Tour de Texas: San Antonio

The drive from Houston to San Antonio took much longer than it should have taken.  Or perhaps it just felt extra long.  The rental car was small, which meant the three kids' car seats were super close together and Thane's seat had to be in the middle (usually I keep Aubree in the middle as a buffer).  Which meant a repeating chorus of, "Thane's kicking me!" "Bryce is poking Thane!" 
Bryce had to use the restroom every 45 minutes and Thane still wasn't feeling well, so every time I took him out of the car then had to put him back in, he sobbed. 

So, when we reached San Antonio and met up with some of our favorite Florida friends, the Millers, we were not only thrilled to see them, we were also ecstatic to be out of the car!  

Juliana planned the perfect post-long-drive activity - an afternoon at Pump It Up.  Surprisingly, though the bounce house facility was extensive, there was only one other family there, so we essentially had the place to ourselves.  Not surprisingly, the kids took zero time jumping back into their old friendships (the Millers moved to Texas a week after we moved to Seattle).

After hours of jumping and racing, the kids finally slowed down long enough to evaluate their battle wounds (those  "rug" burns hurt!) and realize they were tired.

Bryce and his "best friend" Raezy had stopped jumping much earlier when they found a driving arcade game.  They didn't put in any money, but that didn't stop them from "driving" intently and happily for a loooong time.  (Those two are sooo cute together... Is it wrong to hope they meet up again [and get along just as well] after Bryce's mission?)

We bandaged up the kids and drove to the Miller's home where we had the good fortune to be guests for a few days.  Clearly, I'm a slow learner, because we tried once more to let Aubree sleep in the same room as her friends (Ella and Raezy).  Despite being exhausted, the girls couldn't stop talking long enough to fall asleep.  I felt the same way.

Wednesday we considered taking off to see fun things in San Antonio, but Thane was on day 4 of his fever and seemed to be getting worse.  He was so sad and miserable and I finally had to come to grips with the fact that this was not just a reaction to his vaccinations.  I contemplated taking him in to Urgent Care, but was counseled to wait just one more day.  

We decided to take it easy and instead took the kids to the park. That didn't last too long because we were lucky enough to plan our 2-week trip during a 2-week long heat spell. It was HOT (and Washington has already turned us into wimps).  Of course, the kids didn't need any big trips or activities; they had a great time inventing games and creating intricate pretend worlds and roles.  By afternoon, Thane's fever broke and he started to feel much better.  Hallelujah!  

Thursday, the kids and I got to spend the day at my cousin Paul's home.  Paul and his wife, Carly, have a beautiful, brilliant little girl - Taytum - who we got to meet for the first time.  Paul took us on a tour of his property and we learned all about cactus, shared Popsicles, and let the kids play.  Bryce was enthralled with Taytum's ATV - he didn't even care that it was pink.  Aubree doted on Taytum and was the one who reminded me, "Mom! You need to take a picture!"  Good call, Aubree!  Thankfully, we got to spend more time with them (and take more pictures) at the end of our Texas trip.

After leaving Paul's, we drove to the airport to pick up MARK!!!  We were SO excited to have him join us on our adventures.  We went back to the Millers and, after putting the kids to bed, stayed up late playing games just like we'd done countless times back in Florida.  It was awesome.

Friday we decided to be a bit more adventurous (having an extra adult around helped) and took all 8 kids to Landa Park, which is an amazing swimming pool/lake/activity park combination.  We swam and played for hours.  Aubree and Ella especially liked the water slides.  As usual, Thane loved being in the water.  Towards the end of the afternoon, Mark and Bryce disappeared.  I finally found them standing in the corner of the fence watching a little train give people rides around the park.  Bryce could've watched all day.  

Have I mentioned before that we love the Millers?  Because we do, all of them.  Megan is such a great role model for Aubree, and Aubree adores her and likes nothing better than to be doing what Megan's doing.  In fact, the biggest problem of the week was probably that Aubree liked playing with Megan almost as much as playing with Ella and then Ella felt left out (understandably so). 

 It was hard to say good-bye Saturday morning.  We always spent a lot of time together in Florida and we miss them like crazy.  Now I need to continue plotting a way to convince them to move to Washington...