Lunch with Mom

On Wednesday, March 4th, Andrew, Martina and I drove over to Mom's house to visit with her a while and to take her out to lunch. We had a nice lunch at Lion and Rose, although this particular Lion and Rose favors people who smoke, and places non-smokers in a small separate room. Totally opposite of the other Lion and Rose that we usually eat at. Other than that, it was a great lunch - good fish and chips, tea, and blackberry cobbler for dessert! After lunch, we did a little shopping at Central Market.

And then in the evening, Andrew and Martina took Guillermo and me out to dinner to Cha Cha's!! A great way to end the evening!

Today, Martina and Guillermo had to go in to SAC one more time - Guillermo to give an exam and Martina to take an exam. Actually, Guillermo will still be going in, but no longer on Monday, Wednesday and Fridays. So, that will be nice for him, to only have to go in on Tuesday and Thursdays to teach one Spanish class. While he and Martina were at the school, Andrew and I did a little bit around the house, and then we went to Best Buy to look at cameras - which they hardly had any of since they were about to restock the newest models. When we left there, we drove to Mom's house to pick her up so that we could all go to the airport to meet Anthony. After he arrived, we of course headed to Taco Cabana for lunch. Then we drove back to Mom's house and I dropped Anthony and Andrew off there - Anthony will bring Andrew back to our house later this evening. When they came later, we enjoyed an apple crisp together and sat around the table talking.

Waiting at the airport

Happy Birthday, Fernando!!!

Today would officially be Fernando's birthday. He is in his upper upper twenties!!!

Happy Birthday, Fernando. We would definitely like to be with you to help you celebrate this special day. Here's hoping your books come within the next few days!!

According to the calendar, and the number of times February 29th has come around, this is about how old you should be.


But we all know that, with the number of years that have passed, that this is how old you REALLY are!!!

Have a great day and feel special all day, because you are!!

Celebrate today or tomorrow?

Today we tell Fernando Happy Birthday, simply because he was actually born in the month of February.
BUT, tomorrow we will tell Fernando Happy Birthday again, simply because he wasn't born ON February 28, he was born the day after - which that year was February 29th!!

He prefers to celebrate his birthday on March 1, for that very reason.

ANYway,

Happy Birthday, Fernando!!! Today, and we'll say it again tomorrow!! How fun is that!!!

We pick up Andrew from the airport today!! We are excited about him arriving, but I wonder who is MOST excited? Can you guess??

'Course the first thing that needs to be done when anyone arrives, (be it by car, plane, whatever) is they have to go through the port of entry at Taco Cabana. It's mandatory, there's probably a line about it in the passport somewhere.

Western Dancing

What a nice evening we had! Before going to the western dance hall, we stopped in at John and Angie's house to visit for a few minutes. Then, we all went in John's truck to the Midnight Rodeo.

After taking a few pictures outside, we walked inside and immediately I could tell that it was going to be a fun evening. The place is set up very well and has something for everyone - food, several bars, dance floor, big screen TV's, pool tables, comfortable seating and so on. Since we got there fairly early, we got a prime place to sit and enjoy the evening.
The first thing we did was get in the short line for the buffet. Everything looked so good! We had meatloaf, mashed potatoes, peas, chips and queso, salad, rolls and veggies and dip. It was all delicious!

Since the place we were sitting at was right by a lone pool table, after we ate, Guillermo and I decided to play a game of pool. But when we got to the pool table, the guy who played before said whoever plays next has to play him, since he won the last game. So, Guillermo took him on and beat him. He beat about two more people after that, and then he and I had a chance to play a game. We had fun playing together, but as we were playing, someone else put their quarters down, so when we were done, Guillermo went on to play the next person. He beat a total of about 5 people, before someone got the best of him.
Guillermo and I did a little dancing, played pool, and we enjoyed beer and margaritas with John, Angie, Martina, Charito and Angel. John and Martina looked like professional dancers out there on that dance floor!! We all had a great time and as we were leaving, we made plans to come back again at the end of April! That's how much we enjoyed the evening!! We look forward to going back.

Remembering the Alamo!

Martina and I took Guillermo to SAC in the morning, and then the two of us drove downtown to visit the Alamo. We parked at River Center Mall and walked all the way to the Alamo when I remembered that I had left the camera in the truck. So, Martina stayed at the Alamo to look around while I walked back to get the camera. It was such a nice day to be outdoors! We enjoyed the nice warm weather sitting on a bench, surrounded by blooming Mountain Laurel trees, while we listened to a docent talk about the history of the Alamo. Once we were finished with the Alamo, we walked to the Menger Hotel and then walked back to River Center Mall. Since Martina hadn't had any breakfast, she bought a little Cinnabon and we went outside to sit along the river while she ate it.

After leaving the mall, we drove to Central Market where we did a little shopping for an Indian dinner we plan on cooking on Thursday. And then it was time to pick Guillermo up from SAC!!! We are down to one car right now, as the red car is in the shop because it seems to have an oil leak. :-(

Off to Dallas and a birthday boy

For Wednesday and Thursday night's dinner, we enjoyed delicious Bowle that Martina made. In it she puts fruits, vodka, sparkling wine and red wine. It is so smooth and made a wonderful accompaniment to the spaghetti dinner that we enjoyed both nights. We look forward to having it again for Mom's birthday party!

Today, Friday, Martina packed up for a plane trip up to my brother and sister-in-law's house in Greenville, TX. We left early from our house so that we could have breakfast at the Magnolia Pancake Haus. MMmmm - our breakfasts were delicious! From there, we went to North Star Mall where we had about 45 minutes to look around. I left Martina in A'gaci to look around while I headed to Zumiez to get Jason a gift card for his birthday. The time passed all too quickly, but Martina did find a couple of really cute blouses in A'gaci. Then we headed to the airport, and since we checked in online and printed out her boarding pass last night, she was good to go! She'll come back Monday afternoon.

The most exciting news is that today is Jason's birthday!!! I won't put his age but he is in his lower lower-thirties. :-)
From what we heard, the day wasn't all that great for him because his dog Duke hurt his leg while exercising in a park. So, he and Duke had to spend some time in the vets office. Then later, Jason noticed a nail in his tire, which necessitated buying a whole new tire (and spending time at a tire place). Hopefully, tomorrow will be a day more like a birthday-type of day for him! Either way, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JASON!!!

Also, Rebeca told us that she received the scores from the third test that she had to take for her license in Landscape Architecture. And it was no major surprise to us, but she passed this test too!! We are so VERY proud of her! 3 tests down and two to go.

Guillermo and I had dinner at Red Lobster again this evening (to celebrate Jason's birthday from afar). Afterwards we came home and practiced a little bit of the Texas Two-Step because in one week we are going with Martina to a country-western dance. John and Angie will meet us there, so it should be lots of fun. Anyway, we had learned the steps when we took classes for Rebeca's wedding, so the moves came back to us rather easily. We think we are ready for next week!

I'm not a big fan of posts with no pictures, but unfortunately, there are none this time.

Rodeo Day

What a day we had today!! We left early in the morning to the Stock Show and Rodeo!! Once we got to the rodeo grounds, the first place we visited was the Swine Barn. We looked in on some pens where the pigs were and we watched a couple of swines being weighed, which can be entertainment in itself. One of the pigs being weighed was mad about that and let everyone around him know how much he hated it!!

Then we went to the barn where they were going to hold the Sheep Dog Trials. That is one of my favorite events to watch - those dogs are so focused and so skilled. Several of the more seasoned dogs get into their low stalking position as soon as they enter the ring, already on the lookout for sheep that aren't even there yet!

 After watching that a little while, we walked around and came upon the food booth section and it smelled so good around there we decided to get us a little bit to eat (fajita tacos and chili-cheese fries). Then we visited more tents and booths before it was time to head into the arena for the Rodeo. 

The rodeo was very entertaining, with the bareback riders and the saddle bronc riders being the most exciting to watch. All of the events were very exciting though, and we were very impressed with the skills of some of those guys. After the rodeo, we ate some barbecue, Frito pie and a beef steak sundae (Martina). We were quite tired when we got home.