The stars at night are big and bright...
This weekend Ryan went to a convention in San Antonio to meet one of his school requirements and the kids and I tagged along. Kate was so excited to stay in a hotel and she talked about it for days beforehand. On the day of, we woke the kids up at 4:30 am and put them straight into the car to start driving. I picked up Kate and walked down the stairs and as I did I heard her start to giggle and she looked up at me with a big smile on her face. She was SO excited for our big family adventure! We stayed in the Drury Plaza which was originally the Alamo National Bank built in the early 1900's and really fancy and fun. One of the first things we did after Daddy got done with classes on Friday was check out the outdoor pool on the roof (22nd floor) and admire the view. 
Then we set out for an adventure on the Riverwalk where we headed towards the mall to buy our under dressed Daddy some fancier duds. We took a wrong turn and only realized it when we looked up and saw our hotel again....we had taken a long loop instead of heading towards the mall! Good thing that Riverwalk made for a pretty view because we were TIRED! We finally got to the mall and headed to Macy's where we put together a snazzy outfit for $100. I'm talking shoes, socks, slacks, belt and shirt! And he looked good too!
My kids were going a little stir crazy from the boredom of shopping and I came around the corner to find Sawyer looking up at me with a proud smile on his face saying, "shoes!"
He was pretty proud of himself! That boy sure does love his shoes!
After we were done shopping we headed back through the Riverwalk, admiring the ducks and boats and stopping to eat at a yummy tex-mex restaurant. 
Kate took lots of pictures too and I'll post some of those later!
After a good long rest back in the hotel room, a swim in the indoor pool and enjoying a huge buffet of hot dogs and baked potatoes at the hotel happy hour, we decided to venture out onto the Riverwalk again for some ice cream. During the day we could see there were strands of lights hanging from the trees and I was really hoping they would be on but we were disappointed. We did enjoy a tunnel with some blue lights though and the riverwalk itself was really fun after dark. We found a cute ice cream shop and enjoyed the yumminess.
Next to our table was this fake monkey in a cage thing with Easter egg prizes inside that kept talking. I'm pretty sure that monkey has been alive longer than I have been. Kate was really curious about it so we gave her a quarter to test it out. She got these big red plastic lips and we all thought it was pretty funny!
That night both kids were excited about the idea of sleeping in the same, big bed together. We turned off all the lights and Kate snuggled right in and was asleep in about 2 seconds. Sawyer kept popping his head up and looking around but he stayed put. Eventually we looked over and saw this
They slept all through the night!
Saturday Ryan left to go to his classes and left us alone to explore around a little bit. Here is Sawyer with his crazy bed head on the way to the pool. 
Kate's hair was a little more under control....but only a little!
The rooftop pool was so much warmer than the indoor pool so I actually wanted to get in! Sawyer is fearless when it comes to swimming and the day before he had impressed us with his death defying jumps into Ryan's arms. When I was all by myself I was taking turns swimming around with one while the other sat on the steps. This worked out well until I looked over and Sawyer took a giant unassisted leap into the pool. I was only a few strokes away, but he sure knows how to give his mama a heart attack! After that we spent our time in the small, shallow jacuzzi. 
We had to check out of our hotel and so we parked and headed over to the Alamo just in time to meet Daddy there. We were anxious to head home so we didn't spend much time. While we were waiting for Ryan, Kate asked me what it was and I told her that it was the Alamo and that something historic happened there. That wasn't enough for my inquisitive Kate so, of course, she asked me what historical thing happened there. Let me just say....if I do consider home schooling my kids I will have to do a little studying up on my history! My story was pretty confusing and I definitely didn't have my facts straight! Good thing she is 3. I guess I don't remember the Alamo well enough!
After the Alamo we headed home. It was a fast weekend and we packed a lot in, but it was sure fun. As we were leaving the hotel Kate said, "Goodbye hotel! Hope we see you again soon!" I agree! Family vacations are the best!
