Remember the Alamo! - Day 6

On day 6 of our trip we headed to beautiful San Antonio and the symbol of Texan valor and bravery, the Alamo. Before heading out, however, we decided to educate ourselves about what went on there that fateful few days by watching the movie "The Alamo' before leaving our timeshare. That way we would all know what we are supposed to be remembering when we hear "remember the Alamo." It was such a good movie and really got us excited about seeing the real thing.

So that is just where we started - at the Alamo and the beautiful gardens surrounding it.

The Alamo was originally a church, but at the time of the infamous siege by Mexican General Santa Anna in 1836, the old ruins of the church and the wall surrounding it became the fortress that Davey Crockett, Jim Bowie, William Travis and other heroes defended for 13 days to their own deaths. So even though it was no longer a church, it is holy ground - a shrine to the martyrs for freedom.

I love the Alamo. I saw it a few years ago without my kids, and I was anxious to bring them back here are to teach them the great and tragic history of this place.

Of course they loved it too, especially the cannons.

But it was a hot day, so as wonderful as the gardens and exhibits were, the one part of the Alamo that proved the most popular with this crowd was the fan.

San Antonio is a beautiful city, and that famous Texas pride is everywhere! I don't think any other state in the union has as much state pride as good old Texas! They have Texas shaped everything! I saw Texas shaped woven into carpets, welded on fences, dog bowls shaped like Texas, and even the waffle maker at our hotel made Texas shaped waffles! I think that is so cool! They even have their very own pledge of allegiance that the kids say in school. I wish all states were that proud, maybe our federal government wouldn't be as inflated as it is right now.

We decided to take a river cruise to see the famous San Antonio Riverwalk from the water.

It was so fun, and so beautiful!

And then we decided to do a little River-walking ourselves.

Such pretty bridges and river-side restaurants. It really reminded me of Venice. So romantic - even with 9 kids in tow.

It was so colorful and there was so much to explore.

It was warm out, and we took a long break at this outdoor amphitheater on the water's edge.

The stage was on the other side of the river. Russian dancers were practicing for their show there that evening.

While the adults and teenagers rested the kids raced each other down the grassy rows of seats. Where do they get the energy?

We resumed our stroll along the Riverwalk. Above is how Luke and Brynn hide. Can you see them?

We chose to have dinner in a Mexican restaurant under a bridge where the kids took turns practicing the reproduction Alamo era bugle that we bought at the Alamo so that the boys can work on their "bugling" merit badge. I'm sure that the people at the restaurant, and everybody up and down the river loved that.

A photo op. What a pretty place!

Our walk through the city brought us back to the Alamo where we waited for the sun to go down so that we could see it all lit up.

What a great old city with some really fun architecture.

When the sun went down, the lights went up. The Alamo is gorgeous when it is all lit up like that and seems say to all "Remember the Alamo!"

Nathan attempts to play Taps on the bugle, as if to honor the fallen heroes.

What a great day!