Japanese Tea Gardens

Right across from Brackenridge Park is this awesome little Japanese Tea Garden. Ethan loved seeing all the koi fish in the pond, climbing up the stairs, crossing bridges, and getting sprayed by the waterfall. I'll admit... the waterfall sounded really impressive--60 feet tall--but no waterfalls here can compare to the ones we saw in Hawaii! The gardens were pretty though, and we had a lot of fun! The only confusing part is that when you enter the garden, the entry way says it is the "Chinese Tea Garden," but everywhere inside, it calls itself the Japanese Tea Gardens! Hmm...

Brackenridge Park

So, in my quest to find all of the fun places to take kiddos in San Antonio, we stumbled upon Brackenridge Park. It's actually right behind the little miniature train that Ethan got to ride last week. It's HUGE! You can do everything there: hiking, biking, fishing... and of course... picnicking and playing at the playground (a personal favorite of Ethan and mine). They have this huge pavilion that is designed in the same style as the Spanish missions here that is great for having a quick lunch. Then Ethan got to check out the playground!

Train Ride!

I haven't been able to find a good guide book of kiddo things to do here. I was super excited about one book I found, but three of the four activities we tried to do weren't even there any more! (I was super bummed about the diary farm adventure I planned. I was supposed to have fresh ice cream--it was not operating anymore.) so I've decided to just randomly pick out parks and places and check them out myself.

Last week I decided to check out a park that is next to the San Antonio zoo. I figured if the park was a bummer, we'd head into the zoo. The park was great! Ethan's favorite part was the train...He got to take his first train ride!

Ethan, the conductor.

Sea World!!

Seeing as how we're so close to Sea World, we've decided to take full advantage of the fun there! Here are some pictures of our most recent trip!

Ethan and Daddy in the kiddie wave pool. Once Ethan got in, he didn't want to get out at all. In fact, we stayed there until the lifeguards blew the whistle to close the pool at 8pm that night!

Getting ready to watch the Pirate Show in 4D. Ethan loved it for the most part, but when the bees and bats "came out" of the screen at us, he really freaked out! I had to take the glasses off of him for a minute so he could see they weren't real. He started calling them his "magic glasses" after that.

Closer to a Home!!

Just thought I post a few updated pics of our house. We went by last week and were so excited! All the brick was up, the dry wall was not only up, but the texture, paint, and molding was done too! Even the lights were up... although we're going to be replacing those with ceiling fans. We actually drove by yesterday after church, and the tiling was over 1/2 way done...but I didn't have the camera with us. We're getting closer! So exciting! (Hotel style living is not for us!)

Lions and Tigers and Bears, oh my!

Okay, so we didn't actually see any lions, tigers, or bears, but we did visit an African Wildlife Safari (done in true Texas style!) here a few days ago. You get a bag of food as you enter, and you can drive through the preserve and feed the animals from your car. We got to see and feed zebras, bison, ostriches, gazelle, wildebeests, springbok, kudu, bongo, watusi, and all sorts of other animals I'd never even heard of. We also got to see giraffes, a rhinoceros, and camels, but didn't get to feed them. Ethan had an absolute blast! He got to "help" Daddy drive through the preserve (meaning he completely took over), and climb back and forth between my seat and Chris', depending on which side of the car the animals came to.

At this point in the safari drive, Ethan had decided he was a proficient driver and told Daddy "Hands off, I drive by myself." He was pretty insistent too...until we almost drove into a tree

This American Bison decided he was hungry...but not for the food we had for him.

Planes!

There's an area here that has about 20-25 Air Force planes on display outside in a huge field. Ethan and I sometimes go there early in the morning (before it gets too hot) to get some energy out. He absolutely loves looking at the planes--I love that he gets to run, yell, and get rid of a lot of energy!

This is his favorite plane. Ethan calls it the "sharing plane." I'm guessing it's because there are two cockpits, so two pilots, but only one plane? I love how his mind works sometimes!

He has to stop and "fix" the wheels on every plane, every morning!