San Antonio

The weekend before Thanksgiving we were off once again, this time to San Antonio for the National Council of Teachers of English conference. Susie had a presentation and some meetings to attend, but mostly we go to these things so we can visit with friends and family.

Jackson is a great traveler. After entertaining everyone in the Buffalo Airport, he slept soundly on the flight and was eager to explore all of the hotel room. He made sure not to miss a single door or drawer in the place.


He also got reunited with Big Papi, whom we were staying with. Jackson made extra sure to test Big Papi's affection by waking up at midnight thinking he'd just taken a nap. After an hour of fighting to get him back down, we finally had to do the the whole bedtime routine over: Bath, video, story and song. Big Papi was a trooper and never complained once.

The next day was filled with conference obligations. That evening we had an all too brief visit with Lori O, and then part of a dinner with a big group of friends from grad school. Jackson loved being fawned over by the whole crowd. And why shouldn't he? He was just super cute reading his book in the big boy high chair.

We did have to leave before it was over in order to get Jackson to bed on time, but after the night before, we didn't want to risk disrupting the schedule.

The next morning was spent on conference attendance, but everyone ducked out early in the afternoon so we could take a ride on one of the boats that run along the San Antonio River. Jackson had been entranced by the water since we'd arrived in town, so he was thrilled to get on the boat, Jan's treat.

He wasn't the only one though. As we've found out, a kid is just a good excuse to do what you really want to do, so Jan and Claire and Will all got to enjoy the boat ride as well.

It was a great afternoon, and Jackie enjoyed laughing at the Texans and their silly excuse for a cold snap. It hit 60 degrees, and our boat driver had on three pairs of pants and 5 shirts. Jackson, on the other hand, thought his light jacket was too stuffy, but he left it on because he looked so adorable.

Sunday we got a big treat in that we spent the whole day hanging out with Aunt Diana and Uncle Bob! We hadn't seen them in a while, so it was wonderful to get caught up and introduce them to Jackson.

They started off the day by taking us to the Alamo. It is hard to believe how small that place is. How anyone managed to hold off the Mexican army there for three weeks is beyond me.

After that we headed off to the river walk to get some great Mexican food. You just can't get food like that in Western New York, so we ate more than our fair share, but that didn't stop us from going to the Chocolate Factory afterwords. Jackson didn't eat any of the food. but he did soak up the opportunity to be spoiled rotten by Aunt Diana and Uncle Bob.

He especially loved it when they took him to a park that was filled with pigeons and puddles. First he played in the puddles. Then he sat in the puddles.

Once he got all wet and dirty, he chased the birds all over the place, even back through the puddles.

We were all sad when we had to say goodbye to Aunt Diana and Uncle Bob at the airport. We really hope to get back down there to spend more time with them soon. I know that if it were up to Jackson he'd be there tomorrow!