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We’re back home from our whirlwind trip to San Antonio!  I can’t exactly say it was relaxing, but Grace had a ton of fun, and that made it worth the trip.  We didn’t do anything super-exciting…no Sea World, no Fiesta Texas, no Schlitterbahn.  Todd stayed busy the whole time attending clinics, reading, and writing.  The manager of our hotel even let him move into the breakfast room at night so he could have plenty of room to spread out his stuff and study until, oh, 2:00 a.m. without disturbing us.

So Grace and I had two days without a car, and this is what we ended up doing within walking distance of our hotel:

• went swimming in the pool twice every day
• ate lunch at Pei Wei and sat at the counter, watching Hispanic men cook Chinese food (I don’t know why I found that funny)
• shopped the clearance racks at Kohl’s (bought a black jacket for $12.00 to replace the one I should have bought at Old Navy).
• ate supper at Red Robin
• went to the movies and saw Ice Age:  Dawn of the Dinosaurs (a cute movie…fairly clean…some intense chase scenes that were a little scary)
• went back to Kohl’s to buy let Grace pick out a toy as a souvenir.  She picked a Tinkerbell book, complete with a noisy magic wand that she used to open the doors of our hotel elevator, turn me into a frog, turn daddy into a princess, and turn some unsuspecting gentlemen in the hotel lobby into a turtle…”Bippity Boppity Boo!”
• took a break from the 137 degree weather to eat a treat at Coldstone Creamery.  Grace got blueberry muffin ice cream with gummy bears and I got a delicious light lemonade sorbet.
• shopped at Old Navy where all clearance rack items were an additional 50% off!  I could have really scored some bargains on women’s clothes, but I wasn’t sure what size to buy for winter stuff.  There were jeans and corduroys for $3.00 and a host of other stuff.  I ended up getting a sweater for Todd for 87 cents, another sweater for $1.88, two pairs of jeans for Grace for $2.50 each, and some camisoles for $1.97 each.  I heart Old Navy.
• ate lunch at Chuy’s Mexican restaurant…the Chicka Chicka Boom Boom enchilada was divine…
• ate dinner at Johnny Rocket’s diner (with daddy!)

Then we had the most.annoying.drive.home.ever.  People are crazy down there.  Apparently there is some contagious disease that forces people to change lanes suddenly without looking, without signaling, while talking on a cell phone and smoking a cigarette.  This sickness is out of control in the Austin/San Antonio area. 

I was exhausted from lack of sleep (because what 4-yr-old wants to take a nap or go to bed on “vacation”?), but Todd was more tired so I drove most of the way while they slept in the back.  God tested my patience and ability to not be snippy every time Todd woke up suddenly and asked, “Why are you swerving?”  Because of the crazy people!  Because I don’t want to get hit! 

What should have been a much faster trip took 6 hours due to stop and go traffic and invisible construction in Waco.  By invisible, I mean perfectly fine lanes being closed for no apparent reason with no construction workers seen anywhere. 

Did I mention that God was testing my patience?

And, I had to drive by three fabulous outlet malls without stopping (San Marcos, Round Rock, and Hillsboro). 

But God protected us on the road, we arrived home safely, Grace really enjoyed herself, and Todd got all his work done.  God is good.