We're back!

I'll post some pictures soon, but I want to tell you about our trip.

It was wonderful! So relaxing and so just...nice. Wednesday (early) we left here from Philadelphia and had an uneventful trip to Houston. Lily was so good and a man sitting next to us commented that she won the, "Best Baby on Board" award. She slept most of the time.

When we got to Houston, the trip was quick from there. The flight was literally 40 minutes and we were down on the ground again. We ran, and got lost in Houston only to find out that our flight was delayed anyway. We were a little late getting there, and we only had about 40 minutes as it was to get to the next gate. But by the time we got there, we sat and waited...and waited...and waited. And just as we thought would happen, Lily pooped. Because what else do you do when you're almost late for a flight to begin with? I was so weird about changing her in the airport. I made Derick stand around her so that people couldn't see. That's weird, right? Lol. Yeah...probably...

We got there, checked into our hotel and took a nap. It was a long trip. When we awoke, we went off to dinner and had a wonderful Tex-Mex dinner at a place called Rita's on the River. It was good, and I had a River Margarita. Tasty, but strong! I drank about half (maybe) before I decided that I couldn't drink anymore.

Thursday we got up and out pretty easily. We had breakfast at the hotel. It was a huge waste of $30 for a buffet that was nearly gone and cold. I've never heard of a breakfast buffet that ended at 10 am. We left from there and went to the Rivercenter Mall. It was a longer walk, but we enjoyed it. The hotel wasn't in the greatest of neighborhoods, but most of San Anontio (outside of the Riverwalk) isn't great. Not that I'm not used to it here, but I had a lot of cash with me. More than probably I should have. Some lady asked us for money, something that I've very used to. But she kept following me saying, "Lady, please...can you spare some money?" My heart went out to her, but she didn't look like she was homeless. She also didn't have any children with her otherwise I would have thought about getting them some food. I learned long ago not to trust those people when my Grandfather gave a man on the street money and he dropped his "wounded vetran" act and his crutches and took off. So unfortunately for you, unless I know for sure that you aren't trying to pull something...my money is mine! But she kept following me and then I started to get scared.

We made it to the mall and had lunch at Tony Roma's ribs. It was terrible, I think. I didn't like it at all. Who eats at those places on vacation? Derick. The next day we ate at Chili's.

At Chili's we sat on the patio. There were tons and tons of pigeons there, and as people got up and left the table the pigeons would swarm the food leftover. It was disgusting! I am afraid of birds. At that moment, I realized it was much more than just a fear. It was a phobia. I was making a scene. Ducking, trying to hide under the table, trying to keep them from Lily. I'm pretty sure people were laughing at me. It's ok, you can too. I was kicking out my legs trying to keep them away. I was sure they were trying to peck at my feet or they were going to swarm Lily's stroller. They didn't, of course, and we escaped unscathed.

Friday Monica and Mr. H joined us. We had such a good time and it was so nice to finally meet them! Lily loved them! She stared at Mr. H, and she went right to Monica. I was pleasently suprised because she's started to get stranger anxiety. The weather was beautiful, and Lily even took her first splash in the pool! I have lots of pictures, I'll post them too.

Saturday was hot and crowded. We went to the Alamo and saw that the line was rediculously long. It wasn't worth it. There were a lot of Air Force people and their familys buzzing around. So we decided to skip it and walked through the courtyard instead. We took the River Taxi back from there and it was a long ride. I'm pretty sure we could have walked faster than that. We got back to the hotel, took a short nap again, and we were off to dinner. We went to Saltgrass Steakhouse. It was fabulous! Other than Ruth's Chris, it was the best steak I've ever had. Derick had a salad. He's such a girl.

We headed back to the hotel after that and got our bathing suits on for one last dip. The sun was setting and it was beautiful out our hotel room window. At the pool, it was dark and the lights were on. Lily was mesmorized. She swam, and even kicked her little legs, until we decided that she was cold. We wrapped her up, then she got mad because she wanted to swim more! We went back in, Monica, Mr. H, and I headed to the hot tub while Derick wrapped up Lily and rocked her to sleep.

It was an early night, and we had to be at the airport early. We landed in Philadelphia about 3pm yesterday and were sad that we had to leave. It was a wonderful First Family Vacation.

Even through all the fun that we had, we both noticed the slight incompleteness in our family. It will always be there, I'm sure, but it's just not something we dwell on anymore.