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.

Our little football fan. 

The Aggies ended up beating Arkansas that evening, 45-33, and it was a great ending to such a wonderful little getaway.

The best days of my life...

I don't know about you, but I love weekends, and this past weekend was an exceptionally good one.  We didn't have a whole lot planned, which was a good thing considering Jackson was teething and my allergies were acting up, but we still had a great time hanging out just the three of us and soaking up this wonderful life of ours.

Friday morning, Jackson and I went to Stroller Strides.  We were supposed to dress up as pirates and princesses, and thankfully, my mom has all sorts of costumes and props, so we were all set.  Jackson was an adorable little pirate, and I wore all of the jewels from mine and Holly's childhood game "Pretty Pretty Princess".  The crown, the necklace, the earrings, and the BLACK ring.  I was definitely the prettiest -- despite the fact that I didn't do my hair, wore no makeup, and was sweating profusely. ;)

 

Arrrggghhh, Matey!

Jackson wasn't a huge fan of wearing the patch over his eye, but he loved chewing on his "sword" {a.k.a. a huge plastic knife}.  As I was loading up the car after Stroller Strides, the knife fell out of the stroller and onto the ground of the mall parking lot.  A man just happened to be walking by right as it did and said, "ma'am, don't forget your....uh....knife."  Haha -- awkward.  I tried to explain that my baby that I had already loaded up into the car was dressed as a pirate and that the knife was actually plastic and his sword, but I'm not so sure he believed me.  Oh well.  I'm just glad I got out of there before the mall security car made its way over. ;)  And thankfully, I had already removed my crown.

For lunch, I made a delicious omelette of sorts -- although in the end, it more closely resembled scrambled eggs with bacon, spinach, and cheese mixed in.  

My handsome lunch date.

Dada's home!!!

That evening, Kyle and Steve came over to watch Jackson so that Ben and I could go out on a date, and the best part is that they offered to do this on a weekly basis.  Uh, yes, please!  We love our little baby to pieces, but it is nice to have some time just the two of us -- even if we did spend most of the evening talking about Jackson and just how wonderful he is.  We decided to try Coal Vines for dinner since we still had a $50 gift card that I had won at my office Christmas party last year but never had a chance to use since Jackson was born so early, and afterwards, we went and got massages.  We had received a flyer in the mail for a free 30-minute upgrade to an hour long massage, so I signed Ben up for the extra 30 minutes and used my 30 minutes to do a little bit of shopping across the way at Marshall's.  Dinner + massage + shopping = my idea of a perfect date!

A text from our favorite little man, which I'm pretty sure was his idea.  He's just so sweet like that. ;)  

On Saturday, we slept in {as long as Jackson would let us sleep in anyway}, and after a guy came out to give us an estimate on replacing our windows, we headed out for breakfast.

We love that our new house is within walking distance to so many restaurants and decided to walk all the way to Upper Crust Bakery.  Everything in the display case looked amazing, so I decided that since we had walked almost 2.5 miles there that I could reward myself by getting both a piece of quiche AND a blueberry danish.  We will definitely be going back, too, because they were amazing!

 Jackson just snacked on puffs and water, but he loved it, too!

 Check out that new top tooth!

That afternoon, Ben's parents came over to help us with a few things around the house, but for the most part, we just hung out and played with our favorite little guy.

Seriously, he puts just about EVERYTHING in his mouth these days.

Don't let the smile fool you -- one of his least favorite places to be these days is in the highchair.

Proof that my kid does have some pigment in his skin -- and yes, those are ankle rolls. ;)

Yesterday morning, Jackson got us up early, so he and Ben had a little bit of "guy time" while I got ready for church.

Ben overheard me telling Jackson that his outfit was "so gangsta" and told me that I confusing the poor kid and that this was the least gangster outfit he's ever seen -- haha.  It is pretty adorable though.  Don't you think?

What most of my pictures look like these days.

For some reason, I kept thinking about G during the worship service, and as we were singing Amazing Grace, I happened to notice the beautiful flowers on the altar.  Sunflowers -- the state flower of Kansas and her favorite flower.  I love the little reminders that she's still watching over us. :)

My 2 favorite guys.

We're headed to San Antonio this week, so I decided to do a little bit of packing yesterday afternoon, and apparently I have a thing for stripes. ;)

 An evening stroll in the 'hood.

We were trying to put on his pajamas and brush his hair, which is the exact reason that he is still just in his diaper and chewing on his comb.  Jackson definitely has a mind of his own these days!

Today, while I was at work, my mom texted me this picture -- my little boy, a tube of lipstick, and a huge smile on his face!  She told me that she had pulled his highchair into her bathroom so that she could put on her makeup and that he was very interested in her lipstick.  She gave him one of her old ones that twists shut so he couldn't open it up, and he was in heaven!

Tonight, Ben's family came over and brought Rudy's for dinner.  We had a full house -- Kyle, Steve, Josh, Mary Catherine, Aunt Kim, Tiffany, and Matt, and we had a lot of fun.  I had Jackson try on his first pair of jeans just in case it gets cold while we're in San Antonio.  He obviously loved them {although I think that grin was actually just because Kyle was standing there}, but we had the hardest time getting them up over his thighs so it looks like we're going to have to exchange them for some with wider legs.  Hopefully they won't be quite so tight at the waist either.  Although, I'm not gonna lie -- his legs look nothing like mine, but that muffin top -- that's all me. ;)

Jackson had such a great time tonight.  He loved being passed from one person to the next and fell asleep taking his bottle just as soon as everyone had left.

He so rarely falls asleep in our arms anymore, so I took advantage of it and rocked him for a little bit.  It's moments like these {and so many other others} that make me realize that these days really are the best days of my life.