Day 5 - Fourth of July

On Independence Day we didn't do any patriotic activities, which is ironic considering that our travel agent (Nancy!) planned a trip that included the fourth so the kids could see how independence day is celebrated so differently here.  We were just too busy being with people.

We began the day saying goodbye to the Vetters (pictured above: Joel, Julia Vetters, Raquel, Michelle, Leah, and Terry Vetters, David).  They were wonderful hosts!  Thanks for everything!!

After the kids spent some of their spending money at Half-Priced Books (comic books were the highlight), we headed north from San Antonio toward Fredricksburg where Corita's long-lost cousin John lives.  John may have known where he was, but he and Corita hadn't seen each other since Corita was about three.  John had taken a photo of her at that tender young age sniffing a flower, which we tried to reproduce, but this time together:

The younger generation had never met.  Here we have John's kids Rachel (16) and Travis (7) with our Raquel (11) and Joel (9) in John's "Frontier Outpost" store:

   

Out behind the store John has a little jammin' place set up, so we tried it out:



For dinner we headed over to the next town of Llano (in Texan, pronounced "Laaano") where Corita's Aunt Winnie Hardaway (85!!!) is still kicking.  After eating, we showed them the pictures of David's greenhouse project.  Pictured here are cousin Diane, Aunt Winnie, Corita, cousin Lauren, her friend Lance, Diane's daughter Lyla (14), and Raquel's back.

It was absolutely wonderful to be with Aunt Winnie and her crew again.  I'm afraid we kept Winnie up past her bedtime and she bonked Corita on the head for old time's sake (she probably deserved it, but we can't remember why).

On the way back to John's that evening, we were forced to travel slowly and carefully since the area is plagued by deer.  We were amazed how many!  All in all, not a very patriotic day (no fireworks due to the extreme fire danger in this drought-ridden area), but we reconnected with family and it was a blessing!