The kids and I had the rare opportunity to go w/ Jason to San Antonio. While it was all business for Jason, it was all play for the kids and I or so we thought...We arrived Wednesday evening and this would be Jason's only free night so we were set to take advantage of having him with us. The night started at our hotel, the Westin Riverwalk and I have to say it was just about the nicest hotel I have ever stayed in, just beautiful! Mallory kept thinking she was like Eloise at the Plaza, which was really cute. We took our first stroll down the riverwalk so that I could try to get familiar w/ the area before setting out on my own w/ 3 kids the next day. We stopped at SaltGrass Steakhouse to eat and that's where Mason decided he wasn't hungry and needed to go back to the hotel. I immediately knew that if Mason wasn't hungry then something must be wrong. I sat there nervous the entire dinner thinking, is he going to throw up?? but he never did. We quickly ate what was suppose to be our nice family meal out (the only one) and headed back to the hotel and by this time Mason was burning up with fever. Back tracking several days prior to this, Mason has had some trouble breathing and coughing some, so we have been giving him his inhaler, as he usually, about once a year gets bad asthma and usually pneumonia. Well he's been doing fine, until Wed. night. Jason and I were both positive this was a repeat of 1 year ago when he came down with pneumonia. So... I called the telecare nurse and fortunately for us, the doctor on call understood our out of town situation and called us in an antibiotic. THANK THE LORD FOR THAT! So... Thursday morning I had to trek through downtown San Antonio with THREE KIDS, one sick, to a Walgreens to pick up his medicine. I immediately gave him the medicine and some motrin and the kids and I headed out to the Alamo.
Mason loved the Alamo and Mallory did too, but it really intrigued Mason, all the guns on display and battle scenes. He just loved it. He enjoyed prentending to be shot by cannons in front of the big cannonballs. After about 1 hour at the Alamo, the kids and I stumbled across the The Ripley's Believe it or Not Museum and they begged me to go in it, so we did. We were not in there 5 minutes when Mason doubled over sick to his stomach. I stayed calm, but was freaking out inside, thinking he's about to throw up. Then Mallory starts in... I really think Mallory's was the museum cuz there is some pretty freaky stuff in there. We quickly turned around and I asked the lady for a refund which she gave us. I gave Mason a bag and we scurried as fast as we could through the downtown streets to make it back to our hotel. All the while, Mason's head is hanging into this plastic bag. However, he never threw up. I decided to hang out at the hotel for a bit before trying to venture back out. When Mason perked back up the kids and I went to enjoy the Rainforest Cafe on the Riverwalk. This was all of our first time to go there. The kids were super excited, but when it came time for the "big thunderstorm" they both looked and me and said "that was it?!". They weren't impressed. You definitely just pay for the scenery in that place.
After our late lunch we made our way to the Rivercenter Mall to walk around. Mason wanted so badly to go into the dinosaur museum, but Mallory wasn't having it. She immediately began grabbing her stomach in fear so we were only able to get 1 photo of Mason in front of a dinosaur. Later that evening, the kids and I walked about 3 blocks to the downtown McDonalds while Madelyn enjoyed a nap while we brought our food back to the room to eat. Everytime we went out on the downtown streets, the kids would ask "are we gonna have to run". I think that was one of the highlights of the trip, waiting for the ok to walk sign to come on and then running from street corner to street corner, they laughed the whole way. I honestly think we could have done that all day and they would have called it a vacation...
Finally on Friday, the kids wanted to go back to the Alamo (for more soveniors) and then we went to the Buckhorn Saloon and Museum. Recently we watched the movie Big w/ the kids so Mason was tickled to find a Zoltar Machine at this museum and he put his $1 in and made a wish. It came back something about cowboys and how under every hat is a good cowboy and Mason looks at me w/ a big grin and says " that's what I wished for". I just laughed and laughed! For lunch the kids and I ate at the famous Casa Rio Mexican Restaurant on the Riverwalk and then we walked the entire Riverwalk, stopping at shops and feeding ducks before leaving San Antonio at 2:00.
Madelyn was an absolute angel the entire time. She never fussed or whined. In fact, there was more fussing coming from her older siblings. The only time she ever whimpered at all was bed time, it was difficult getting her to lay down, but once she did she was out!!
It was a memorable trip for the kids and I, the only thing that would have made it better would have been for Jason to be able to hang out with us. But, we sure enjoyed getting away and we can't wait to go back someday...
