San Antonio/Day One (3-14-2012)

Today...drive to San Antonio, pick up Kevin at the airport, settle in at hotel ON THE RIVERWALK! Woohoo! This is the view from our 2nd floor room...

We immediately went out to explore the grounds before the hotel's happy hour began, starting with the rooftop pool...

Karen checks out the map of the riverwalk...

 I had to stop and pose with the statue of my favorite saint...Saint Anthony. He is always helping me find lost things! Thank-you Saint Anthony!

We took a little walk down to the Alamo and surrounding area...

we managed to get back in time for our first hotel happy hour, and later took Kayli for a late-evening dip in the roof-top pool...

this building was pretty cool to watch turn colors, while sitting at the pool...

another big day tomorrow, can't wait!

Day Two @ Galveston Beach (3-13-2012)

Up early, breakfast in the hotel lobbby, saw some interesting "vacationers" showing up for breakfast in barefeet and pjs?!!! Well, if we'd known we didn't really have to dress for breakfast...haha!
Anyway, we wanted to get an early start on our "beach day", so we didn't waste any time getting our gear together and setting off for a nearby public beach. We wanted to try a public beach today so we could get away from the stone slabs we had to sit on at the beach near our hotel. We were so happy with our choice, as we not only had more sand, but a public potty, a snack shop, and a gift shop!

Foggy, hot, muggy...fine with us...

the first day at the beach, I discovered that the elastic threads in my last year's swimsuit had disintegrated, leaving a "thread bare" patch! Good thing I brought a spare suit! The water was warmer today too!

time to start making a sand castle, let's get digging!

as noon approached, the fog began to disappear, we began to see the blue sky, and "magically" buildings began to "appear" that we realy had not seen at all when we first arrived!

Karen helps with the finishing touches...

still keepin' my eye on those sneaky waves!

at the end of our "beach day", with Kayli's souvenir sand castle from the gift shop tucked safely away in the beach bag, we headed to the ferry boat. Thought is would be fun to show Kayli what a ferry boat ride was like. More AWE...

now, we were ready to find a "happy hour" somewhere, and it had to be "casual" so we could "come as we were, sandy, sweaty, beachy!" What would we do without Matt's "smart phone?" He found us a place right along seawall blvd, that fit the bill perfectly...even had a "swim-up-bar"...

What a fun day!

Galveston Beach (Monday, March 12th)

The agenda today? Pack up and head to Galveston! Karen, Matt, Kayli, and I arrived at our beach-view hotel by mid to late afternoon, checked in, dragged our suitcases up to our room, and immediately put on our swimsuits! Our hotel was on "seawall blvd" which meant the sea/beach was a walk across the street. A busy street, I might add, but still very do-able. We went from hotel to beach in 5 minutes!

Lots of people out walking, running, biking, and playing. The sky was overcast, but the weather was warm and humid...as evidenced by the curling of my hair! I couldn't even keep my bangs from curling..sheesh! This part of the beach, had lots of stone slabs scattered here and there, intermixed with the thick, wet, grey sand! Kayli didn't waste any time getting started with her bucket and shovel...

it was time to introduce Kayli to the ocean, so we headed for the water...

Ok, pose for a picture, then, I think, hmm, probably should put Kayli's life jacket on before sending her out to sea, ha ha...

Kayli's cousin, Matt offers to take her out into the waves...

"ohh, I don't know about all these waves. Are you sure we should be doing this?"
Ok, yeah, this is kind of fun...

Matt says "I think I'll swim out a bit further while you play in these waves"...

Hey, what's he doing wayyyy out there?

Can you believe I'm swimming in the ocean, Mom?

I better keep my eye on those waves, though, they are pretty sneaky...

here comes Matt, he's swimming in with the waves...
Oh yeah, I can do that too...

C'mon in mom, the water is, um, nice... uh huh, nice and cold...

let's spend a little time in the sand now...

and we get to do this again tomorrow!!!
We went out to dinner tonight at this really cool place...

the Kemah Boardwalk is home to fabulous waterfront restaurants, amusements, charming retail stores, festivals and seaside shows every day. It's described as being like a summer fair all year long! What a great atmosphere it provided! We ate at the restaurant called "The Aquarium" which had, you guessed it...a HUGE AQUARIUM in the restaurant! Kayli was enamored by the huge fish, eel, sharks, and anything else that was swimming or floating around in this huge tank...

this was a fabulous place to walk around and just enjoy the beautiful weather and surroundings!

stay tuned for tomorrow...