San Antonio

The first part of our vacation took us to San Antonio. At first, I was worried we were possibly overdoing the whole vacation thing by adding a few days in San Antonio before our mountain trip, but now I am glad we went. Everything turned out great. Here are some events from the trip.

• A fun drive down as described in my Dr. Pepper Dreams post.
  
• Upon arriving in San Antonio, it was late and we just wanted food fast. We chose a mall because we knew there would be a lot of options for the kids. After arriving and walking for a few minutes, it became obvious we were out of our element. I was a tad scared for my life as some unsavory characters looked at us in disdain. Needless to say, this was our first and last visit to this mall.


• More unsavoriness followed us at a local arcade. We had a little bit of time one day, so we decided to let the kids play a few games. I think our first hint of sketchiness should have been the two guys that looked like they were 17 with three kids in tow. One of the kids, a baby, about 8 months was set on the floor and allowed to just crawl around the arcade himself without any supervision. I think that qualifies as sketchy behavior.


• On our second day of the trip we took the kids to the zoo. It was a lot of fun. There was a butterfly exhibit where you could walk into a special tent and see tons of beautiful butterflies. I have been to something like this here in town but the butterflies at this exhibit were really incredible. At one point Landen reached down to touch one and I am pretty sure he squashed it to death. The butterfly was still moving a little but I don't think it was going to last. We left very quickly. I was sure we were going to be taken in by the high butterfly security they had going on. These people searched us going in and going out. If they knew we had killed a butterfly, I am pretty sure we wouldn't be seeing anyone again.


• At the zoo was a little train stop that promised a train ride around Breckenridge park. All day Ashley wanted to ride this train. She didn't care about anything else but getting on that train. When it came time to ride we had to wait in line forever. As the train approached the stop, Jessie proclaimed, "That's it??" It was not exactly the train we pictured but much, much smaller. Some might even question the use of the term "train" to describe this particular ride. False advertisement comes to mind. It didn't matter to the kids, they still loved it.


• When you go to San Antonio one of the best parts is eating. I had purposely avoided Mexican food for a couple of weeks so I could be prepared for all the yummy food I was going to eat. We ate at Casa Rio on the riverwalk a personal fave of mine that Jessie didn't care for. Off the riverwalk we ate at Alamo Cafe which had to die for tortillas and queso. I have decided that there is just not one perfect Mexican food place. Each place has their own strengths. For example, Casa Rio has awesome enchiladas but the salsa is a little lacking. Alamo cafe had great tortillas and queso but the food was lacking. Why can't there be one perfect place??? If you know about one, let me know.


• We did take the kids to the riverwalk. I was nervous about this because when Landen sees water he wants to touch it. I could just envision my son falling head first into that dirty water. I had nothing to worry about though, the kids both survived. They especially loved the bridges that crossed over the water.


• If you go to San Antonio with kids I highly recommend taking them to the Children's museum in downtown. It was the best children's museum I have ever been to. It was raining on the day we had planned to go to Sea World, but this turned out to be the best rainy day activity. They had the neatest exhibits, like a real plane the kids could sit in and fly.


• Because of the rain our Sea World trip got postponed by a day. This turned out to be for the best because the weather was absolutely gorgeous and there were no crowds. The kids loved Sea World. Even Landen sat and watched all the shows quietly. They were mesmerized. I think both of their favorite parts was feeding the dolphins and Jessie's favorite part was the free beer in the beer house.


• Of course our trip wouldn't be complete without one poop incident. One evening after the kids had gone swimming, they were playing in the bath. Landen had not had a poopy diaper in a couple of days, so he was due for one. As I was sitting on the computer I heard the familiar noises. I yelled at Jessie to get him out but it was too late. The damage had been done. Jessie ended up having to use a spoon to scoop it out of the drain.
• The trip was extremely exhausting. We never put Landen down for a nap because we were always out. At night, he didn't like his pack and play and wouldn't go to bed very easily. So, we were on the go all day until about 11 at night and then started back up again at about 9.
• The best part of the trip was hearing Ashley's responses to everything. This is the first vacation where she is fully aware of everything. She was always saying things like "this is the best breakfast ever," when in fact it was the worst breakfast I had ever had. She declared " I want to live at this hotel forever," when I don't care if I ever see another hotel again. And on everything we did she proclaimed "this is the funnest thing I have ever done." Just for all of that excitement, it made the exhaustion worth it.

I am including the only family photo we got of the trip. If you notice, Jessie's hand is in a tight fist. I think the long days with the kids and myself stressed him out a little.