easter surprise, part two

to make the week especially memorable, we decided to take my parents off to san antonio for a couple days. wednesday morning we all piled in our cars and headed down south. we checked into our hotel and decided to go swimming. well it sadly wasn't the warmest of days, and texas likes to keep their pools nice and cold in anticipation of the warmest of days. most of us couldn't do the full dip, but the kiddos seemed to still love it, everett especially. he was totally showing off his mad swimming skills thanks to his sweet floatie...

after swimming, we headed over to 'the magic time machine', a restaurant that does this whole theme thing where the waiters are dressed up as historical and literary characters. as a child, i remember loving this place, but as a grown-up, not so much. the waiters put on this whole show thing, when i just want to order, eat my food, and spend time with my family.

after dinner, we headed over to the riverwalk. six years ago when we were here last, amber and i missed out on the river boat ride, so we really wanted to make that happen. we made sure to do it at nighttime too for an added bonus. it was a great time and fun was had by all.

we then headed back to the hotel to get some sleep. the next day we did the whole alamo thing. after that, we walked over to the mall and had lunch. from there, we made the long walk over to 'the tower of the americas', san antonio's version of the space needle. we watched a fun 4d video at the bottom before heading up. i don't do well with heights, so when we got up there, i decided to move as little as possible while my crazy wife and kids ran and skipped around at 750 feet up in the sky. after that, we headed over to check out the san antonio temple before heading back to abilene.

friday was spent checking out the prarie dogs (an abilene must), playing at a cool park, then swimming at the ymca. we didn't feel like we got our fill of swimming at the ice cold hotel pool so we decided to go to an indoor pool. after that we went to mr. gatti's (a chuck e cheese type place) and got our fill of pizza, arcade games, and fun little rides. claire especially loved the little roller coaster.

the next day we sadly had to leave my parents and start the long trip home. we stopped in colorado to see my sister and her family. my nephew was in a high school musical so we all went to that after dinner. the musical was based on a bunch of dr. seuss stories, so the kids really enjoyed it. the next day we were headed back home. it was such a great week. i hadn't been back to texas in so long. i do wish i could have seen more familiar faces from my old texas days, but i got to see the faces i wanted to see most - family. :)