![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/NicoleCharles_CD06.jpg\")
Nicole Charles and her husband Mark enjoy watching sports together with their children Marky, Sammi and Jacob in the backyard of their Colonial Hills home. Credit: Clint Datchuk for the San Antonio Report<\/p>\nThere\u2019s a little pocket of Castle Hills where life feels like a well-loved storybook \u2014 one with sidewalk chalk drawings, backyard barbecues and tacos on Saturdays. <\/p>\n
It\u2019s called Colonial Hills, and if you blink too fast on Vance Jackson, you might miss it. But those of us who live here? We wouldn\u2019t trade it for anywhere in the world.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not a flashy neighborhood, and that\u2019s exactly what we love about it. Think mid-century charm, wide front lawns and big oak trees that have stood tall long before us. Kids still ride bikes here till the porch lights come on and neighbors wave from across the street \u2014 not out of habit, but because they mean it.<\/p>\n
Three years ago, our family crossed the highway from Dellview to move into a bigger home here in Colonial Hills \u2014 and it felt like the start of something new. We loved Dellview, with its familiar streets and cozy charm, but we were ready for a little more space to stretch out and grow. Now we\u2019ve got room to host, to breathe, and to build more of the life we were dreaming about.<\/p>\n
Nicole Charles and her husband Mark enjoy watching sports together with their children Marky, Sammi and Jacob in the backyard of their Colonial Hills home. Credit: Clint Datchuk for the San Antonio Report<\/p>\n
When we moved into our rental home, it didn\u2019t take long for Colonial Hills to feel like ours. My husband grew up in this part of town \u2014 his family has lived in the area for many years, and there\u2019s a deep sense of belonging here. This isn\u2019t just a ZIP code; it\u2019s a thread in our family story. Driving these streets brings back memories for him, and now we\u2019re building new ones with our own family \u2014 right here where his roots began.<\/p>\n
Most evenings, you\u2019ll find him in the backyard, tending to our pool. He keeps the water clear and cool, ready for the next round of family splashing or quiet soaking. And in the background? There\u2019s always a Houston sports game on. Texans, Astros, Rockets \u2014 he doesn\u2019t miss a beat. It\u2019s the soundtrack of our backyard: pool water trickling, the hum of the game announcer and laughter carried on a breeze.<\/p>\n
Inside, our living room transforms every Saturday into a sacred little gathering space. Women from all over come for Bible study \u2014 coffee in hand, hearts open. We meet in a circle, tucked into couches, diving deep into God\u2019s Word and each other\u2019s stories. There\u2019s something powerful about praying in a living room full of faith and friendship. The kind of power that builds more than community \u2014 it builds kingdom.<\/p>\n
And when the weekend calls for something fun, we often head over to Dad\u2019s Karaoke on West Avenue. It\u2019s one of our favorite spots to just let loose. I\u2019ve got one signature song: Elvira by The Oak Ridge Boys. As soon as the \u201cOom papa mow mow\u201d kicks in, I\u2019m up there, singing my heart out while the crowd claps along. It\u2019s silly, it\u2019s joyful, it\u2019s us. That little place holds a lot of big memories.<\/p>\n
A few blocks away, you\u2019ll find our neighborhood H-E-B, and we\u2019re there more than we\u2019d like to admit. It\u2019s where we run into people we know, grab last-minute dinner ingredients, and pick up cookies for Bible study. And right across the way? McDonald\u2019s, of course. After church or errands, the kids love ordering their favorite little sundaes and fries. It\u2019s a simple treat, but one they look forward to. Moments like that don\u2019t seem big \u2014 until you realize they\u2019re becoming core memories.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/NicoleCharles_CD04.jpg\")
Nicole Charles and her husband Mark enjoy the pool at their Colonial Hills home. Credit: Clint Datchuk for the San Antonio Report<\/p>\n
Then there\u2019s El Taco De Jalisco at Kerrybrook and Vance Jackson, our beloved taco stop. Whether it\u2019s breakfast tacos, enchiladas, or sopapillas that melt in your mouth, this place never misses. The woman at the drive-thru window knows us now and she always makes sure we\u2019ve got everything we need in the bag, including the cinnamon sugar.<\/p>\n
Our daughter attended Lee High School, just a short drive from here. She\u2019s out of high school now, but we still pass by Colonial Hills Elementary and Jackson Middle School and smile when we see the kids walking to class \u2014 backpacks bouncing, laughter spilling into the street. It reminds us how fast time flies, and how sweet it is to be raising a family in a neighborhood like this.<\/p>\n
And when the holidays roll around? It\u2019s magical. The streets glow with twinkle lights, nativity scenes, reindeer and even the occasional inflatable Santa. Some houses go all out, others keep it classic, but together it turns our neighborhood into something straight out of a Hallmark movie.<\/p>\n
Colonial Hills may not be fancy, but it\u2019s full of heart. You hear it in the bounce of basketballs, the sound of kids playing tag, the hum of a game on in the backyard, and the joy that fills a simple home on a Saturday afternoon.<\/p>\n
So if you ever find yourself near Vance Jackson and Kerrybrook, slow down. Roll down your window. You just might hear karaoke in the distance, a backyard splash, or a neighbor calling out, \u201cYou hungry? We\u2019ve got extra tacos.\u201d<\/p>\n
That\u2019s Colonial Hills.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not just where we live.
It\u2019s where we belong.
And whether we own it or rent it \u2014 it\u2019s home.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There\u2019s a little pocket of Castle Hills where life feels like a well-loved storybook \u2014 one with sidewalk…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":23196,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5133],"tags":[5229,21033,21034,21035,21036,21037,21038,21039,7202,7203,358,7453,3187,21040,7593,67,586,132,5230,68,2969,21041,20705,21042],"class_list":{"0":"post-23195","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-antonio","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-colonial-hills","10":"tag-dads-karaoke","11":"tag-el-taco-de-jalisco","12":"tag-lee-high-school","13":"tag-mcdonalds","14":"tag-nicole-charles","15":"tag-pool","16":"tag-san-antonio","17":"tag-sanantonio","18":"tag-texas","19":"tag-top-story","20":"tag-tx","21":"tag-typecomm_wil","22":"tag-typefeature","23":"tag-united-states","24":"tag-united-states-of-america","25":"tag-unitedstates","26":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","27":"tag-us","28":"tag-usa","29":"tag-vance-jackson","30":"tag-wc-750-1000","31":"tag-where-i-live"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114763908320185022","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23195","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23195"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23195\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23196"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23195"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23195"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23195"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}