San Antonio!

We decided to take a little trip to San Antonio over Spring Break.  Brace yourself, I have a ton of pictures to share.  This blog has replaced scrapbooking for me so I feel the need to journal and share everything (so bear with me).

We left Monday morning and headed to Granny and PawPaw's house because they agreed to keep Izzy Bell for us.  They live in the country so Izzy got to experience country living for a few days.  When we picked her up Wednesday night she was dirty, smelly, happy, and very tired.  She had a blast at Granny and PawPaw's.  She was completely in her element out in the country.  We offered to let them keep her but they declined that offer :).

When we took a trip to Austin a couple of years ago we found this little shop/food stop.

Clearly they have beef jerky, but they also have little goodies, snacks, and more importantly...coffee. 

The boys picked out Jelly Belly suckers.  Caleb chose "cotton candy" and Benjamin got "cherry".  They licked on these suckers for about an hour!

The drive took us much longer than we expected due to horrendous traffic but we finally made it to San Antonio Monday evening.  This is when things get a bit interesting.  We thought we were staying in a hotel, a well known chain of hotels to be specific.  We got there only to learn that it was not a hotel...but a MOTEL.  Hear me when I say that we were paying a hotel rate, not a motel rate.  To say that Glenn and I were grumpy is an understatement.  Here is a glimpse of our room:

The hotel motel was right next to the highway so we heard big trucks all night, plus we were close to a train track so that was fun and our neighbor was coughing up a lung bright and early in the morning.  Glenn repeatedly looked out the window to make sure our car was still there.  It was one of those situations where Glenn and I just had to laugh...or we would cry.  

Funny story:  

(Someone at the motel had hung up their wet clothes to dry outside of their door, it was hanging over the railing.)

Caleb:  Why are those clothes hanging there?

Me:  Because this place is a dump honey.

Caleb:  Why do you call it a dump, I love it here.

So, I guess it is all about perspective.  The boys had no issue with the room or the motel.  They loved it.  We thought about changing to a real hotel but we knew that would take time away from fun stuff so Glenn and I decided to just stick it out.  We did make our frustration known to the manager and he decreased our bill quite considerably.

We headed out first thing Tuesday.  First stop, the Alamo.  Caleb has been learning about Texas at school so he was super excited about seeing the Alamo.

There are several of these across the street from the Alamo.  This is where the men would hunker down with their weapons, it offered them a safe place.

 Here are a couple of shots of the Alamo.

They don't allow photography inside.

The area around the Alamo is really pretty and there is a lot to look at.  I really enjoyed it.

The boys and I in front of the Alamo.

Caleb with the Alamo behind him.

After the Alamo, we headed down to the River Walk.  Benjamin was very excited about riding the "slow boat" (that is what he called the boats that take you down the river).

On board the boat.  The boat tour is pretty neat, it lasts about 30 minutes and you have a guide that tells you all about the history of the River Walk and all the buildings that surround it.  It was really pretty.

Caleb looking up at the tall buildings all around us.

After our River Boat tour we decided to eat some lunch.

Benjamin felt the need to play with all the sugar/sweetener packets.  

This was the view from our table.

From there we headed back to the hotel motel to clean up and take a moment to rest.  We decided to take the boys to the Zoo train for a quick ride around the park.  Benjamin is obsessed with trains right now so he was very excited.  But first, Glenn and I treated ourselves to a very rare treat: Starbucks.  We gave the boys a tiny bit of our Fraps.  

They were in heaven!  They discovered that Frappuccinos are quiet tasty.  For the rest of the trip, Caleb continuously asked if we could go to Starbucks again.  We told  him that he could have another Frappuccino the next time we come to San Antonio!

Caleb wanted to ride on the very back of the train.

I think he is excited.

Look at that sweet face.  He was in little boy, train-lovin' heaven.

After the train ride we were done for the day.  Everyone was exhausted so we headed back to our lovely motel for the night.

Wednesday was our last day in San Antonio and we saved the best for last: Morgan's Wonderland!!

Benjamin felt the need to check out the rain gutters.

I have been hearing about and reading about Morgan's Wonderland for about 2 years now and I have been dying to take Caleb.  It just sounded like such a wonderful place, I couldn't wait to check it out.

When you arrive everyone in your party receives one of these tracking bracelets.  If someone in your party wonders off or if you need to find someone you can go to a "Location Station" and scan your bracelet.  It will tell you where everyone in your party is.  How cool is that?  They thought of everything.

(Glenn thinks I'm a dork for taking this photo-but he humored me anyway)

This place is so neat.  EVERYTHING is accessible.  And not just meeting ADA guidelines as accessible, Morgan's Wonderland goes above and beyond.  They made this place so that you could participate in everything without ever having to leave your wheelchair.  Every ride.  Every activity.  Everything.  Absolutely wonderful.

Caleb riding in the back of the Jeep as Benjamin drove.  Caleb rode this ride twice, once in his chair, and the next time he wanted to get out of his chair so he could drive.

Benjamin behind the wheel of the Jeep.

Caleb taking a turn behind the wheel.

There were at least 3, maybe even 4 fully accessible playgrounds.  Caleb said: "Look, it is for WHEELCHAIRS!"  So cute.  And Mr. Benjamin had so much fun climbing and sliding.

One really great thing about our trip was that we were able to plan it so that Caleb's friend Bryce would be there as well.  We met them over at the water tables.  

  "WaterWorks" was a huge hit with both boys.  We practically had to pull them away so that we could do other things.

Benjamin got a little wet.

Without a doubt Benjamin's favorite thing was the train. We rode it 3 times (I'm certain he would have stayed on the train all day).

Benjamin would point at different things on the engine: "smoke stack", "bell", "whistle".  The boy knows his trains.

 What is more fun than riding on a train?

 Walking on the train track!

I love this picture of Caleb.  I love that he chose to position himself next to the boy in the wheelchair!

This was really cool.  They had these huge touch screens that allowed you to paint a custom car.  When you were done with your car, Morgan's Wonderland actually emails you a copy of the custom car you created.  How cool is that?!

Caleb didn't want to get close to the pirate, and Benjamin would only do it if I sat with him.

Riding the carousel with Landry (Bryce's brother).  Caleb just adores Landry. 

Benjamin shooting a giant water gun.  Morgan's also has a place to fish and drive remote control boats.

We had a really great time at Morgan's Wonderland.  I highly recommend it.  It was just so nice to have a place for Caleb that was 100% accessible.  Nothing was off limits to him.  I loved seeing all of the other families there with their kids and seeing the huge smiles on their faces.  Most of the workers there volunteer there time.  Just a really neat place.

We had a really great time in San Antonio but we were all exhausted and ready to head home.  In fact, this is Benjamin about 3 minutes after we left Morgan's and began to head home.