Delisa's Days: San Antonio

Last Thursday we set out for a long weekend get-away to San Antonio. My kids had never been there and I hadn't been in years, so we were all excited about it.

If you've ever been to San Antonio, then you know that one of the things you MUST do is walk down the River Walk. Our hotel wasn't far from it, so we were able just walk to it.

Once we got down there, the first thing that Austin noticed was that there is a boat ride that you can take that goes right down the middle of the River Walk. We decided that was probably the best way to see everything, so we purchased our tickets and hopped on a boat.

The tour guide told us all about the history of the River Walk and the buildings surrounding it, and we saw all of the restaurants and shops that line the River Walk, so it was a ride well worth it in my opinion.

Apparently my flash was bright.

This is the Rivercenter Mall, located at one end of the River Walk.

San Antonio is a beautiful city with a neat history. Something Austin has been wanting to do for months now is to go on a cave tour, and he found a brochure on one in San Antonio. Aaron wasn't super excited about going to it, but once we got there he changed his mind pretty fast.

It was beautiful walking down to the entrance of the cavern.

If you've never been down in a cavern, I recommend it. It's cool to see how the stalactites and stalagmites grow and the thought of all of this being over 200 feet below the ground is pretty amazing.

Going down...

We walked down steep walkways to get to the bottom of the cavern. And then walked back up to get out of there. It was a great workout to say the least.

There were no elevators and no other way out than to climb the steep hills to get out. I felt a little bad for the older people in there that were having to rest A LOT on the benches, but I guess that's why they had all of the warnings to not go in if you had any medical problems. I'm sure they all eventually made it out, but it was quite strenuous.

Going up...

The boys also enjoyed the pool at our hotel while we were there. They haven't gotten to swim much this summer, so this was a treat for them. We would play all day and then come back in the evenings and swim.

And what's a trip to San Antonio without Sea World? We all had a blast there. We went to several shows while we were there.

The sea lion show:

This walrus actually turned over on his back and started doing crunches at one point in the show!

I love how sea lions get a running start and then glide on their tummy's. Looks like so much fun.

The dolphin show:

And, of course, Shamu:

The shows were very entertaining and it made me want to be a dolphin trainer. Not so much a killer whale trainer. But I do love dolphins and could watch them all day long and not get tired of it. They are so graceful and they seem to understand their trainers as if they can actually talk to them. It was beautiful really.

Also at Sea World, there was a splash park where the kids could play in the water. We didn't expect this, so we hadn't brought any swimming clothes for the boys. But it was quite handy that they had a shop right next to the splash park where they sold bathing suits and towels, all for the discount price of...well, ok. It wasn't even close to being a discount price, but both of them really needed new suits anyway, so why not get some that say Sea World and cost 3 times as much as they would from Wal-Mart?

They had so much fun playing in the water and the weather was just perfect. It was overcast all day so it didn't get really hot, and it sprinkled several times on and off throughout the day, which kept it cooler.

Well. That and Dippin Dots.

There were also some rides that the kids got to do. Austin and Robbie went on the big roller coaster to which Austin said "Mama, I almost 'froed up'.

There was also a huge playset (imagine McDonalds playplace on steroids) that they both spent a lot of time on. Austin makes a new best friend everywhere he goes, so every time he went up in it, he came down with a brand new friend.

One of our favorite things there was where you could feed and pet the dolphins. Both of the boys got to touch dolphins and that was certainly one of the highlights. Dolphins are just so happy. They look like they've always got a huge smile on their face.