Texas Trip - Part 2, San Antonio

We got back to San Antonio the same day Eric's sister and her family would be flying in from San Diego. Eric hadn't seen them since before the pandemic and I hadn't seen them since we lived in California. It was a long overdue visit! Bonnie made herself at home quickly.

The girls started playing immediately. The older girls were so good with Bonnie. It was so sweet to see the cousins meet for the first time and building a bond so quickly.

We spent a lot of time hanging out at the house just getting some quality time together. For the really hot afternoons, they had a slip and slide, baby pool, and water balloons.

We went to one of our staple restaurants one night, La Fiesta.

We also were able to do Seaworld one day! 

It was really hot but they had a huge splash pad area for people of all ages, so anytime we got too hot, we would just run through there. The park felt much larger than the one we were used to in San Diego.

I was also super excited to go on Sienna's first big roller coaster with her. She was so excited and had such a good time she wanted to go on every roller coaster in the park.

It was a long day, everyone had different things they wanted to do. But it was a lot of fun and well worth the trip.

Back at home, the favorite activity was pushing Bonnie around in an umbrella stroller.

They colored together.

We took the kids on walks around the neighborhood.

We visited Eric's grandmother. It had to be a short outdoor visit, but it was so good to see her in person.

Alison straightened Eric's hair.

And one night my in-laws offered to watch all the kids so we could have a night out on the Riverwalk!

It was as beautiful as ever, especially at night. We had some drinks and listened to some live music for a while, and did a lot of walking around and enjoying the ambiance. 

The trip wouldn't be complete without a visit to the Mexican Market, where you can find any souvenir you could ever dream up.

The week ended too quickly, and it was already time to travel back home. 

The travel home turned out to be a bit of a disaster - up at 3:30 AM to find out we had a delayed flight that would mean we would miss our second flight, problems with checking in, being separated on one of the flights with me in the middle of two strangers with Bonnie (a now energetic toddler) on my lap, a lost bag, and nothing to eat all day because we had no time to stop. Thankfully I've been taught it's all just par for the course when traveling - expect things to go wrong and go with the flow. 

It was nice to finally get home but honestly feel like the time with family went so quickly. We are so thankful we finally got to take this trip and can't wait for the next one!

Texas Trip - Part 1, Holly Lake Ranch

We took our first big trip since the pandemic at the end of June to Texas to visit family! We were very excited, and anxious to see how Bonnie would do on her first plane trip. She did pretty well given the fact that we got her up at 3:30 in the morning, and we lucked out on the first flight getting the whole row to ourselves.

She didn't sleep at all during the flight until right as we were landing (I guess that put her to sleep). She stayed asleep on me for about 30 minutes during the layover and woke up just in time for our second flight. 

It was a long morning of travel but it went decently and was well worth reuniting with family after a long year and a half. Benny's parents picked us up and we spent the rest of the day getting settled and catching up at their house, with lots of attention on Bonnie.

The next morning was Father's Day! We got up early so we could start on the 6 hour drive to see my grandparents for a couple days. 

Benny and his dad on Father's Day. 

Bonnie did fairly well on the road, but definitely needed to stop and get out at least every 2 hours.

It may not have been very classy, but we gave Benny his Father's Day cards and gift on one of our stops outside a Whataburger. Lots of family and a couple friends sent little videos wishing him a happy father's day that he absolutely loved. I turned them into coupons with QR codes that he could scan for each video. It was so fun!

By the early afternoon we finally arrived in Holly Lake Ranch! I'm so thankful we got to see so many of the amazing father figures in my life in such a short time. It was SO great to see my grandparents. My Opa was so proud and eager to show Bonnie off on the golf cart. We loved every minute of it.

Bonnie made fast friends with Grammy. We did lots of back porch sitting, they have the best back porch.

Opa opened his ice cream parlor offering root beer floats and ice cream sundaes.

Bonnie was quite a happy girl.

Bonnie loved meeting all the neighbors, dogs, and deer on the golf cart. 

We did lots of playing in the screened in porch. Grammy had all kinds of little toys for Bonnie to play with back from when we were kids. 

She could get used to this life.

We got some time with my Uncle Rob, which was so nice as I don't get to see him often enough. We played cards every night, of course.

On the third day, it was time for us to make the trip back to San Antonio. The time went way too fast but I'm so thankful we were able to visit. We loved every minute of it and could honestly spend so much more time here.

Bonnie dawned her new Holly Lake Ranch T-shirt on the road trip back, looking like a true Texan.

Thank you so much to Grammy and Opa for hosting us - we can't wait for the next visit! We love you!