This post is happening right now (Sept 5th) while I am posting. I am on a trip to San Antonio to see Xander. He graduates from USAF boot camp this week and I am flying with the hope of catching up with him for a meal.

Wow, I look sooooo happy here!

There is a chance, of course, that we do not find each other tomorrow. Hoping that we find each other!

Well… we did find each other 🙂

I kept sending text messages throughout the day. However none of the messages sent while his phone was off arrived. Finally I texted: “Noon. I’m headed towards the Alamo. Not inside, just outside.” Xander called me right away.

He was shocked that I was in Texas so I knew that he had not gotten any of my other messages. He never got my over-nighted letter either. He was with some other Airmen that did not have parents coming to Lackland.

Now, apparently these guys are never allowed to walk by themselves. The always need to be walking with another Airman. So, Xander was not able to come to the gate by himself. He had to find TWO guys to walk with him. That way they would be able to walk back together. It was a 45 minute walk, but they did it. 104 degrees and two 1.5 hour walks (round trip) to drop him off and pick him up. That was pretty nice of them. Here is Xander when he arrived from that walk. You can see the two guys walking back in the background. They have to do a “march walk”, but I am sure there is a military name for it.

So, Xander and I went to lunch at a TexMex restaurant called “Rosario’s”. Apparently it is the best Tex-Mex in San Antonio according to the reviews. It was pretty delicious. Hats are not allowed to be worn indoors, so Xander had to keep taking it on and off.

Then we went to the famous San Antonio “River Walk”. I had been walking around there in the cool of the morning (103F). So now in the afternoon it was just hotter. This map shows the full loop that we walked:

Here are some photos along the way. It’s really nice.

Notice the BRAWN name tag. That’s the third BRAWN of our family in the USAF.

Oh yeah… this photo was for you, Travis:

We walked around the circle and then down to the Mall that had some air conditioning. Then I bought us Icees to stay cool.

With the cool Icees in hand, we went to look for the Alamo. Surprisingly, it was not that easy to find. Plus the streets are just so hot around 5pm.

Found it. So hot. So bright. We didn’t take a step closer than this photo. I am waiting to go here with Mommy.

Xander got a coin at his graduation:

Finally, I took him back to the gate and we waited for his Flight dudes to come back to walk him back to the dorm.

All in all, it ended up being a successful mission. I am glad that I went and got to spend that moment with Xander. Hopefully, it becomes a lasting memory.