Texas

Before all this nonsense happened with Doug's work, he had scheduled vacation time in October. We decided to go and see our friends who live in San Antonio and whom we hadn't seen in years. So we bought and paid for the plane tickets and rental car months ago. I'm so glad we couldn't get a refund because we had so much fun on our visit.

Our flight left at 6am. It was still dark outside but the kids were able to still see the men working down by the airplane.

The first flight was to Denver and went pretty well. Then we went on to San Antonio and when we were descending, Shannon started having pressure in her head (she was a little stuffed up) and was crying a bit. Five minutes before we landed, Olivia and Aiden thought it was time for naps so they tried to go to sleep but I wouldn't let them. I know, mean mommy.

It took a while to get our rental. They told us a few times that we wouldn't fit in the crossover that we had chosen and kept trying to get us to take a minivan but after much assurance that we would be alright, we finally got our Buick Enclave. That was a fun car to drive, and we all fit just nicely, thank you very much. (For those of you who don't know, we've had a minivan for the past 8 years and we wanted to try something different.)

We arrived at Leslie and Josh's in the late afternoon. It was nice to relax and catch up on old times. Next day was Sunday and Shannon wasn't feeling too great. We went to church and then lounged around the rest of the day. Monday we woke up to rain! I thought we were going to be leaving it behind for a while. Our plans for Monday were canceled so we worked on getting Shannon better. She had an awful headache that wasn't going away and was all stuffed up.

Tuesday morning it wasn't raining and Shannon was feeling better so we decided to go to a friend of Leslie's and play. The pool had gotten yucky from the rain so we could only go in the hot tub, which had been cooled down. It was nice and refreshing and the kids had lots of fun playing on the swing set.

Wednesday we woke up to more rain! That's okay because we were off to Pump It Up, an indoor blow-up play area. On the way there, we came across several areas of flooding. This was just down the street from the house. I just found it interesting how different states handle the rain.



Here are the kids having fun.

Shannon trying to put a flag on the velcro. Olivia starting through the obstacle course.

And the winner is......Josh! Nice try Doug.

We did not plan the matching shirts, honest!

That night, the kids were out playing in the backyard and Aiden ended up standing on a fire ant hill. I couldn't understand why he was just standing there, crying. I felt so bad for him. They didn't like him and he wasn't too thrilled about them either.

Thursday morning was beautiful outside but it was Olivia's turn to be sick. She ended up throwing up in the morning and Aiden wasn't feeling that good either. By the afternoon, the kids were feeling better so we went to a place where the kids get to do all different types of art. And the best part is I don't have to clean up afterwards.

Bryson and Joshua.

Friday was another beautiful day and we headed to downtown San Antonio to see the Riverwalk and the Alamo. We first saw the Riverwalk. We took the boat tour and it was very nice.

Lunchtime at one of the Mexican restaurants on the Riverwalk. Yum.


Then on to the Alamo.

The Walker Family: Aurelia, Josh, Hatty, Leslie, Grant and Joshua

Cute Girls

Handsome Boys

Our final day came around all too quickly. We headed on out to the home of a co-worker of Josh's. She has 150 acres, dogs, cats, chickens, rooster, goose, horses, donkeys, goat, a pet deer and three pet squirrels (I think that was all). Oh, and cows.

Aiden wasn't too fond of the deer.

Everyone lined up looking at the horses.

The whole gang (plus one who had to be a part of the fun, between Olivia and Jami's heads)

We were able to take all the kids out for rides on the horses. (Sorry I didn't get any pictures with my camera. I'll get some from Leslie.)

That night we had a waterballoon fight and just relaxed.

It was sad to leave, lots of tears, but we had so much fun and look forward to the next time we get to see them.

Our flight left at 6:35am so we're all tuckered out. I forgot to add that both Hatty and Grant were sick as well. I'm so glad that none of it lasted very long.