Visit San Antonio :: River Walk & The Alamo

In December I crossed off 2 items from my bucket list: visit The Alamo and the Paseo Del Rio (or the San Antonio River Walk).

My family and I flew into San Antonio, Texas shortly before Christmas in order to visit my in-laws who retired there two years ago. This was my first trip to San Antonio.

After spending a couple of days doing the usual Christmas related activities, we loaded up in my in-laws SUV and drove into downtown San Antonio.

Paseo Del Rio

San Antonio impressed me with its clean streets and tourist friendly layout. We easily found a parking garage (I saw little on-street parking) and set off to explore the city.

We wandered around downtown and crossed over the Paseo Del Rio, or San Antonio River Walk, a couple of times. Unfortunately our agenda for the day didn't allow much time for exploring the River Walk but the parts we saw were beautiful.

Shops, hotels, and restaurants lined the River Walk tempting our appetites and wallets. We finally ended up at Fuddruckers in Alamo Plaza where they claim to make "the World's Greatest Hamburgers." They have good reason to make their claim. The hamburgers were HUGE but my hubby managed to eat all of his burger, and declared it delicious.

The Alamo

After filling our tummies we walked down the street to tour The Alamo. This was the highlight of the day for me!

First we posed for the necessary tourist picture. After all, can you really visit such a famous site and NOT take a picture?!

Picture taking completed, we moved into the Long Barrack Museum where we watched a short video explaining the events of March 6, 1836. The Long Barrack Museum also houses a collection of historic items from this era.

As we strolled from display case to display case, I heard my son, Ben (6 yrs.), cry out "Davy Crockett's rifle!" A beginner reader, he had managed to read the sign on the display. Last year we read a biography of Davy Crockett and watched the old movie of his life so Ben recognized Davy's name.

Sufficiently educated about the siege and battle at The Alamo we entered the Shrine. The building you typically think of as The Alamo, and see in the above picture, is the Shrine.

Inside the Shrine everyone speaks in hushed tones, much like you would at a funeral. There are a few more displays to look at and read but mainly I just thought about the men who wanted freedom enough that they died for it.

It's a sobering thought.

Visit San Antonio

I had a great time walking around downtown San Antonio with my family. In addition to the River Walk and The Alamo, we also visited the San Antonio Children's Museum. I'll share about the awesome Children's Museum in another post.

After a day in San Antonio I checked off two items on my bucket list. But I also added 2 new places to visit: The Buckhorn Museum and Ripley's Believe It or Not! Museum. I guess I'll have to visit San Antonio again!

I highly recommend that YOU visit San Antonio. The warm winter weather makes San Antonio a great February Vacation or Spring Break destination!

Have you visited San Antonio?

Disclosure: I have received NO compensation for this post. I had a great time with my family in San Antonio, Texas and think you will too.

Read more San Antonio posts:

• Visit San Antonio :: San Antonio Children's Museum
• Visit San Antonio :: SeaWorld San Antonio

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Valentine's Day Children's Books

Valentine's Day is just around the corner so I picked up a few Valentine themed books from our library. We've enjoyed reading them aloud and I recommend you read them, too!


Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown

Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown by Charles M. Schulz is basically the old Charlie Brown Valentine's Day video in book form.

Charlie Brown is confident that this will be the year he receives a Valentine's Day card. As the story goes along his confidence wans and eventually he realizes no one sent him a Valentine. Poor Charlie Brown!

I really like the way that old Charlie Brown movies are also made into books. The entire movie is included so you don't miss your favorite parts. Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown is laid out like a comic strip so it's visually attractive to young readers.

I loved introducing my kids to Charlie Brown and his friends. Hopefully I'll find this book at a used book sale this year.

The Valentine Box

The Valentine Box by Maud Hart Lovelace is a sweet story about a little girl, Janice, who is new in town. She dreads her class Valentine's Day party because she's afraid no one gave her any valentines. I won't spoil the story but I will say the ending is happy and cheerful.

This is the first book I've read by Maud Hart Lovelace. When I opened the book to read it I recognized her name as the author of Betsy-Tacy, which I've seen mentioned on other blogs but have never read.

So, I know almost nothing about Maud Hart Lovelace. I don't know if this is a typical story for her or different from her norm.

The thing I find most interesting about this book is the illustrations. While the storyline is your typical new girl story, the illustrations show Janice as an African American child in a class of all Caucasians. The words of the story in no way address the difference. The black and white illustrations make the difference very subtle and I doubt my children even noticed.

The Valentine Box was published in 1966 during a racially turbulent time for our country. I wonder if the illustrator, Ingrid Fetz, was trying to make a point through her drawings or if the story as a whole was intended to make a statement. If you know the history behind this book, I'd love for you to share in the comments.

Cranberry Valentine

Cranberry Valentine by Wende and Harry Devlin is a cute story about a confirmed bachelor, Mr. Whiskers, who begins receiving unsigned valentines. Being a confirmed bachelor he is very concerned that someone has set her cap to catch Mr. Whiskers!

I'll not give away who has sent the valentines but in the end Mr. Whiskers is relieved to learn that he was never in any matrimonial danger.

You may recall we read Cranberry Thanksgiving last fall. Cranberry Valentine is part of the same series and centers around the same three characters. Like the other book, a cranberry cake recipe is included at the end of the story.

I'll definitely keep my eye open for the Cranberryport series when I visit a used book sale! And recommend you do the same!



What books have your been reading? Any good Valentine's Day books?


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Announcing...Everyday Family Living!

It's Launch Day!

I officially announced my new blog, Everyday Family Living, on Facebook today. I had intended to make this a big day full of excitement and giveaways but life got in the way so I'm just going to make an announcement and let it go at that.

You might be wondering “Why another blog?” or “What’s different about the new blog?” Great questions!

Why another blog?

My vision for Stephanie’s Mommy Brain is to be a place of practical encouragement for moms. While tips and ideas for family time activities are a part of that support, I want SMB to focus on the heart and experiences of moms. I want to encourage moms that they are not alone in their struggles and help them be the mom they want to be.

The thing is, I really enjoy writing about the fun activities I do with my children, the good children’s books we read, and our family visits to tourist sites. I want to expand on those topics and write about them even more, but SMB just isn’t the place to do that.

Thus, Everyday Family Living was born!

What’s different?

The biggest difference is that Stephanie’s Mommy Brain will focus primarily on Moms and family life from Mom’s viewpoint.

Everyday Family Living will focus on the whole family interacting and building relationships together. There will still be kids’ activities posts at SMB but not as a month long series like in November and December.

What is Everyday Family Living?

As I talked with fellow moms over the last couple of years I realized that family-centered activities don't come easily for all parents. Everyday activities I take for granted, like engaging my children in the shopping process at the grocery store, aren't even thought of by a lot of parents.

Don’t get me wrong! I’m not Super Mom! I’m just an ordinary mom who has learned a few tips for making the most of the time her family has together.

My vision for Everyday Family Living is to help you play and learn as a family so you can make the most of family time.

To accomplish that goal, you will find posts about fun kids’ activities, children’s book recommendations, seasonal activity ideas, and inspiration to make the most of family time.

I’d love for you to look around Everyday Family Living. The about page is a great place to start. Or the beginning of the Family Night Series.

While you are at Everyday Family Living, be sure to subscribe and you will receive a link to download the current month's Family Holiday and Activity Calendar in your RSS feed or email subscription.

Have you already visited Everyday Family Living? I'd love to hear what you thought about it! Is there anything wonky? Links not work?