texas [sized] travelogue

We spent June 17-22 in San Antonio, Texas visiting Blake's family. All of his siblings had gathered, and together we had a great time. There is something about Texas, though, that requires things to be bigger, better, and, in the case of this post, longer, than anything you've ever seen before. If you want a taste of our travels, feel free to read the entire Texas-sized post, but if you want a skimmed down version, the pictures (of which there are also plenty) will probably suffice.

San Antonio Shoes (SAS) General Store (Thursday)
SAS is an old-timey shoe and general store. While I probably won't dig the shoes until I'm closer to 65, the general store portion is pretty fun. It's decorated with antique cars, which customers are welcome to climb in and explore, and other vintage Texas memorabilia. (It's similar to the store portion of a Cracker Barrel restaurant.) There's an ice cream parlor (which we of course partook of) and barrels of penny candy that Garrett enjoyed picking out and indulging in.


Morgan's Wonderland (Friday)
Morgan's Wonderland is an amusement park that recently opened in San Antonio, which was built by a local philanthropist and "designed specifically for children and adults with special needs, their family members, caregivers, and friends." We enjoyed it all, but some favorite attractions included the carousel; the Water Works station; Sensory Village, where Garrett did a bit of grocery shopping; catch-and-release fishing on the pier, where Garrett caught a catfish; and the car track. It was fun to visit someplace that everyone in the group -- from Blake's brother, Neil, who has Down Syndrome, to Garrett and Caleb and all the rest of us in between -- could enjoy.


Family Photos (Saturday)
What's a family reunion without a photo shoot? We got up at the crack of dawn to take advantage of the morning light, and surprisingly everyone (and by "everyone" I mean the grandchildren) was in a happy, cooperative mood. (It was midway through the session that Caleb clapped for the first time.) That doesn't mean it wasn't a challenge to get a group this size to all look at the camera and smile at the same time, but we managed to get quite a few decent shots.


Boerne Berges Fest (Saturday)
A few of us who weren't napping off the early morning photo shoot drove over to the neighboring town of Boerne (pronounced like Bernie) for for their annual German festival, Berges Fest. It was super hot, so we weren't there long, but we did manage to eat a lot while we were there: kettle corn, sausage on a stick, and funnel cake. Garrett really liked the funnel cake. We also saw our fair share of traditional German garb, and let me tell you: Texans sporting leiderhosen is as funny as it sounds. On our way back to the car we stopped in an antique shop, and I am now having a hard time squelching my new hankering for vintage mixing bowls.


Swimming (Saturday)
In the late afternoon we all took a dip in the pool of a family friend and grilled up a BBQ dinner. Both boys loved swimming, which surprised me. Another thing that surprised me was Garrett's recently developed morbid fear of houseflies. He's absolutely terrified of them, and screams like a girl and cowers into himself when one flies near him. It was so hard not to laugh whenever one sent him into panic mode.



Enchanted Rock (Monday)
Enchanted Rock State Park is located a little over an hour away from San Antonio. There's not much there except a big granite rock to climb up to the top of. And so that's what we all did. We went early, in an attempt to beat the heat, and that made the hike much easier. In fact, Garrett was even able to climb all the way to the top by himself. Pretty impressive, if I may say so, since it's a fairly steep incline. He was so proud of himself, he kept giving us his version of "thumbs up" once we reached the summit. It's windy at the top, so Eric and Kiersten pulled out the kite they bought while they were in China, and we had some fun flying it.


Fredericksburg (Monday)
Since we were close, we drove into Fredericksburg after we finished at Enchanted Rock. I love Fredericksburg. It's an old German settlement whose main attraction now (for us, anyway) are the shops along Main Street. (And if you're there at the right time in the spring, the wildflower farms on the outskirts of town are absolutely spectacular.) We wandered in and out of our favorite stores: Rustlin' Robs Texas Gourmet Foods, which offers free samples of all their goodies (we came away with the most amazing jar of raspberry plum butter); the Spunky Monkey toy store; the five and dime store, which sells a mind-boggling array of everything under the sun; and my favorite store, the name of which I don't even know. I made an awesome purchase there, though: a couple yards of retro print oilcloth and some scraps of chalkboard cloth. I think I'll make some place mats and a travel chalkboard mat for the boys with my loot.


Garrett's Birthday Party (Monday)
Once we got home we pulled out a leftover dish of hot fudge sundae cake (originally made to celebrate Father's Day), stuck three candles in it, and gave Garrett a little family birthday party. He opened a few presents: a toy veterinarian kit, a spring loaded airplane shooter, a dinosaur, and a plush version of the World's Fair mascot that Eric and Kiersten got in Shanghai (thanks, everyone!). And he had the time of his life trying to blow out what turned out to be trick candles. (I got some of that on video, in case you're interested.)


Toy Story 3 (Tuesday)
Before we boarded our flight home, we parked ourselves in a movie theater to watch Toy Story 3. If you don't count the 5 minute viewing of Luke II on Temple Square last Christmas, this was Garrett's first movie theater experience. It was Caleb's, too. Both boys had a great time. Caleb chilled on our laps pretty much the entire time while Garrett watched, entranced, as Woody, Buzz, and the rest of the gang tried to escape from the daycare and get back to Andy. When he wasn't caught up in how great theater popcorn is, he was absorbed in what was happening on the big screen. When Woody lost his hat, he spent the next ten minutes telling me, "Woody...hat...it's gone...Woody...hat...it's gone..." Blake and I loved the movie, too. The general consensus at our house is that it's the best Toy Story yet, and that the ending was absolutely perfect.


Miscellaneous at Home (All Days)
Believe it or not, we weren't always out and about having grand Texas-sized adventures. The downtime spent at home was often just as entertaining as our excursions. Garrett discovered all the toys in Neil's closet and had a great time digging through those treasures. He especially loved the cars, and Caleb did, too, actually. Speaking of Caleb, he spent this trip mastering all sorts of brand new tricks. I already mentioned clapping, but did I mention that he learned how to climb the stairs? He did, which didn't really surprise me. When he wasn't on the stairs practicing going up, he was drawn to the piano to practice his music. Both boys loved meeting their 4-month-old cousin, Lydia, for the first time. Garrett would bring her toys and coo at her in his high-pitched baby talk voice while Caleb would take those toys and then climb all over her. Lydia didn't seem to mind any of it.



So there you have it. Give yourself a pat on the back for reaching the end of this post. The boys handled all of the flights there and back remarkably well, which almost makes me want to go on vacation again. But not for a while yet. It's time now to get back to our regularly scheduled lives.