Not-Back-To-School Weekend Extravaganza!

Last weekend, while everyone was getting ready for school to start, scrambling around at the outlet centers, looking for back-to-school fodder and taking advantage of the tax free weekend, WE were in San Antonio celebrating our "Not-Back-To-School Weekend Extravaganza"! We dropped the doggies off with friends then hit the road! We got to San Antonio just in time for lunch and happened across this awesome little "mom & pop" shop.
Chicago dogs and Philly cheesesteaks to DIE for! And yes, that's the Philly, with mushrooms, onions and chopped cherry peppers. OH HELL YEAH! So if you are ever in town, and have a hankerin' for a good dog or cheesesteak and you want to support a great local biz owned by a nice woman and her son, then head over to R&B's located on Austin Hwy in the Alamo Heights neighborhood. It will be worth your time!

After we completely stuffed our faces (cuz we seriously ordered WAY more than we should have) we headed down the road to the Witte Museum to check out the Dinosaur George exhibit. What fun! Life-size, animatronic dinos! Obviously the T-Rex was cool, but it was the sponsor sign that really cracked me up! The other part that intrigued me was the model of the "adolescent" T-Rex. They are now thinking that young T. Rex's were covered in a fine layer of down until they reached maturity and shed! How freaky is that? It's like baby T. Rex's were almost cute and cuddly like baby ducklings! Awwww! Can we get one for Easter?
The kids excavating a velociraptor in the "dig site"!
The beautiful view from behind the Witte.
The Monkey Man wanted to try out the "SkyCycle" which is a bike that coasts along a wire that is counter-weighted to keep the rider from falling. He felt like a daredevil!
Obligatory tree pic! You know how I feel about cool, old trees!
The kids checking out their surroundings!
Once we had our fill of the Witte, it was time to make our way to the Riverwalk and check into our hotel. This particular Drury used to be an old bank. The reservation desk is at the teller windows, the old mail and deposit boxes are still in place, the lobby is quite grand with gold crown moulding, marble floors and walls and giant chandeliers! The elevators were so cool! The hallway to our room looked like and even smelled like an old bank building! All of the doors had what seemed to be frosted glass windows like an old bank would have had, but when we entered the room we saw they were solid wood, just the illusion of frosted glass on the exterior! The rooms were very nice and the bathroom was gorgeous! AND when we checked in we asked if we could get a room as high as possible, so they set us up on the 19th floor with a Riverwalk view! The kids were thrilled to look out the windows and see this... After we got everything settled, we suited up and headed to the rooftop pool, yet another BIG deal for the kiddos. "MOM! A POOL! ON THE ROOF!!!!!"

Cowabunga!

Another Drury perk is the 5:30 Kickback and Happy Hour! Snacks, hell damn near a meal, sodas and popcorn for the kids, and 3 free drinks for the growed-ups! I had a particularly happy hour!
Then it was time to hit the Riverwalk. Big Daddy duck followed by his little ducklings! We treated to the kiddos to the Rainforest Cafe. Personally I hate that place, it's way over-priced and the food is nothing to write home about, BUT the kids LOVE it. AND they have cute t-shirts. After paying way too much $$$ for mediocre food, we continued on our tour of the Riverwalk as the sun was setting. We were almost back to the hotel when Big Daddy heard live music and we followed his ears to a wonderful little open air plaza behind the hotel. There was a jazzy/bluesy band playing old standards and the night was beautiful! I left the kids with Big Daddy and took off with my camera to explore! I came across the San Fernando Cathedral, all lit up and gorgeous!
Then I couldn't help but snap a quick one of the Tower Life Building next to an almost full moon! SWEET.
The kids started to poop out, so we headed back to the hotel to raid the vending machines and call it a night. We had to be up bright and early to make it to Schlitterbahn in time to get a good table in the shade! The rest of our day was spent splashing in the water, hurling down slides and playing with wild and reckless abandon! At least until we were all sunburned and completely exhausted!

And this my friends, is how we spent the weekend before school started! Have I mentioned lately how much I LOVE homeschooling?!?