Oct: Fire Station Open House

Our fire station had an open house and we visited it between conference sessions on Saturday. It was way cooler than I thought it would be! They had the police department, SWAT teams, search and rescue and other organizations there in addition to the fire equipment.  We even got to watch the paramedic helicopter take off!

 

Bear was most excited to see the "Firemans tools" so he was pretty happy to see the tool door wide open. The axes and stuff *are* pretty darn impressive!

The kids got to sit in and pretend to drive lots of vehicles. Let's hope that Eli only ever gets in the front seats of a police car and never the back :)

We had a lot of fun and learned that all 3 of my kids are totally enthralled by bagpipe music. They had the firestation bagpipe group performing and they were all riveted!

Hippo Guts Park

 One of the kids' favorite park is one that we call "Hippo Guts" park. The park has this hippo play-thing (above) that you can go inside. There, in the plastic, is labeled, 3D hippo parts- heart, stomach, tongue, etc.  This helps distinguish "Hippo Guts" park from the other park nearby- "The one where we had the Halloween Party".

Aside from the hippo and his guts, this park is next to a little wooded area with trails running through it.  The kids love it and as soon as we get there, Bear asks "Can we go displore the world?" which means explore the trails.  Both times we've walked there we've seen a hawk (once it flew really close to us) and DMP and the kids saw some fish and turtles by the little river that runs through the park.

On the day I took these pictures, it was 84 degrees!  It was so lovely how could we NOT spend 2 hours playing.  When Birdy first got on the swings, she started swinging normally. Then she says to herself- "Wait a minute, this isn't school!" and promptly started swinging with her belly on the seat and then standing up.  Apparently at school you can swing on your bum only, and no jumping out. It was so funny to watch the girls doing all the "forbidden" fun things on the swing- they were almost defiant about it :) 

Then they practiced hanging upside down for a while.  Just as we were about to go home, some of our friends from church showed up. It was a lot of fun and the kiddos were excited to get even more extra park time!

Strawberry Jam Jam

Strawberry season is earlier in TX than in UT.  There was a crazy sale on strawberries a couple weeks ago, so that can only mean one thing- strawberry freezer jam!  In the past, the jam-making has been a solitary Mom activity, but this time we decided to get the whole family in on the action.  We turned on some Pandora (courtesy of the Roku- thanks Bek!) and had a jam jam- get it.  Also, we helped increase the kids' appreciation of 90's alternative music.

Everyones favorite part was slicing the berries.  These girls are FAST - we could hardly keep up with their awesomeness.

Bear is really, really good at mincing. 

Then it was time to blend the berries into yummy puree.  I'm kind of questioning the wisdom of kids + blender as I look at this picture....

One of my favorite things about having big kids....

Two words: Pirate Life

Day 3: Riverwalk, Alamo, Japanese Tea Garden

Day 3 started out a little rough. When we got home from Sea World, we figured out why Birdy had been stopping us to itch her feet and legs all day. She had what looked like the same rash she got when she took penicillin. We assumed it was a reaction to the pool (which was really chlorine-y) and gave her some benadryl and hydrocortozone.  We now know that it was probably strep since our adventure in Urgent Care with Bear the day after we got home.  Poor kid was a trooper, even though she wasn't feeling well! 

 Anway, on Day 2 we made our way to the famous San Antonio Riverwalk. I liked it a lot more than I expected to.  It is down below street level and full of all these lovely bridges and picturesque nooks, fountains and statues.  There are also lots of bars and restaurants all along with patios to eat outside. It made me want to go back and wander for a couple hours (without kids of course!).  Since we did have kids who were sick/tired of walking from the day before, we just wandered a little and road a river boat (you can see them in the first picture.

Not far away from the river walk was the Alamo. Mom warned me that it was smack in the middle of downtown, but I was still surprised to find it there nestled amongst the high-rise offices and hotels.  Just like everything else on this trip, it was jam-packed with people on Spring Break.  We didn't go into the Alamo church itself (called the Shrine- no really) because there was a huge line that wound around the block. It was hot and we were hungry so we decided against it. Next time Alamo!  There are other buildings and things to see on the grounds, though, as well as some interpretive museum stuff that was really neat.

The Alamo is a pretty building with some nice carving and stuff on the outside. It was surprisingly small, though.  If you aren't familiar with the Alamo (and I wasn't before the State Texas History Museum) the basic story is that when Texans were fighting for their freedom from Mexico, there was a point in the battles that the Texans were getting their butts kicked a lot. It was a cold winter and many men were concerned with their families and leaving the army to go home and take care of them. The Alamo was attacked by a giant Mexican force and the defenders knew they were outnumbered and that relief wasn't likely to get there in time, but they still stood up and defended the Alamo anyway. Their bravery became a rallying cry that helped re-inspire the Texans to eventually win their freedom. 

The boy proved that all boys love big guns. This was his favorite thing about the whole property. That and the carp living in an irrigation ditch.   The grand Texas history is lost on this one :).   Below is just a picture of the girls by a pretty and peaceful fountain.

After the Alamo, we had a late lunch and went back to the hotel.  DMP, Birdy and Bear took a rest (well, Birdy rested, Bear played and kept Daddy awake).  EJ and I went and got a treat, and then she got to swim in the pool while I read. After dinner, we decided to go to the Japanese Tea Garden I'd read about.

Not only was it beautiful, but it had a really interesting story, too. It was an old quarry used for making cement. In the early 1900's, a man decided it should be a Japanese garden and had a Japanese man and another architect design it.  The Japanese man and his family lived on the site in a house and ran a tea room and took care of the garden for something like 25 years. Then, during World War 2, they were kicked out and the garden was renamed the "Chinese Tea Garden" (see the sign above) until the mid 80's.  It is so sad that the man who designed and took care of the garden lost his home because of the anti-Japanese sentiment. We also thought it was funny that they were like, "We'll just call it a Chinese Garden- it's kind of the same..."

 The boy was happy with the giant Koi in the pond.

 This girl was getting photos taken for her quince.  The girls were in LOVE with her crown and big, pouffy dress. Bear loved her, too, but only from afar.  Now EJ wants a quince party when she turns 15.

Pretty Birdy with some of the garden in the background. The bridges and walls around the paths and the big pagoda thing are all made out of rocks that look like they were part of the quarry leftovers- very jagged and narrow.  They were very cool-looking!

The garden was so nice and peaceful. It was the perfect sunset-y time of day and everyone had just had a good rest. A great break from the crowds and walking from the morning and the day before at Sea World.

The girls were pretty cooperative about getting their annoying Mom stopping them every 10 feet to take their picture. The boy loved running around and climbing up jagged, dangerous steps too much to stop and have his picture taken!

On the way home from the garden we passed this restaurant and sign.  It was like a gauntlet was thrown down for this burger-loving girl. We had to check it out for ourselves.  It wasn't too far from the hotel, so DMP dropped the kids and me off and went to get "the best burger in San Antonio and the state".

The verdict?  Definitely the best burger we've had in TX so far (and we've had a fair amount looking for a new "best burger" near our house).  I'd say it is definitely in the top 8 burgers I've ever eaten. It had a good burger-bun-veggie ratio and the meat was well-seasoned and had that nice crispy edge that they get sometimes.  There was a bit too much French's mustard for me, but I'm finding I'm really not liking that at all most of the time lately, so that could just be me :)  So it could very well be the best burger in Texas, but for now, I'll accept "Best burger in town"!

Day 2: See Sea World!

Day 2 was all about Sea World!  We were pretty happy that it didn't open until 10, so we were able to eat breakfast and get ready without too much of a rush.  The first thing we did when we got to Sea World was find the dolphin feeding.  All Birdy wanted to do for her birthday was to feed a dolphin.

When we planned this trip, I didn't make the connection that the entire rest of Texas was also on Spring Break.  Everything was SOOO crowded and it was a good thing we headed to the dolphins early. They only feed them certain amounts at certain times (which makes sense, otherwise you have chubby dolphins) and according to the lady in line in front of me, the wait in the afternoon was something like 2 hrs!  DMP took the kids to see the sharks and coral reef nearby, and I waited in line. I took the video below of the dolphins bobbing up and down to check if there were people with food yet!

When it came down to it, the girls were a little to scared to touch the dolphins, but the had fun feeding them and Birdy got her birthday wish!

This sea world was a pretty equal mix of thrill rides, kiddie land - Sesame Street-themed "Bay of Play" and ocean exhibits. We were a little disappointed that it didn't seem to have as many ocean animals and exhibits compared to Sea World San Diego, but we still had a lot of fun- it was just different than what we were expecting.

I just love this picture of the boys on the carousel at Bay of Play.  Also, I think it is cool that we managed to color-coordinate Bear with the Bay of Play- right down to his shoes!

Bear was in heaven- he LOVED watching birds (called "babies") and fishies.  He could have stayed in the coral reef place all day and just watched the fishies swim around.  He also learned they word "ray" and "shark".

Here is Birdy with a Mommy and Baby seal (brown fuzzy thing behind the Mommy). Also, notice how I wrote my phone number on her arm. No fancy temporary tattoos or bracelets for us!  All the kids really liked the penguin exhibit, where they could see all kinds of penguins hanging out and swimming around.

We did go to three shows and they were awesome. The first was Azul and it was a great show with acrobats, birds, belugas and pacific white sided dolphins. It was easily the best show- better than Shamu!  We went to the comedy show "Cannery Row" that had sea lions, an otter and a walrus. It was really funny, especially because the animals weren't cooperating that day and the trainer/actors had to keep ad-libbing to make up for them!  We didn't go to the new Shamu show "One Ocean" because it conflicted with Azul, but we did go to the evening show of Shamu Rocks.  It was great and DMP and I were glad to skip the special-ness that is the typical Shamu show. 

The girls were really excited that there were a bunch of rides in the Bay of Play that were perfect for them- not to 'babyish" but not to scary, either.

The girls DESPERATELY wanted to get wet in the Bay of Play splashpad/fountain play place, but we weren't prepared to deal with soaked kids all day (how was I supposed to know it would be hot in mid-March?). Next time we'll come prepared to get wet!

When we got back to the hotel, the kids found super-special surprise Shamu bags waiting for them (thanks Grandpa!

We had a good time at Sea World, but I don't know that we'll be in a huge hurry to get back.  There weren't as many animal-related exhibits as in San Diego, and everything was REALLY far away from each other- there was so much walking (like 10 min) from one place to the next.  The fact that we were there with the entire rest of Texas might have also had something to do with it, too!

Day 1: Mammoths and Bluebonnets

Just before we left for our trip, EJ had a unit all about Texas in school. She can tell you the state bird (mockingbird), butterfly (monarch), hat (10 gallon, of course), tree (pecan), and flower- the Bluebonnet.  We were so excited that we got to see lots of these beauties and some more of other famous Texas wildflowers on this trip.

We kept seeing so many as we were on the freeway, but never in a place where we could safely stop. On the way to the Mammoth site, we saw this little patch and EJ was so excited to get out and take some pictures.  It was funny that when we got to the site, we saw a huge bunch, right by the parking lot (the picture at the top of the post is from that bunch) but we'll never forget our first Bluebonnets :) 

I read about the mammoth site in Waco in one of my kid magazines. It sounded really neat, and it was along the route of our short (5 hr) drive to San Antonio, so we decided to check it out.  It was really cool. I wouldn't recommend going without the tour since there really aren't any interpretive signs or anything, but it is well worth a visit.

To get to the site, you walk along a paved trail for about 1/4 mile. The guide told us about animals that lived in TX with the mammoths- giant sloths and giant bears, and even a giant armadillo that was as big as a VW bug! 

Bear LOVED this big mural of an adult male mammoth- they were BIG!

The site itself is in a building and the bones are exposed as they were found, so the kids could really get an idea of what a paleo dig is all about. There are two groups of mammoths who both died in flash floods, 15,000 years apart so the kids also learned about dirt layers and how they age bones.  Since they died in a flood instead of being eaten or something, the bones are still in roughly a recognizable body form. 

If you look on the pic above, you can see his huge tusks at the top, his front leg (bent) in the upper-right, his ribs in the middle, and his pelvis and back legs at the bottom.

Here is another mammoth- you can see her skull in the right side with a broken tusk. Her ribs and backbone are to the left of the skull in the top of the photo and her leg is in the middle-ish bottom.

Here is Daddy and Birdy in front of a mural depicting the flash flood that killed the herd. Drama!

After the mammoths, we went off to find a Rudy's. It's a reigional BBQ chain that we've heard is really good. We were not disappointed. I think it is the best BBQ we've had in TX so far!  The picture above is especially for Uncle Jeff (thus EJ's "Neener Neener" face)- check out the brisket, smoked sausage, smoked turkey, buttered and boiled red potatoes and, to top it off, a real cane sugar Dr. Pepper.  *Sigh* it was all divine.  Now I want some good BBQ...

We FINALLY got to our hotel and got to go swimming. I think the kids were looking forward to swimming more than any other part of our trip! Too bad this was destined to be Birdy's only trip to the pool. The next day she had a rash that we thought came from the pool, so we nixed any more swimming trips :( (turns out the rash was strep, so it is probably doubly-good she didn't go again!).