WIWS in San Antonio: Historical St. Mary's, the Riverwalk, and the Alamo!

Oh what a fun weekend with my girlies!  We went to a Catholic homeschooling conference in San Antonio and had a lovely time.  It is such a gift for me to be able to see a good number of old friends from college who are now homeschooling moms too.  One of my friends is an amazing octo-mom ;) who has just gotten her first daughter through her freshman year of high school and has always been our go-to for curriculum and parenting questions.  Lillian even convinced Steven on cloth diapering when he and I were still dating!  (No, we don't cloth diaper any more, but our oldest even wore prefolds with safety pins!)  Then there's the mother of 6 and former missionary and joyful beacon of humility who I talked to for half an hour before she even let me know that she had been diagnosed with a serious medical condition.

Sorry but I'll keep raving about these friends I only see once a year.  I have these other two friends Megan and Jenna whose smiles could light up a room.  One of them I met on a retreat and the other I met while our husbands were finishing school.  I would love to just go to a park with them and let our kids play and talk for hours.  Why can't San Antonio be closer???  Then I have this super-mom friend who is type-A to the max and could put on a retreat, a conference, or set up a co-op while she's sleeping.  She's so organized and amazing and joyful.  And guess what?  She's starting the same co-op that I am (with one of my smiley friends), and I can ask her all the questions I need to.  Do you know how awesome this is and how relieved I am that I have someone to guide me in doing this???  Thank you Jesus, for Jenny, and for all these sweet girlfriends who I wish I could see more often.

This year some of our local friends attended as well, so that made it fun to share the weekend with some of them!  We enjoyed some restaurants, Trader Joe's, driving around the Quarry Market Area, and swimming at the hotel pool.  My boys ended up staying home so Daddy could recover from two out-of-town trips this week.  I missed them, but also enjoyed having time with my girls.

~~~

So, onto Sunday....We went to Sunday Mass at the historical St. Mary's on the Riverwalk.  This is the church where my grandparents attended when I was a little girl.  My Nana worked at the gift store and I felt so close to her while we were there today.  Nana was actually the only grandparent of mine who was raised Catholic (her husband-my grandfather, and my dad are converts), so I credit my own faith journey in part to her steadfastness in the Catholic Church.

St. Mary's Gift Store (I think maybe even started by my grandmother)

The girls' Sunday outfits are pretty much hand-me downs from cousin Emily.  The skirt Mary Clare is wearing is Naartjie, which I think is some expensive boutique brand.  The cropped shirt I think we got at Ross and the tie-died tank underneath was from her cousin.  Ellie's dress is Gymboree and one of my favs that MC used to wear, too.  Braid ideas via cutegirlshairstyles.com :)

This fuzzy photo below was taken quickly after Mass, because we were parked in lines so we had to rush out so we wouldn't be blocking anyone.  The picture doesn't do the church justice.  So many beautiful statues and stained glass.  Oh, how I love the richness of our Catholic Faith!

For the 2nd week in a row I didn't have the 5 and under age set with me at Mass, so for mass behavior I was rather blessed once again!  Mary Clare is generally always an A+.  Ellie is at a stage I remember vividly from MC where she tends to act like she is falling over at all times.  She'll lean over on the pew, sit back when she's supposed to kneel, and generally just act like this is the most exhausting thing she has done all week.  BUT...she did follow along with the songs, so that was good.  I'll give her an A-.

Mama's outfit left a lot to be desired.  Travel easy Mass clothes=too big maxi skirt from Kohl's, very thin green shirt from Old Navy (why are all the tees so thin these days?!?) with white cami under (can't figure out if the cami makes my belly look even bigger, I think it does and I think it's time for Spanx), my fav sandals from Marshall's, and the always favorite colorful necklace.  Pretty much the exact upper half of my profile photo.  Big belly via too much food, too many c-sections, and too little exercise.  Also the bad genes from that favorite grandmother.  Why do we hold our weight in our stomach???  I don't want to have a pregnant stomach when I'm an old lady, please God.

and some more San Antonio photos from today...

With friends on the Riverwalk

You can see the river boats in the background.  The lines were too long, but it looked like fun if we had more time!

We had someone take a photo of the 3 of us, but she didn't click the shutter.  No photo at all.  Oh well.

I changed to bermuda shorts for the afternoon.  MC was so done with photos at this point, so she preferred being photographer!

I was glad we were able to visit the Alamo since Steven wasn't with us (he has been anti-Alamo visit all year; I guess he has boring memories from when he was 12).  The girls were exhausted and so hot by the time we got there, so they weren't in the best of moods.  But the little bit we did see and read about was meaningful.  I think it was good for us to see one more mission as we end our Texas History year.  And it's free admission!

The Battle of the Alamo was lost to the Mexican Army in 1836, killing all of the Texian soldiers including the famous commanders James Bowie and William Travis.  But it was a loss that inspired the troops to rally and defeat the Mexican soldiers to win the Battle of San Jacinto the next month, thus ending the Texas Revolution.  "Remember the Alamo!" they shouted.

The Alamo is a unique Mission fort since it is in the middle of downtown San Antonio.  The 4 acres are beautifully landscaped with several different buildings.  It's just blocks from the Riverwalk and HemisFair Park which we didn't get to go to, but is supposed to include a fun and free wooden playground with mazes and such for the kids.  

The gift store at the Alamo included lots of unique historical items like quill and ink pens, prairie bonnets, coonskin hats, toy rifles, wooden flutes, etc.  And it was a nice break from the heat of the outdoors!

I would definitely recommend a stop at each of these places if you're ever in San Antonio.  Historic Saint Mary's, the Riverwalk (with many fun restaurants and also a mall), the Alamo, and also HemisFair Park are all within walking distance.  There's also a little area called La Villita near the park that looked really fun!  Park your car at Cafe Rio like we did for $6/day and enjoy a fun day in downtown San Antonio!


Linking up with Fine Linen and Purple

And also Camp Patton's Sunday Best!