A bagel is NOT a sandwich

This past weekend, we went on our first little TX weekend road trip to San Antonio.  I have been wanting to go to San Antonio to the Riverwalk for several years, and there are many attractions in the city for children so we decided we should go before the temperatures get too hot for really exploring a new city.

We left on Friday afternoon in hopes that Riley would take a long nap in the car and leave the rest of us in peace to enjoy (and concentrate on) the drive.  We realized this would mean that Leighton would fall asleep as well and that they would wake up at dinner time, so we anticipated a late night at the hotel with the two of them and planned our evening accordingly (sometimes we are so smart!).

We checked into the hotel, a Residence Inn by Marriott (our favorite for travel with the kids), and then made the very short walk over to The Alamo to have a quick look.  Well, let's be honest here.  I'll try this again. We then made the very short walk over to The Alamo to have the kids pose in front for a picture so we could say we had been there and so that Leighton could see what it looked like since it is in two of their books - Good Night Texas and Hello, Texas!  Leighton and I decided next time we should actually go in and poke around a little.  And a little thank you to Grandma for giving Leighton a short history lesson on the phone before we left so he knew a little about what it even is.  He was more than willing to share his knowledge with the rest of us and shhhhhhhhhhhhed me when I tried to add in anything.

Here is Leighton.

And here is Riley.  She was not impressed.  She thought we said Elmo.  Not Alamo.  She was quickly ready to move on when there was no big, red, furry face smiling at her.

We wandered on the Riverwalk a little while, but didn't get to go too far or ride the boats because we were starving and in need of dinner.  There were some extremely fantastic looking restaurants along the Riverwalk and some built into the hills along the banks with twinking lights and delicious looking cocktails, but those will have to wait until 1. we are without children or 2. Riley can be trusted to sit in her chair and not want to get out and go 'nimming' in the river since there is no barrier!

We got off the Riverwalk and ended up in the La Valitta neighborhood.  I spotted a place with a patio and a child in a high chair inside.  There was 'pub' or 'bar' in the name along with 'grill' on some of the signs so Roy was skeptical that it was actually going to be family friendly.  I'll just cut to the chase and let everyone know I was right.  Score one for team Mommy :)  Guadalajara Grill was just what we were looking for - they had beer on tap for Daddy, they had high chairs and a children's menu, and they had a drink menu with plenty of frozen girly drinks for me!  I was trying to decide between a pina colada and a strawberry margarita when the lovely server offered to combine the two and make me a strawberry pina colada.  I was one happy Mama!

And when mama is happy, she takes even more pictures.  Often of food.  Usually Daddy's.  This used to drive him slightly crazy.  I'd always want to take pictures of him eating when we were away on vacation.  Luckily for him, I now have two other little people to photograph most of the time.  But, his plate of grilled meat still made it onto the camera ;)  And his beer.  Cheers!

We wandered back along the Riverwalk toward our hotel.  

Back near The Alamo we saw some lit up carriages.  They looked like Cinderella carriages.  Leighton and I were impressed.  He wouldn't go anywhere near them because he was scared of the horses (he seems to forget he rode one last spring and it was just fine) but he was very supportive of me taking photos for him.  I have even emailed them to him so he can now look at them anytime he pleases on his computer! 

And we even saw a silver hydrant fydrant to add to our collection!

After some ice cream (uh eem, as Riley says), a bath, and some books, the kids AND Mommy and Daddy were asleep around 10pm!

Saturday we headed to Sea World.  We had purchased our tickets online, but we still had to stand in one line to scan them to print our passes, then we had to stand in another line to have our bags inspected, and then one final line to have our passes scanned so we could enter the park.  The first line was short and we managed to use the machines without issue.  Our problems happened with the bag inspection lady.  They are VERY thorough and have some strict rules.  Quite different than their counterparts at Sesame Place in PA.  Oops.  We had packed some sandwiches, bagels, fruit, carrots, chips, and all sorts of other snacks to sustain us throughout the day.  We were informed that only snack sized bags/packages were allowed, but we could separate out things into smaller baggies/containers if we had them.  Yes, because that totally changes the amount we are bringing in!  And you can only bring one sandwich per child into the park.  None for adults.  And they have to be peanut butter and jelly only.  And no bagels.  Bagels are NOT sandwiches.  But she was willing to be lenient and allow us to bring in our turkey sandwiches and just pretend they were PB&J for the kids.  But not the cream cheese on bagels that we did bring for the kids.  I repeat, bagels are NOT sandwiches.  They can not enter the park.  Either toss them into the trash or take them back to the cooler in the car.  Or, put them in your pocket (which they pay ZERO attention to because it's only a bag inspection!) on the way back from taking the other no-no foods to the car so that you can bring them in for your son who is VERY upset that his bagel (that is NOT a sandwich) has been taken away from him.  Not that we'd do that or anything ;)

Our first stop was the One Ocean show with Shamu.  The kids loved it.  Lots of laughs and oooohs and ahhhhs.  Riley was quite concerned each time when the 'ishies' would disappear under the water.  She wanted to know where they were and when they were coming back.  She wanted 'mo mo mo'. 

We saw a bit of the short Sesame Street show and then changed the kids into bathing suits to splash in the water park area.  We ended up only being in the baby/toddler area and not even venturing into the bigger area because Leighton was cold and busy taking Daddy to climb on the nets.  Next time, for sure!

There are many, many areas with shaded picnic tables and areas to relax and eat.  Lots are not anywhere near the cafes and restaurants though, and since you can't bring your own picnic lunches (you remember right?  And please don't forget that bagels are NOT sandwiches) they were mostly empty.  We sat under an umbrella by the lake where they do the water skiing show and watched them practice while we ate.  Poor Leighton was nervous to eat his bagel for fear he would be caught and it would be taken away.  We assured him no one was paying attention.  That wasn't quite true, however, but luckily it wasn't his bagel they cared about this time but me changing Riley's diaper since "There are a lot of weird people out there.  And if the authorities came out here and saw this, they'd have to ask you to not change her diaper where people can see.  Too many strange people.  We wouldn't want her picture to end up on the internet."  Fair enough.  Request noted.  We can follow that rule (it's not a law.  Roy double checked with him to make sure it wasn't a TX law that would get us a ticket if we ever did it again!).  We usually only ever change her in a bathroom anyway, but this big flat area where we were already camped out just made things easy at the time to get her out of her bathing suit.

Next we were off to try the Rio Grande river ride, but right when we got Riley asleep in the stroller and Daddy and Leighton were going to get in line, they had some mechanical difficulties.  Instead we decided on ice cream and the penguins and puffins.  Then it was time to see the alligators.  Leighton took Daddy to the playground next and then the two of them went to watch the Sesame Street 4D movie.

The sea lion show was our next destination and Riley woke up right on time for us to grab some snacks and go find a seat.  It was a really funny show and again the kids enjoyed it.

It was getting late and we still needed our Leighton-mandated stop at the gift shop for him to get Grandma a penguin post card and a little something for himself to remember Sea World by, so we decided that the sharks and dolphins would also have to wait until our next visit.  Riley finally got herself an Elmo and danced with delight!

We were hungry and ready for dinner, and because we had brought ourselves some healthy food for lunch, we were able to go for burgers at Five Guys just down the hill from Sea World without any guilt.  The kids even devoured some blueberries and apple sauce while we were waiting for our food to come.  We are such good parents :)

We had to adjust bedtime again since Riley had such a late nap.  And we needed something exciting to tell her to bribe her back into the car after dinner.  So, we decided we would go for a swim in the hotel pool when we got back.  "Nimming!!!"  Do you think she was eager to get going?!

Sunday morning, we all slept late and it took us a while to eat breakfast, make lunches, and pack up the car, so we got a later start to the day than anticipated.  This left us less time at the San Antonio Zoo than we had planned, but it was plenty for a quick glance at some animals, a long splash time in the kids' riverbank water area, and our usual gift shop stop on the way out.

Riley and I waited outside for Roy and Leighton to shop. 

She was wondering where they were and I was telling her to keep looking down the path.  Can you guess at what point in this sequence of photos she spotted them?!!?

Then it was time to head home.  The kids were exhausted, but it took Riley way longer (and way more tears) to fall asleep than we all hoped.  Soon, both kids were fast asleep and Mommy even took a little nap too!  Lovely!

It was a great weekend and there is so much more to see and do in San Antonio for families.  We are excited to return again.