San Antonio

It's completely ironic, I know, but it's true: my first morning at home after a week of vacation felt more relaxing than the vacation.

Our trip to San Antonio had to be one of the strangest vacations we've ever taken. It wasn't so much what we did or what we saw, though. It was the way we interacted with one another. There were more moments of frustration and irritation during this week than I remember from any other vacations. I had actually expected as much beforehand, but expecting something and experiencing it are two very different things.

Dad and I concluded that it wasn't because we were faced with more choices or difficult situations in San Antonio, although the city did come with its own unique...challenges. Rather, the cause of our conflict was simply the normal process of growth within our family. (Shocker.)  :P It's obvious that we've each has experienced a tremendous amount of change in a relatively short period of time, and each of us kids has reached a new level of independence. That's going to create some tension, at least until we learn how to adapt. And that's hard. I mean, I've been away at college for several months, so I can't even imagine how different I must seem to everyone now. Audrey is still the youngest, but she's not the "baby" anymore.  And Isaac, at fourteen, is beginning to decide what kind of man he's going to be. (Of course, you never know when you're talking to the 14 year old Isaac and when you're talking to the 6 year old Isaac.  That keeps you on your toes.)  

Now that I think about it, I think we had it easy when we took vacations before.  Age-wise, we were all spaced-out perfectly. Being six and ten years younger than me, respectively, Isaac and Audrey weren't extremely involved or vocal in the planning of vacations. We were able to do things that entertained all of us, because Mom and Dad could just tell them, "Ok guys, we're going here and we're doing this, and it'll be fun."  And they said, "Ok." But now, they've begun to develop even stronger personal identities and preferences, and this trip highlighted those changes. Audrey wanted to visit SeaWorld and the zoo for the animals, and Isaac wanted to visit SeaWorld, Schlitterbahn, and the 750 ft. observation tower for the thrill. Neither of them cared anything about art museums, historic districts, or old missions, and finding interesting restaurants didn't appeal to them as much as stopping at What-a-Burger. And they were both extremely adamant and vocal in expressing those preferences.  In fact, I don't think it would have been nearly as big of a deal if they hadn't been so annoyingly persistent in telling us what they wanted to do the whole time. :P Anyway, it just seemed like we spent more time on this trip discussing what to do and complaining about what we weren't doing than actually doing things.

Oh well. I suppose I'll make my observations and add this trip to my list of learning experiences. I made it sound as though it was horrible...but there really were parts of it that I enjoyed, such as:  

• Touring 300-year-old missions
• Feeding a dolphin
• Trying tilapia chalupas, mint/hibiscus iced tea, Lebanese shish-ka-bobs and hummus,
• Visiting the Alamo
• Taking a long walk along the river with my dad
• Seeing authentic Monet, Picasso, Cezanne, Rodin, Renoir, and Van Gogh artwork
• Tasting Mom's margarita and Dad's sangria
• Hanging out at the folklife festival

Yep.  It was alright.  But I'm glad to be home.

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