Helms Family Vacation to Lost Pines Resort

This past weekend, we took a family vacation to a resort near Austin, Texas called Hyatt Regency Lost Pines.  It is a relatively remote resort with a Texas theme.  We had a really good time playing games and hanging out with the family (plus Reese).  

Entrance to the resort.  

Sky and Josh outside the lobby.

The grounds were very well kept with huge trees.

This is a picture from inside one of the restaurants called with Firewall Cafe.  

This is Reese dominating some little kids in football.

Josh, Sky and Reese doing arts and crafts.

They had a nice horseshoe area.

This is Josh and Sky trying to throw horseshoes.

Apparently Reese is so entertaining.

This picture has a story to it.  Shawn Jr. and I were playing an intense game of horseshoes.  I was up by 2 points going into the last round.  Shawn Jr. called that he was going to get 2 ringers - which he did to take the lead.  I followed up with 2 ringers of my own to win the game.  The old man still has it.  

Skylin and Josh played tetherball for the first time.

Misty and I tried to play as well.  As you will see, my attempt was a total fail.  The part about the old man still having it - not so much.

The resort is right on the Colorado river.  

Here are the big kids biking around the resort.

Let me take a selfie.

Here we are meeting the horses.  

This is the entrance to an area called Hummingbird Garden.  It contains many plants and trees that are native to this area.  It attracts all kinds of interesting bugs and wildlife.  

We took a couple trips to Buc-ee's - this crazy big gas station.  This trip was to buy fishing gear.  

Nothing says Texas like a family picture at Buc-ee's.

Brittany thought it would be hilarious to put a Buc-ee's bumper sticker on Misty's car.

When we got back to the resort we went fishing in one of the ponds just outside our room.  We did not have much luck but Josh did catch his first fish ever!

Reese, Brittany, Jr., Noelle and Triniti payed volleyball in the pool.

Josh dominated me in a game of bocce.  To play you throw out the small white ball and then you throw or roll the 3 larger balls, trying to get closest to the smaller ball.  I was not bad, but then I played Josh.  On his second throw he actually got a ball to touch the small ball.  I was done.  

Sky on a fake horse in the lobby.

All the younger kids got to meet the longhorns.  

They also had miniature horses and donkeys on the property.  

Here is a picture of 2 Alpacas that they were taking through the lobby.

The kids loved them.  

In an amazing small world moment, Reese was looking at one of the workers at the resort and thought it looked like one of his relatives.  Sure enough, it was.  I had seen him many times throughout the week, but Reese was never with me.  

The resort has a very nice lazy river.

Every night they have a movie on the lawn and you can roast marshmallows to make s'mores.

The Hustle Plays in San Antonio

Shawn Jr's basketball team, the Hustle, played a tournament in San Antonio this past week.  They had a good showing and we had a good time in San Antonio.

We went to the Alamo.

We also ate at the Alamo Cafe.  Terrific good with crazy good tortillas.  

We went to the AT&T Center, where the Spurs play.  We are certainly not Spurs fans, but they are an impressive organization.

Sky and Jost in front of the AT&T Center.

They had their 4 NBA Championship trophies on display inside.

This is Josh and Sky down on the riverwalk.  Reminds me of my time in Munich.

As we were walking along the river walk, we heard this music playing.  We went up to the ground level and found this amazing cathedral illuminated with a projection showing the cultural history of San Antonio.  It was an amazing show.  

Below is a short video of the show.