Tonya and Cory, my younger sister and brother, made the flight from Seattle to San Antonio to visit us for my birthday and get the cousins together. Had we ever had all the "Clouse" cousins together? I think not. This was a first. Cory, as a matter of fact, hadn't met our youngest, Harrison.
They stayed at a hotel with a nice windowed elevator. Jordan, Tonya's oldest, is autistic and he LOVES elevators. I didn't get all the pictures of him in all the elevators he went in while he was here. But he went in quite a few. :-) It gave us time to talk while he was zooming up and down and making them stop at every floor and getting out to watch them from a balcony to observe their mechanics.
Standing around the hotel figuring out plans for our weekend.
The Alamo was at the top of the list of places to go.
The fountain at the Alamo. I can't believe they moved all the canons. They tipped them upright and made them into part of the fence lining the waiting area. I don't know why they did that. A hostess said it was because everyone was touching them too much. But they won't touch them if they're a part of a fence? That doesn't make sense.
We walked some of the Riverwalk after the Alamo. Ate at Rita's on the Riverwalk. Mexican food, of course. Their homemade guacamole was especially good.
We didn't get any pics from Saturday ~ that was hanging at home, flying kites, having coffee and dessert at Elizabeth's Avocado Cafe, park play, back home to hang out.
Sunday was church, In-N-Out Burger (a first for Tonya and the boys and maybe for Cory too), and Cory took me out to
Pappadeaux's to celebrate my birthday! We knew we wanted seafood and I had always thought it'd be fun to try Pappadeaux's since it was Cajun. We ordered so much food! I ate on the leftovers for three meals. But we got lots of seafood. Alligator (tastes like a mix of chicken and calamari), crab cakes (the best tasting dish, imo), boudin' (Tonya's favorite of the night), gumbo, crawfish, salmon..... And then Cory ordered Cheesecake. We brought half of that home and the kids finished it off.
Monday was our last day together. We visited Hemisfair Park downtown and discovered there was much more to it than we've ever explored.
There are all the rope/climby features that the kids head straight for.
And we played corn-hole, ping pong, checkers and chess.
And then we drug the kids away from climbing things and headed toward other parts. We discovered butterfly gardens, hula hoop fields, splash pad, large sand area, restaurants and coffee shops. You could spend all day there, for sure. We might try that sometime....
Jordan is feeding the birds. They enjoyed him, he enjoyed them. Unless one squawked too close to his ear. Then he chased them.
Seeing the cousins together and enjoying each other's company was especially a joy for me. Jordan is often off on his own, but he would tease the girls sometimes and give me hugs and ask lots of questions and go on the elevators with the kids. Joshua played games, and connected with H and Phoebes on Roblox, and helped Jon build a fire in the backyard.
Mimi and Papa stopped by on their way back to Missouri. We ate at Cracker Barrel (Liz' choice). I tried their fried chicken livers and I was mightily please with them. I wouldn't order them all the time as a favorite, but they knew how to cook 'em.
At the mall ~ Lego store, Apple store, Kate Spade ~ ooo, get out of there! $300 for a dress!
Jonathan ~ since he's taking violin lessons, we have him play a piece for whatever family comes around to hear.
I was honored that Cory and Tonya spent their vacation time and money to come visit us. It was truly a joy ~ a great time of getting to know one another anew and reminiscing. Love you all! Mimi, Papa, Nana and Aupa, siblings and nephews.
