This post has the potential to be very long, but it is a precious memory to my family, so browse the pictures quickly if you’re short on time. After our trip to NY with Priya last year we decided that the kids would get to switch off when the opportunity presents itself to travel with Daddy on business trips. Aaron recently took on new responsibilities to expand his career path and to add a new dynamic to his resume. Part of that involves traveling quarterly for conferences. We were able to take Porter with us for a week to San Antonio in early November where Aaron was traveling for a conference. We purchased 2 tickets for Porter and I using our flier miles and found that San Antonio is extremely affordable for travel expenses so we decided to go.
These two trips have been so special to me. They're not family trips, they are one-on-one trips with our children. We absolutely believe in complete family vacations but these trips allow us to bond with each child and gives us insight into our children that we might otherwise miss if we did not create opportunities to focus on just them. We picked up on some needs of Porter's on this trip and it finally clicked that he has Sensory Processing Difficulties. For a long time I thought these issues were a result of his Down Syndrome but in fact it's something entirely different. Coming to this realization means we're trying to learn what we can do to help him. One blessing from this trip with him.
Day 1: really should be night 1 - we flew out late and didn't arrive at our hotel until 1 a.m. We were excited to go to sleep. Porter was a good little flier. There was a grumpy man next to us, but oh well that's his deal not ours. I tried to talk with him and he completely pretended not to hear me, talk about an awkward moment. Other then that dude we had a nice flight.
Day 2- Our first adventure was to go to the San Antonio Zoo. It was a very short drive from our hotel and we delved right in. This was such a pleasant place to be. It was a large zoo and they had a bunch of animals that we don't have here at Hogle Zoo. It was really warm day to US for November... it was freezing to the locals. There were many people very concerned about my child who wasn't in a coat. I told lots of strangers while we were there to please not worry about Porter that we were from Northern Utah and just left snow behind. They'd get off my case pretty quickly after that. Gotta' love a culture that's concerned for the well being of children though. Very nice people in Texas.
Porter loved having his Daddy's attention.
Komodo Dragon, Bird Enviroments that you could walk through and birds could land on you, Underwater observatory of hippos/crocodiles, and fish.
Porter was extremely active and curious in this environment.
Petting zoo.
There was a back part of the Zoo just for small children. It was like an entirely different park. It was play based exploration. We reached this area after the majority of people had left for the day and we thought we'd have to leave as well because Porter had been hiking around all day and he was getting tired. Here he got his second wind and we had the place all to ourselves.
He has this lawn mover toy at home but not this type of space to use it in. He was entertained for almost an hour in constant motion.
There was a little learning center that we went into and my boys cuddled up to read some books. It was a fantastically fun day playing together.
Aaron's sister had visited San Antonio not to long before us and had lots of tips for us. One of them was great food! After the zoo we went to eat at the Gristmill, an old Mill that has been restored and serves delicious food. In the picture above Porter and I are looking over the opened deck down to the river where we sat that night. The hostess gave us the best table she had when I told her we were from Utah.
Day 2: SEA WORLD!!! We all loved this day. We were able to catch up with some friends and have lunch together before we went into the park. It was nice to talk with them and see our children play together. Once we got into the park we sat down to The Beluga Whale show. It ended up being our favorite show of the day because the trainers still get into the water. Porter was in awe of the whole thing...As was I.
Isn't that amazing, that would be so insane!
Aaron went on the roller coasters while Porter and I checked out the penguins, seals, and walruses.
After that we regrouped and went to the Orca show. The whales were awe inspiring and I can only imagaine what it must have been like when the trainers were allowed in the water with them. They were obviously in sync with their trainers and it was neat to watch. They had a baby orca and it was so cute.
It was about this time that Porter started to get really tired on us. But we kept him going long enough to feed the dolphins. It really scared him at first, but he was so curious that we stuck around for a little while. Before we left I was a little nervous he was going to jump into the pool with them.
As we were headed out we found the roller coasters that Porter was allowed to ride on and despite being tired he was all game for riding.
As we have always suspected he is a roller coaster kid. Pretty obviously he loved it.
Before we made it back to the car he was out. The security guard on our way out stopped to admire our sleepy child. It was such a great day I asked Aaron to take a picture of me kissing my cutie at the end of the day.
. 
He didn't wake up when we strapped him into the carseat.
We woke Porter up so we could eat at the most amazing BBQ restaurant. Texas Pride Barbeque!!! We felt like we were driving out into the middle of nowhere and then all of the sudden it appeared. Incredibly delicious!
Day 3: This was the last day before Daddy would start working and we had a hotel transfer as well. We decided to just have a nice relaxing day together. The boys went swimming while I sat pool side reading and sipping on herbal tea.
He loved being tucked in to warm up after his post swim bath. Then as you can see we got some food and Porter really started lounging.
We transferred to the Grand Hyatt hotel and had to take a taxi. Taxi's in Texas do not have car seats and we had to return the one we rented. It's not against the law for children to ride without a car seat in taxi's. Porter was crazy excited to ride like a big kid and my heart beat a little harder every moment of that ride.
Porter loves Elevators and this is him helping us with luggage during our transfer. He was responsible for carrying this toys in his back pack.
Pretty adorable.
Day 4: We woke up in Down Town San Antonio in one of the nicest hotels I've stayed at since Europe. We started the day off with a traditional German Breakfast at a little German Deli that's been downtown forever.
We walked back to the hotel along the Riverwalk. As you can gather from this photo having Porter free on the Riverwalk made me very anxious. He loved it though. After breakfast Daddy went to work and Porter got me ready for a day of sight seeing and play.
We went to see the Alamo. It was a reverent place and I was glad to see it. While I wasn't able really read up on the history documented there because I was with a toddler, it was still nice to visit.
After the Alamo we walked a few blocks to the Children's Museum. I was lucky to find a coupon and I was able to get us in for a very discounted price. We stayed for a few hours, but there were many kindergarten field trips happening and Porter got overwhelmed. So did I. As a teacher I was going crazy seeing how many children were without supervision. We went back to the hotel and met up with Aaron. That night we went out to eat and we were serenaded by a Mariachi band. Porter did not know what to think of it.
We went up to the top of the Tower of the Americas. Porter and Aaron loved it. I'm not a huge fan of elevators or heights. Combine an elevator with a glass window that goes up 750 feet very quickly...ugh. There were people who were pushing to get to the window and I was like, "I'd like a place in the back where I can curl up and cry until this is over...thank you!" Porter and Aaron were right up against the window ooing and awing all the way down.
We could see the tower from our hotel window.
Gelato stop!
Day 4 & 5: Was purely Children's Museum. It wasn't nearly as crowded
and I got the discount again and we played ALL day long, with the exception of a lunch break at the HARD ROCK CAFE. It was 3 floors of pretend, play, and exploration.
Chatting with his friend. They had a english/spanish language barrier but it didn't seem to bother them.
This Grocery store was the best and biggest one I've ever seen. Porter spent the majority of his time down here. This level was set up to help children understand farm, store, kitchen. So you'd got to the farm and get some food, then you'd go grocery shopping and check out at the cash register and then go prepare your groceries in the kitchen. It was also very focused on healthy organic eating which I appreciated.
Texas does have a pan handler problem and on our walk back from the Museum I had about 4 of them harassing me. I told them no, noticed they were following me and rerouted to be near some police officers. They backed off until I crossed the street and the officers couldn't see them anymore. They started cat calling me and saying inappropriate things that frightened me. I tried to stay calm and safe. I kept walking saw that the traffic light was about to change grabbed Porter and ran across the street as the light changed and continued to run 3 blocks until I got back to the doorman of the hotel. He helped me in and after that I just didn't feel like going back out for our late lunch. So I ordered room service and Porter thought it was insane. He loved our waiter, the beautiful food, eating on the bed and we got lucky and found Curious George on TV. In his universe it was AWESOME!
These two days are kind of mixed up in my head. But one of them Porter made friends with a women at our hotel who fell in love with him right away kind of kid napped him with my supervision and she took him down to the lobby to buy him ice cream. Then later that night our waitress brought him free ice cream for the second time that day. He's a charmer I tell you!
We stayed up late and went on a Riverwalk boat tour of the city. It was romantic and a little chilly. Once again Porter loved the new experience and our complete attention.
View of the bridge from the boat.
Day 6: Porter and I said our goodbyes to Aaron and we left that afternoon. I was so nervous about traveling with Porter alone. It was a little stressful and with the exception of the time he was throwing a temper tantrum, stood up in his stroller and fell on his head with a crowd of people watching (who were agast at this event, but no one offered to help me with 2 bags, a stroller and a child), it went pretty well.
On our flight home.
I love coming home. Every time we have a the chance we travel, it's part of who we are. But I always love coming home. Utah make me happy, it's where I belong, my people are here, my history and future are here. Makes my heart happy to see the Wasatch Mountain Range out the plane window.
We had a few days at home before Aaron came home. The night he got home I wanted to have a fun night as a family and to do something that Priya would enjoy since Porter had been our focus. We had a Cinderella movie and dinner night. I cooked up a "Royal Feast" of roasted chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy, and veggies. Mostly because Aaron had been eating out for over a week and I knew he'd apprecite it.
The kids got wands, Priya got jewels and we made cup cakes.
The kids got to lick the batter bowl and obviously from my kitchen it wasn't a little process getting everything together, but we had fun. It was the first time Aaron has watched Cinderella completely.
Thanks if you made it through this post, if not I don't blame you. :-)
