THE MANN CLAN: San Antonio

The Alamo

Jason and I took the kids on a small family trip to San Antonio. It's only a 4 hour drive from where we are, so we thought we'd take advantage while we live here in Texas. Our first stop was at the Alamo. It's a very interesting and educational place . . . but definitely more suited for adults and not children. The boys kept themselves entertained by being (in Braeden's words) "The this way boys."

Gaven was a good sport for most of the trip.

"I have a dream . . . "

We can see you, Carse . . . almost!

In the courtyard, they had a bunch of canons that the kids could climb on. Some of them even had the cannonballs in them!

This is picture from above of the River Walk along the river that runs through downtown San Antonio. It's a gorgeous river run that you can pay to have a guided boat tour. When we finally found the passageways down to the ticket booth, we were able to have a ride. We had to find the special elevator because we had a stroller. You should have seen Jason and me trying to read the map!

Our tour guide told us that these bells were VERY significant. They symbolize the first 5 taco bells built in the US. He, he . . .

Here's a picture to help you see how beautiful the boat ride was.

Our tour guide was quite the comedian. He was telling stories about landmarks and pointing out significant historical buildings along the way. He had mentioned something about a very tall building, and I thought it was cute that Jason and Braeden were both looking up to see what he was talking about.

This tree REALLY WAS growing out of the side of the building!

The last picture we took was leaving the Alamo. As you can see, we did a lot of walking and Braeden was pretty tired. I love how he's putting his pillow to good use in his lap!

We went to dinner at a nice Mexican restaurant. A man with a musical instrument (I didn't pay attention close enough to tell you which one) came up and asked if he could play a song for the boys. I didn't really hesitate and said, "Sure." He said he needed to go get his partner and would be right back. They came back all ready to play, and THEN told us that they charge $4 per song. We kindly smiled and said, "No thank you." I felt pretty bad as they walked away, but really, I had no idea. I just thought they were a cute little duo that the restaurant hired to play music for their guests.

We stayed in a hotel that night. For some reason at 2:30am, I woke up quite a bit nauseous. This is not an announcement of another baby coming . . . FOR SURE! Just to explain why I was awake and taking pictures at 2:30am. I happened to glance over in my bed and saw Braeden sleeping with his hand on Gaven. I thought it was too cute of a moment to miss.

SEA WORLD - SAN ANTONIO

We were very excited for the highlight of our trip - Sea World! We were there a little early, and they let you in to the front of the park, but not the attractions in the back. So when were were milling around, waiting for 10am to come, we found some Clydesdales. Those horses are HUGE!!!

I promised myself that I wouldn't keep pictures off the blog just because I am in them and look quite hideous! It was pretty humid, and in some of the other pictures, we had already gotten wet from a few of the rides . . . so now that I have excused my hairdos, here are the other pictures. We couldn't pass up a photo with Shamu!

Here we are, still waiting for the park to open!

The first show we saw was with Clyde and Seymor. They're sea lions that apparently are both actors, too. It was a darling show that the boys REALLY enjoyed!

They had a kiddie roller coaster called the Shamu Express. Carsen went on it the first time with Braeden, but wouldn't go on it again after that. You might be able to tell by their faces that Braeden loved it, and Carsen was less than thrilled!

This was the dolphin exhibit where you can buy food, feed and touch the real live dolphins! We were so sad that Mom and Dad were boneheads and didn't bring any cash because you could buy food to feed them. Cash only, please . . . we found a way around it a little, though. We figured out that if you stood by someone who DID have food, that the dolphins would come over close to where we were.

Braeden really wanted to touch one . . .

WAY COOL, MOM!!

Hi, Dad. . . this is Carsen in the kid's play area while Braeden and I were riding a ride that he wasn't tall enough for. The ride we went on was called Rio Loco. It's a river run on a seated raft that takes you around bends and turns while splashing you along the way. There's a water fall, that when turned on, gets you REALLY wet.

The waterfall was on!!

Here is what Carsen did while we were gone. He still wasn't too thrilled about being on a ride.

Maybe this is why!

They also had a splash pad area. Braeden was standing at the end of this water run. The water wasn't coming out very fast, until a guy that noticed him standing there stopped it for a while and then let go. It came rushing down and hit Braeden right in the chest. I felt the water, and it was pretty cold!

Here's another ride . . . Braeden and I went on first, and he wanted to go again, so Jason went with him. Jason wanted me to point out that Daddy was doing something he doesn't necessarily like so that his little boy could ride. Now is when I tell you to click on the picture to see their faces!