Easter in San Antonio - Part II

(See Thursday and Friday here) 

Saturday morning we slept in pretty late, and we were both okay with that.  We don't get to do that too often.  Then it was another nice run (nice, minus the humidity) and another smoothie, before showering and setting off for the days adventures... which, again, were a little up in the air. 

 We looked at a map and decided to drive around to a few smaller towns not too far away...kind of in a loop north of San Antonio.  First stop was Boerne.  We hopped off the interstate and turned around to go back and look at a little shop I saw on the side of the road...which turned out to be nothing more than a nursery.  Fail.
Then I saw another sign that looked like some cool caves or something.  Matt was on the phone, but I told him not to worry.  I knew what we were doing.  But by the time he got off, I was already wondering if I was lost in the middle of nowhere Texas, haha. 

We eventually ended up at the Cascade Caverns outside of Boerne.  And, again...fail.  The place was a complete dump, and the next tour wasn't for an hour anyways.  Nice little pit-stop for a bathroom, I guess...but nothing else there.

So we drove on to Comfort...and there wasn't anything of interest to do or see there besides some National Monument.  Kept on driving...not sure of what we were going to get ourselves in to!  I kind of enjoyed it though.  The Texas countryside is pretty!

The only thing picture worthy in Comfort, TX

We continued on to Fredericksburg, and after a small melt-down about where we were going to eat lunch, we ended up at the coolest little French restaurant underneath an old furniture store (thank you, iPhone apps). 

You really kind of felt like you were in France or something!  The street up above was hot and crowded with people, so the cool (I mean temperature wise, this time) place with two other people in it was perfect.

I had some sort of fancy/weird salad and Matt had a delicious sandwich.  The dessert we ordered looked amazing, but really wasn't.  Either way, we had a great experience there.

We hit a couple of shops along the street.  I found some old (from the late 80's) Topps baseball cards that I had to get for my brother.  I remember him always being excited for those back in the day!

Tony tricked Brody in to actually eating the gum inside these packs of cards. :(

With some time to kill still, we decided to head on towards Johnson City to the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.  Apparently it is normally just fields of beautiful flowers, but due to the drought last year, there wasn't a flower in sight. 

No worries, though.  We walked around anyways, and found a "living history farm" which included a big, fat momma pig feeding her cute little babies that totally made the trip worth it!  (YouTube link here.) 

We continued on our road trip, with another pit-stop to chase some goats...who ran from us, haha.

Trying to get the goats to come back...

Texas blue bonnets and our car on the side of the highway (where we were chasing goats)

Our last stop for the day was Blanco, Texas.  Before we even got to the cute little town, we stopped at the river for some pictures.  It was beautiful -- as was the whole drive down the hilly, windy two late country road!

Blanco is  tiny little town with a cute little town center square with shops and restaurants all around it.  Of course we bought some lavender products, which were made right there in Blanco!  Apparently lavender grows there.  Who knew!?  (And I'm ashamed to admit that I can't find out picture of the little town square or the cute shops we bought stuff at!)
It was late afternoon by that point, so we decided to head it back to San Antonio.  I changed shirts and slapped on one of my new headbands from Gruene the day before, and we went to dinner.  It was time for some good Mexican food, and Los Barrios had just that!

It used to be an old Dairy Queen, and they just kept expanding it to the huge restaurant that it is now.  We all had something different, and they were all equally delicious.  The owner, who is some famous chef (Chef Diana Barrios-Trevino) came over and talked to us, and even complimented me on my headband! 

After dinner, we all piled in Mimi's bed and watched Despicable Me.  Yes, the Disney movie.  It was a cute movie.  Well, what I saw of it anyways.  I might of fallen asleep towards the end... :)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sunday morning we didn't quite get up early enough for another run.  The 'easter bunny' came, of course, and dropped off some presents on the ledge outside our door. 

We each got chocolate bunnies, I got a really cool toothbrush holder for my spare bathroom (she got me another piece for Christmas) and Matt got some coffee.  Oh and Willow of Cricket got dog bones, of course. But THIS year, the easter bunny came for Mimi, too!  We put down cascarones (colored easter eggs filled with confetti) from the front porch leading to where we had hid per present:  an Easter lilly and some lavendar hand some from Blanco. (And Kelly, her cat, got some more treats for his buffet...)

We went to Easter Sunday mass at the same place we did last year, and got there plenty early to have a good seat.  There were almost too many kids screaming to get much out of it, but the message by the priest was a good one.  And then they sang this cool Spanish song, Resucito, with like a full on mariachi band up in the choir, haha.  It was so cool!

After mass we went to lunch at Corner Bakery Cafe in the Quarry (shopping area).  It was DE-licious.  I had steel cut oatmeal with banans in it.  I don't remember what everyone else had, but they loved it, too.  A good pick by Mimi!

Our flight home was early afternoon, so we didn't have much time back at the house.  We just got packed up (Mimi packed treats for us) and chatted for a little bit before heading back to drop off the rental car and get to the airport. 

Mimi packing up snacks for us 

            Another new headband (gassing up the rental car)

Our flight was on time to Dallas, where we had Subway for dinner, but delayed about an hour from there back to KC.   

Matt's brother and roomate picked us up, while complaining the whole time about missing Easter dessert to come get us. We got back around 7:30...which was a big upgrade from our usual midnight arrival!  Nice to get home and actually have time to relax and unpack. :)

It was another awesome weekend trip together, and even though we didn't get to spend Easter with our immediate families (I took some heat for that one), we still got to celebrate with the coolest Aunt Mimi !

~~~~  Speaking of immediate family...

...is there a cuter Easter Bunny around??

Easter in San Antonio

Remember when it was Easter weekend?  Like three weeks ago?  So I'm a little behind.  April is a busy month at work for me - what can I say!?

Here's the quick(ish) version of our long weekend in San Antonio:

We left work early on Thursday and got a ride to the airport with Matt's brother.

The store outside the terminals didn't have my strawberry licorice (it's now a requirement before I fly, haha) and I was NOT happy about it.  I opted for pomegranate blueberry, which was "edible" at best.  Once we got inside, of course we found strawberry.  $4 wasted.  And I am tight with my money!  Needless to say, Matt bought the rest of the snacks. :)

       

PASS                                                    Now, that's what I'm talking about!

After a quick stop in Dallas for some not-so-healthy nachos and tacos, we landed in warm San Antonio around 9:30pm.  Hopped the shuttle bus to the car rental place, and to our surprise, they were out of "economy" cars - I always get the cheapest/smallest one - so we got to pick any car we wanted!  Ended up with a sweet little ...I don't even remember, but it was a lot like a Hyundai Sonata.

Asleep on the plane...of course.                                                              Airport dinner!

Before going to Aunt Mimi's, we stopped at the local HEB (grocery store) to get some stuff for smoothies in the morning.  I've been on a fruit smoothie kick every morning, and didn't want to go without this weekend.

Our sweet ride...in front of the HEB grocery store.

Of course Mimi was up waiting for us - watching Walking Dead, I believe.  First things first...she warned us to watch out for the kitty food smorgasbord she had laid out for her cat, Kelly, on the mat in front of the kitchen sink.  Talk about one spoiled cat.  (And for the record, Matt and I each stepped on it no less than three times each.)

Seriously? 

We stayed up chatting for an hour or two, and when we got ready for bed, Mimi gave us the "I know you are adults..." speech and actually let us sleep in the same bed!  That was nice, because neither one of us wanted the not-so-comfy couch this trip. (Matt got stuck on it last time.)

(Mimi watches Netflix on her iPad in the kitchen.  Who needs cable??)

We slept great and slept IN.  Didn't get up until after 9 and went for a little run in the San Antonio humidity.  Made our breakfast shakes, Matt had his coffee, showered, and we were off for the days adventures...which were yet to be determined, haha.  (Oh, and sweet Mimi had a basket full of snacks set out for us to take with us.  Of course.  She's just the best!)

We set out with a couple of options.  First stop was the underground caverns.  By the time we got there, the line was out the door and the tours were sold out for the next couple of hours.  Not happening.  (That's what we get for trying to do something on Good Friday without reservations I guess.) 

So we walked around the area for a little bit, and had the brilliant idea of sneaking in to the cavern behind one of the tours.  Ha.  Yea, right.  We actually thought it was going to work, but when we got down to the gate just after the tour guide went in...it was locked.  Of course.  Dang it!  No free caves for us... So we left.

The tour we thought we would just "tag along with"

Why did they have to lock that gate behind them?? ;)

Next stop was Gruene, Texas.  But before we made it to the tiny little country music town, we stopped on the side of the little country  road to feed some donkeys. :)

Back to Gruene...  It's a cute little (I mean LITTLE) town on the river.  It's known for it's town hall, where George Strait got his start, the dancing scene in Hope Floats was filmed, etc.  Besides that, there were a couple of restaurants and shops along Main Street, and that was about it.  There was live music going on in the town hall that we had just missed.  What if it was the next George Strait??

Per Mimi's recommendation, we ate lunch at The Gristmill and asked for a table outside along the water.  It was one of the cooler restaurants I've been to.  The set up was just awesome, with little wooden tables built right in to the trees outside.  I loved it...AND the food.  We ordered the "2nd best chicken friend steak in the state of Texas."  I would die if I tried the #1, because this one was DELICIOUS.  Seriously. 

After lunch, we walked around the tiny town, went in some shops, and somehow managed to drop $160 in two stores.  T-shirts, headbands, gifts for the kids...  It goes fast!

(Another ornament for our Christmas tree!)                                                                   

We continued our Texas road trip, driving farther north to the outlet malls between San Antonio and Austin.  Neither one of us were looking for anything in particular, but we thought it would be fun.  Surprisingly, Matt was the one who dropped some money this time!  Board shorts from Hurley and a not-so-cheap Spurs jacket at a sports store. 

**Random story about shopping for the jacket:  When we first walked in, Matt spotted a Spurs jacket and walked over to it.  "Ooh, I like this one!"  It had a giant "WOMEN'S" sign above the rack, so I thought he was maybe talking about for me.  He reached for a medium (also my size) ... and then tried to fit in to it.  I was DYING as he said, "Hmmm, it's a little tight!"  and couldn't get it over his shoulders.  When I said it was a womens, he got SO MAD.  Like, really mad and super embarrassed.  I just thought it was hilarious.  Apparently it was completely humiliating to him, haha.

    

We had kind of lost track of time by that point, and realized we were over an hour away from San Antonio...and it was 5 o'clock.  Rush hour traffic between Austin and San Antonio sucks, let me tell you. 

It took us a little longer to get back home than we had planned for.  Mimi had pb&j stuff out for us, so we quickly ate that, changed in to our Spurs gear, and headed down to the AT&T Center for the Spurs vs Clippers game!

Our seats were decent, I think.  Not the best, but I'm sure they would have been fine...if we ever actually went to them.   We got to the arena early and wanted to sneak down closer to the court to see the players warm up.  After a little bit of smooth-talking with the ticket gal, she agreed to let us go down for a couple of pictures, but told us to come back up.  HA!  Yea, right, lady. 

Right next to his favorite player, Tony Parker!!

We stood in the very front row until got kicked out.  But that didn't stop us.  We only moved back 5 rows to sit next to an older man and his son we had made friends with during the pre-game action.  The plan was to just to enjoy it while we could and stay until the people came. 

After nervously looking at every person who walked down the stairs in that section (right behind the Spurs bench)...by half-time, the two seats we were in were the ONLY two seats left open in that section.  No joke.  How we pulled that one off, I'll never know.  But it was SO much more exciting to be that close to the players.  Who are all complete giants, by the way.  I don't think you can really appreciate who huge and athletic they are until you're that close. 

And to top it all off, the game was awesome.  Close the whole time, and Spurs won on a last second shot by Tim Duncan (my favorite player).  I actually recorded the whole thing.  (YouTube link here.)  Oh it was all just SO exciting, but more than anything, I was just beyond happy that Matt got to sit that close and see such an awesome game.  He was on clound 9...  :)

After the game, we went back to Mimi's and hung out and talked until after midnight again.  She's just so fun to hang out with!  We both agreed we would rather spend time with her than go out on the RiverWalk or anything else.  So that's just what we did...

(Saturday and Sunday in next post...)