May 21, 2016

Tour of Tiny Homes

May 21, 2016

My favorite of the tiny homes

 

The hotel served breakfast every morning, but Ron may be the only one who was up in time to take advantage of it.  He and Bob picked up Shipley donuts for the rest of us.  After we all ate and were ready, we went across town to a coin shop where David works on Saturdays.  Everyone had a good time looking at the various things for sale.

From the coin shop, we went to a fabric shop so that I could look for quilt fabric with Stephen and his wife so I can make their double wedding ring quilt.  We had decided that I would not try to make it before their wedding.  There were too many decisions that had to be made on other things at that time.  They have been thinking and are about ready to actually select fabric.  I bought some samples and will made up a ring or two to show they how they will look so they can see if that is what they really want.

Tiny home ready for auction

 

Next stop was lunch at Jim's.  Diana and the kids joined us and we had a good meal and a good time.  My favorite memories of the years while all four of our sons were living at home, center around the laughter at mealtime.  So now when we gather for meals, they pick up where they left off.  We had seen all of them in the last year, but they had not all been together during that time since late last summer.

The next stop was one that Dave told us about.  There is a high school in San Antonio that has a building trades school.  For the last couple of years, the students have been building Tiny Homes.  If you watch HGTV, you probably have seen the new craze of people wanting to live with a minimum amount of space and "stuff".  The homes we saw were about 150 sq. ft.  Some were fully finished out including porches and/or decks.  Landscaping had been provided through H.E. B. stores and  the homes were amazing.

Interior of one of the tiny homes.

 

They appear to take 2 years for the students to finish.  The first year is design and basic framing and layout.  Then during the second year they finish they inside and out and furnish them.  They are very nice.  There is a silent auction and bids can be placed for the units.  They will be delivered and set up on your property.  Nice workmanship and decor.  It was a very warm, muggy afternoon but we enjoyed seeing what the young people could do.

Interior of another of the tiny homes

 

While most of us went to the Parade of Tiny Homes. Bob and his wife went to some book stores.   From the afternoon activities, everyone scattered for a bit and we met up downtown about 8:30 for a Mexican food dinner outdoors on the river walk.  The weather was perfect for outdoor dinning.

Dinner outdoors, on the river in San Antonio

 

Jeff and his wife had a very busy weekend scheduled and could not join us, but at the last minute, Saturday afternoon, after they left a birthday celebration for a friend turning 70, they decided to take the kids home and come join us.  They arrived at about 8:30 and had supper with us.  The food was good, the setting excellent, and the family, perfect!  (Except that Jeff and Barb's kids were not with us.)  Again, laughter was constant.

Our four sons, from left, the oldest to the youngest

 

Stephen and his wife decided to walk along the river for a while before returning to the hotel.  David's family went home, and the rest of us ended up at the Denny's in front of our hotel for ice cream.  Stephen and Kristina joined us after their river walk, before the end of our evening.

Our sons' wives.  These ladies are so precious.

 

It was so funny, since Bob and Vickey had not been able to come at Christmas, they were passing out Christmas gifts.  So were Stephen and Kristina.  There were a couple of graduation gifts for Diana's nephew earlier at supper.  We were just celebrating anything we could think of.  Our 51st wedding anniversary is in two weeks, so I felt as if we were celebrating since having all of our sons and their wives together is the best gift we can ever receive.

Ron and Linda

 

It was probably 1:30 before most of us got to sleep that night.  Barb and Jeff were heading back home at 7:00 the next morning.  It was a quick trip for them, but such an added blessing for us.