Monday we got up, ate some free breakfast and got ready for our day. We decided to walk to the River Center area to catch the river boat cruise. Parking is expensive around there. They have trolleys that run continuously and are only like $2 to ride, but we waited awhile at the trolley stop by our hotel and never saw a trolley come by, so we decided it was a pretty day and some exercise would be good for us. It was about a two mile walk to where we were going and we figured it couldn't be too bad. I mean, we could take our time and check out things along the way. Um, for some reason we did not think AT ALL and for some crazy reason left the stroller in THE CAR. Lots of walking and a two year old DO NOT MIX!! I had borrowed a stroller from Susan for us to use the next day when we went to Sea World since we would be doing a lot of walking. I am crazy to not have thought to use it this day too....maybe cause I thought we would ride the trolley at some point? I do not know....And Lyla is in this phase of wanting to be carried...all.the.time. Hence why I borrowed the stroller.
Lyla had not ridden in a stroller since she was 14 months old. I figured our stroller days were over for good. I had even sold a couple of the strollers we had. Using a stroller was far from my mind. But the last several times we had been to the zoo or aquarium, she has insisted on being carried the entire time. 30lbs of child, a backpack and lunches....well let's just say I was getting a good work out each time. And it was not like I could just tell her to walk. Oh I did. But I was left with a screaming child, literally laying on the ground refusing to move from her spot until I picked her up. So a new stroller was in the cards once we got back to Atlanta...we just did not have room to bring one with us on our trip the car was packed so full. So thankful we were able to borrow one from Susan!
So we REALLY got our work out today! Especially my awesome husband!! He carried her the majority of the day alternating between his hip, back and shoulders! He was exhausted to say the least once we got home. 2 miles there and back, plus the miles in between. We honestly did probably a good 6 or 7 miles....carrying a two year old!
We stopped by the entrance of HemisFair Park to get a couple of pictures.
It is SUCH a pretty place!
We made it to River Center to catch the river boat cruise. Admission was $8.25 each for Adam and I and $2 for Lyla. The tour is 35 minutes and took us through Riverwalk. It was so much fun! It was a great way to see what Riverwalk was all about and see what fun things it had to offer. It is a guided tour and our guide was great! He knew a lot about the city and it's history and had lots to say as we went around the river.
It was hot as we waited for everyone to board! We all sat on benches, two facing each other with a total of four benches along the boat. It left no room for leg room. Even though it was still pretty overcast, it was HOT and being that close to people made it even hotter. Lyla did not seem to be that interested in the ride, which shocked me because she loves anything to do with boats and water. I guess this just wasn't for her. All she wanted to do was eat a snack and look for ducks.
We started off at RiverCenter, which is by the mall.
The city is so pretty and full of history. I don't remember a lot of what our guide said, so here is our tour in pictures!
Our guide.
There are tons of restaurants and venders along the river.
Back to where we started. And ready for lunchtime!
It was so hot at this point, that instead of eating outside on the river, we decided to hit up the food court in the mall where is was nice a cool. Like I said, Lyla doesn't do well with eating "bought" food, so I decided to try buying her a smoothie for lunch and then she could eat off my plate as well, and she LOVED it! Definitely will be remembering this in the future!
Next, we headed to see the Alamo. I mean, you can't go to San Antonio without seeing this. We ended up pushing our luck because it was getting close to nap time, but I wanted to get this done so we would not have to come back.
All of the history and artifacts were in here and we literally ran through this part because Lyla ended up need to go to the bathroom, which was through the gardens. Once we exited the building we were not allowed back in, so we raced through to at least catch a glimpse of everything before heading back outside.
When we got there, there was a LONG line to get in. There had been some sort of parade/memorial service, I guess for Memorial Day? So there were tons of people there. If it had not been free to get in, we honestly probably wouldn't have stayed. And looking back, it really wasn't worth it pushing Lyla to do it. She was way too young for it and we kinda ended up rushing through to get through it and say we did it.
I will say though, once we used the bathroom, and walked through the gardens, it was beautiful!! Everything was so lush and green and pretty! There was so much history there and I did enjoy learning what happened there.
All Lyla wanted to do was look at the fish.
And she was not in the mood to take pictures at all. Our stay in the gardens was short and we headed back to the hotel.
We tried to catch the trolley again, in hopes that we did not have to endure the long walk back. But once again, we waited at the trolley stop for awhile and we never saw the right trolley. I grew up traveling with my dad and mom, expert travelers. We have traveled all over the world and taken many forms of transportation to get to places in different cities. So it was SO CRAZY to me that we could not figure out this trolley system. Maybe they just did not have that many running to where we needed to go since our hotel was a little farther out??
So we headed back on foot, cause after all, it would be quicker to walk than wait, right?
Our poor feet were exhausted once we finally got back to the hotel. We put Lyla down for a late nap, which I hate doing, but I knew she would not get a nap the next day. I even laid down and took a nice little nap as well! After we woke up, we headed back down to the pool for an evening swim. Adam went and picked up some pizza and we ate dinner in the room. We were too exhausted to go out and we wanted Lyla to get to bed on time...after all, we had a big day the next day, the day I was was MOST looking forward to, SEA WORLD!!!!!
