We have a very busy week so while Doug was at work today, Kaz & I carved pumpkins.
Kaz had some intense supervision from Ravel who is very particular about how people celebrate Black Cat Holiday.
As usual, I carved a cat pumpkin.
Carving
Done!
Halloween practice.
Kaz also carved the small pumpkin I grew in our garden this summer. I think it was a “baking pumpkin” but I am absolutely confident I have never baked a pumpkin pie from an actual pumpkin.
I thought before going back to work for an ugly long stretch of long days, I had better put up some more photos. Here is Kaz enjoying the Macho Burrito, the Saturday Special. Chuy’s on 281 serves up some fine fare. I may have called this the best Mexican (Texican) food of the trip.
Fun in the back yard at Steve and Liz’s
When Lauren smiles, she really means it!
Here is Kaz on the soccer pitch from many weeks ago. The season is now over. The team finished with a record of 3 almost wins and other losses.
During the weekend when we were at the house, this is where Kaz could be found surfing the internet, studying, and writing about “her best day”.
Here is the famous optical illusion on the San Antonio Riverwalk boat tour. When you emerge from under a bridge, this building looks like it a free-standing wall. Neat.
a ubiquitous cactus
Senor Sausage ('I’m never letting this nickname go)
The Japanese Garden near the zoo may not be very Japanese but it sure is a pretty refuge in the middle of the city. San Antonians know how to landscape.
Nice, hey? I’m making this one my desktop background.
There was a wedding taking place as we were leaving the garden.
Kaz liked the garden but she has really liked everything she has seen, done, or ate.
Rodeo
At the midway point of the rodeo the rodeo-meister called all of the kids out on to the field? pitch? dirt area? Here is Lauren running out there.
He had them warm up by rolling in the dirt and then he blew a whistle and had them try to wrangle three calves who could not be caught by running kids. It was hilarious!
Senor Sausage and the Sausagitas
Bergs
Shinohara
This is an add that we needed to photograph. “Monster Gun Raffle”. We must be in Texas! In Minnesota we have meat raffles.
At La Hacienda, Sue enjoyed the Margherita Trio.
We went to the Tejas Rodeo not far from Steve and Liz’s house. This was a really rodeo with calf wrangling, bull riding, little kid sheep riding (really) and synchronized horse riding. Before going in to the stadium, the three little girls took a turn on the mechanical bull. Note their pink cowgirl boots!
This is what Maddy always looks like. Later we’ll publish some photos from the other camera that might be more clear than this.
Lauren flashing her winning smile
In the stadium
We did a photo shoot on Sunday before the Packer game. This is Mike and Judy’s neighborhood “castle” entrance. complete with nice landscaping and a watch tower.
This is one of my favorite pictures. The girls just love Kaz!
We took a lot of pictures and hopefully ended up with a few keepers. This is not one of them.
Maddy is reaching for a cactus!
Monday was Kaz’s 18th birthday. Happy birthday Kaz. She got several Texas-themed shirts and a happy birthday performance by the waitresses at La Hacienda restaurant. We probably have a photo of that somewhere. . .
Yes, so we were in San Antonio for about five days visiting the Bergs, seeing the sights, and enjoying the beautiful weather. We’ll continue to post photos over the next several blog posts. On Thursday morning, Sue, Kaz, and I headed out to the Alamo for the obligatory trip to the number one tourist destination in all of San Antonio.
The Alamo never disappoints. Kaz got to pose with some native Texans dressed like it was 1836. She even got to hold a gun with a bayonet!
Then we walked the Riverwalk and had lunch at the classic Tex-Mex establishment with the colorful umbrellas. Kaz loved the food (maybe she loves all food?).
Yesterday was Kaz’s 18th birthday – more on that later. . .
After lunch we took the boat ride touring the Riverwalk and the extensions up to the mall and the convention center. It was a fun day roaming around downtown.
Here’s the Rio Rio from the water.
Later we met up with Mike and Judy and headed over to Steve and Liz’s. Here are the girls showing off some of their acrobatics.
Friday morning we strolled the neighborhood of the Mike and Judy before heading off to the Salt Lick, Sue’s number one, ichi-ban BBQ restaurant in the world.
Here is the smoke pit at The Salt Lick. I wore my T-shirt hoping they would toss a free sausage my way for my promotional efforts.
They said my T-shirt design was discontinued. I bought a coffee cup as a souvenir. Kaz ate the sausage and ribs plate and absolutely devoured it. Delicious – oishii! Mike ordered the senior sausage plate cementing his new nickname of Senor Sausage – Mr. Sausage.
The last time we went to the Salt Like we waited for 90 minutes for a table but this time we sat right down and bellied up to the cow. They did not have any turkey which was slightly disappointing.
Senor Sausage with his host grand-daughter and daughter in the Salt Lick gardens
It is always worth the drive almost all the way to Austin for this barbecue experience! On the way home we drove down I-35 so we could stop in at Buc-ee’s, the world’s largest gas station. Kaz bought omiyagi (candy souvenirs) for her school friends.
Bring your own:
1) Beer?
2) Booze?
3) Berg?
4) Brisket?
When we got back to the Berg House, the rest of the Bergs came over for a little play time. Lauren and Maddy played some soccer with Kaz and Judy’s help.
BYOBB: Bring Your Own Bella Berg
