deep in the heart of texas

When I was one, my family moved to San Antonio TX while my did went to medical school. I thought I remembered a lot about it: the house, the pond we would visit with the toilet someone left there, the swimming pool, Seaworld, Rudys.... I have a lot of little memories of the four years we lived there. We moved away when I was five and I never went back. So when my sister found out she had an interview at Our Lady of the Lake University in the city where we would shower in the rainstorms and pick bluebells for our dolls, I jumped at the opportunity to go with her....you know...for moral support :)

We had a great few days exploring our old stomping grounds (although it turns out we remember a lot less than I thought we did). We rented a car (that was quite the experience), and set out to see the campus she was interviewing with, found our childhood home, went shopping at the nicest outdoor mall (found her maid of honor dress too), and enjoyed a fantastic meal at Rudy's.

The next day after her interview we did all the downtown stuff. We walked up and down the Riverwalk, remembered the Alamo, ate delicious TexMex on the river, learned a lot about the city's history while listening to the boat tours, and visited the Mercado.

We spent our last day at Seaworld and that was by far my favorite thing we did. It has changed a lot since we were little girls but we had a blast riding the rollercoasters (one of which is the scariest ride I have ever been on ever), seeing the shows, watching the penguins, and spending way too much time observing the risk-taking behavior of a chameleon in a tank in one of the gift shops. We shared churros and dippin dots and nachos when we got too hungry and made the mistake of thinking we wouldn't get wet on the river ride. However, they neglected to mention it went under a waterfall. 100% guarantee to get soaked. Then, by the end of the day we were so ready to go and eat way too much food at Olive Garden.

We swung by the San Antonio Temple on our way to returning out rented car and spending a sleepless night in the airport so we could board a plane at 5 AM and get home in time for church.

I loved this little trip with my sissy. It was so good to just be with her (we don't get to do that much since she got married). I loved how much fun we had. At least I had a lot of fun. She is the worst navigator in the world (the google maps app is SO much better than the imaps but it still sometimes takes someone telling you exactly what the thing is saying) but I love her so much and will always treasure this time we got to spend together. I don't think there will be too many more moments like these. Marriage and school and children and all the other fun parts of growing up are starting to pull us in different directions and limit our time together. But my sister will always be my best friend. We are only a year and ten days apart and we both pretty much spent the first part of lives in San Antonio, running around in diapers, getting eaten alive by fire ants, and eating our father's neurosurgery textbooks. It was such a blessing to be able to go back to a place where we did a lot of our learning and playing and growing. I will always cherish the memories that I have there. Both the old ones and now these new ones.