San Antonio!

Noah turned three August of last year and instead of throwing him a party, we thought it would be fun to take a family trip to Sea World. Noah loves animals, and he really loves staying in hotels, so a trip to San Antonio seemed like the perfect birthday present for him. August and September were pretty crazy months for us, so we planned our trip the second week in October. I can't imagine going any other time than in the Fall. The weather was just perfect.

We left on a Wednesday afternoon and arrived in San Antonio around dinnertime. Before we went to eat, we checked into our beautiful hotel along the Riverwalk and got settled in. Noah was really excited about staying in a hotel. It's pretty funny because we would be out doing something fun and it wouldn't be long before Noah was asking us if we could go back to the hotel. :) Little toot. Here is a short video of Noah while we were waiting in the car for Josh to get our key. It was so sweet to see how excited he was about being in "Tonio."

Once we got settled into our room, and after Noah jumped on the bed for a while, we got back in the car and drove around {forever!} in search of the Mexican restaurant Mi Tierra. I kid you not, we drove by that restaurant three times {at least} before we finally found it! But oh was it worth it. AMAZING food. We asked Noah what he wanted to eat, and he told us he wanted some "enchiwawas." After we ate, we decided to head back to our hotel and get to bed early. We still had two full days of fun ahead of us! 

Since Sea World wasn't open on Thursday, we decided that day we'd go to the San Antonio Zoo. We woke up fairly early and found ourselves a hole in the wall Mexican diner for some breakfast burritos. I'll just say right now, every place we ate {majority were Mexican food restaurants} was absolutely delish. After we ate, we were off to the Zoo! We saw lots of animals and enjoyed going to a different Zoo than the one we're used to here in Fort Worth. It was a lot of fun!

The butterfly garden at the Zoo was amazing. We almost passed on it because it cost an extra dollar or two per person to go in, but I'm so glad we went. It was the coolest experience walking into this lush area {almost like a green house} and seeing beautiful butterflies flying all over the place. It was magical. It really was. If you are ever at the San Antonio Zoo, pay the extra money. It's totally worth it.



We ended our day at the Zoo by riding a miniature train around the area. It was just what we needed to relax after being on our feet for most of the day. Poor little Noah couldn't even keep his eyes open-- he was wiped out!

We drove back to the hotel and planned to rest a while before going along the River Walk that night to eat. But we ended up staying in for the night because Noah wasn't feeling well. At all. Poor baby was so upset, and he felt like he was running a temp. And all he wanted to do was sleep. Really, as fun as it would have been to go on the River Walk that evening, it was very nice to be able to just take it easy and spend time together in our hotel room. Since we would be in for the night, Josh went to get the two of us some food at Hard Rock Cafe.

Later on that evening Noah woke up crying, so we thought it would be a good idea to get some medicine because it was obvious he wasn't feeling well. Josh went in search of some medicine while I helped Noah take a shower. Poor baby was just miserable. He just sat down in the shower and let the water fall on him. I felt so sorry for him. But the shower must have helped a little bit because Noah wanted Daddy to bring him a hamburger. But then he decided he'd rather have chicken nuggets instead. Of course, little man got what he wanted, and Daddy came back with medicine and nuggets! And really, it seemed he was feeling better. So we were hoping that Noah was just overtired and that he would be up for going to Sea World the next day.

We all slept well that night and woke up the next morning refreshed and ready for Sea World! I couldn't wait for my little boy to experience Sea World. Noah acted like he felt okay, so we decided to go since we had already purchased our tickets online. Guess what we ate for breakfast that morning? Yep, breakfast burritos again! But at a different Mexican cafe. Our family never gets tired of Mexican food. So we ate {yum!}, and then we were off to Sea World. By the time we arrived though, it was obvious Noah wasn't feeling well. Again. Poor thing. But he was excited and still wanted to go.

Here is my absolute favorite part of Sea World. Watching Noah feed the dolphins!



And of course, we rode several rides. Noah loved them! He was pretty quiet and non-smiley during most of the time we were there {don't blame the little guy}, but when he rode the rides the smiles came out. We saw some of the animals, but didn't end up staying very long because we didn't want to push it. He got to a point after about two hours where he just wanted to go back to the hotel. I admit, I was pretty bummed we didn't get to stay for most of the day. But, there's always next time! And I'm so thankful we at least got to experience some of Sea World.



Since the Shamu show was about to start, we decided to stay for the show and head out afterwards. It was such a fun experience. Those killer whales were just amazing. We will definitely have to take Noah back!

We were all pretty tired once we got back to the hotel, so we laid down and rested. After a while, we got up and Noah was {again} acting like he felt better. Yay! We decided it would be fun to walk along the River Walk that evening and ride the river taxi. Instead of eating along the river, we went to another Mexican restaurant close by. Reviews of the food were good, and we weren't about to miss out on another amazing restaurant in San Antonio. Here is a sweet picture of our silly little guy and Daddy! You can tell from that face he was feeling better!

After we ate, we went along the River Walk and got some ice cream. We rode the river taxi and it was so much fun. Noah absolutely loved it. And then we thought it would be fun to go check out the mall and do a little shopping. We really didn't stay too long, but we did stay long enough to find Noah some cute croc boots. We had the best evening together enjoying beautiful San Antonio. 

It was a wild, fun weekend; hopefully it won't be too long before we can go back again!