San Antonio Yet Again: The Witte Museum.

You'd think we actually liked hanging out in San Antonio with how often we've been there of late, right? While I can admit there are some fun things to be done there - the SA Zoo, Japanese Tea Gardens, Children's Museum, and now, the Witte Museum - we're not actually that enamored with the city. It's just a.) close, and b.) D's family LOVES it. The latter is the reason we found ourselves down there this past Sunday, since they had come up to see A's dance recital and wanted to take a trip the following day. 

While I recognize the value of having "nothing to do" while exploring a city, having a toddler (and being somewhat of a type-A person myself) doesn't really lend itself to a complete lack of structure, so we paid a visit to the Witte Museum in Brackenridge Park. I had heard really amazing things about it, and our visit the last time had been thwarted by a last-minute weather change, so this time I knew it was a must on my to-do list!

I'm not entirely sure how I feel about our museum visit. I will say that the dinosaur exhibit was cool, but not necessarily large enough to warrant the additional $5/person cost. Then again, with the animatronics I'm sure it was a really costly project, so I get it. In fact, I'll let you be the judge:

Aside from that, my disappointment has only to do with the fact that forty minutes in, my in-laws were already looking at their watches expectantly, and I'm not a person who enjoys being rushed through. I definitely didn't get to see half of the museum, and seeing as how what we did see was child-oriented, it wasn't exactly what I had in mind. That being said, Ava had a ball, and if you're looking for a fun, hands-on, learning experience for your child this summer, the Witte Museum is great for that purpose! Just realize that the HEB Science Treehouse makes up the majority of the child-geared exhibits, and happens to be outside (AKA go early! it's getting hot!)

Here are just some of the things you can expect to do with your child:

We only had time for one indoor exhibit after the science treehouse, so we chose to go with Texas Wildlife, thinking it would be the most interesting for Ava. We were correct for the most part, but unfortunately there was a, ahem, circle of life portrayal that upset her and made her cry :(

Though the Witte was the main part of our visit, we also enjoyed some time on the Riverwalk with A's grandparents, ate some BBQ at The County Line, swam at their hotel's rooftop pool, and met some nice firefighters that let A meet their arson dog and take pictures on their truck and with their mascot. Aww!

 Happy vacationing, Central Texans!

Our Mini-Cation to San Antonio: The Conclusion!

I didn't have this in mind to be a three part post, but with the amount of pictures I took while away, it quickly turned into that! 

After the zoo the other day, I didn't want the fun to end on such a sour note, so we made one more stop in Brackenridge Park: the Japanese Tea Gardens! I've always driven by here en route to the zoo (it's directly next door), and always wanted to go, so go we went! I'm so glad we did - it was so insanely beautiful!!

All in all, San Antonio is a fun place to be for 24-48 hours, though I still have no desire to live there :) After we wrapped things up at the hotel and checked out after D's lunch meetings, we headed back home to Austin, where all three (four, actually) of our hearts live. So happy to be home!