San Antonio

Last year, our three younger boys participated in the Junior Olympics held in Albuquerque. At that event, they advertised the venue for the following year, San Antonio, which would include tickets to Sea World! They have looked forward to it ever since.

 

Fast forward one year, and the boys have been working hard with their running club, the Amarillo Striders to prepare for this big race. A wonderful bonus was Grandma Ross agreeing to fly out from Salt Lake to spend the long weekend with us!

The boys in their team gear

On our way into Sea World for the traditional pasta dinner

It was a little chilly and misty strolling through the park which was all decorated for Christmas.

Checking out the course the day before the race

We really wanted to see as much as we could while we were in San Antonio. One of the things that the boys wanted to try was a pizza place called Dough. It was great gourmet pizza, and the best part was the dough each kid got to throw for themselves. It was then fired in a woodburning brick oven. Delicious!

The day of the race arrived, and we had a kid running every hour from youngest to oldest. The number of kids was a lot bigger than the previous year, over 400 in each race! It was crazy! All three of our boys ended up right in the middle of the pack. We were so proud of them!

 

After the racing excitement, we decided to head to Sea World. This still seems strange to me that San Antonio even has a Sea World as they are so far inland (look at a map!). We trekked all over the park looking at the exhibits and taking pictures.

Late in the day, we decided to hit the famed Shamu show. Many years before, we had gone to Sea World when the boys were pretty young. Drake was the only one who really remembered (especially being soaked with Grandpa Martin during the dolphin show). On that trip, we didn't get to see Shamu since she had given birth just one day before our arrival. All we got to see was her swimming laps with her baby. Bummer! So this time around, we were pumped. We got to the arena, got our seats and settled in with anticipation of the spectacle. And then, the announcement....

The trainers were so excited and pleased to announce that for only the 29th time in all of Sea World history, Shamu had given birth to a beautiful baby just days ago! WHAT?!!! You have got to be kidding me! They gave us a bunch of interesting stats, pointed out the mom and calf circling the pool, fed Shamu some fish, and that was IT! I couldn't believe it. What luck. (*sigh*) At least there were plenty of other things to see.

 

On our last day in San Antonio, we went to visit downtown including the Alamo and the River Walk. The kids were all super anxious to get to the Alamo. I think they looked forward to it even more than Sea World. Their history teachers must be doing something right! It was actually pretty cool!

 



Anyone you ask about sights to see in San Antonio always mentions the River Walk. You have to go there! I was reserving judgment as I tend to do when people hype something a bunch. It was actually super cool and far more beautiful than I anticipated. Grandma even sprang for a boat tour. It was awesome.

 



After playing tourist, we had one last lunch stop before we had to take Grandma to the airport. A friend of mine had suggested we seek out Lulu's bakery at some point for a colossal 3 lb. cinnamon roll. They were also famous for their chicken fried steak. How could we pass that up? We found the little hole in the wall and we were not disappointed! Pure heaven!

With full bellies and happy hearts, we whisked grandma off to the airport and winged our way home to Amarillo. What a wonderful time we had! Thanks, San Antonio!