This time I left my bagels at home (well, at the hotel)!

Last week, we spent Wednesday - Friday in San Antonio.  We decided to go mid week to score better deals on hotel rates and to hopefully avoid larger crowds on the weekend.

Riley woke up early on Wednesday morning, which was s good thing because it meant she was even more likely to nap when we wanted her to in the car.  We left a little before lunchtime so that the kids could eat and then nap.  Riley complied.  Leighton did his best, but he just got grumpy when he kept trying and just couldn't fall asleep.  Poor guy!

(And yes, as soon as I took that photo of Riley I realized her chest clip was a bit too low!)

We stayed at the Residence Inn like last year.  These two love 'helping' with the luggage!

We were excited to take the kids on the boaty boats (thanks, Riley, for your cute little language that has slowly become the way we speak even when you aren't around!) this year since we didn't get the chance last time.  They were both super excited.  Until we actually started moving.  And then they just wanted to draw and snack and talk to us non stop while we tried to listen to the tour guide (some really interesting stuff - we only heard a fraction of it though, unfortunately!).  It was crazy hot, so maybe that was the reason, but they both just wanted to get dinner and get back to the hotel to swim.  So, my plan for wandering on The Riverwalk for a while with them was quickly dissolved.  There's always the next visit!

We went back to the same restaurant we ate at last year.  It's in this really lovely neighborhood right above The Riverwalk that I hope we can explore more next time, as well.  

On our walk back to the hotel, Leighton showed some interest in going into The Alamo, and since it is free, we thought we would pop in.  We didn't spend much time inside, but wandered in the gardens and watched the fish a bit before hitting up the gift shop.  We always end up in the gift shop!

Then it was swim time and off to bed.

Riley was standing at this door exactly as she was last year, so I took a photo.
Have a look at last year's post to see just how much she has grown!!!)  

After a breakfast of Texas state shaped waffles, it was time to drive out to Sea World.  As you may recall, we had a wee bit of an issue with the bagels I tried to take into Sea World on our visit last spring, but on the advice of my dear husband and insistence of my lovely son, there were no bagels accompanying us on our visit this time around!  We had a really fun day and saw and did a lot.  

See that little girl at the edge of the photo?  That would be little miss refuse to be in the family photo. 

We started with visiting the dolphins.  We didn't pay to feed or touch them but were up close watching them. 

We then made our way to watch the Cannery Row Caper show that we all enjoyed last year.

From there it was off to the Shamu roller coaster.  Leighton had decided he could do it this year.  And Riley was definitely on board.  They both LOVED it and insisted we go again right away.  Since they had such a great time, I went and looked at the photos taken on the ride and (am ashamed to admit I became one of those suckers who) bought them (Roy got a good kick out of it and will likely find ways to use it against me for years to come!!!).

We got to the One Ocean show early so we could get good seats - low and central enough to see everything but not so low that we would get soaked!

Riley requested some time in the splash area, so that is where we headed next.

And Leighton climbed high up through the tunnels and nets!

Then it was time for some lunch and then the kids wanted to get back on the roller coaster.  We felt really bad for Riley because the girl measuring heights this time said she wasn't tall enough even though the guy in the morning said she was fine.  She cried.  I felt horrible, but enticed her onto the carousel instead.  And then we all went on another ride together and both kids had fun and all was forgotten about the sad roller coaster experience.

We visited the penguins on the way to the Rio Loco and were trying to figure out how to explain to Riley that she wasn't tall enough for that ride but that we had promised Leighton to go on it when I noticed she had fallen sound asleep in the stroller.  PERFECT timing!  While the boys waited in line, I walked Riley through some air conditioned gift shops and then went back to watch them get on the ride.  Riiiiiight as they were getting on, Riley woke up and started wanting attention, but I managed to keep her in the stroller so we could run super fast to the little spot where I could get much closer pictures.  

After the ride, it was time for the kids to have some ice cream and pick out their loot from the gift shop before it was time to head for dinner and a swim before bed.

The kids were crazy excited to spend some time at the Children's Museum on Friday.   Leighton had seen an add for it on TV and kept asking to go and Riley just likes the idea of any children's museum, so it was a good thing that we had actually planned for it to be our morning activity before driving home!  It is smaller than the one here in Houston, which worked out well for us because it meant the kids had enough time to explore almost everything before it was time to go.

The ride home was comical.  In the moment, I don't think Roy would agree, but I am pretty sure he can laugh about it now.  And since a few of you got a pretty good kick out of the story of Roy's driving adventure on the way home form Galveston, I thought I better share this one, too!  So, we get in the car, give the kids their lunch, and start driving.  I am giving the directions and have a pretty good sense of where to go.  After my last instruction, I stopped paying attention because we were going to just be going straight for 180 miles.  I knew Roy could handle that without me!  And then a little while later, I see signs for Sea World.  Weird.  We should be going in the opposite direction.  I continue trying to entertain the kids.  And then Roy asks why we are near such a big city.  And then we see the signs indicating we are now entering the San Antonio city limits.  And Leighton is excited to see the tall Tower of Americas again.  Umhmmmm.  Yeah.  We took the ring road around the entire city of San Antonio.  We were not heading east.  Nope.  That was a great use of 45 minutes of our time and gas.  So, we take George out and plug her in.  She tells us to follow the exact set of directions I had given Roy originally.  We get to that last exit where I stopped paying attention the first time, and you know what, the road isn't labelled correctly!  Poor Roy followed my instruction but the sign was just incorrect.  We figured it out this time and were finally on our way.  Riley was now crazy tired and we are doing everything to keep her awake until we could get some gas.  Leighton asked if he could get out at the gas station to get a snack.  We obliged even though I had about a billion treats and snacks ready for the drive.  The both chose chocolate (are these children really mine?  Did they not see the super delicious offerings in the chip aisle?).  They've never gotten to go into a gas station/convenience store and choose treats like that on a road trip, so it was pretty fun.  And then nooooooo napping occurred.  It meant bedtime worked in our favor when we got home, but we were all a little relieved to be out of the car (with Riley!) when we got home!

Leighton is already planning on what we will do next year at Sea World and the different shows we need to go see, and Riley keeps telling me that she liked the hotel in Say-no-toe-no.  So, be sure to check in next spring/summer to hear about this road trip that is sure to happen again!