Dear Lily,
There is much that I could say about how profound an affinity your mother and I share for our great home state of Texas. Though that is a matter for another day I will share with you a quote from the late Texas wit, Molly Ivins, wherein she said, "I dearly love the state of Texas, but I consider it a harmless perversion on my part, and discuss it only with consenting adults."
The last leg of our cross-country journey brought us to San Antonio. Since we've been away from the Lone Star State for quite a spell it should come as no surprise that our first stop was to grab some long overdue Mexican food.
Here's Mommy taking her first sip of a real Margarita in over two years. Mmmm, delicious. Don't worry, she didn't order one. She just took a sip off of mine.
We saw pretty much the whole family on this trip. Here we are with Grandpa Armando, Aunt Vanessa and your cousin Sophia.
We had a relaxing afternoon with them and Grandma Norma, Uncle Mike and your cousin Aaron. Good thing you weren't paying attention when I was carrying Sophia because you might have gotten jealous.
Aunt Vanessa was having so much fun with you that I was beginning to think that she wasn't going to give you back to us. You can see from the picture below that she was getting ready to make a run for it. I had to block the exit.
You got to meet Daddy's old friends, too. What a motley crew we are.
Next, we went to go see your Great Uncle Mark and had a pleasant brunch on the Riverwalk. As usual, you waited until food was on my fork and on the way to my mouth to test out your lungs. Though you probably had not yet acclimated to the Texas heat, you were quite agreeable.
As we were in San Antonio, it behooved to make a quick stop at the Alamo before hightailing back to the hotel to get ready for Uncle Brandon's graduation. Don't listen to anyone who tries to tell you that there is a basement in the Alamo. That's a bold-faced lie.
Everything's bigger in Texas. Bang, bang.
So far with graduations, you are 0 for 2. You much prefer to be walked around than to listen to hundreds of names being called out. We were all very proud of Uncle Brandon for his graduation from high school and know that he is going to go on to do great things. Here he is with Grandma Mandy and Grandpa Mando. Doesn't he look great in a cap and gown!
With every graduation there is a party. Your grandma Mandy went all out and threw a big surprise party for Uncle Brandon complete with fireworks! Hey, I didn't get fireworks! You got to meet a bunch of the Vargas clan. Pictured are your Great Aunts and Uncles. That's Aunt Linda, Uncle Frankie and Grandma Mandy in the back row and Aunt Mary and Aunt Yolanda in the front. There are six more Great Aunts and Uncles that you'll get to meet some day. We figured we'd pace ourselves and only introduce you to four of them this time.
Here's you with Uncle Mark again. We added him to the list of people who might run off with you at some point. We're keeping our eye on him.
The next day we met up with Grandma Mandy and with Aunt Yolanda and family before getting on our final plane.
And here we are with Uncle Cristoph. Both Uncle Brandon and Uncle Cristoph enjoyed their new roles as uncles and you have much spoiling from them to look forward to.
Sadly, our time in Texas had drawn to a close. We left making ourselves the promise that we'd have to make it back home more often. You really enjoyed your time there and I know you'll love it as we do.
Love,
Dad
