Seeing San Antonio - Restaurant Style

Introducing our Airman to life away from the Air Force base in San Antonio has been fun this weekend. Filling him up has also been interesting. This is the son who had to gain weight to be accepted in the Air Force!! He's faster, stronger, and hungrier now! It has been a fun weekend battling Mother-Nature and discovering some delicacies!

Yum!!
Mi Tierra Restaurant started us off with these bakery goodies right as we entered. This Mexican (Tex-Mex style) is open 24 hours a day. My new favorite!!

Well, just until the next meal....

We had an Airman to fill up!!


It wouldn't be a family vacation without ice cream!!

We walked to the Alamo and even met CC theAlamo cat.


(She's the unofficial guardian there at the Alamo these days.)

We walked the Riverwalk for blocks and even took the River Barge tour.
We visited the Riverwalk Center and found some video arcade games to hone the sharp shooting skill of our Airman. Ya know ya gotta keep those skills sharp!



Airman son is a reader and has really missed having time to read. He has a 13 hour bus ride to his AIT training base at Keesler Air Force Base in Mississippi this Monday.

(A new home for the next 4 months! It would be fun to try to visit here next!!!)

This long bus ride necessitated a trip to find the perfect book to get lost in on a trip of that length. Ahhh, darn! C'mon, how hard can that be?? It broke my heart to have to check out the bookstores of San Antonio. Airman chose James Rollins to entertain himself...

I had to help myself to something as well - -I had finished both my books and you know I couldn't risk a minute without a possible book.... I chose an upcoming book group book to get started on a little ahead of schedule. It hurt me to buy something when I have shelves waiting for me at home! (That was a foreign feeling!!!)

It's been wonderful being here with our Airman this weekend. Even better was being here with his wife. She has been so generous in allowing us time to share with them when I'm sure she just wanted him all to herself! We've tried to allow for both and Rich and I have had some fun exploring on our own too. I've loved being with them and being a part of their celebration and new beginning. It's been memory packed and we have felt privileged to be a part of it all!

You know eating our way through San Antonio hasn't been such a bad thing either....come Monday it will be back to yogurt and cottage cheese.

Snow Day! Or what to do in a hotel room!

See this handsome Airman?? That's Honor Graduate #3 Son!! He rocks!

We are here in San Antonio, Texas for his graduation from Basic Training and like 1000's of other parents and family members we have braved the monster storm, Texas-style.
Yesterday we made it to their coin ceremony and braved it outside in windy 20 degree weather. (It was in the single digits when you factored in wind chill! - I left Arizona chill for this?!?!?) We wore 4-6 layers of clothes (why bring a suitcase? Just wear all of your clothes at the same time! No suitcase necessary!)

Today we were ready for the Parade, Graduation and Open House.....NOT!
Snow Day! Ice Day!! All-roads-closed-day!

Our Marriott hotel is near a freeway and they are all closed...iced over. Now that's a weird sight. Not a soul on a road. Okay, there is one car that is stuck.

So, what's a girl to do?!?!

Well, Rich brought the portable DVD player so he's watching Red (a movie about retired covert operation spies) and of course I brought my insurance policy - more than one book!



I finished Original Sin by Beth McMullen (ARC, publishing date - July 2011.)

Lucy Hamilton appears to be another young stay at home mom with a 3 year old son that she adores, a busy, environmentally-minded husband, carpools to drive, and toys to clean up! Yet surface appearances are not always what they appear. You see Lucy was really Sally Sin, a covert operations spy for USAWMD (United States Agency for Weapons of Mass Destruction.) Now, years later her past is coming back to haunt her. Lucy/Sally's arch nemesis has returned (from the dead!) and the agency is determined to get her help. We really should read the fine print...somewhere in parting contracts were the words that basically meant 'til death us do part!!' Now Lucy/Sally has to once again face life as a spy!! The real trick - balancing motherhood and spy-hood.

This book is being touted as a humorous comparison to Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series. Now, having not read a one of those I cannot really compare the two, but I have read book jackets and the occasional quotes. Lucy just doesn't seem to have the same flash, dash or panache. I never really felt her passion and the characters seem to need more fleshing out. I also wanted a bit more witty repartee! (Shannon Hale, you have spoiled me!) I really enjoy the show Covert Affairs and felt that the characters and their conflicts on that show are much tighter and enjoyable than that of McMullen's. Still, it was a fun ride and an entertaining read for this winter vacation.

An interesting note - it has been fun to read a book on covert operations as we sit nestled in near the USAF training base. These men and women who defend our country take every bit of security very seriously. Boy, reading and enjoying this book has been all about the timing.

Well the snow and ice are melting...our Airman has just called in to tell us that the Open House is back on and I think we need to leave our snug hotel room to venture out. I have my spy-gear ready....I can take on anything - well as long as it isn't weather-related! (I am such a wimp!)