Today's Adventure.....downtown San Antonio

It was a very long day.  We spent about 6 hours in downtown San Antonio, but it's so nice and interesting.  In the middle of this city is so much history and so many different types of architecture to look at.  The girls and I perused the mall while the big boys went to Ripleys Believe it or Not.  A lady at the mall told us that yesterday Shaq was at Ripleys.  We probably couldn't have gotten in then.  Today they had Hard Rock closed for a private event.  We wondered what that meant.  The girls had never been in a mall with so many escalators and Jaemin learned that he LOVES escalators.  He had a great time on them.  Jaemin also learned, while walking around San Antonio, that he likes his stroller a lot more than he thought.  He walked a couple of blocks and couldn't wait to get back in it.  No problems with him after that.

After the mall and Ripleys, we strolled on over to the Alamo.  It was pretty interesting.  There wasn't as much left of it as I expected.  The bigger kids and Brian went into  a different area that I really couldn't get the stroller into easily and said there was some of Davey Crockett's belongings, etc.  We saw a bunk area....I did with Jaemin and it was really small.  As in these people must have been really short!  There were only some canons left that we saw, but the little models of what it did look like were pretty interesting.

After that we walked all the way down to the Market Square.  I was expecting a Namdaemun of sorts....nothing like.  It was okay, but could have done without the 20 minute walk (slow walking) each way.   I did find something to get the grandparents for Christmas though and Kaelin found a bracelet, Chelsi found a ring that's actually sterling silver and small enough for her and Chase found a bird call of some sort that he just had to have.

We walked back to the mall and took a riverwalk boat tour.  The tour guide was pretty interesting explaining how all of the cultures made up San Antonio, including a strong German culture and how the San Antonio river was not always called that.  It's now a maze of places to go around because there are man made arms off of it for the businesses.  But it is really pretty!  After the relaxing boat ride we ate along the river at Casa Rio.  They definitely had homemade salsa and it was every bit as good as what the family makes.  I don't usually drink, but a beer sure did go down smooth with my Mexican food after a scorching hot day.

Onto Sea World tomorrow.  Tickets are printed and ready to go.  And since the hotel gave us 2 adult 2 day passes and saved us a bunch, we bought the kids quick queue passes.  We'll see if that's worth it tomorrow, but it's set to be 98 degrees tomorrow and I'm thinking we're going to want to run through those water rides OFTEN.

This was Ripleys.  Brian said it was some tunnel that was dark and it felt like you were tilted, so the boys had to hang onto the rail.

And then there's the aligator that ate so many dogs that there were dog tags and dog collars in the 18 footer.

And the mask made out of human skin....ick!

And the mastadon.

And the boys in front of a chunk of the Berlin Wall.

The Alamo

At Alamo Square, outside the Alamo.

Just walking around....we didn't go, but it's the Tower of the Americas.

Then, the Riverwalk boat tour.

This is gargoyles on a building.  Brian couldn't see it, so he asked me to take a picture.  The guide said the people who built it were very superstitious and put gargoyles and protectors into the architecture.  But, less than a few days after it was built the Great Depression hit and they lost it to bankruptcy.

Beautiful view along the way.

Water was a commodity on this hot day.

 This is where some of the Germans used to live when they settled in.  It's not longer residences.

Then, we finally ate....and yes we chose inside after a long hot day, though sitting on the riverwalk would have been relaxing too.

Swimming Extravaganza!

We swam and swam some more today.  We did the tour/sales thing and then came back and got ready for the pool this morning.  I think we were out there by 10 am.  We finally got the kids to break to go make some ham sandwiches and then Jaemin, thankfully, took a nap....so did Brian I think.  We got them back out tonight so the girls and I could get them some new swim suits since they're pretty much ruined after the OK hotel.  We swam for HOURS!  The kids LOVE the lazy river and the waterslides.  We're thinking tomorrow we'll take in some history after lunch.  The big kids were never in the same place for more than a second, so no pictures.  Cole even called the front desk to have them light up the grill so we could make some brats tonight.  He was tired early.

We made it

It's a long drive to TX and the big cities here are a lot different than just driving in St. Louis.  It doesn't compare to the chaos.  The Texans don't think so, though.  ;)  San Antonio is a nice city though.  We hope to see more soon.  Mom, here's the condo.  Very, very nice and Chase cannot wait to check out the waterslide tomorrow.

a picture says it all

 This was where we ate tonight.  Read carefully.

Vacation? Let the planning begin

So, we had planned to use my mom's timeshare for a little localish vacation.  Just something to get away.  With the crazy schedule of 2 full time working parents and 5 crazy kids ages 3-14 I thought we'd need it.  But, then mom said I could look into an exchange.  Hmmm....sounds interesting.  Well, we have a limit.  Brian can only take being in a car for so long.  He was kinda always that way, but even moreso after his injury.  His muscles get bound up, so-to-speak, and it can cause his neuropathy and spasms to get worse just sitting in a tight, confined area for so long...even with short breaks.  So, I looked to get over the first hurdle of distance since we can't afford to fly all 7 of us anywhere.  Then, after I narrowed it down to a day drive (long day, but only 1) I needed to narrow it down to places with a room big enough to hold all 7 of us.  There aren't as many as you'd like to think.  Not all 2 bedrooms are made equally according to their rules.  I thought San Antonio TX sounded interesting.  I've never been there and my last stay in TX was very short and I was only 17.  Looked like there was lots of free things we could do.  Mom didn't think she'd get this place, but she got an email the very next day that we could go.  So, YAY!  We get to vacation again this year and it looks awesome!  Without mom, I'm not sure we would have ever had a family vacation.  Even when there were only 3 or 4 of us, we had no money to take any cool, fun vacations and taking the whole night stay cost out of it makes an enormous difference.  We're still hoping she can get a suite for her and Joe, 'cause it's kinda fun all vacationing together.  But, we're still thankful for the chance for anything.

And, I know some people are thinking if you're trying to save for Korea so bad, etc. why are you going?  Well, here's my answer, in case anyone thinks it's there business.  We don't know if we'll ever really get to go to Korea.  It's getting to be more of a dream than a goal.  The plane tickets are getting out of range for a family of 7 on our income.  I mean, you have to admit that almost $2,000 a ticket x 7 is a lot.  Do I still want to try to go?  Absolutely.  But my point is that I also know how short life is after Brian's accident.  In case we don't get to go anyways, and the little we'll have to spend without hotel costs is minimal, we want to make as many memories as we can with the kids.  Soon enough Cole will be grown and gone.  There's a decent possibility Brian will continue to lose muscle function.  I know I am not the only one that notices his walking is getting harder for him and way more noticable that he is having trouble.  There is a reality that a lot of spinal cord injury patients that recover their function after their accident will actually end up losing it again.  Some people manage to make it 20 years before stenosis, etc. and some don't.  We're enjoying life and doing everything we can before what life did to him 4 years ago decides our borrowed time is up.  We do NOT want to regret a second and just wishing and dreaming our lives and our memories away and having no time left.  It's not like we have to take a loan out to do this, and we wouldn't if we did.  That would be irresponsible.  We're going to grab every chance we have to have fun together and are fortunate mom is giving us yet another chance to do something as a family on a limited budget.

So, I'm cautiously excited to plan our sight-seeing vacation and just chillaxin' by a beautiful pool for a week!

Beach Family Pictures

I don't think I ever posted our family pictures from Orange Beach here.  I brought my tripod and set the timer and snapped what I could.  Not too bad for being in the photo and being the photographer.

Oh man! Almost over

It's almost time to leave vacation and come home. I'd be ready if it weren't for the stinky weather back home. Looks like we're leaving our sunny, breezy, wonderful weather for rain!  We found a great place to stay for the kids.  We're not on the beach, but we're close.  The Caribe resort has a trollie that takes you to the intercoastal beach and it's really nice, pretty, green water.  The waves are a tad calmer there and better for the little ones.  The resort also has a huge pool for our building, an indoor pool for our building and lazy river.  There is also another pool with a water slide and the indoor pools have little waterslides.  All in all this place is really nice and we got to split the cost with our friends.  The room is nice too.  3 bedrooms and 3 bath rooms.  With 4 adults and 6 kids, I can't imagine less.  We've done most of the morning and lunch cooking and a couple of evenings too.  But the kids really wanted to enjoy the seafood, so we've been trying to let them since this is really a treat and we never get to eat out at home.

We've had such a great time.  We've spent LOTS of time at the beach where we quickly found out Jaemin is definitely a brut!  He takes a licking from those waves and just keeps on going.  Though I think we emptied a pound of sand out of his swim diaper and pants pocket.  Jaemin and Chelsi are SUPER tan regardless of our efforts to put tons of lotion on.  I burned regardless of my efforts for myself.  Not bad though.  Cole, Chase and Kaelin have nice little tans going too.  No one can beat out Chelsi and Jaemin's suntan Barbie tans.

The Naval Museum was pretty neat and Jaemin was in stimulus overload with all those airplanes.  I don't think he knew what to do.  He just kept yelling 'airpane', 'airpane'.  He was so, so excited to see all of them and a couple of helicopters.

We spent a morning with my dad since we were only four hours away and hadn't seen him or his wife in 1 1/2 years.  This is the first time they 'really' got to see Jaemin and his 'real' personality since right after he came home from Korea.

The shrimp boat was super fun too.  They touched all kinds of sea life.  Even Jaemin and Chelsi helped feed the small fish to the seagulls after we were done checking out the catches and our deckhand explained what everything was and a little bit about them.

IF you ever come to Orange Beach or Gulf Shores, don't come during the Hangout Music Festival if you have kids.  Not real kid friendly then.  Lots of younger crowds I didn't care to have my kids around.  Do go to Flippers to eat. It's off the beaten path for sure, but awesome atmosphere where you can eat right on the bay, outside.  Free homemade ice cream afterward too!  DeSotos is a great seafood restaurant.  A little expensive, but HUGE meals that are REALLY good.  Live Bait was really good too.  Our friends didn't care for Bubba's lunch.  Dominoes, while cheap and we could eat it at the pool, not worth the 1 1/2 hours and 3 phone calls it took to get it to us.  It was luke warm by the time they arrived.  Needless to say they had to waive the delivery charge.

I brought my good camera and tripod and took our family picture on the beach.  So that's what we're bringing back to the grandparents, wink wink, just so you know.  That's the gifts your getting.  We thought that would be better than a bunch of useless items that say Orange Beach AL.

So our trip is winding down, our house seems to be still standing from what Brian's dad says and we're all getting worn out.  It has been enjoyable though.

Here are the pictures I haven't posted yet; before we head home.

On the drive down.

Room with a view.

First day in the water.

Day 2

Day 3 - Cole has glow sticks on his head and they're throwing a glow ball.  They were just being goofy that night.

Day 4

Sorry, I just enjoyed our day today....no pics!