San Antonio – Weds 22nd – Sat 25th July 2009 - plus a little touch of NY Sun 26th

Here we are on our flight from San Antonio (via Dallas – MASSIVE airport) to New York. We loved San Antonio and had a wonderful time.

On the Weds we took the local bus into the city (once again we were out of town near the airport – that is where the conference was held). It was good though as we got to pass through a few different areas (I guess over here they would be called neighbourhoods) and saw some beautiful old houses (some not so beautiful as well, lol).

We went to an IMAX to see a movie on the Alamo to get a history lesson on what actually happened (neither of us knew too much about it). The movie was good although we do wonder if the story is slightly different from a Mexican view point?! After this we went to the Alamo which is actually located in the city amongst all the 'regular' city buildings. It is beautifully maintained with lovely peaceful gardens surrounding it. Amazingly it is free to go through!!! Inside you are not allowed to take photos and all males must remove their hats as a mark of respect.
We also spent a little time at the shopping mall (was surprised to see that a Hooters in located in amongst all the other shops!!!).





We headed back to the motel and as we entered the lobby (a bit hot and sweaty!) we saw Dawn (CHERUBS President) and Penny (a true southern girl). Danielle has been 'chatting' and working with Dawn for over 10 years and this was their first meeting – they recognised each other instantly and it was a wonderful thing to finally meet.
We had a swim before getting ready for the 'meet and greet' pizza party to kick off the CHERUBS International CDH Conference. The intros went well – although Danielle was highly embarrassed when she was called up and given a beautiful gift for all the work she has done for CHERUBS and CHERUBS Australia.

After the pizza party a few of us spent some time sitting out by the pool talking further. Brenda and Kevin Lane from CHERUBS UK (Brenda is their president) didn't make it to the intros (they had their days mixed up, lol) and as it turns out were also on the pool deck but none of us clicked and we didn't actually meet them until the next day.

On the Thursday morning we listened to some guest presenters talk at the conference who were all very interesting. Danielle found it good to spend a little time chatting with the doctors one on one before the morning sessions finished. After it finished we went into SA for a boat tour on the River Walk. We stopped and had some lunch at the Costa Rio (later found out it is the oldest restaurant on the River Walk. A three piece Mexican band asked if we would like them to play us a romantic song – Julian said “We will have a song but how about something a little more upbeat!”. So Julian had his wife serenaded to some traditional Mexican party music! :-)



The boat tour on the River Walk was beautiful!!!! We could have gone around there all day and we learnt a lot about the city.





When we got back to the hotel we went for a swim (both getting a good sun tan up – not bad considering it should be winter :-) ) and spent some more time chatting to the CHERUBS families around the pool.

Friday morning and back to the conference. We had one lot of guest speakers and two lots of round table discussions – all really good! The airport shuttle is a free service that takes you anywhere within 3 miles of the hotel so after this finished (lunch time) we headed off for our first experience of Walmart. We shared the shuttle with the guest presenters from the morning (they were going to the airport) and had a really good talk with them. It is a little like a Kmart or Big W except they also sell groceries, McDonalds, chemist items and guns!!! We found out that 90, 000 Texans have a licence for a hand gun!!!!!

While we were in Walmart we purchased another carry-on suitcase so that we could fit all of our 'stuff' in. A case of 18 cans of beer was on special for $9.59 – so we (Julian) thought he should give it a go and load up our new case with cheap beer :-)
It seems like we will be paying additional baggage money for the trip back to Australia – still have two more stops. Oh well – such is life! We thought we would have to pay for our bags on all internal flights (not included in the airfare) but as long as you are travelling within a month of arriving Internationally you can get that fee waived. We had no idea but were lucky enough to get help on our first flight and found out then.

We followed our daily routine of getting back to the motel and going for a swim. A few other families were there and we spent some time playing with the kids in the water – they exhausted us! Once again we spent some time that evening sitting around the pool deck chatting with the other families. The kids spent up to 5 hours swimming that afternoon/evening!

Saturday morning and it was the last day of the conference and a morning of round table discussions. The group that we sat in with had other members who run non-profit groups so it was good to compare ideas as well as discuss more personal aspects of our 'CDH journey's'. At the end of these sessions it was time to say good bye to those who were heading off straight away. We had spent a bit of time with Brenda, Kevin and their daughter Alicia and were sad to say good bye to them. We would love to go to the UK one day and visit them. Kevin tells the funniest stories! They (along with a heap of the US families) are keen to come to visit Australia. Hopefully we will get a number of international guests over the next few years.
On Saturday afternoon we headed back into SA (on our favourite bus route, lol) and went to the Tower of the Americas which gives you a great view of the whole city. There was a market on – they closed off a street and had bands, local crafts, food stalls etc. Great atmosphere! After buying some souvenirs we headed back to the hotel to pack......twenty hours later, lol....it wasn't too bad really. Guess what we did then? Yep, back for our last swim in the pool and pool side gathering.
We found everyone so friendly, polite and easy going here in San Antonio. Coming from Vegas where we had people pouncing on us try to give us 'gifts' (which of course were not gifts at all!) to San Antonio where people come up asking if everything is OK, if we need help, if we are finding our way around etc. And there really wasn't too many people around for a reasonably large city. As soon as the locals here our accents they have lots of questions for us and want to know all about Australia.





There are so many beautiful buildings – the stone work etc is lovely – paved streets and lots of trees and plants all around. A really pretty city!

The weather was beautiful – hot like southern QLD in summertime – and we loved it. A good way to build up a thirst :-) The Tex Mex cuisine was YUMMY (even if Danielle is completely hopeless and pronouncing it).

The CHERUBS conference was great and it was fantastic to meet and get to know all of the other families. It was especially wonderful for Danielle to spend time with people she has been chatting to for years (Dawn, Brenda, Tara and Barb) and also spend time with people who she has spent time chatting to over the past couple of years (Kim, Penny, Fer, and Karla). It was great to meet the other families and we just wish we could have had more time to chat with all of them (Tracy, Kara, Karen, Laura, Elizabeth – sorry if I have forgotten anyone).





Penny (y'all remember the southern gal) wanted to learn how to speak Australian – she got quiet good at saying G'day mate and can even say Aussie correctly! She tried (in vain) to get Danielle to speak redneck – Julian picked it up really well though. Danielle is limited to y'all, lol.

It was sad to say good bye to everyone and we really hope we get the chance to meet up again some day. Danielle still can't believe she finally got to meet Dawn!!!



We travelled on the same plane to Dallas with Fer who is from Mexico City and has invited us to Mexico – another place we would love to get to one day (would love to taste REAL Mexican food).

Have to finish up now – we are descending into New York city – woo hoo! Julian's cousin and his family are picking us up from the airport and taking us out to dinner tonight. Will post more of our adventures later.

Back again – it's now Sunday evening and we are in the hotel (Julian's cousin manages it). His cousin Craig and his wife Caroline and their 2 kids Caitlin and Connor (the 4 C's - hope I spelt all of your names correctly) took us out to dinner to a Chinese restaurant called P.F. Chang's (those from the US may have heard of them). It was THE best chinese food ever! We then walked along the Hudson River on the opposite side of the city. It was just getting dark and all the lights were coming on in the city – what a site!!! The 4 C's have told us lots of things we can go see and gave us a heap of tips. We can't wait until we get amongst the Big Apple :-) Caroline and Caitlin picked us up from the airport and we got to drive right through the city – there is just so much to look at!!!

More (plus photo's) from NY soon :-)

Danielle and Julian xxx