Ella and her lotion

When Brian and Tanya and company came to pick us up at the airport, we got into the can and headed straight for San Antonio. I had my purse with my approved 3 ounce bottle of lotion, and while we were driving I pulled it out to put some on my hands while talking to Tanya. Suddenly a little hand reaches over the top of her carseat- palm open. Tanya laughs and says that Ella loves lotion. I place a little dot on her hand and she carefully rubs it into her hands. As soon as that lotion has disappeared her hand is back over the edge of her carseat anticipating another dot of lotion. This went on with alternating dots of lotion on her hands and feet. She was the best smelling toddler this side of the Mississippi and that 3 ounce bottle of lotion made for a very smooth car ride.

The Cookie Lounge in Austin

Entering the lounge- Buck was so excited to see this place and we made a special side trip to see it on our way from Dallas to San Antonio.

Eating yummy cookies with Liam and Anne- she was the young woman who came with us to watch the kiddos on the night out that we had- everyone should bring a babysitter- it was so fun and she was great company.

Buck and Nadia at the Cookie Lounge

Fairy Tale Land at Ripley's

Pinocchio at Ripley's

Peter Pan- Liam loves Peter Pan- In a recent trip Buck spent a lot of time playing Captain Hook.

Prince Phillip!!! The actual wax replica of this dragon fighting, princess rescuing royal!

The largest tire in the world- with Brian and Ella for scale.

San Antonio Enjoyment

Which believe it or not- has some amazing and some amazingly gross things.

The Johnston's on the Dave Letterman Show- apparently Ella found something more interesting than the host.

Visiting with Oprah.

The tallest man in the world- with Nadia for scale.

The Johnston's require 2 family pictures. With busy children it's hard to catch everyone smiling together- but they are such great hosts and such wonderful company, we love going places with them.

Just to keep the perspective on size- the largest man in the world.

Prince Phillip aka Prince Liam

Little Ella had to get in on the action.

Prince Liam demonstrating his sword technique.

The towel/cape completes the outfit.

Prince Liam to the rescue!!

Dinner after the Alamo

Once we arrived at the restaurant, the food was amazing- though we look very well-traveled!

After the Alamo

After the Alamo we decided to get something to eat. And, we didn't leave the kids at home alone, Anne- a young woman from their ward had come to babysit while we went out. She was great to have on the entire trip. Also, San Antonio is known for the riverwalk, which is a path along a river that runs below street level. There are shops, restaurants, etc. We had seen a place we wanted to try and had consulted the map as seen above, and so we started our journey.

We walked a fair piece and Tanya who was 4 or 5 months pregnant at the time was amazing- but all of us were getting tired and hungry, but Buck and Brian said they knew where they were going, so we kept walking.

As we neared the timeshare, clearly not where the food was, Tanya and I decided to stop and ask for help. We had to wait for the nice man to finish telling the other people where they could go to dinner as well.

We learned that our problem was, once we entered the riverwalk, had we turned right instead of left, we would have been at the door of the restaurant. So back we went, but dinner was delicious.