A Cave, A Fort, & A River

After a day that began in the 5 o'clock hour and included leaving the house at 7:30 am and not returning until almost 4 pm, I am so happy to be unwinding at this computer right now!  Corey & Jack are gone to flag football practice, Allie is at Bible Study, and Cooper is napping.  The house is a mess after a morning full of first-day-of-school-hustle-and-bustle, but it is quiet and calm... Life is good.

So... on to the blog!

Last Thursday we picked Jack up from school and headed out for San Antonio via Waco for a weekend getaway.  The kids had the opportunity to be on a radio commercial that evening and were so excited!  The van was packed FULL of suitcases, a stroller, swim supplies, a Pack & Play, snacks, sodas, school supplies, and every electronic gadget that we own.  And, oh yeah...  Milly... our Old English Sheepdog and her bag of dog food.  We got several miles down the road and it happened... The van started making a loud noise accompanied by pretty bad shaking.  It was obvious that we were not going to be able to proceed, so we turned around and headed to The Hon-Da Doctor (catchy name, huh?) which is near our home.  En route, the car absolutely almost died several times, and we almost got run over as we traveled up the Interstate at a very slow speed.  Let's just say that there was a lot of praying going on.  Finally, we rolled into the mechanic, my friend Elizabeth came to the rescue and took me home to get Corey's car, and I went back to the mechanic to get my family.  We quickly transfered as much of our stuff into the little car as we could fit and decided to drop the doggie off at the border.  When we pulled up to Glamor Pets (or is it Glamor Petz???) we saw that they were closed, and we really didn't have any option besides taking our big ol' dog to Waco along with the 5 of us in the little bitty car... in rush hour.  But we made it!  Finally.  Milly went to stay at my brother's house while we stayed with my parents, and we got up bright and early on Friday morning and headed to San Antonio.  

On the way, we decided to stop at Inner Space Caverns.  It is a cave north of Austin that we had been to 19 years ago and always say, "We should stop there someday." when we pass it.  This time we did.  It was awesome. 

~ inside of the cave ~

~ the family ~

After the pit-stop in the cave, we started the trek down I35 towards San Antonio.  I can honestly say, in all my Texan years, I have NEVER been on that stretch of road without a major construction delay, wreck, or traffic jam!  I am almost determined to never drive on it again.  Almost.  So... after sitting in that mess for a while, we decided to take a detour through the country and go to San Antonio the back way.  It was a nice drive, and we arrived in Marble Falls just in time for lunch at the World Famous Bluebonnet Cafe.  (Okay, maybe not World Famous... but 'dang good'.)  The line to get in was out the door, but once I got to show my family what this place was all about (pie with meringue as big as Cooper's head) we were glad that we ate there.  (Thanks to a girlfriend-lunch with my friend Jenny last year, I knew about it.)  After lunch, we headed to the Alamo and the River Walk in San Antonio.  Allie had studied Texas history last year in school, and I had wanted to take her to see the Alamo ever since then.  Just as we were about to enter San Antonio, the rain hit (It was the first of several rain storms that intruded into our weekend.), so we decided to stop by the hotel, unpack, rest a while, and wait for the rain to pass then head to the Alamo.  Coop and I took a short nap, and I think that I slept the hardest that I had in months!  The ride in the miniature car had worn me out.  :)  A little later, we all headed downtown.  It was still sprinkling, but we were determined to be tourists.  :)  

~ Corey, Jack, & Allie in front of the Alamo ~

~ Cooper Baby ~

~ me & the big kids ~

~ my little Texans ~

~Boys & A Bridge~

(Isn't this what all little boys do on a bridge?  Hang over the edge?  

It's enough to stop a mommy's heart!)

~ my beautiful gal ~

After we toured the Alamo, we went to the River Walk and ate dinner near the water while we listened to the mariachi band.  It was a nice evening... a little rainy, but nice.



Still to come... Fiesta Texas and Sea World .  :)