Happy Thanksgiving from San Antonio!

This year our little family decided to head out of town for Thanksgiving...no traditional dinner, no cooking all day, no post-feast naps (okay, maybe we DID all take a nap). Instead we hopped in the car on Wednesday night after work and drove 2 hours south to San Antonio!

Levi, Olivia and I came to San Antonio last year to visit Sea World. This time, we checked out the zoo, the River Walk, and the Children's Museum! It was a lot of fun, as you'll see from the pictures...

We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express about 3 blocks from the River Walk downtown. The hotel occupies an old 19th century jail, which explains the exterior and the bars on the windows! It was a very neat old building with a lot of character...

We arrived late Wednesday, just in time to put the kids to baths and bed. On Thursday, Thanksgiving morning, we went to the zoo!

She's super excited, can you tell? 

I think the petting zoo was O's favorite part...really, why can't you brush the lions like you can the pigs?

Caleb was very good about riding in his stroller...he sat up like a big guy and took everything in!

Always wanted to ride an elephant....

At the zoo we went on a train ride around the park. lots of fun!

Truth be told, we didn't spend nearly as much time at the zoo as we were expecting to. We thought we'd spend all day there, but we ended up being done by lunch! Exploring with an energetic 4-year-old is an interesting experience...look! there's a lion -runrunrunrun - look! there's a zebra -runrunrunrun - look! there's an elephant - runrunrunrun...

yeah. we were done pretty fast.

Awww, we love our Caleb! Yes we do!

So...we went back to our hotel downtown and set out on foot to find lunch by the River Walk. We ate at a very nice restaurant called Luke (there's actually a German umlaut on the "u" but I don't know how to do that on the computer). 

It was delicious! Levi had some wild salmon, I had a filet, and Olivia had mac n cheese. 

Oh, and Caleb slipped out of the stroller because we had forgotten to strap him in. Now that was embarrassing!

See? he's fine. No worse for wear. I don't know anyone in San Antonio...

Olivia making funny faces at lunch. It was such a lovely day to sit outside and enjoy our (very non-traditional) Thanksgiving meal together! :) 

Best part? No cleanup! We all went back to the hotel and took a nap. :P

That evening we explored the River Walk for the first time. Can I just say - wow! We loved it. It was so unique and interesting and beautiful. I've heard that it's hot and humid in the summer but in November it was fantastic.

A friend had recommended NOT taking the stroller down on the River Walk because it is so narrow...and I'm glad she did. It wasn't too crowded on Thursday evening but when we went back on Friday it was very much so. So instead, Levi carried Caleb in the Snuggli. It was so cute! 

And it was funny to see people's reactions. There were many who pointed and said, "Look at the baby!" He was quite comfortable, though... took a few naps, watched the people walked by...

Hey Mommy!

Olivia was dying to go on a boat ride...we watched the riverboat tours go by all afternoon but knew that our kids' attention spans would never make it for a 1 hour tour. Finally, we saw the river taxi! it was $5 for a one-way...and the driver was very nice and made our trip about 30 min all around the River Walk!

It was dark by that time, so we had a lovely nighttime ride!

About half of the restaurants were closed that night, but we ate a yummy dinner at Cafe Ole:

It was very busy but the food was great!

We all slept very well that night...and GASP! even slept in until 7:30 the next morning! 

We were living on the edge.

We also had done everything we'd planned for the weekend on the first day...so we had to improvise! Not too far from our hotel was the San Antonio Children's Museum...how lucky was that!

So off we went. Olivia had a lot of fun!

Being a lion

Driving the trolly

Milking a cow. 

Flying a plane

Shopping for groceries at H.E.B!

Finally, we went back to the River Walk one last time...there was a particular restaurant we wanted to take our kids to but it was closed on Thanksgiving day...

Rainforest Cafe!

It was fun! Both kids had fun looking at the animals on display as they moved around, and watching the whole restaurant light up for the thunderstorms.

And once again, delicious! I think we ate our weight in food in those 2 days.

Speaking of food...I think Olivia's looking pretty yummy to that tiger! :)

And then it was time to go home. We had a great trip. Lots of fun packed into two short days but it was worth it! 

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! :) Hope yours was filled with as much fun, love, and family as ours was. 

Caleb - 6 months!

Okay, so I'm a day behind...but I also missed posting pictures from the last few months so...I guess a day isn't going to matter much.

I can't believe our baby boy is half a year old! Where has the time gone? I look at older pictures of him and can't believe how big he is now...

First week home - our little stink bug

6 months! Such a big boy. He had his 6 month checkup (with four shots, OUCH!) and he weighs 17lb 11oz now. Olivia weighed about 18lbs when she was a year old...

Calebs Likes at 6 months:

-playing with Olivia

-reading (okay, eating) books

-talking/squealing

-baby foods!

Caleb's Dislikes at 6 months:

-being by himself

-riding too long in the car

...that's about it! he's a very happy, mellow baby.

 

What Caleb's Doing at 6 months:

-crawling!

-sitting by himself

-babbling

-sleeping through the night (mostly. Finally!)

 We love you, Buddy Bear! You're growing too fast but we're so thankful to be a part of it.

It's beach time!

We decided to take an end of the year beach trip last weekend...Port Aransas is only about 4 hours away, so it was perfect! We spent all of Saturday on the beach. the weather was perfect! Sunny but not too hot, and the water was warm. We may make this an annual Columbus Day trip!

Caleb's first trip to the ocean!

Enjoying the sun!

Olivia on the boogie board

Sacked out on the beach...this is the life!

Beautiful morning view!

Daddy and Caleb floating in the water!

Caleb and Mommy, enjoying the waves.

On Sunday the weather turned cold, so we had to bundle up in blankets and go to the Texas State Aquarium instead of the beach...

One big, happy, (cold) family! :)

Olivia was the only one brave enough to touch the snake!

Olivia watching the dolphins swim by

It was a great trip, if quick (only 2 days). A nice way to end the summer and usher in the fall! :)

Circus Time!

This past weekend we went to the Ringling Brothers & Barnum and Bailey Circus! It was the first time for Levi & Olivia (and Caleb, obviously), and I hadn't been since I was very little. It was a lot of fun! Very loud, and a little long, but definitely entertaining. We joined our friends Carrie and Jenna (and one of Jenna's friends) there, and had a great afternoon watching the spectacle.

Eating her $12 SnoCone. She'll be eating breakfast out of that bowl for a very. long. time. It was acutally pretty cute...every time the vendors came by with something Olivia would ask, "Why aren't they giving me one?" apparently she thought they were just handing out the snacks and toys to all the kids and was worried they were skipping her! Silly girl.

Up on Daddy's shoulders for the preshow!

Mesmerized girls.

The clowns of the family...Olivia wouldn't put her nose on for the picture. And Caleb decided to be fuzzy.

At this point in the show Levi turned to me and said, "I feel like I'm in a Dr. Seuss book." An apt description, actually!

But Mommy, I'm thirsty!!

We've decided that we need to do more things like this...it was fun watching Olivia be so excited. If only we could figure out a way around the post-show traffic...