Aunt Kate and Uncle Andshoe

We arrived at Kate and Andrew's house late Thursday night and spent the day Friday relaxing and trying to stay cool. 

We got to enjoy their shady, fenced in backyard where Jasper played with a basketball and collected sticks for the fire pit.

We walked to the grocery store for milk, which made me realize why people don't walk much in Texas. I was so sweaty just from the short walk that I was freezing cold in the grocery store. 

Once Andrew and Kate were both home from work, we had a quick pizza dinner then hit the road for the lake house. We got a bit lost on the way there, but eventually made it.

The Alamo

After some rides on the AirBnb horse, we hopped on the city bus to head to downtown San Antonio. The bus ride ended up costing us $20, because we didn't have change,but I think it might have been Jasper's favourite part of the day.

First stop was the Alamo. It's a good thing we read about the history on Wikipedia the night before, because Jasper didn't let us stop and read the exhibits for very long.

There were nice gardens and fountains inside the Alamo grounds, it reminded me of some of the gardens we saw in Spain. Jasper liked the little river with goldfish that ran through the grounds.

There were a few historical re-enactors that explained how the soldiers and residents of the Mission lived. I would not have wanted to need a doctor during that time!

It was only 10 am, but we were already sweating hot, so we went over to the Riverwalk to cool down. It wasn't much cooler down there, but at least there was shade. Occasionally there was a cool breeze from walking by an air-conditioned restaurant.

Within 10 minutes of walking, both kids had fallen asleep in the stroller. Pat and I enjoyed a drink and some nachos while they napped. We were right beside the walking path, so the kids attracted lots of attention from people passing by.

We followed the Riverwalk all the way down to Hemisfair park, where the kids took a dip in the splash pad.

 Ellis squeezed into her sun suit and enjoyed splashing around in the water. I got soaked too, but didn't mind when the temperature was 35+.

 Jasper was tentative at first, but remembered how to play in the splash pad after a few minutes.

 He wanted to show Ellis how to play in the water.

We ate dinner at an interesting restaurant that is a laundromat, car wash and restaurant combo. They had some great vegetarian options, which seems rare in Texas. There is even a playground for the kids. All of the seating was outside, so it was a pretty sweaty diner.

After dinner, we hit the road for Aunt Kate and Uncle Andrew's house. We made it back with only 1 stop, much better than the trip down!

San Antonio

Here is the current weather in San Antonio (at 8:00 pm):

In 20 minutes, the sun will set and the temperature will drop to a chilly 24 degrees.

We spent the day mostly staying cool, in shady Brackenridge park and in the air conditioned children's museum. Luckily our AirBnb is just down the road from the park, so we didn't have to get back into the car after yesterday's drive. 

Brackenridge park is a huge urban park that is over 100 years old, and contains the San Antonio Zoo and Witte Museum. Our first stop was to the Japanese tea garden, built to disguise an old cement quarry in the park. Jasper liked the fish and all the stairs to climb around on.

 Next, we took a ride on the little train that does a loop of the park.

 The whole track is 2 miles long. It passes over bridges and passes the main attractions in the park.

After a picnic lunch and trip back to the house for nap time, we went over to the DoSeum Children's Museum. It was so hot that we decided to drive instead of walk 20 minutes.

The DoSeum was great fun. There was a whole toddler-sized town, complete with grocery store, bank, airport, restaurant, construction site and bus. Jasper spent an hour going grocery shopping. It was quite an elaborate setup with realistic food and even the cashier's scanners worked.

There was an infants area that provided Ellis some respite from the crazed toddler town.

The DoSeum also had a set of outdoor exhibits. We saved those for later in the day when we thought it would be cooler. It was still hot.

 There was a big water play area, but Jasper was a bit too short to reach the water tables.

 There was a shady wading river that Jasper enjoyed cooling off in.

There were side channels and dams, so the kids could play around with diverting the water to see what happens.

Pat and Ellis took selfies while we played in the water. She was over it.

Other than a sunscreen-related toddler meltdown, it was a pretty good day. Tomorrow we head downtown to check out the Alamo and Riverwalk.

Journey to Texas

Route: Milton- Detroit-Dallas-San Antonio
Distance driven: 357 km (Monday), 466 km (Tuesday)
Distance flown: 1588 km

We made it! After 2 long days of travel, we're sitting in our air conditioned AirBnb house, finally able to relax. I was worried about the flight with both kids, but that ended up being the easiest part of the trip.

We left Milton in the morning with everyone chipper and ready for a nap.

It was already stinking hot in southern Ontario, so we stopped at the White Oaks mall to run around and burn some energy indoors.

We got to Detroit just in time for dinner (yes, a 350 km drive on the 401 took us nearly 8 hours), bath in the giant tub at our hotel and bed.

 Pat is unable to go to the US without purchasing an obnoxiously large beer from the corner store.

The alarm went off at 3 am to get us to the airport in time for our 6 am flight. No trouble at all getting the kids and all our stuff onto the plane. Everyone was helpful and the kids were sleepy but cooperative.

 We landed in Dallas at 7:30 am local time, and since the kids fell asleep the instant we got on the road, we headed straight for San Antonio.

It was a long, hot day of driving on the interstate. Truck stops and fast food joints for miles and miles and miles. We stopped at Buc-ee's gas station on Aunt Kate's recommendation. Jasper had fun checking out the wares for sale and the restrooms were in fact very clean.

Despite selling tons of snacks and drinks, there is nowhere to sit in Buc-ee's. I fed Ellis sitting on the chair to try on shoes, and Jasper had his snack outside on a log.

 What a relief it was to finally arrive at our rental house in San Antonio. The owners have 2 kids, so Jasper was in heaven checking out all the toys. There is even a "park" in the backyard. We went to a nearby diner to grab a quick dinner before bedtime. We have been up since 2 am central time, so I don't think we will stay up much longer than the kids.

Tomorrow, to the Alamo to learn about Texas history.

Great Grandparents tour

I made a mistake with our flights to Texas. I thought we flew out Monday morning, but the flight is actually booked for Tuesday.  I guess I was still pretty sleep deprived when planning this trip!  

Luckily, we didn't miss a flight, and I was able to change all our other reservations no problem.With the extra 24 hours that I discovered we had, we decided to visit Pat's grandparents. 

First stop was Great Grandma Beaton's in Toronto. This picture didn't turn out as well as I'd hoped, but it is the best of many.

After a quick lunch and car nap, it was on to Grandma Love's place at Amica in Whitby.

 We visited for a while in the apartment, before driving over to visit Great Grandpa Love.

 Great Grandpa wasn't feeling great, but hopefully a visit from the great grandkids and talking about the Blue Jays with Pat will help brighten his day a bit.

Band on the Run

We left the cottage Friday night to head for Huntsville for my first running race since Ellis was born, at "Band on the Run".  I had a decent 5km race in the morning, and we got to go to see my favourite band Hey Rosetta in the afternoon. A pretty good day in my books!

Beers and babies

The event was really well run, with bands playing every kilometre or so along the race route.

Oblivious to the concert

The post-run music festival was a family friendly event in the afternoon. The weather cooperated, Jasper had a giant sand pit to play in and Ellis napped in her stroller.

Best seat in the house

Huntsville's a great town to spend some time in. We'll have to come back this summer to visit Kass and Luke. Maybe even try to get a group together for this event next year.

Dancing in the sand pit

Back at the cottage

Our first destination on Pat's year off was back at the cottage. It's cool to be up there early in the season when there's not many people around. I just wish the bugs weren't so bad!  Poor Jasper got dozens of bites all over his face.

Pat took Jasper out in the canoe for the first time this year. He was really good about sitting still and holding on to the sides. 

 Ellis tried out Jasper's old infant lifejacket and didn't protest too much.

We got out for a boat ride in Grandad's boat, and ran into Pat who had just caught a big Pike in the canoe. He paddled over to show us.

 Jasper was thrilled to get to help Grandad drive the boat again. He is looking a lot like Great Grandpa with the oversize hat for in the boat. 

 Jasper is enjoying discovering all the creatures that live around the cottage. We saw hummingbirds, frogs, snakes, lots of ducks and even a beaver. Unfortunately, also lots of mosquitoes and blackflies.

We spent lots of time over at Great Gran and Great Grandpa's cottage. Great Gran knows how to improvise when we don't have a seat for Ellis, but she wants to be a part of lunch.

 Our first canoe ride as a family of 4 was a moderate success. We had to make an emergency snack stop due to two screaming kids, but no one fell out of the boat!

 Pat was thrilled to take Jasper out fishing for the first time. They were out in the canoe for less than an hour and a half and Pat caught his biggest fish ever. It was longer than Jasper! I think it's a miracle Jasper stayed still that long and didn't get bored.