The night before leaving, Grandma brought goody bags for each of the kids, filled with candy, markers, notebooks and more. The boys promptly packed their bags into their backpacks, while Ruthie–in typical toddler fashion–white-knuckle-gripped her bag starting at 6:00 am all the way until we arrived in San Antonio 6 hours later.

Meanwhile, the boys kept busy spotting planes at the airport.

Most of our time was spent catching up with college friends. They were kind enough to host our brood for the week, and we all enjoyed the time together.  The kids:

We visited the Alamo and determined to remember our time there.

Jake kept tabs on Ruthie as much as possible.

She hasn’t yet learned that you never ever look down the barrel of a cannon.

We had the pleasure of eating some Texas BBQ.  The joint we ate at was named one of Ruthie’s nicknames…

Delicious. I don’t know why it’s called the worst BBQ in Texas. If it was my restaurant I would not choose such a tagline. But it’s not my restaurant.

Jim enjoyed reminiscing with some college buddies currently living in TX–they laughed over past practical jokes and embarrassing moments. Lucky for the guys, their wives and kids got along marvelously as well.

At the end of the week, we took a drive to Fredericksburg on our way back to Austin. Fredericksburg is a town settled by Germans, with tons of quaint little german shops. Who knew that southern Texas attracted germans way back when?

One of the highlights in the town is the Pacific War Museum. We saw a live reenactment with guns and explosives…a boy’s dream. Meanwhile, with bombs bursting and guns firing, Ruthie took a nap in her stroller.

Our final stop before departing was University of Texas stadium. As we approached the impressive structure, all we could say was whoa. Unfortunately we couldn’t tour the inside, so we observed from the locked gates.

A great trip!