We haven't posted in a while but there is a good excuse: We were on vacation! We took advantage of the long Thanksgiving holiday to spend time with our boys and see some sights with no distractions like cell phones, blackberries, internet, or work. It was a crazy, exhausting, fun, memorable weekend.
Our first stop was in Austin to spend Thanksgiving day with family. There was a fabulous spread with TWO turkeys, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing ... the works! One of the best parts of the meal was that both my boys napped during it so I got to savor each bite and enjoy the company. That is rare for me; with two little ones it seems like meal time is always rushed. The boys played with cousins and went to the park. Mike and I visited with family and watched football. All in all a perfect Thanksgiving day I can't wait to do again.
After a fabulous Thanksgiving dinner we loaded the boys back into the car and headed to San Antonio. We stayed in a hotel on San Antonio's famous river walk. It was gorgeous (which explains all the pictures!) I have never been to Venice but I have seen pictures and I can imagine what it is like so I will say that this is like a little Spanish version of Venice. There are Spanish tiles inlaid in the walls and adobe like roofs on the buildings. And of course a plethora of Mexican restaurants that line the river walk. Boats run through the river you can ride on and bridges and tunnels lace all over it.
The river was decorated for December with Christmas lights everywhere. They hung down from the trees, they lined the boats, and they outlined the walks and bridges. At night it was beautiful to see it all lit up! The day after Thanksgiving the river walk has a light parade where boats are COVERED in lights and holiday decorations and they parade down the river as visitor listen to holiday music and eat dinner. With the little kids and the cold weather we opted to watch the floating lights go by from inside the hotel which had huge windows overlooking the whole thing. We had perfect seats!
We saw lots of great sights walking around San Antonio and we visited the Alamo. It was interesting to walk around inside the old church walls and the makeshift barracks. It feels like hallowed ground when you are there and you know that the men who died there are being remembered for the sacrifice they made.
We window shopped, we ate at fabulous restaurants on the water ways, we walked around downtown, Mike even planned a spa day for me that was very relaxing. It was wonderful. We had plans to do a lot more but Van got sick while we were there and we decided for everyone's sanity it would be better if we came home early. But, as a special treat, on the way home we stopped and picked up some famous fudge: rocky road, toffee caramel, pecan, cookies n'cream,peanut butter swirls, and turtle fudge. So delicious!
