Texas Trip Recap

I had a wonderful time in San Antonio. It's been 10 years since I was last there and during that time 2 more siblings relocated there. The older I get the more I realize how important family is and want to connect with them more often. I feel so blessed to come from a relatively large family with eight children and it is so nice to get the opportunity to visit the ones you don't get to see as often as the ones that live closer.

My youngest sister is the mother of this little cutie (see first pic below). His name is Kai and he turned 2 the week I was there. I could barely force myself from scooping him up and squeezing the daylights out of him every time I laid eyes on him.

Now for a trip recap:

First and foremost the heat. My word was it hot! We stepped off the plane into 97 degrees -- felt like we were walking into an oven. How on earth do they stand it in the summer? Sure there's air conditioning but what about walking from your home to the car? I might not make it that far. On the plus side: after a few days of mid 90's 87 degrees felt like heaven on earth.

During our visit we got together with my oldest brother's family several times, went to a parade, went to an art fair at Fiesta, celebrated Kai's birthday, went to the biggest, nicest outlet mall -- ever and ate out at a couple of good restaurants.

My oldest brother is quite the carpenter. He manages a city facilities department for his real job but runs a construction business on the side (goodness gracious -- while typing that statement I realized that most of us kids are Type A workaholics, we all have at least one side business!) Anyway, my brother recently built a beautiful new covered deck on the back of his house and built a storage closet out of hidden space under the stair. Strangely I found myself discussing the different building techniques and materials for his part of the country. Obviously I have no life if that's what I spend vacation doing. Wait... there's more about that. 

We scoped out the grocery store scene in San Antonio. Not on purpose mind you, we had to go to the grocery store, but it didn't hurt to scope out the prices while I was in there. My two sisters and I used to work together at the same grocery store so grocery stores are fascinating to us.  Clearly I will need to rent a life from someone else. 



We went to the Fiesta celebration which is apparently a very big deal there. Downtown was absolutely packed. We saw lots of interesting art, most of it was far out of my price range which helped me to not feel the slightest bit tempted to spend anything. I regret that I didn't take many pictures I forgot my camera that day. So many creative and talented artists out there! 

Kai and his irresistible curls at the parade



Art Fair at Fiesta: trying to not pass out from the heat



This was earlier in the day, before I was hot, tired and grouchy



Playing Horsie

There was not enough time to show this little guy all the fun stuff Mom used to do with us growing up. Mindy will not allow me to teach him the "Mad Dog" game where the child lays down on the floor and wraps his arms around your legs and screams and howls and carries on something awful -- just for the fun of it. Apparently he does this to some degree on his own. Heh heh.  As the long distance aunt that spoils her son, I am not allowed to show him any tricks that will make her life harder. : )



Playing blocks



My niece's little darling Nate. He's two too!



Me and Kendra taking a break from the heat at Fiesta -- overlooking the beautiful River Walk



Spending

Apparently being hot, tired and grouchy from being so hot and tired is great for not spending money! I had saved up for this trip for the last year and had money to spend totally guilt free and credit card free. But it happened to work out that I just didn't spend much money -- how good of a trip is that?! Breakfasts were fruit and yogurt at home. Lunches were chicken fajita tacos at the Fiesta and parade. We ate supper out twice at nice restaurants. One meal was at the Saltgrass Steakhouse -- that was an especially good steak and great service.

On Monday we went to a terrific outlet mall, actually two outlet malls right next to each other. I haven't been to a lot of outlet malls, but this beats anything I've been to before.  There were lots of things I wanted to buy. I really, really wanted a new suit from Jones of New York, but it was a lot of money and I would want to think about it more carefully before spending that much (and hopefully lose more weight before shelling out for an "investment piece"). I did splurge at the Wrangler/Lee outlet store -- much more in my price comfort zone. Thankfully I was limited by the size of my suitcase so I didn't go too overboard. I picked up a nice khaki skirt, 2 pr. crop pants, 2 blouses, 2 shirts for me that's just about my whole spring/summer wardrobe!

All in all - it was a great trip!