We're Baaa---aaacck!

Betcha didn't even know I was gone. Well, maybe you suspected something since I haven't blogged in about a week and a half or so. I was GOING to say something about going away on vacation, but I recalled some of the conversations from earlier in the summer about security and blogs and people knowing where you live...so I wasn't about to announce to the world - hey, guess what, you know where I live, you know who I am, well GUESS WHAT? We're going away for a week!

Anyway, all a moot point, since we're now back. We were in Texas, San Antonio to be exact. Vacationing with Mark's family. We had originally planned this trip around Mark's niece who was going to be performing her music on Riverwalk, but plans went a little awry so while no music was played, at least not publicly, we still had a great family visit and managed to do lots of things, even though it was HOT!

On one day we went to Austin and toured the Austin Nature Center. We saw lots of butterflies and had all kinds of fun with a big snake in the Japanese Gardens. Another day we visited Cascade Caverns and another day we went to the San Antonio Zoo. We also saw the Alamo and ate a few meals on the Riverwalk and took a boat tour. So all in all, a pretty good vacation - and we have lots of pictures which I'll post....someday!

Did I mention we left Matthew home with my mom and dad? Kind of a bummer of a decision, but in the long run, an extremely wise one. Matthew is very "2" right now, we were sharing a suite with three other people, and it was so hot he would've been miserable and made everyone else within a 100 foot radius miserable as well.

And while Jonathan was pretty well-behaved overall for a 4 year old, he had his moments. One of which was at the San Antonio airport. I leave you with a story - and it's called "How to Board an Airplane Well Ahead of Your Fellow Passengers"

The story: we flew on Southwest Airlines. For the uninitiated, Southwest doesn't assign seats - you can sit anywhere you want. And they don't have first class. Getting on the airplane first? That's a different story. There's this complicated little set of rules they have: starting 24 hours before your flight, you can log in online and get your boarding passes and print them. Or you can wait until you check in at the airport, but if you wait that long, you'll be sitting in the middle seat all the way in the back. So if you're good, and you log on exactly 24 hours before your flight, you'll probably be in the "A" boarding group, and you get your pick of seats. Like my in-laws who were on the same flight as us. THEY logged in early, got in the "A" group, promised to try and save us good seats (although saving seats really isn't allowed...). We were actually in the "B" group, but because we had Jonathan with us, and he's 4, we were allowed to board with the "Family Boarding" which happens after all of "A" has boarded, but before "B" boards. So there we were, standing at the gate, waiting for the "A's" to board. Here comes Grammy and Grandpa. They give the guy their boarding passes, smile at us and start walking down the jetway. That's when Jonathan starts to freak. "GRAMMY! GRANDPA!" WAAAHHHHH!!!!! Mark and I are already at the "oh crap" stage after a few previous outbursts from Jonathan, so just as we're about to smother him with a carry-on and drag him to the nearest restroom, the boarding pass guy gestures to us and stops the rest of the "A's" and says "Just c'mon, you can board now!" So we got to cut ahead of everyone else and go chase Grammy and Grandpa down the jetway and grab our seats. Gotta love Southwest. And for those of you whose children can be persuaded to make a stink at the gate, here it is - the lowdown on cutting your way into line. I'm considering trying this to get OFF the airplane next time - nothing like a kid screaming his head off to part the sea of bodies.....

Pictures later this week I promise. Right now I have about a ton of laundry to figure out!