We went to San Antonio over the winter break when all the kids were off. It was just far enough away to require an overnight stay so we could do all the fun things we wanted to do and not far enough to make the drive there unbearable (like to say Florida a few years ago)
Well when I say WE let me be a little more specific. We means my immediate family of 2 adults and two kids, plus two more babies. And then the grandparents...both sets - since the ones from Israel are a part of the household right now. So make that 4 more adults. Then unbeknownst to us, the Austin crew came to join us for a late lunch with their adorable Elliot (who is almost 7 weeks old now) so that makes 2 more adults and another baby added to the mix.
Needless to say, we ditched the small crowded deli (intentions were good, but logistics, not so much) which would have made everything and everyone uncomfortable anyway [ham/deli and cheese sandwiches aside, the whole place was just cramped for all of us large-boned people and then add in a couple of bulky baby strollers] so we moseyed our way to a more spacious place where we still had to break off into two groups to keep things manageable (and civil - because at this point there were simmering issues that still needed to be addressed).
And to top things off, we were down near the Dome where later in the day there was a nationally televised college football matchup between Oklahoma and Arizona (orange vs red and black) and there was a sea of people crowding all the places. Not especially good to start with for my sporadic claustrophobic panic attacks usually triggered when I get overloaded off the energy of so many people.
Forgetting that Israeli antiquities are thousands of years old, and the Alamo only dates from the 1800s plus its story deals with a Christian mission that was converted into a fort, needless to say, the trip to the Alamo was anti-climactic, even with the explanation cleverly provided by my father that the Alamo was the Texan version of Massada.
Of course to keep things interesting, there was the requisite drama accompanying large a family trip...this one not speaking to that one, mad at everyone in sight and then to top it all off, a huge scene [screaming in Hebrew] in front of the Alamo with hundreds of confused Americans staring at this lady who was screaming in tongues....
And then there was the next day trip to Sea World's Christmas extravaganza. That should have been my first clue. We rode the Shamu Express roller coaster (for kids) and then Yael was barely big enough to ride the Journey to Adventure (or whatever it was called) where we were warned in the waiting line signage that "You will get wet!" And we all did! And it was cool because the boat thing turned 360 degress in the air and we got a great view of the huge parking lot and all of sea world.We did also see 3 shows the Shamu Miracle show, Seasame Street Christmas and Azul, the perfect choice for our finale.
Of course there was drama there too. First off, Yoni got a little too big for his britches and flitted between the boys and the girls at the Sesame Street show. So of course each team thought that he was with the other and he got lost for a good 10 minutes as we all scrambled to find each other at the end of the show. And Safta had a miniture fainting spell, but it didn't worry the kids too much as we were already sitting down for an ice cream break as it was. As usual they were reluctant to get professional medical help since she is now under doctor supervision at home, we let her have some water, collect herself and we sat for a few minutes more as we finished the ice cream treats. We took some pics and I actuall bought the picture from the adventure ride since we 4 sat in the same row and it looked as if I was waving specifically to the camera - which was not the case I was waving to the fraidy cats from Israel that wouldn't join us on our ride...
