The Pinata That Wouldn't Die

Let me begin by telling you about the Fiesta Flambeau Parade last night (saturday night). Mark signed us up to volunteer as ushers at the seats that Temple Beth-El sells. I thought that maybe the temple has 30 or 50 seats. Oh No. We have about 1000 seats. The job of ushering was actually really easy and the parade itself was alot of fun. Neither of us has ever been to the Flambeau in all our years living here.

About 60 seconds after the final float went by, it started to rain. Just a light drizzle at first but then it got pretty heavy. Just our luck, we left the umbrellas in the car which was actually only 2 blocks away since we had a free parking pass (I will tell you why NOT to park so close in a minute), but by the time I ran to the car I was soaking wet. As soon as I got back to where Mark was, it stopped raining. So there we are, soaking wet at 10pm on a Saturday night and I find out that WE have to help fold up the chairs and stack them up. Did I mention there are 1000 chairs??

So, the chairs get stacked up and we make it back to the car at about 10:45pm. There is complete gridlock on the streets around the parade route. Not one single car left the parking lot until 11pm and we didn't make it home until after midnight. I'm not really complaining because we WERE doing a mitzvah by volunteering for the temple, but I usually go to bed at 10 and i'm not used to being up so late, especially after working all day at the salon.

Flash forward to today (Sunday).

We bought a pinata because, since he grew up in Hawaii, Mark never had one at any of his birthday parties. We invited the little girls next door to come over and hit the pinata with us. I think we invited them mainly so we wouldn't look so absurd to passing motorists. Two grown men hitting a pinata.

We filled the Pinata with candy and jars of Play-Doh and took turns hitting it.

This pinata must have been built to withstand a wrecking ball because it just wouldn't break open.

FINALLY we broke it open and the girls had a great time. So did Mark. Here's some video =)




I hope everyone is doing great.

Happy Fiesta!

It's Fiesta time again in San Antonio. We decorated the outside of the house with festive colors, but we don't have any specific plans to attend any of the official events. We had planned to go to the Fiesta Arts Fair today but it's drizzly outside so we decided against it.

I like to watch birds so I put up a new bird feeder in the front yard. The one in the back gets alot of sparrows and doves but the one in front is drawing a family of Cardinals and some pretty little finches. I can't identify them but they're still pretty =). I put up a picture of the mama Cardinal.

Aretha Franklin

Tonight we saw Aretha Franklin in concert at the Majestic Theater.

It was clear to me and Mark that she has some health problems which probably stem from all the weight she's put on. She played a song on the piano and the look on her face was one of pure relief when she got to sit down. She also kicked off her heels half way through the concert and performed bare foot. Over all, she was excellent and I feel fortunate for getting to see her live.

Visiting Dogs

We are baby sitting Darren's dogs for 2 weeks and it's not going as smoothly as I was hoping. Sally is doing great with the exception of some barking and alot of puppy-like behavior like persistent jumping, but Dakota is not too fond of my dogs. I don't think she would ever bite them but she likes to chase them around and bark at them. She especially isn't fond of little Jake. He has spent alot of time hiding behind the furniture when Dakota is out. Luckily we have a gated area where they spend some time and they sleep in there too.

As a whole, they are doing ok, but this experiment has shown us that our house is WAY too small for 5 dogs.

First Night of Passover

Tonight we went to the first Seder at Jody and Jack's house. We had a great time. The Seder was short and the food was tasty.... just the way I like it!!!!

The guests were me and Mark, mom and dad, Jack and Jody, Joan and Al, Terri and her husband and her kids Jana and Jordan, Aunt Anita, Lisa and Paul and James. And Blue the dog.

Here are a few pictures

Darren and Nicole's Dogs Go On Vacation

Darren and Nicole's dogs, Sally and Dakota, have decided to vacation in San Antonio this year. They wanted to come stay with us and Darren and Nicole said it was ok. They are going to stay with us for 15 days. We are sure they will have fun romping around in our back yard with their dog cousins.

So far they are all getting along pretty good. There have been a few growls but I'm sure after a few days they'll all be good friends.

Here is some video of them getting to know each other. I'll be putting more video up as the weeks go on.