One Stop Boy Shop

My Australian friend Robyn and I were trying to be the wild and crazy girls of our youth, but honestly? We sucked at it.  We had 1 drink each with dinner and then returned to the hotel bar and each had another HALF drink.  Pitiful!  But what counts isn’t that we weren’t wild and crazy girls of our youth, but that we had a great time (AND we didn’t dance on any tables!). 

Our evening began with some YUMMY Mexican food on the San Antonio River Walk.  I believe the restaurant was named “Zuna” and provided us with an excellent view of the River Walk.  The food was served like a piece of art.  Here’s our edible art.  It was so good!  I had chicken with a Chipolte sauce and Robyn had Prawns.  We both had garlic mashed potatoes and asparagus.

This is where we’d decided to be young and wild again.  I had a Corona with Lime and Robyn had a glass of wine.

After dinner we hit the River Walk proper.  We even stopped into an Irish Pub with the intention of getting a drink.  Did we?  Nope, we thought it too loud and crowded… Can you say “OLD and BORING”?  That’s us.  LOL

Next we wandered the paths and went on a gondola boat ride tour of the River Walk.  It was packed full of history and our guide was hilarious.  One of the first things he pointed out to us was that in the event of we were to fall off the boat, that the boat was equipped with emergency flotation devices.  Then he followed it with, “but if I were you, rather than dirty our flotation devices, I’d just stand up and climb back into the boat!”.

He pointed out things like areas where Miss Congeniality was filmed, locations of the oldest and most prestigious buildings along the River Walk and where the battle where Santa Anna began.

Here’s your history lesson:   The Alamo was defended by 189 Americans and Immigrants (many Mexican nationals) in 1836 but after a 3rd siege in as many days by an army of 1500 Mexican soldiers, sadly the Alamo was  defeated.  The call of “Remember the Alamo” was a turning point in the Mexican-American war.

After our entertaining and informative River Boat Ride, we returned to our Haunted Hotel expecting to attempt again to party like we were young and wild.  But alas we were sidetracked by a yummy ice cream shop!

Upon entering the Famous Menger Bar, we ordered another drink (this would be #2 of the evening by the way!) and sat down to await the “ghosties”.  The bar is famous as the place where Theodore Roosevelt recruited the Rough Riders.  The bar itself was constructed to mimic a Pub in England and still has it’s original cherry wood walls, ceiling, booths and beveled mirrors… Just gorgeous.  There have also been sightings of “ghosties” there so we were hopeful.  The author of “The Histories and Mysteries of the Menger (and manager of the hotel) showed us a photo of a ghostly apparition captured in the bar.  After sipping on the same drink for an hour we decided we were no longer young and wild and went to bed.  Poor Jet-lagged Robyn hit a wall and her lack of sleep caught up with her.  I had no such excuse but admittedly was pretty tired myself!

In the morning we toured the Alamo itself, there are no pictures allowed inside but the displays were really amazing.  They had flags from every state (and Country) represented by those who fought so valiantly at the Alamo.  There were very few from Texas but many from Mexico and other countries like Germany, Sweden and other states such as Missouri and Arkansas to name a few.

The Alamo also began what was the beginning of my Australian friend posing with Texas Police officers.  Her cute accent and beautiful face could get her anything she wanted!  People kept walking up to me and telling me what a lovely friend that I have.  I couldn’t agree more.

There’s part 2 for you!  I’ll be adding part 3, which was an adventure to “The Live Music Capital of the World”, Austin Texas…. and where we really did get a little wild and carefree!  Oh wait!  That’ll come later, next was a trip to caves where we hung out with bats…

My VERY, Very good friend Robyn came all the way over from Down Under.  She arrived from the land of Oz last Saturday.  We headed straight from the Austin airport to San Antonio, kid-less and carefree.  I can tell you that I was in MUCH need of a break, not many get their break in the form of a beautiful Australian Goddess, but I did!

This is part 1 , day 1 of our adventures.  Some of my posts this week in recounting our explorations may seem like a Texas history lesson for you, but I learned a lot about this great state while acting as a tour guide for my friend.

Our hotel reservations were for a hotel with a reputation for being haunted.  The Menger Hotel was built in 1859 and is only 100 yards away from the famous Alamo, where 189 brave men and women stood to defend Texas.  There are wonderful stories and mysteries of shutters closing all by themselves, stacked glasses becoming unstacked and apparitions in the elevators, hallways and rooms.

The hotel itself is a beautiful San Antonio historical landmark.  The lobby and hallways are filled with museum-worthy artifacts, turn of the century furnishings and amazing art.  Everywhere you turn, you find a treasure that makes your mouth drop.  The elegance of the hotel has attracted historic figures such as Theodore Roosevelt, Mae West, Babe Ruth, Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant.  It really felt like a step back in time but with modern amenities and conveniences!

It was so surreal to imagine that the first guests probably arrived on foot or horseback.  Although the parking situation is so bad, I kind of envied those past guests!  The men that ran the vallet service had such chaos to deal with but did so with smiles and kindness but what a mess! 

The 3 story tall ceiling of the original lobby has an amazing and beautiful stained glass window that lets in colorful natural light.  Our room was just across the hall from this ceiling and we paused to look at it many times.

We requested our room be in the oldest section of the hotel to increase our chances of ghostly visitors.  They advised us to take lots of pictures in the event that there might be something near that we couldn’t see.  I clicked and I spied and I sneaked and I clicked some more….  I’d jump out into the hallway to grab photos at random moments….. I even got caught by a group of men returning to their room in my jammies… or were they ghosts?  hehehehe

But even if I didn’t capture any ghosties (as my Australian friend called them) on camera, I DID have one claim of a paranormal experience.  There are a zillion “normal” reasons to explain my experience, the most likely being that I WANTED one to happen, but let’s ignore that and just assume that this was a “ghostie”.  Here’s my tale:

I awoke in the middle of the night for an unknown reason.  As I lay there with my eyes still closed – I realized I was cold…. at the same moment the little hairs on the back of my head raised up and I had a split second of awakefullness that made me realize, “I’M IN THE MENGER, MAYBE IT’S A GHOST!!!!”.  I leapt straight out of bed, fully expecting to see an apparition, but alas nothing.  Perhaps it was an overactive imagination or maybe, just maybe it was a ghost passing through my room….. who’s to say?

Fact or Fiction, Haunted or Not, Spirit or Imagination…. it was a great night!

Has it REALLY been over a week since I blogged last?   I’ve been so incredibly busy and having fun while doing so that I haven’t had time to sit down and write.  I have many adventures to tell you about and I’ll start writing again on Wednesday.  Please excuse my silence, but I swear it was for a great reason!  I have many tales to tell!

Please don’t leave me!  LOL

Here is my excuse!

BTW…. the dog “Boo” is old news, the pretty lady is the cause for my fun. 

My boys are certainly lacking in fashion sense.  Not that I’m a great role model, I tend to hang out in gym shorts and baggy t-shirts as often as I can get away with!  When the right situation presents itself, I can assure you that I do have some fashion sense that can be pulled to the surface.  I know not to wear black shoes with brown pants, pantyhose with sandals or white socks with black slacks.  But my boys find new ways to astound me every day in their clothing choices.

I swear that I pick matching clothes for the 2 youngest boys each day, but at some point my 4 year old Ian will redress himself for one reason or another.  Then my 2 year old Nathan (aka “Trouble”) tends to “accessorize” in very unique ways.  I can’t even tell you how many times I’ve had to take my children out in public looking like this:

Now this outfit was courtesy of my sister, so perhaps the lack of fashion sense runs in the family and is a hereditary sort of gene.  Perhaps there’s no hope for them at all and they carry a predisposition towards fashion failure.  (for the record, my sister dresses great!  LOL).

Then there are the costumes that I can’t get my child out of.  I hope that the stares people at the grocery store give me are an acknowledgment of my tolerance as a parent and not one of pity for my “poor” children.

Yesterday, Ian took the cake.   Actually all 3 boys had a fashion disaster of their own yesterday.  One after the other, they produced outfits that made me say “Huh?”.

Ian spilled apple juice on his shirt and nice matching shorts.  He asked to go change his clothing, which I agreed to…. my mistake!  Here is what he came down in (and yes, we did end up having to leave the house once in this ensemble):

I apologize for the quality of the photo.  There are two possible contributing factors… 1 my camera was dropped and this may be as good as it gets.  I think I’m in need of a new camera.  But the most likely possibility is that Ian is on Steroids AND Albuteral breathing treatments for his recent respiratory issues.  This child of mine, is NOT my normal child.  He’s a jumping bean, he’s moody, he’s out of control, he climbs onto my head, plows through people, hollers, screams, jumps off the walls (when not jumping off my head).  He’s really a different kid than I’m used to.  Asking him to stand still right now is like asking the sun not to set.

Since the photo quality is so bad, I’ll point out that it’s important to notice that he’s wearing a paisley silk dress vest with striped dress slacks that are at least 3 inches too short for him.  Don’t forget to take a gander at the pasty white pot belly peaking out where the vest is too short!  If the image had been clearer, you might have also noticed that his red underwear are peaking around the waistline of the pants.

Then came the knock down, drag out “boot fight” between Ian and Nathan.  Who should get to wear Mommy’s high heeled boots?  Nathan loves to “accessorize”.  I often find him in high heels or hats or sunglasses, you name it.  Nathan might be a lot younger, but he’s a tough cookie.  The winner was hard to predict.

Alas, Nathan prevailed.  I told you he’s one tough cookie!  I can assure you that Mr. Steroid boy did not take the loss very well at all.  I think I still have the headache from the screaming that created!

The “fashion hell” day ended when my 12 year old son came home from school.  I just rolled my eyes in despair when I noticed what he’d chosen to wear that day.  I didn’t get a picture, but he wore a gray and black HORIZONTAL striped shirt with black VERTICAL pin striped shorts, white socks and black Vans.  Aye yie yie.  These boys will never get girlfriends!

Guess it’s a good thing they’re “mommas boys” and that I don’t mind keeping them forever. 

“I’m Choked”.  Add this to one of the most terrifying phrases that my child can say.

Friday night and Saturday, I was down and out with a terrible stomach flu.  I spent the weekend in bed.

My 4 year old son Ian had a slight cold, nothing to concern us.  Just the standard sniffles, cough and runny nose.  By Sunday he had a terrible, wet cough  Robert and I decided that I’d need to take him to the pediatrician on Monday because it sounded awful.

Because Ian was sick (slight fever and that horrible cough), he slept with Robert and I on Sunday night.  Around 4:30 in the morning, Ian started crying and yelling in a panicked voice “I’m Choked!, I’m CHOKED!”.  I could hear him gasping for breath.  I immediately got dressed and told my husband I was taking him to Children’s Hospital.

The 35 minute drive felt like 4 hours.  It was terrifying and the first time since becoming a parent, I felt real fear that I’d made a bad decision by driving him myself and not calling 911.  He was gasping and rattling in the back seat (and not talking my ear off like usual) and scaring the bejeebers out of me.  Since he couldn’t speak and I was freaking out, I kept up a constant dialogue with myself that went something like this:

I should have called 911

Ian are you ok?

I could call 911 right now and park on the shoulder of the freeway.

They’d tow my car

I don’t care if they tow my car

Should I call 911

Ian are you ok?

Should I keep driving?

I wish that car would get out of my way

Ian, are you ok?

When we arrived at Children’s, I carried him in behind a woman with a sick baby girl.  As I wrote his name down, I looked into the waiting room and saw the room packed with children waiting to be seen.  I was certain I was in for a long wait to see a doctor and started yelling at myself again for not having called 911.

The staff there must be very well trained in just eyeing which kids need to be seen right away (that little girl that walked in ahead of us didn’t get called back for 3 more hours).  As soon as we’d sat down to begin our wait, they called our name.  We were escorted into the triage area with the nurse that had checked us in.  She said she’d taken one look at his ghostly white face, red rimmed eyes, flaring nostrils and pale lips and knew he was in trouble.  The triage nurse confirmed her concern.. “He sounds terrible” she said, “let’s get him straight in”.  She started calling ahead as we went to a room.

The room had a respiratory specialist, a nurse and a doctor waiting for us where they immediately strapped oxygen onto his little face and started taking vitals.  They hooked him up to blood pressure cuff, heart monitors, oxygen saturation monitor and determine “he sounds awful”.

Chest xrays showed no problems except that his lungs were enlarged due to the respiratory distress.  They put him on steroids and a breathing treatment.  The first breathing treatment was ineffective.  They had to keep him on oxygen to keep his oxygen levels up high enough. They forewarned us that it appeared he’d be staying a night or two at the hospital.

A couple of hours later, they gave him an hour long breathing treatment.  When it finished he still needed oxygen for another couple of hours.  Finally, he was able to keep his levels up himself and we were discharged late in the afternoon.  They believe that the gunk in his chest was clogging his airways and are requesting we encourage him to cough.  He’s using a nebulizer every 4 hours and taking steroids for 4 days.

Hopefully this scare is over.  I had a nightmare last night about Ian.  I think this was just my semi-annual reminder that our little ones are just so precious and vulnerable.  I was again reminded to hug my children tight and will never let go (they may have to kick me in the butt to get them our of their dorm rooms in college someday!).

9, 11.  Those numbers took on a whole new meaning 8 years ago.  I recently wrote about World Events that will forever be imprinted in my mind…. 9-11 was a BIG one.  All of those people – victims of an atrocious attack on our nation.  Heroes, who came to the aid of our country and many who continue to fight for our freedoms.  Those that paid the ultimate sacrifice, families left grieving for their loved ones.  The sense of vulnerability that hit every American.

Images from that day will haunt me forever.  I was on my way to work, and I remember listening to the radio.  I was just crossing under a freeway overpass to start my journey to downtown when the D.J. on the radio announced.. Oh My God, a plane has hit the World Trade Center.  That marked the beginning of a very traumatic day.  The horror continued through the day and the next.  Planes dropping from the sky, stories of death and destruction.  That was probably one of the first times in my life that I felt true fear.  I had never wanted so badly to be with my family and to hold them close.  I was riveted to the news, terrified at what had already happened and afraid for what would happen next.

9-11 also brought to me a new-found sense of pride in being an American.  Terrorists sought to divide this country but instead they inspired and instilled a togetherness, a sense of unity and a pride that I had not seen before in my lifetime.

The unexpected heroes and victims of that day will forever be honored.  The crimes against humanity and our country will not be forgotten.  We’re a strong people, and proud.

9-11… today I thank our servicemen and women for doing what so many of us can not do, for protecting us, for making us once again feel safe.  I thank the heroes at Ground Zero, the citizens, the armed forces, the fire and police.  I grieve with the families that lost their loved ones and I REMEMBER.

It’s hot here in Texas.  Oh so hot! There is no Fall in the air here… it’s still in the 100’s and we’re melting! Melting I tell ya! Send me some wind, send me some rain, send me some coolness. I think I need to move north. The heat is really starting to get to me or maybe it’s “the change of life”. Oh heck no, I’m only 40! It’s the heat! The gosh darn nasty heat!

So what’s a family to do? Besides stay in the air conditioning 24/7 that is. Faced with a 3 day weekend, we knew that we needed to do something that was kid fun and not electronic so we thought “let’s go to a water park”!

This wasn’t as easy as it may sound. You see there is this issue that this body of mine has not worn a swimsuit in over 4 years (perhaps even longer, anywhere up to 7 years ago). I’m pasty white, I gave up my sun-loving, baking with baby oil days many moons ago, certainly more than a decade ago. I’ve instead taken to wearing sunscreen on my face even if only outside for a half hour. I wear hats now, without caring if they’re fashionable or not.  I just don’t want to look like a leathery old prune. I don’t need the sun, I’m Scandinavian, I’m supposed to be pasty!

Then there’s Ian. Every time that face gets kissed by the sun (only takes moments) 10 new freckles pop out onto his cheeks and nose. They’re adorable and I love calling him my “Opie” (as in Opie Taylor from the Andy Griffith Show) but someday he may not like them so much. For now they make a fun game, as I pretend to count them like they’re stars in the night.

Back to the first dilemma…. Me…. Swimsuit…. oh NO! Carolyn, Taylor and I (my friend and her daughter, oops, i mean MY daughter) went to Target trying to find some end-of-summer suits left. Each one I took into the dressing room with me, I’d emit a MOOOOOOOOO. I just wasn’t liking this new me in those suits! There’s a lot to cover up with spandex!  And in the past whereas Spandex may have been my friend, it’s become my mortal enemy and has been replaced by Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups.

Eventually I bought a swimsuit and some big sunglasses (so I could hide my face and pretend I wasn’t visible to the public) and decided to suck it up and take my kids to a local water park. Fun was had by all, and with the exception of an occasional “Mooooo” from me, we had a great time.

Here are some pics. NONE of me, because there is no one brave enough to show those photos or they’ll not live another day! Got it Robert? Carolyn????

Nathan (aka “Trouble) on the little water slide:

Daddy and Nathan

Ian and Random playing:

Nathan thinking the water sprays on the slide were water fountains:

And the moment when we knew the fun was over…. Ian saying “FEED ME!”

If anyone hears from “Fall”, could you please ask it to come our way?  I don’t know if I my pride could stand another outing in a swimsuit even if my children ask it of me.

Edited to say that my name of “Bug Wrap” bugged too many people so I caved to peer pressure and retitled it to “Bug Rap”.

Yesterday in the car, my niece aka “daughter”, Taylor just busted out singing a Hillshire Farms commercial out of the blue.  It was SO hilarious!  I asked her to repeat it and captured it on my voice recorder on my phone.  Then last night my husband wrote some music to go with it, and we have “The Bug Wrap” (I call her “Bug”).  Taylor’s only comment about it was we were dorks for calling a “rap” song a “wrap”. Uggghhh 13 year olds (shaking my head and rolling my eyes).

Here it is, enjoy!