The Trip to South Dakota Oct. '09

So ~M~ and I were off to another adventure.  This time we were headed up to South Dakota to vist ~N~ at Ellsworth AFB.  Now ~N~ knew I was coming up but he did not know that I was flying up ~M~ and he certainly did not know that ~H~ was also joining us.  Fun time and surprises were definitely on the agenda!  More on that later.

I find different things interesting.  I say different because it seems that not everyone shares my interest in the everyday stuff that I notice.  For example, after arriving at the airport VERY early (and a super big thank you to my folks for getting up early and driving us) we went to Burger King to get something for breakfast.  I noticed this on the bag:

Well obviously I needed to check the bottom of the bag to see if the #12 was truly there.

It was so all was well in my world.  Please note the disgusting grease spots on the bag.  Our food was greasy but good. 

So here we are ready to go at 5:45am. 

And you will notice I am wearing my AF Parent Pin.  I've worn it every day since ~N~ gave it to me.  :)   Now we actually boarded at the correct time but ended up sitting on the tarmac for about an hour.  Apparently the torrential rains that Dallas had experienced during the night and in the early morning before our flight got an instrument on the plane wet.  Now seriously, how does that happen?  Are the planes not weather resistant?  What if we're flying and it rains on the plane and it gets wet again?  I would not fill my mind with those troubling thoughts as we were off into the wild blue yonder psyching ourselves up for an awesome adventure.

We flew in to Denver where we were meeting ~H~.  He wasn't arriving for about about an hour so we wandered around and headed to the gate to meet ~H~.  Inside the Denver airport there are moving sidewalks.  As Jim Gaffigan would say the moving sidewalk is the cousin of the escalator. 

We also saw the airport post office and some mailboxes.  There really isn't much else to see while waiting for the rest of your party to arrive.

Here's a pic of the plane that would take all of us to see ~N~. 

Unlike the DFW airport, in Denver you actually leave the terminal and walk to the plane.  It's a little different but kind of cute.  Here's a pic of the Denver airport.  They show this on a lot of their postcards.   

Once we were on the plane we were instructed to follow along with the safety instructions which were conveniently located in the seat pocket in front of us.  I was so proud of ~M~ for actually listening and following the instructions!  Way to go honey!!  :)

As you may notice he's also holding the barf bag in his left hand.  I'm not sure why but maybe just in case....?

And last but not least while perusing the wonderful magazine that I also found in the seat pocket in front of me I noticed this lovely gift item.

If I had a garden I would definitely get it.  I might even plant a garden just for the excuse to buy it!  Now that's a thought.

To be continued...

The Reverse Surprise...

Now it was time to turn the tables on ~N~.  We chose what we call "The Reverse Surprise" to happen on Saturday April 25th.  The plan was to have lunch with ~N~ in Wichita Falls and bring along my Mom and Dad as a surprise.  Here's how it happened...

I had talked with ~N~ earlier that week and we agreed I would drive up and have lunch with him and then I would return home and he would stay on base.  ~N~ really likes tamales and my Mom's fudge so I planned to bring those along with me and surprise him.

Since my Mom and Dad were coming along I borrowed ~M~'s car since it was roomier.  I picked up the tamales from my favorite store, picked up Mom and Dad with her fudge in tow and off we went to Sheppard AFB. 

We arrived without any trouble and I dropped my folks off at the corner near the bus stop.  We had a plan in mind and I hoped it would work and ~N~ would be surprised. 

~N~ called and said he was nearing the gate and I signaled Mom and Dad and the surprise was underway.  I pulled around and picked up ~N~.  After the usual greeting I told him I had a surprise.  I motioned toward the small cooler I had brought along and told ~N~ that it contained tamales and hot sauce.  He was excited.  I told them that unfortunately I wasn't able to get any fudge from Gramma since she didn't have time to make any.  He said that it was okay and he was excited about the tamales.

As we were talking we were nearing the corner and I said, "Hey!  Those two people are selling fudge!" and pointed to my parents who were standing on the corner with my Mom holding a sign that said, "FUDGE 4 SALE".

 

So just imagine my Mom holding this sign standing next to my Dad while ~N~ was being surprised!  Fun family times!

And so "The Reverse Surprise" was considered a success. 

A story of two surprises...

(The following event occurred the weekend of April 11th, 2009) 

Earlier this year my son surprised my Mom.  Now it took a little coordinating to pull it off but we did it and here's the story. 

~N~ was stationed at Sheppard AFB in Wichita Falls, Tx.  He was at the point during his time in tech school where he was allowed to travel a certain distance off base.  He had submitted to leave the base for the weekend and we made plans for me to pick him up at the gate after I got off of work on Saturday. 

My parents called ~N~ during the week and asked if he wanted them to come up and go to lunch with him.  ~N~ said no that he was going to be on call and wouldn't be able to make it.  My parents were disappointed but understood and ~N~ just hoped that nothing went wrong with our plans.  He would hate to miss out on a chance to spend time with Gramma and Papa especially since we weren't 100% sure our plan was going to work.  

Saturday came and I was went to work.  We had already received confirmation that ~N~ was going to be able to come home.  Yea!!  As soon as I could after we closed, I headed out to go and pick up ~N~.  It's a 2 1/2 hour drive to go and get him and so off I went zipping along the highways to go and get my boy. 

My Dad knew that ~N~ was coming so the next morning he and my Mom went to church just as they normally do every Sunday.  My Mom was sitting where she usually sat but she noticed my Dad was standing nearer to the entryway.  Little did she know that he was standing as a lookout waiting for me to drop off ~N~.

I dropped ~N~ off at the pre-determined time and he headed into the church.  ~N~ had brought along some of my Mom's favorite soft peppermints and he walked up behind her with the bag of mints in hand.  He placed the bag against her arm and said, "Ma'am I believe you dropped these."  My Mom, being my Mom, took the bag without looking to see who had handed it to her and said, "Thank you."  Keep in mind my Mom did not bring any mints to church so there was no way she could have dropped any mints.  A couple of seconds pass and then my Mom looks up and sees ~N~ standing there.  "~N~!!!!!" my Mom exclaimed.  Needless to say Mom was very surprised!! 

Part 1 of the surprise had worked.

   

The rest of the family was already invited to come over and eat lunch at my parents house.  It was decided that ~N~ would just stay there and hide in one of the back rooms. 

One by one the rest of the family arrived and we arrived last.  As we gathered around the table my Mom said, "Okay, everyone bow your heads and close your eyes so we can pray" in a very loud voice.  I knew this was because she wanted to make sure ~N~ could hear us preparing to pray as that was his cue to come out but my Mom did not normally do that. 

Something to remember is that my parents' house is small.  In fact, ~N~ was probably less than 20 feet from where we were standing and I am quite confident that he could hear her.  The rest of the family looked at her because she was saying it so loudly but I knew that in just a few minutes everyone would understand why.

So we all bowed our heads and closed our eyes and were listening as my Dad began, "Dear Heavenly Father..." and then ~N~ walked into the living room and said, "Are y'all going to start without me?"  Everyone was completely surprised and very happy to see him!  We spent the rest of our time together that day laughing, eating and talking.  What a wonderful day spent with family. 

Part 2 of the surprise had worked. 

I took ~N~ back to the base and already had an idea for another surprise forming in my mind.  :) 

Aren't surprises fun?

A Relaxing Weekend in San Antonio Sept. '09

Here we are getting ready to head out early to visit one of our favorite cities, San Antonio, Tx.  It was still dark outside since we were leaving at 5:15 in the morning!

The trip there was pretty uneventful.  We arrived by mid-morning and stopped by the hotel to see if we could check in.  As usual we stayed in a Choice Hotel.  This time it was the Comfort Suites Alamo/Riverwalk and it was so nice!  It's a relatively new hotel and we loved everything about it.  Take a look at their picture gallery and you'll see what I'm talking about.  The General Manager, Mr. Vasquez, was so accommodating and made us really feel that he wanted to make sure we had a wonderful stay. 

Of course after unpacking we headed to the Riverwalk.  We always enjoy just walking up and down the Riverwalk taking in all the sights and sounds.  After walking around for a while we headed back to the hotel and had a quiet night relaxing.

 

I found out online that there was a Jazz festival going on so we headed that way to check it out.  ~M~ was already getting hungry so we stopped by one of the vendors to get a puffy taco.

After we ate our tacos we wandered over to one of the stages to listen to some of the bands that were playing.

It was fun listening to the music and watching all the people having a good time. 

 

We noticed a little guy that was so hungry!  He was really getting after this piece of bread.

Having had our fill of the fun at Travis Park we headed over to Historic Market Square.  There are shops located there but our main reason for going is so we can eat at Mi Tierra which is probably one of our favorite restaurants of all time!  The mariachi's and the margarita's are amazing!

The Historic Market Square was having a free music fest so we were able to listen to some groups and individuals doing their thing! 

It was a lot of fun just walking around and enjoying all the musicians.  We saw this one guy who had a pretty cool hat. 

We headed back to the hotel and just relaxed by the pool.  It was nice and quiet and we were pretty tired from all the walking we had done during the day.

The next morning we got up and enjoyed another fantastic full breakfast buffet at the hotel before getting ready to head home.

I need to learn how to airbrush out my double chin.  I think working out and eating less would be a better solution but in the meantime someone needs to teach me how!

Here's where we stopped and ate at on the way home.

I don't know if it was really that good or if we were just starving but either way I did notice a condiment on the table.  Does anyone know what this is or what you use it for?  Our waitress didn't even know.

On the way home we passed one of my odd and unusual things that I like to see.  It's in Italy, Tx and it's touted as being the World's Largest Caterpillar but it's actually the national home of Monolithic Dome Industries.

All in all it was another fun weekend with my hubby!  :)  I'm looking forward to many more!

Technorati Tags: Travel,Roadside America

Easy Italian Pasta Bake

Back in the end of September I tried out a super easy recipe.  It's another recipe from the Kraft website and it turned out wonderful.  I usually look for recipes that are fast, easy to make and turn out delicious.  This recipe was definitely all three!

Here's what you need:

1 lb lean ground beef

3 cups penne pasta, cooked, drained

1 jar (26 oz.) spaghetti sauce

1/3 c Parmesan cheese, divided

1 1/2 c Mozzarella cheese

And here's what you do:

1.  Heat oven to 375.  Brown meat in large skillet; drain.  Add pasta, sauce and 1/2 the Parmesan; mix well. 

2.  Spoon into13x9-inch dish and top with remaining cheeses.

3.  Bake for about 20 minutes or until heated through.

That's it!  It's that simple and it turns out delicious. 

Another thing that I really liked about this recipe is that since there are only two people eating dinner at my house there are usually leftovers and this was just as good the next day.  It reheated well and wasn't too dry.  Loved it! 

Let me know if you tried it and how it turned out for you.

~~ Enjoy! ~~

Technorati Tags: cooking,Kraft