Road Trip & The Plague

Well, for those of you that read my last post about Mother's Day, we now know why the boys were so unpleasant...Hand Foot & Mouth disease.  Also known as, "The Plague".  The Plague has successfully hit the entire infant class at church, and little did we know that it was waiting to join our duo just before embarking on a road trip to TX.  Ah, the joys of parenthood! But, honestly, as I told Luke, we would have been miserable at home or miserable in San Antonio...and we had a lot more help in San Antonio!

Anyway, our plans to get a super-early start on Monday (so the boys would keep sleeping) were quickly derailed when I realized that our temp tags on Subertha were out-of-date (by like 2 weeks...oops!). So, we officially started our 13+ hr road trip around 8am, and if Granma D hadn't been with us we probably would have turned around by 9am.  The boys felt awful...super high fevers, mouth sores, Elijah had a rash over most of his body, diarrhea, you name it.  Elijah was pretty subdued, lethargic and whiney, but Miles pretty much just screamed (that's his favorite thing to do!).

Thank you, Subertha, for having a built-in DVD player!

Poor, Elijah, freezing with chills from his fever

There are only a few reasons any child should be naked

at the end of a long road trip...let's just say, The Plague won that battle

Lots of this the first few days

Yucky, itchy rash that Elijah had...serious,

he looked like a leper

So, you may be wondering "Why San Antonio?"  Well, Luke's sister, Lydia, and her husband are moving to Oakland, CA in a few weeks! Justing is graduating from dental school, and he matched for Oral Surgery residency (yeah, he's super smart) there.  So, with a week off and no other plans, we figured it'd be a good time to see them before they move across the country!  The Plague tried to keep us away, but we pressed on!

The first few days we pretty much just took it easy at the hotel.  Luke's mom came down with us and has stayed a few extra days to help them pack up.  His dad flew down for the graduation party and then drove back home with us.  It was definitely nice having the extra hands!  By Thursday, the boys were starting to feel a bit better so we decided to take them to Sea World!  It was a long, hot day, but I think they enjoyed it!

Waiting for Shamu!

The Shamu show was pretty awesome...

definitely the highlight of the day!

 

Miles was starting to feel better...

he had a much milder case than Elijah

feeding sea lions

Finally, a half-smile!

That night we all went to the River Walk for dinner to celebrate Justin's hard work and accomplishments! It was a beautiful evening, and the food was delish!

fun with aunt Lydia

Grandma D and PapaD took over on Friday so that Luke and I could get out and explore a bit.  We just took it easy and strolled the River Walk and walked thru the Alamo.  We found a couple of really great places to eat, but the dessert topped it all! Luke googled "best dessert in SanAntonio", and Las Canarias came up claiming to have one of the best pastry chef's in the country!  We found it, and actually got to meet the chef!  He was super nice and recommended these tasty treats!  He then asked if we wanted to give him some feedback on a new dessert he was working on...bonus! We devoured it before we realized we didn't take a picture...it was tasty and so creative!

Chipotle chocolate mousse with caramelized almond bark,

red velvet cake, and cilantro-lime cream

grilled brown butter lemon cake topped with a lemon

reduction and mascarpone cheese with a raspberry drizzle

By Friday, the boys were no longer contagious, so we were able to take them to Justin's graduation party that evening!  They put on a fabulous mexican-themed cookout with grilled chicken and flank steak burritos and all the fixins!

Saturday, we were on the road by 5am, and the boys slept for about 3 hours (score!) before Happy Feet had to start playing (we watched it 3 times that day before I couldn't handle it any more and put in Horton Hear's a Who?)!  The trip home was so.much.better. than the trip down!

happy to see The Pyramid...close to home!

Overall, the trip wasn't a complete bust, but it's not gonna make it on our Top 10 any time soon!  But, as my friend Kristin said, "If everything goes perfectly, you don't remember as much!"  Certainly, many memories made that week!  We were thankful to visit Lydia and Justin even if it was a hectic time for them also!  And, Lydia cleaned my teeth and did a great job, so I'm glad to check that off my list, too!

Hopefully our next update is complete with happy, healthy children and many more smiles!

Happy Wednesday!