After touring the Battleship Texas, we walked over to the San Jacinto Monument for a Texas-sized Birthday celebration! I love the San Jacinto Monument. Did you know that it is the tallest monument in the USA? (15 feet taller than the Washington Monument). Did you know that this battle was one of the fastest and most decisive battles ever? (18 minutes long. About 2000 Mexicas vs. 900 Texans. 630 Mexicans killed and 730 wounded. Only 9 Texans died!) We are quite proud here in Texas! :)Around the base of the Monument, there were dozens of food stands After spending almost $50 at Washington-on-the-Brazos for yucky food, we brought a picnic lunch. The food today looked MUCH better! We did get some kettle corn before leaving. :)
The boys HAD to ride the $4 each barrel train. They are becoming quite the barrel train experts! Jacob's whistle did not work, but other than that, the ride ROCKED!
The petting zoo was really cool! They had some animals that we had never seen up close before...like this Harding Bison!!! The bison calf was so soft and beautiful! There was also a llama, 2 deer, rabbits, several goats and kids, and more. The bison was totally the highlight!
After the petting zoo, we headed to the kid area. The Zoo had brought lots of animal bones and even a live baby alligator! The photo is of the boys looking at the jaguar skull and skin. Rylan was overjoyed to see real jaguar bones!
This is so cool! A 3 hour documentary movie has been made about Sam Houston... similar to HBO's John Adams, but not as long. The gentleman that portrayed Sam was there and we chatted for about 10 minutes. He bent down and chatted with the boys in character. They really thought it was Sam! We bought the DVD and are excited to watch it soon!
Here is a cannon demo...Super cool!
In front of the Monument. You can take an elevator to the top. Even though I HATE elevators, we were going to do it. However, since it was free that day, the line was LONG - like an hour wait. So we did not go to the top. We did go in the Museum. It was SO crowded, so we definitely want to go back when there is more time and less crowd! :)
Around the base is the story of the Texas Revolution. It is really moving. The boys were super excited to get their first shooters...a wooden pistol with a leather holster. They think they are TOO COOL!
We were finally off to the battle re-enactment. We got to walk through the Mexican camp. We did not realize that you could tour the two camps until we were heading to get our stop on the grass. We wished we would have realized it sooner and gotten to see the Texans camp too! Here is Santa Anna. He was one mean guy. I begged the boys to go stand by him for a picture. Rylan said, "Momma, he is evil and mean and I will NOT get near him!" Can't blame him!!! hahaha
Our two little Texas getting ready to watch the battle!
We sat in the BLAZING sun for about 15 minutes when Jason said he was going to the car to get umbrellas. He took Jacob with him. About 2 minutes later a lady with a super fancy camera came over and snapped dozen of photos of Rylan drinking water, shooting his new pistol and talking about the battle. He told her all the details. She could not believe how much he knew! :) Turns out she was with the Chronicle and he got a little press for being so cute and smart!
Here were are DYING in the heat!!! It was miserable. We drank 6 bottles of water in 90 minutes. We nibbled on the kettle corn. Then disaster struck...an ant bit Jacob! He is allergic to ants. More to come on that in another post, but he is fine now.
US Representative Ted Poe spoke for about 15 minutes about the Texas Revolution before the battle. It was a wonderful, terrific, fabulous version. Then a narrator talked us through the day before the battle and the battle. It was really nice to have the narrator. The two other re-enactments that we have seen have been quiet (except for BOOMING cannons) and it was hard to know exactly what was happening if you were not familiar with the specific battle. So this re-enactment was awesome! We had front row seats on the grassy hill and could have touched the soldiers several times.
After the battle, we left to go eat Tex-Mex (oh the irony!). It was a hot, exhausting day...but oh so GLORIOUS too!
The petting zoo was really cool! They had some animals that we had never seen up close before...like this Harding Bison!!! The bison calf was so soft and beautiful! There was also a llama, 2 deer, rabbits, several goats and kids, and more. The bison was totally the highlight!
After the petting zoo, we headed to the kid area. The Zoo had brought lots of animal bones and even a live baby alligator! The photo is of the boys looking at the jaguar skull and skin. Rylan was overjoyed to see real jaguar bones!
This is so cool! A 3 hour documentary movie has been made about Sam Houston... similar to HBO's John Adams, but not as long. The gentleman that portrayed Sam was there and we chatted for about 10 minutes. He bent down and chatted with the boys in character. They really thought it was Sam! We bought the DVD and are excited to watch it soon!
Here is a cannon demo...Super cool!
In front of the Monument. You can take an elevator to the top. Even though I HATE elevators, we were going to do it. However, since it was free that day, the line was LONG - like an hour wait. So we did not go to the top. We did go in the Museum. It was SO crowded, so we definitely want to go back when there is more time and less crowd! :)
Around the base is the story of the Texas Revolution. It is really moving. The boys were super excited to get their first shooters...a wooden pistol with a leather holster. They think they are TOO COOL!
We were finally off to the battle re-enactment. We got to walk through the Mexican camp. We did not realize that you could tour the two camps until we were heading to get our stop on the grass. We wished we would have realized it sooner and gotten to see the Texans camp too! Here is Santa Anna. He was one mean guy. I begged the boys to go stand by him for a picture. Rylan said, "Momma, he is evil and mean and I will NOT get near him!" Can't blame him!!! hahaha
Our two little Texas getting ready to watch the battle!
We sat in the BLAZING sun for about 15 minutes when Jason said he was going to the car to get umbrellas. He took Jacob with him. About 2 minutes later a lady with a super fancy camera came over and snapped dozen of photos of Rylan drinking water, shooting his new pistol and talking about the battle. He told her all the details. She could not believe how much he knew! :) Turns out she was with the Chronicle and he got a little press for being so cute and smart!
Here were are DYING in the heat!!! It was miserable. We drank 6 bottles of water in 90 minutes. We nibbled on the kettle corn. Then disaster struck...an ant bit Jacob! He is allergic to ants. More to come on that in another post, but he is fine now.
US Representative Ted Poe spoke for about 15 minutes about the Texas Revolution before the battle. It was a wonderful, terrific, fabulous version. Then a narrator talked us through the day before the battle and the battle. It was really nice to have the narrator. The two other re-enactments that we have seen have been quiet (except for BOOMING cannons) and it was hard to know exactly what was happening if you were not familiar with the specific battle. So this re-enactment was awesome! We had front row seats on the grassy hill and could have touched the soldiers several times.
After the battle, we left to go eat Tex-Mex (oh the irony!). It was a hot, exhausting day...but oh so GLORIOUS too!
1 comment:
saw this a few years ago. and then when son was in 8th grade went to sam houston museum in huntsville. the diorama scene was actually set up wrong w/ sam having the wrong leg injured in the san jacinto scene!
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