Days 3 and 4 of Vacation - San Antonio

Yesterday and today have been more fun in San Antonio - we have visited Sea World, gone on a river cruise tour, and visited five former Spanish missions (including The Alamo). It is a beautiful city and there is so much to do - definitely recommended if you are looking for a family vacation! 

All seven of the Hagemans and Thorntons piled into our van yesterday morning for our trek down to Sea World.

When we lived in Orlando, we had Sea World passes for most of the time there because it was INSANELY CHEAP. I know there is a lot of controversy over places like Sea World in general and Sea World in particular. But we have a lot of memories with our kids at the Orlando park, and were game for going back again.

The giant kid-playing area! This was a series of huge nets, tunnels, and slides, with multiple entrances and exits. Our kids had a blast, but it is so much easier now that we don't have to worry about them running off somewhere.

We all rode the Shamu Express ride, aka the world's tamest roller coaster.

Giant fish ride that spun around . . . no thank you!

Daniel won a game of ring toss! I have never, EVER seen anyone win this particular carnival game, and was in shock when he came back, proudly touting a giant four-foot stuffed shark.

Giant Steel Eel roller coaster. The kids are climbing on a support pillar in the picture above, so that they could claim they have been "on" this roller coaster.

There weren't as many animals as we were expecting, but we did enjoy the super cute penguins.

Our families before the dolphin/whale/bird show, which was mostly (very impressive) human divers. :)

Sea lions! There were also some extremely adorable sea lion cubs.

There was an "animal conservation" area with snakes, toads, and other animals . . . including this giant bird.

River ride! This is a lot like Fury of the Nile at World's of Fun in Kansas City.

We all got wet, but Julie was the most soaked.

Oh! And Charlie bought a super cool Texas Hat, which Annika insisted on wearing. ;)

That evening, we had another lovely stroll around the Riverwalk.

The best part, though, was getting gelato and looking out over the river.

Oh, and Daniel insisted on sleeping with his shark. ;)

This morning, we took a river cruise tour! We got there right at 9:00 a.m. sharp when it opened, which thankfully meant no lines at all.

I really enjoyed our cruise guide.

One of the buildings on the tour - a very impressive tall, "2-D" looking building. :)

It was a short walk from the river tour over to The Alamo, aka the Shrine of Texas Independence. No pictures are allowed inside, but we took plenty outside the area to make up for it.

Annika in front in the Six Flags Over Texas.

This afternoon, we went on a Mission Tour -- and visited four other missions that are in the San Antonio! The first one was Mission Concepion.

Mission #2 below - San Jose!

Mission #3 - Mission San Juan!

Mission #4 - Mission Espada!

Honestly, the missions started to all run together after a bit, but I am glad we went -- it really hit home the structure of the missions and the relationship between the Spanish and the Native Americans in a way that just visiting the Alamo didn't quite convey.

This evening, we are planning to see Zootopia -- and tomorrow, there is talk of going to the children's museum and possibly the zoo, but we shall see what the day brings!

Days 1 and 2 of Vacation - San Antonio

Good evening from beautiful San Antonio, Texas, where the weather is gorgeous and spring break is in full force! This spring break, we are spending the week in San Antonio with the Thorntons and Charlie's sister, Pam, and family. We wanted someplace warm that we could drive to within a day, and our kids haven't really spent much time in Texas before - so beautiful San Antonio fits the bill perfectly! 

We were originally planning to drive all today, but decided it might be more enjoyable to split the drive into two days. We left mid-afternoon yesterday, armed with lots of audio books and book books from the library.

We stopped in Oklahoma City for dinner. And by "dinner," I mean "ice cream." And by "ice cream," I mean THE BEST ICE CREAM IN THE WORLD, aka Braums. Oh, how I love this place. It is probably for the best that Manhattan is lacking in this establishment or that is the only place I would eat.

We stopped in Admore, Oklahoma for the night, which isn't too far from the Texas border. We debated pushing on to Dallas/Ft. Worth for the evening, but the kids (especially Daniel) really wanted some time to swim in an indoor pool that night. And since it is vacation, why not?

Breakfast this morning. Then we drove. And drove and drove. Which really wasn't THAT bad, or THAT much driving - we were just reminded that Texas is a very large state. ;)

Finally arrived in San Antonio around 3:30 today! The kids were ecstatic that we are on the 21st floor in the hotel. You can see the Riverwalk from our window (although it is a bit challenging to make out in this picture).

I booked a "suite" instead of our normal "room," which makes my Frugal Shopper self twitch, but I thought it would be nice for the kids to each have their own bed. Unfortunately, our "queen sleeper sofa" is actually a "non-sleeper loveseat," but Daniel is very excited to still sleep there and so we are just rolling with it. ;)

The rooftop pool! This is right above us, which is one advantage of being up so high. The kids really want to go back and swim once it is dark outside.

The Thorntons made it safely! They flew out of Manhattan this morning and arrived about noon. I was insistent that we go to the Free Popcorn and Soda being offered at our hotel in the afternoon in a continued effort to maximize our Hotel Value. ;)

Our hotel is right on the Riverwalk, which makes it awesome to step right outside.

The lines to take a boat ride on the Riverwalk are really, really long, but hopefully it will be better in the morning.

Fountain!

We ended up at a fun Mexican restaurant right on the Riverwalk for dinner. Annika ordered a Virgin Margarita, which led to an interesting discussion of all of the many meanings of the word "virgin." ;)

Charlie requested a song from the awesome Mariachi band - so cool!

We walked back among a much quieter and more peaceful route and it felt almost magical, like we had the place to ourselves.

I was so full that I could barely breathe, so what did I insist on making our whole family take part in? Why, eating the free dinner provided by our hotel, of course! This means I have had approximately 9 meals today...

And finally, what better way to recover from too-much-food-effect than by walking up 21 flights of stairs?! Daniel kept saying he was going to die, but to his credit, he was the first one to the top.

Pam's family has made it as well, and it sounds like the plan tomorrow is a group outing to Sea World San Antonio! And maybe some nighttime rooftop swimming tonight. ;)