Weekend with Grandpa

What a weekend with Grandpa! On Saturday we headed to the one and only Riverwalk...so Riley's second trip downtown, but with much nicer weather this go 'round. It was cool and breezy and not quite as crowded. We even had the chance to explore new areas of the Riverwalk that neither JD nor I had been before. Now that the Riverwalk expansion project is underway, you can actually walk a complete loop and enjoy all of the different areas. Riley seemed to really get into the walk along the bumpy walkways, as she slept almost the entire way.

Here you can see that Riley woke up just long enough to see the optical illusion of Grandpa looking taller than her Daddy!

After miles of hiking and helping to carry the stroller up and down many stairs, Grandpa soon found that his shoes were just not fit for keeping up with little Riley!

After the Riverwalk, we decided to head out and explore the Alamo. Riley was such a trooper and continued to nap. As you can see in the photo below, we were fortunate enough to see a military demonstration in action during our visit. As well, inside the compound, there was all sorts of period demonstrations underway...re-enactments, displays, people in costume and even a hatchet throwing competition. That was the only time Riley was waken from here slumber, when we stopped to watch the competitors throwing their hatchets...of course when it should be relatively quiet for concentration purposes...wouldn't you know that is when Riley wanted to test her lungs. Once picked up, she was just fine, so we kept her in our arms for the remainder of our visit to the Alamo.

On the ride home, Riley was all smiles and chatty too...I guess she was well rested from the long nap while we toured. It was too cute...and I just love all of the smiles and cooing.

Saturday night, the boys were tied up watching the action packed "Iron Man", so Riley and I enjoyed a little quieter playtime downstairs with her Baby Einstein play set. It plays some nice calm tunes...which of course runs on batteries...we have turned into one heck of a rechargeable battery zone (perhaps we should invest in Energizer stock!).

Sunday, of course was a day for football, but we started off with a trip back downtown for mass at the oldest cathedral in the United States...San Fernando (which I just learned about with a little Internet research). You can tell the church has been restored, but it was still beautiful. Most of the masses are held in Spanish, but the one we attended was bilingual, and alternated Spanish and English. What a new and exciting experience. Riley was very good, as always. She did get a little squirmy about 20 minutes into mass, as she was hungry again. After a quick bite, she was just perfect!

After mass, we stopped for a few photos in front of the fountains in the courtyard.

I think Grandpa is going to have a hard time saying goodbye to his little sweetie pie on Tuesday morning!