SATX Easter

Past Easters: 2014 //  2015  // 2016 part 1 part 2 // 2017 // 2018


Easter in San Antonio coincided with Fiesta this year, increasing my excitement! We never did many Fiesta activities when we lived in SATX because the girls were just too small, the crowds too large. I booked a hotel on the Riverwalk for a change of pace.

Meanwhile, I had arranged to have several rooms painted but dropped the ball so when the painter e-mailed me back the day before our departure and said, "I'll be there Monday" and I thought - eek! I haven't picked out a color yet! I went to Sherwin-Williams at dusk and brought several cards and a sample of the color I liked the best - marshmallow. An auspicious name. Luke put the sample on the wall and I shrugged. Marshmallow it is... hope it turns out ok!


The airplane
Josie was allowed to bring one Ziploc of treasures: she chose Polly Pockets, Polly people, Pascal the chameleon, a rug from the doll house, a Happy Meal toy, and a unicorn. She talked for days about watching a movie on the iPad on the plane ("last year I watched Little Mermaid!") but bored of the movie after a while and played with her toys. I read Circe and a couple of magazines.

The car rental agency had some trouble locating car seats but once situated we made a beeline for the Cove.

While we were there enjoying Topo Chicos, nachos, and the best shrimp taco ever, Luke said, "hey, Bekah and Mike are playing at the art festival in an hour." Unbelievable timing! We drove downtown to see their set.

The central library.

Earlier in the day we had joked about running into our friends... then there they were at the art festival!

To the hotel. Upon arrival, I groaned about booking a hotel on the Riverwalk - we had to valet the car every time we used it, the parking fee was $40 a day, the pool turned out to be tiny - but actually it worked out great.

We tried to get the girls to rest in the hotel room prior to the night of picnic and fireworks but that was no dice. Luke got a catnap in (maybe) and afterwards we drove to Central Market for provisions (sandwiches, sparkling water - Clem was thrilled by the Polar Seltzer flavor Cranberry Clementine, fruit, chips and guac, and Valomilk cups, a retro candy I've luckily only ever seen at Central Market - it's my fave). Then we joined the gang at Fort Sam Houston. Despite working adjacent to Fort Sam Houston for five years, I had never been to this event!

At the party Judy reminded me that our hotel was right by Yanaguana playground (we first visited in 2015!) We had it all to ourselves for about 30 minutes Easter morning.

Playing restaurant.

Time for Polly Pocket.

Easter party time!

Clem figured out the zip line and zipped over and over and over ...

Vic and baby Peter.

Making sure Bunny was all buckled in.

Luke and Vic listening to the new album.

Getting to hold baby Peter.

Even though we thought we'd never eat again after the Easter lunch to end all lunches, lo and behold we were hungry in the evening. We took a dip in the hotel pool, cleaned up, and walked to Boudros. Clementine and I shared a sirloin, Josie had a chicken breast, and Luke a seafood sampler with spicy grits - he's really into grits all of a sudden.


Bein' fancy.

Polly Pocket time.

Walking back to the hotel on the Riverwalk.

More Polly.

IHOP. I love this photo.

We walked to the Briscoe Museum of Western Art. We've only been once before but it's special to me (first visit) because the next weekend I would get an inkling that I was pregnant with Josie and later confirm the inkling.


Now here she is, aloft.

With the museum nearly empty, we checked out Buckaroo activity bags at the front desk. Clementine's was a campfire theme and Josie's travel.

(Really cute - only because it wasn't busy yet!)

I knew I wanted to purchase the girls Tula hats for the summer but wanted to make sure they fit. I emailed Tula to see if any San Antonio stockists had the children's hats and they replied promptly that Ten Thousand Villages at the Pearl had them. Perfect - we'll be going there anyway!

After the Briscoe we went to the Pearl for the hats and some Polly Pocket/cartwheel time.

The Witte Museum.

Torchy's Tacos for lunch.

I remembered how much I love this cider - after some searching, I think it's just not available in the Midwest.

This time we came prepared for No Name Creek at the botanical garden - rash guards, swim bottoms, hats. (If you are a member of the Missouri botanical garden, your entry fee is waived here).

I popped into Alamo 180 to say hi to Jeff and then we got the wiggles out at Landa - so many memories here.

La Fonda on Main:

One of the girls' favorite movies right now is The Princess and the Frog and Clem has been asking to try beignets and gumbo. Another Judy suggestion delivered - NOLA for brunch. Delicious!

The DoSeum. Josie was playing with a little girl and her grandparents asked Josie how old she is and she answered:

I'm four, but I've been growing a lot.

The goal was to make something that would float up and out of the wind tunnel.. first Josie made "a person who's birthday it is"

and then a "party flower".

Clem really wanted to go on a river taxi, something I've never done. We were just in time for the shuttle leaving from La Gloria (with a little time for photos).

No idea where Clem came up with this starlet pose.

Counting ducks. There were lots of duckling too - extra exciting.

Changed into their Nativa dresses for A Night in Old San Antonio (NIOSA). Not many kids at this event, which was very busy. Luke and I had a deathgrip on each girl the entire time. They loved the carnival games (darts, putt putt, etc), facepainting, and sno-cones.

I took a photo of this woman's amazing San Antonio hat...

Photobooth craziness. The girls were so wound up by this point in the evening this is actually what it looked and felt like.

After all that, they slept like this. Well, I should say: after NIOSA and watching Coco and ordering a pizza with Daddy. I was in the same room and missed everything! Sound asleep. It's my superpower.

With our flight in the late afternoon I bought tickets for Morgan's Wonderland the week before - Wednesday was the only day it was open during our visit. Unfortunately it closed for inclement weather - it was a rainy, blustery day. Casting about for other options, I said, let's go to Snooze in the Quarry for brunch. I'd been to one in San Diego and it was very good.

I was chatting with our server Alexis who had also been at NIOSA the night before and she said, "I went with Susan (gesturing behind us), she had a crazy hat." I glanced behind me and said, I think I took her photo!!! I jumped up to show her the photo and she was delighted and came over to chat with us. She also sent over a cinnamon roll pancake for the girls. (Want to point out that this was NOT close to NIOSA, just a weird coincidence).

I racked my brain but could not think of an indoor activity that didn't require another $50 entry free. We ended up at the McDonald's PlayPlace, one of our old haunts. Luke used to gig so frequently in SA, and so late, that often I would get the girls up and out of the house to let him sleep.

Clementine at the airport: Oh look. A trophy with lemonade in it.

We returned to a Marshmallow house and it's gorgeous! We lucked out (with my lack of planning). And our painter gifted us a beautiful work of his fine art!


It was a great visit. Great friends, great weather, old haunts and new activities. We love you, SA!

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Trip VIPs (very important products): a few things I like while traveling.

// I bought version of this Lole bag in SA and it quickly became the diaper bag and now is a great all-purpose bag for traveling. A tote that converts to a backpack, it has all sort of pockets and dividers and holds everything (Ziploc of toys) without getting too bulky.

// Hanna Andersson rash guards + bikini bottoms + swim dresses. The girls LOVE these swim dresses (maybe because they are easy to put on and very comfortable and they TWIRL). They are on their second or third sizes of them now.

// Lululemon On the Fly pant  I bought two pairs of these in San Diego two years ago and wear them every other day during the summer.