Last weekend Brian and I dropped Lance off at grandma’s house and headed to San Antonio for a romantic getaway…
Bright and early Monday morning we packed a picnic lunch and hopped on our bikes for a 25 mile tour of the countryside to visit the five missions in the area.
The Alamo is the most famous of the five missions because of the part it plays in Texas history. The others were interesting however, and fun to walk around. This one – mission San Jose – was the best preserved, boasting a church that was still in use, walls that were in tact and even some paintings on a few walls.
Here’s another shot of the same mission.
Along the route we stopped to visit a dam built by the monks (and their Indian converts) that diverted water into a long irrigation ditch between the missions.
A little further down the trail was an aqueduct to carry the irrigation water across a gorge.
We picnicked at mission Espada then headed to Mission San Juan – the last on our tour. This one had a small nature trail that we hiked, hoping to see some alligators. Now we had to make the long trek back.
To break up the long ride (bike seats get pretty uncomfortable after a while), we took some side trips to explore anything that caught our interest. This huge culvert pipe was one such side trip.
We found some pennies in a dried up well and met the locals (maybe some descendants of the early settlers?). We also passed by a little rock climbing wall at a park and decided to use up our last bit of energy trying it out. Seven hours after we started, we drug back into downtown San Antonio with a really good sunburn.
What, you don’t think that was a romantic vacation? Tune in next time for the juicy details….
Lance has been working his way towards greater and greater mobility. First he figured out that some things can be pushed around – like chairs across a floor, or a stroller across the carpet. Of course, they only go so far before he runs into something and the ride is over.
Sometime last week Brian decided it was time for walking lessons and to our amazement, Lance took a few steps between us! It was a little scary for him but the more we practiced the better he liked it and now laughs as he goes between us.
Here he is with his Aunt Katie and Uncle “Dude”, showing off his new skill.
Then we took this video last night – he is really getting good! Watch out world, here I come!!!!
The point of this trip was to visit with some good friends – who both happen to be pregnant. So we would talk, share child training ideas and birth stories, get baby stuff ready, take breaks and maybe go for a walk.
Here we are showing off our bellies – Sharon (due in 3 weeks) Bekah (due in June) and Amy (due in July)
Of course, fellowship means eating too and Lance really got into this part of visiting!
Eating his toes while waiting on a meal.
And with babies being so prominent in our minds, the soon to be parents saw Lance as an opportunity to test their abilities.
Bekah practices “mommy skills” as Lance eats his breakfast.
Jason practices “daddy skills” by feeding Lance some supper – chicken spaghetti, yum!
We had a wonderful time of fellowship, laughter and heart-to-heart sharing. What a blessing to have such good friends!
For the final post on our trip I’m going to cover Lance’s new friend – Bowie.
At each new place Lance took a little while warming up to the people and surroundings. However, within minutes of arriving at the Miller’s, Bowie had Lance smiling and laughing – as sociable as ever.
Bowie is kind of a big guy so he and Lance figured out a good way to play together – each leaving smudges on their side of the glass.
Now we just have to convince Daddy that Lance wants a dog…. 🙂
This is the first in a series of posts about a road trip Lance and I took over the weekend to visit friends.
Following a dream about one of my friends, I thought it would be fun to go visiting. Brian granted use of the car on the condition that I leave him with enough good meals to last him during my absence.
First stop was to see the grandparents – Nana and Doc. While there, we took advantage of some warmish weather to wash the city grime off of our car. Lance decided to help and Benj. caught some beautiful pictures of me and my little buddy.
This last one is my favorite – I love his expression.
Besides car washing, Lance got to show off his new tricks, examine Nana’s new car and try Aunt Kim’s Raspberry white chocolate scones – yummy! The first delightful day of our trip ended with a good game of Wizard and bedtime for all!
