San Antonio - Part 2

We finished out our San Antonio trip with a day visit to Benny's Aunt Diane's house to swim, and then an early Easter celebration the next day. The kids (and we) had a lot of fun swimming for the first time this season. 

Diane moved to San Antonio from Alaska within the last couple years. Her one stipulation about moving back was that she needed a pool to combat the summer heat, so it was the first thing she had put in when she bought her new house. We were thankful to get to enjoy it with her!

Can't beat ice cream after swimming.

The girls got to dye Easter eggs.

Sienna introduced Bonnie to a whole new world of press on nails. 

Baga and Benny working on ribs for dinner.

On Friday Benny's Aunt Diane and Aunt Kay came over for an Easter celebration. They brought the annual cascarones, which they make by hand every year. It is truly amazing - they are all hand painted differently as well. I wish I would have had a photo of them before they were all destroyed. 

The kids also got to do an egg hunt in the backyard.

Riser was also very excited about the 'pinchata' (piñata). They all had fun hacking away at it - they sure are sturdy these days - it's not easy!

It was such a wonderful visit that we look forward to every year. We know core memories are forming and we love watching the kids deepen their relationships. It was hard to say goodbye!

Our flight home was early in the morning, but ended up getting delayed an hour once we were at the airport. 

Bonnie's very appropriate shirt for a travel day.

The kids did a great job being patient throughout the day. Neither one slept a wink on any of the four flights. But the minute we got in the car, it was lights out. 

It's always good to get home, but we miss them already! Another great trip!

San Antonio - Part 1

We went to San Antonio around spring break again this year for a family reunion with Benny's side of the family. Last year was pretty difficult traveling with the kids at 3 in the morning. This year was much better, both with them being a year older and having much better flight times. Riser was very excited to fly on a plane! And ride in the shuttle, and see the airport, and just about every bit of the process. 

They both got wings, which they were very excited about.

The longest flight on the way there, the kids befriended some kids sitting in front of us and literally played the entire flight together. They shared toys, made each other pictures, passed snacks back and forth, and just had the best time. It was truly so sweet. The little boy Calvin couldn't wait to give Bonnie a hug at the end of the flight. He told her he knew he would never see her again, but they exchanged pictures with each others' names to remember each other by.

We arrived in San Antonio late Saturday night, and the kids were ready for bed by then. The next morning they got lots of snuggles with the grandparents.

Alison, Shary and their cousins Sienna and Sydney showed up that next day around lunchtime. Sydney barely walked in the door before Bonnie was asking her to play 'art store' and 'babysitter' with her. Apparently she had all kinds of plans. 

They all got along so well and reunited quickly.

Baga got to do bath time with the kids, her favorite part.

Played some evening soccer in the backyard.

Bonnie enjoyed visiting Aunt Alison's 'salon' each morning.

We made our annual trip to Historic Market Square.

The amount of crafts that were done this week - it was Bonnie's absolute dream.

Sydney tried to teach Bonnie and Riser how to do a handstand.

We took the kids and Eric's dad to the Witte Museum one morning while the cousins were getting haircuts. There aren't a lot of touristy things we haven't done in San Antonio so it was fun to explore somewhere new! Plus Riser is very into dinosaurs right now.

We went to dinner with the larger family one night.

We enjoyed lots of time hanging around the house and out back. We had just come from a week of rain and cold in Virginia so the warmer weather was very nice.

We heard and saw lots of jets flying overhead (they live right next to an airbase). 

A great trip so far - to be continued!