Spring Break in San Antonio

My older brother, Jed, is a JAG officer in the Air Force (a lawyer). He's currently stationed in San Antonio and we went to visit him during the girls' spring break from school at the beginning of April. Damon and I felt quite adventurous, and slightly crazy, taking four young kiddos on the plane, but we managed without any major catastrophes.

The only actual catastrophe on the trip, actually, was the fact that almost every one of us was sick! I can't remember the complete course of events, but I do know that Adah was the first to get sick a few days before we left. She was feeling better by the time we traveled, but by the time we arrived in Texas it was spreading. Everyone but me ended up with a fever. Add that to the 30-40-degree change in temperature between White Salmon and San Antonio and you had confused little gang. While I was panting under the ceiling fan, poor Damon was feeling chilled and wearing his fleece. The kiddos were rosy-cheeked and flushed. You can see that Holly's looking just a little glass-eyed and runny-nosed in this photo.

And, of course, we regretably passed on the fever to my niece Anya. She and Gunnar both spend a little time sacked out on this couch in their jammies, although in this photo they look pretty happy.

We tried not to let the sickness slow us down too much. After taking the first day in San Antonio to mostly relax and let the cousins play together, we jumped right into the fun on Friday.

We were lucky that the girls' spring break coincided with Christian's 8th birthday! His party on Friday was a carnival. All the guests played games and earned tickets that could be used to "purchase" popcorn, cotton candy (the edible kind--see below), and all sorts of little trinkets and prizes. Jed and I are manning the "redemption center" at the kitchen counter in the photo below. I was the party's official balloon artist, twisting flowers, dogs, swords, and other balloon creations.

Cotton Candy the clown (not edible, and a.k.a. my sister-in-law Joette) was the party's main event. She painted faces and then did her show, complete with a special magic trick for the birthday boy.

As if a carnival birthday party weren't enough for one day, after dinner Jed's family introduced our children to Chuck E. Cheese's. We'd never been. Jed redeemed some coupons and we got piles of tokens and ran around with the kids playing games and riding little rides.

Kiera had fun on this heli-bike ride. Maggie took a spin as well.

Maggie and Damon faced off in this watergun shoot-out.

The flashing lights and bells and electronic music were a bit overwhelming for Damon and me. We were kind of amazed that Jed and Joette like taking their kids there so much. We found out later that they'd never been on a Friday night before going with us. Usually they go on Monday or Wednesday and are practically the only customers. Either way, our kids had big fun playing skee ball and other arcade games and then turning in tickets for plastic bracelets, jumping frogs, and other goofy toys. What else can you ask for from Chuck E. Cheese?

And, what else can you ask for from San Antonio? Stay tuned for more posts on our fun visit.