Life with the Liggetts: A Trip to San Antonio

This past week, Ben had to go to San Antonio for a conference, and Jackson and I decided to tag along. We ended up inviting my mom to come, too, so that she could hang out with me and Jackson during the day and then watch Jackson in the evenings so that I could go to the dinners with Ben. Thankfully, it ended up being a great little vacay!

Ben really enjoyed the conference, and I had a great time going to all of the fancy dinners with him. The first night, a bus took all of us out to Grey Moss Inn where we had surf and turf and 3 orders of every appetizer on the menu; the second night, we walked over to Texas de Brazil {similar to Fogo de Chao} where we filled up on a wonderful salad bar and all different cuts of meat; and on the third night, we went to the scholarship fundraiser complete with dinner, both a live and silent auction, and a casino night. And as if that weren't enough, my mom and I also had a great time making so many fun memories with Jackson and doing all of the things that we did with G when we were little and she lived in San Antonio.

The drive to San Antonio was the longest car ride that Jackson has ever been on, but thankfully, he did great. We left our house just as it was time for him to go down for a nap, so he slept almost the entire way and then woke up just before we got there in the best mood.

When we got to the hotel, my mom got us checked in and went up to the room with Jackson while I parked the car. Ben was meeting us down there later that night and had asked me to text him when we got there. As usual, he asked for a picture, but Jackson was up in the room, so I decided to take a selfie instead. Pretty sure it wasn't what he had in mind. ;)

The conference was at the Hyatt Regency on the River Walk, and our room had a great view. That's the Alamo in the center of the left windowpane...

...and we could even see a part of the river, too.

Baby's 1st trip to the River Walk.

The first night that we were there, my mom and I went to dinner at our favorite -- Casa Rio.

We couldn't decide between the flautas and the enchiladas, so we got them both and split them while Jackson filled up on puffs and my mom's water.

Before heading back to the hotel, my mom fed the ducks all of our leftover chips. I would say that she did it for Jackson, but that would be a lie because her love for animals is right up there with her love for Jackson -- well, maybe not Jackson, but definitely her love for Holly and me. ;)

While we were in San Antonio, Jackson turned 8 months. I wasn't able to take his official monthly pictures that day {I did it as soon we got back home}, but I did get a picture of him in his 18-month sleeper. And, no, that is not a typo. He's now wearing what the average kid wears at a year and a half!

On Wednesday, Ben played in a golf tournament, and my mom and I took Jackson to the zoo.

Jackson was quick to claim the super fancy flashlight in Ben's goodie bag.

When we booked our hotel room, we reserved a "crib", which actually ended up being a pack-n-play that sagged in the middle. Jackson had the hardest time getting comfortable in it and ended up taking his naps on the go -- either in his car seat or in the stroller. The zoo was less than 15 minutes away, but when he fell asleep on the way there, we decided to let him finish his nap before going in. Of course, he ended up taking a much longer nap than normal -- 2+ hours! My mom and I didn't mind though. We drove around in search of some good coffee and then just sat in the zoo parking lot and talked.

Our favorite exhibit was definitely the hippos -- partially because it was one of the only ones that was air-conditioned but mostly because of how close we were able to get to the hippos. It was amazing!

So cool and so scary at the same time.

Jackson wasn't really sure what to think at first...

...but I think he liked him.

We also liked the little petting zoo -- although we didn't actually pet any of the animals. These 3 pigs were sisters and didn't do anything but lay around, but Jackson could not take his eyes off of them.

Hanging out in his {saggy} pack-n-play.

On Thursday, we went by G's old apartment and then went to the mall that we used to always go to -- North Star Mall.

It wasn't quite as nice as it used to be, but we did find some great deals on shoes for me and clothes for Jackson.

How Jackson really feels about shopping. ;)

On Friday, we spent quite a bit of time just walking on the River Walk and then did some more shopping at the mall. Again, we found some more clothes for Jackson, which is a good thing considering the rate at which he's growing! Before heading back to the room, we stopped downstairs to look at the waterfalls and to take a few pictures in front of the Alamo mosaic.

On Saturday, we packed up all of our things and hung out in the hotel lobby until Ben got out of his last session.

Jackson napped part of the way home, and my mom and I swung by the outlet mall to see if there were any cute things for Jackson at Hartstrings. I ended up finding several things -- two of which have Boston Terriers on them. They're too big for him now, but I can't wait for him to wear them. They are so adorable!

And speaking of dogs, we were very happy to get home to both Annie and Amos. They were pretty happy to see us too and spent the rest of the day doing everything that they could to get our attention and to get us back outside.

While we were gone, we had paid a neighborhood boy to come over and feed them and take them on a walk every night, and thankfully, it went really well.

Jackson was pretty happy to be home, too.

Not long after we got home, Jackson went down for another nap. He was so excited about being back in his own bed that he slept for almost 2 hours and woke up very ready for the big game.