Yee haw! We had a rootin' tootin' good time visiting our dear friend Susan in San Antonio, Texas last month. When our flight got cancelled on our Disney trip last summer, we received free round trip tickets and we decided to use them to visit Susan. It was a really fun trip for all of us. Here's a bunch of pictures -----
Yes, we saw the Alamo ---
We drove by it several times, but did not tour it.
One of the most fun things we did was completely unplanned. We wanted to go to a famous pancake house and there was a long wait. Practically next door was a paint-your-own pottery place. We went in and had a great time painting ornaments.
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| Susan, a Dominican Sister of Peace, made this beautiful peace sign. |
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| Such concentration! |
And now our souvenir masterpieces are hanging on our Christmas tree!
Breakfast at the Magnolia was totally worth the wait! YUMMY!
Next stop --- The River Walk
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| Besties --- We go way back! We've been through lots of things together. It's one of those friendships where we just "get each other." |
Unfortunately, the weather was CRUMMY for our visit. It was cold and rainy. We ended up having to buy the boys better coats as well as gloves, hates, etc. Some of the things we wanted to do (especially Sea World) were out of the question because of the weather. But we found other fun things to do.
San Antonio Children's Museum
One of the highlights of the trip for me was attending Mass at San Fernando Cathedral.
Adam looks wiped out in this picture because we had just walked several blocks to get to the Cathedral. We were there on the Feast of Christ the King and we attended a special Mariachi Mass with the Archbishop which marked the end of the Year of Faith. Archbishop Gustavo Garcia-Siller was SO impressive an inspirational. I haven't heard such passionate and poignant preaching in such a long time. It was a great experience for all of us. The Mass, preaching, and music were all mixtures of English and Spanish. The Cathedral is very old and very beautiful.
A candlelight Eucharistic procession was planned for after the Mass. However, due to cold wind and rain, the procession was confine to inside the Church. It was still a beautiful experience of Adoration.
I was absolutely amazed by the boys' wonderful behavior. By the time we headed for dinner it was quite late. We all truly felt the presence of God in a special way at San Fernando.
Susan teaches Music (Voice) at the University of Texas San Antonio. We enjoyed visiting her there and eating lunch on campus with her. After that, while she worked, we set out on the Mission trail. This was a fascinating, inspirational, and educational experience. According to the San Antonio Missions National Park website, the "Spanish missions were not churches. They were Indian towns, with the church as the focus, where, in the 1700s, the native people were learning to become Spanish citizens. In order to become a citizen, they had to be Catholic; that is why the King of Spain sent missionaries to acculturate them."
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| Check out the cactus roof! We were all fascinated with seeing cactus everywhere. When we got off the plane, Adam asked where all the cactus and tumbleweed were. ;) |
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| It was jarring to look through this gate and see Pizza Hut. We were truly standing in one world looking out at another. |
Jon was such a trooper on this entire trip. Susan and I snuck away for some friend time and he took the boys bowling. They had fun!
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| Swimming at the hotel pool! |
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| Beautiful quilt of the city. This was on display at the UTSA library, where we spent a few hours doing some school work. |
Susan took us to an awesome Texan restaurant -- Chuy's!
We are so blessed to have Susan as part of our family really. It's great that we finally got to visit her and see where she lives and works. We never could have afforded this trip without those free tickets.
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