Downtown San Antonio

On Monday, April 11 we left the JAWs at home, work, and school, and our little clan went into downtown San Antonio to see the Alamo and the Riverwalk. We were partially successful.

We first wandered around the Alamo Plaza. I wanted to go through the museum first so that we would know what we were looking at. However, it wasn't labeled very well and we weren't sure where to go.

Adah's shirt matched the cactus flowers on the Alamo Plaza.

Being nearly lunchtime, we decided to head in the direction of the Riverwalk and find somewhere to eat and then do the full Alamo tour afterwards, since we'd need to return that way to get back to the car.

See the cute, hungry baby? She needs lunch.

After burgers and mix-your-own sodas at Fuddruckers, we descended below street level to meander along the famous Riverwalk. The San Antonio River is a natural waterway, but what now goes through downtown is completely manmade. Restaurants with their patio seating line the river and flat-bottomed boats travel along the water.

It was shady and serene as we wandered along the pavement. We happened upon a wandering Mariachi band and got to listen to a few numbers they paid to some restaurant diners. That evening there was going to be a parade on the river, with real floating floats (good one, eh?). You have to get tickets for it and they were beginning to set up the seats. They aren't visible in this photo, but much of the way had a row of folding chairs at the edge of the water. It proved to be a very reassuring barrier between Gunnar and the water. I didn't have to worry about him getting too close and falling in. So, if you're ever going to to the Riverwalk with an active young child, I recommend going the afternoon before the Fiesta Parade.

We eventually made it back to the Alamo Plaza. They were setting up a podium and chairs for some Fiesta-related event later on. We wandered around the back and eventually made it into the Long Barracks where the museum is located. We watched a video about the famous battle of the Alamo and then looked through the exhibit a bit. THEN, we finally headed over to look in the actual Alamo. As I approached the front door, a small sign printed on regular paper said, "The Alamo will close at 3:00 today." It was 3:05.

AAAAAAAGH!! Are you kidding me? I was SO DISAPPOINTED and SO FRUSTRATED. We had wandered all over that plaza TWICE that day, and nowhere had we seen a sign indicating that the chapel would be closing early. The docent who'd presented information after the video we watched in the Long Barracks didn't say, "Now be sure you hurry over to the chapel before it closes in 5 minutes." Nothing. I've been haunted with the knowledge that if we'd just hurried up at an single moment during the day we would have made it there before 3:00. I suppose most people head straight to the front door upon arrival. That's what I get for wanting a little historical context to what I was going to see before actually seeing it. SIGH.

We'll always remember the Alamo . . . at least the outside of it.

Sea World San Antonio

One of the highlights of our San Antonio trip was a visit to Sea World. We looked forward to this for months and the whole family pitched in to save money for it by skipping treats and other extras so we could put the saved cash in our "Sea World Jar."
All eleven of us went to Sea World on Saturday, April 9 and went straight to "The Cannery Row Caper." It was a silly show with detective sea lions, a very amusing little otter (?), and a cameo by a giant walrus at the end.

The show schedule had us moving from one venue to the next. After "Cannery Row" we saw "Azul" which featured dolphins, exotic birds, and some pretty amazing diving acrobatics, by humans and dolphins alike. From there we raced over to the Shamu stadium for the big killer whale show. This ended up being slighly disappointing because it was so crowded that we couldn't find seats together. In fact, I think Maggie, Holly, and I might have been the only one who got seats. The girls were disappointed to not be in the splash zone, although Maggie was pretty satisfied with the misting we got. I was definitely satisfied that a misting was the extent of our "interaction" with Shamu.

After racing to three shows in a row, Kiera and Anya were pretty worn out and ready to go home. Jed and Joette drove home and got the girls settled with lunch and naps before Jed returned to Sea World for the rest of the afternoon.

While we were still waiting for Jed to come back, I took Adah and Christian on the Steel Eel--their first roller coaster ride. Adah's not so sure she liked it. She says it made her tummy feel really weird. Christian went for a second ride with Damon and Jed, but Adah demurred. Damon snapped this excellent photo of the coaster barrelling down a hill; unfortunately the kids and I were at the back of this train and hadn't made it into view yet.

Damon and Jed took all of the kids (minus Holly) on the Texas Splashdown, your classic amusement park log flume ride. Sorry, no photos of that one.
Towards the end of the hot day we went to this water playground for some cooling down. The kids all got SOAKED in the fountains and sprays.

Damon cooled down a bit as well. Jed and I mostly watched.

Our final stop of the day was at the dolphin pool. We had just missed a feeding, but we could still see the dolphins zipping back and forth through the pool and poking through the surface of the water.

We--along with other spectators--tried desperately to stretch our hands out and beckon the dolphins close enough to touch. In the photo below you can see the back of Christian, Adah, Maggie (just her head), and Jed. Damon is wearing the dark hat behind the guy with the white hat.

There were some trainers that I noticed giving some hand signals to the dolphins. After a little spin-and-point of the fingers, a dolphin came bounding across the pool and then did this sliding move to land on a ledge just under outstretched hands. Well, when I saw the trainer do it a second time, I made a beeline for the spot the dolphin was heading, dragging Maggie behind me. I lifted Maggie up against the wall where she and I were able to touch the smooth skin of the dolphin, just in front of its dorsal fin. Below, I'm wearing the gray hat and a turquoise shirt; Maggie's profile is obscuring my face. (We're just to the right of the guy in the red baseball cap with the drink in his hand.)

After our turn, I quickly set Maggie down and then lifted up Adah; she reached out her hand just as the dolphin slid off the ledge and back into the pool! It was a major disappointment on the heels of Maggie's elation. (It's still a sensitive subject in the McMillan household.)

Just a few minutes after touching the dolphin the employees announced that Sea World was closing and we needed to head to the gates. It was a long full day of exciting sights and new adventures for us all.

Spring Break in San Antonio

My older brother, Jed, is a JAG officer in the Air Force (a lawyer). He's currently stationed in San Antonio and we went to visit him during the girls' spring break from school at the beginning of April. Damon and I felt quite adventurous, and slightly crazy, taking four young kiddos on the plane, but we managed without any major catastrophes.

The only actual catastrophe on the trip, actually, was the fact that almost every one of us was sick! I can't remember the complete course of events, but I do know that Adah was the first to get sick a few days before we left. She was feeling better by the time we traveled, but by the time we arrived in Texas it was spreading. Everyone but me ended up with a fever. Add that to the 30-40-degree change in temperature between White Salmon and San Antonio and you had confused little gang. While I was panting under the ceiling fan, poor Damon was feeling chilled and wearing his fleece. The kiddos were rosy-cheeked and flushed. You can see that Holly's looking just a little glass-eyed and runny-nosed in this photo.

And, of course, we regretably passed on the fever to my niece Anya. She and Gunnar both spend a little time sacked out on this couch in their jammies, although in this photo they look pretty happy.

We tried not to let the sickness slow us down too much. After taking the first day in San Antonio to mostly relax and let the cousins play together, we jumped right into the fun on Friday.

We were lucky that the girls' spring break coincided with Christian's 8th birthday! His party on Friday was a carnival. All the guests played games and earned tickets that could be used to "purchase" popcorn, cotton candy (the edible kind--see below), and all sorts of little trinkets and prizes. Jed and I are manning the "redemption center" at the kitchen counter in the photo below. I was the party's official balloon artist, twisting flowers, dogs, swords, and other balloon creations.

Cotton Candy the clown (not edible, and a.k.a. my sister-in-law Joette) was the party's main event. She painted faces and then did her show, complete with a special magic trick for the birthday boy.

As if a carnival birthday party weren't enough for one day, after dinner Jed's family introduced our children to Chuck E. Cheese's. We'd never been. Jed redeemed some coupons and we got piles of tokens and ran around with the kids playing games and riding little rides.

Kiera had fun on this heli-bike ride. Maggie took a spin as well.

Maggie and Damon faced off in this watergun shoot-out.

The flashing lights and bells and electronic music were a bit overwhelming for Damon and me. We were kind of amazed that Jed and Joette like taking their kids there so much. We found out later that they'd never been on a Friday night before going with us. Usually they go on Monday or Wednesday and are practically the only customers. Either way, our kids had big fun playing skee ball and other arcade games and then turning in tickets for plastic bracelets, jumping frogs, and other goofy toys. What else can you ask for from Chuck E. Cheese?

And, what else can you ask for from San Antonio? Stay tuned for more posts on our fun visit.

General Conference with Kids (Made Easy)

Every six months, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints holds a General Conference at its headquarters in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is broadcast via television, radio, satellite, and Internet all over the world. The 2-day conference has speakers from the general leadership of the Church, including our President and prophet, Thomas S. Monson. The talks are always instructive and inspiring. I always look forward to the things I will hear and learn about Jesus Christ, the importance of families and my role as a mother, the Restoration of the gospel, the scriptures, faith, charity, and so many other gospel topics.

That being said, when you expect to view eight hours of speakers over two days with four children in the room, you have to do a little planning ahead if you expect peace and quiet, let alone if you want said children to learn something from it.

To prepare for Conference I generally find some printable packets online. Just google "General Conference activities for kids" and you'll find all sorts of things that other people have created. I've been able to find packets tailored to my children's varying ages and abilities. This year Adah was ready to really listen and take notes on some speakers. I gave her papers for each member of the First Presidency along with a good supply of mazes, wordsearches, and coloring pages. Maggie was expected to listen to some talks and draw pictures of stories or key points. Gunnar mostly got coloring pages.

In the past, I have found that the packets are a big hit for the first session of General Conference, but tend to lose their sparkle as the sessions progress. I knew that this time I needed to find some more varied activities with a little more staying power.

Here's the best one we got, courtesy of my friend (and birthday twin) Dawn:

Before General Conference began, I typed up a list of words and phrases that I thought would likely be mentioned during the talks. I chose things like "Plan of Happiness" and "sanctify" along with "Book of Mormon" and "repentance." I tried to choose a few that would likely be repeated many times, but others that we might only hear once or not at all. I wanted to keep my kids on their toes.

As we listened to the speakers, each time a child heard a particular word, they received a token (a glass floral marble) to put in their own container. Once a word had been heard 3 times (sometimes we allowed for more repetition), the paper was taken down; that word was no longer eligible for tokens. At the end of the session, the kids were rewarded with one M&M for each token. Plus I gave them several extra candies just for being so good. To accommodate Gunnar, a non-reader, I used a Conference Bingo page (available via The Friend) that had pictures representing various gospel topics.

This exercise was very effective and helped everyone--parents included--listen better. After the first session we replaced some of the words and even typed up a few more to add to the list. Before the next General Conference in October I plan to have my children come up with a list of words ahead of time, to really get them thinking about what things our leaders may talk to us about. I hope we have as much success with this idea next time.

And, I'll be honest, they weren't completely quiet and perfect for the whole 8 hours. I'm grateful we have a DVR and could pause the TV on occasion to wait for some noisy person to quiet down or some sibling argument to be resolved. Overall, though, it was one of our best General Conferences yet. I really recommend a little creative prep and especially this word-hearing activity.

Or, if all else fails, just strap them down!

Actually, this arrangement was requested by Gunnar. We were in the process of moving carseats around and Gunnar wanted to sit in his "new" carseat. He was working on some Conference coloring pages in front of the TV.

Organize by Number

In March I put these really fun vinyl letters on the cupboards in my garage/guest room/utility room/storage room/laundry room. (We really don't know what to call it. We call it the garage, but it's not one at all. It just used to be one. Anyway, I digress.)

Now, when I need one of the children (or my husband) to go get something that's stored away, I simply say, "Go get the extra booster seat in cupboard #3," or "The sleeping bags are in the bottom of #7 and #8." I love it, and the kids think it's so much fun to find the correct number that they're actually more willing to fetch things for me.

My Apparent Attitude Towards Blogging

If you've been checking back here for new posts in the last 2 months, you've no doubt been disappointed by the lack of new content. Sorry. When Picasa had its photo issues at the end of March it made me hesitant to post anything new. Then April came along with spring break and holidays and all kinds of responsibilities at church and the school. May's calendar page is even more packed. So, not knowing if any of my posts would show up anyway, I still kept avoiding the blog.

About 2 weeks ago (maybe less?) I sat down to create a test post, you know, to see if photos would upload and appear on the blog. Well, what was my reward? Blogger down.

So, now, with a little love lost, but with the hopes of rebuilding the relationship, I'm back again. We've had a fine spring so far and I'll have lots of fun things to share...once I know this post and photo will work. I actually will probably pre-date many of the posts so that they'll appear on the blog in the order that they happened rather than the order that I blogged about it. So, you may need to scroll down to read some "old" posts.

Also--If want to go to the original missing-photo posts, click here and here. I've gone back and re-added the pictures.

Note on the above photo: I didn't realize it until after uploading it that the way I cropped the photo looks pretty strange. You should know that those are Gunnar's fingers, lest you think I was making some weird sign with my disproportionately tiny hand.

No Photos

I'm not sure why the photos don't appear in the next couple of posts. I've been alerted by some kind readers and will try to fix it as soon as I can. Update: Apparently it's a Google-Picasa issue and Google is "working on it." That was via a Google employee in the Picasa help forum on Friday. Hopefully they'll get it figured out. If not, I'll probably just re-create the posts, which will be a pain, but...what ya gonna do?