other kiddos out for lunch and we spent the evening around the very empty Schlitterbahn Resort.
Day Two I finally got to leave our lodgings and join the land of the living, just in time for Family Day at Landa Park. There was BBQ, games for the kiddos, a mini train ride, lots of talking for the adults, and as an added bonus we got to take home leftover BBQ (which we ate on all week).
Day Three we had a fantastic breakfast out at the Buttermilk Cafe, which was packed and had a long line of people outside after us. We had church in the afternoon, dinner on our terrace, and then Nick took David back up to church for a dance that evening.
Day Four we paused activities so we could do some laundry, homework, and work-that-pays-the-bills (I’ll let you guess who did what). We followed all that up with dinner out at the Longhorn Cafe, which had fantastic burgers, friend pickles, and a mini-arcade that Nick and the kids loved.
Day Five we saw David off to raft the Comal River at the Rockin’ R with the rest of the teens while the younger kids and I entertained ourselves in the Schlitterbahn pool and hot tub. Nick was doing work in our lodgings again. It was a very uneventful day (except for David. He had a fantastic day).
Day Six was a big day for us. The younger kids sang on stage with the Children’s Choir and Nick got to give a prayer during the service. After church was over, we drove out to the Natural Bridge Caverns, which is a place I’ve wanted to go for years. We toured the caverns over the course of a couple hours. It was delightful! Afterwards, David did a zip line and adventure zone while the younger kids and I toured the gift shops. We finished up the day at the Tanger Outlets in San Marcos, where we got David some new clothes and Ben some Bible tabs and Gregory some dinner at Cracker Barrel (well, we fed everyone, but that was his choice).
Day Seven was our last full day at the Feast. The kids all had presentations they did with their classes. We ate out at The Faust Hotel (an historical hotel) and brew house for lunch. Nick and I loved it. The kids, not so much. We toured around the old downtown area for a while, visiting several little local shops and what-nought before going back and packing ourselves up.
Day Eight was a double-church-service-and-catered-lunch-in-between sort of day. We stayed until the end and then drove on home.
Overall it was a really great week. Quiet, for us, but great. 🙂
Here’s a slideshow of all the good parts of our Feast of Tabernacles 2014 trip. 🙂 Enjoy!
Lisa Holcomb 