San Antonio - Feb/Mar 05

February was a family filled fun fest! (Okay corny, we know, but we have to make it fresh, right?) First was John’s sister, Kim and her husband, Marty coming down from Kearney, NE to visit us. Next, John had to go to St. Louis on business and got a chance to stay for Ava Blum’s (Sandie’s niece) first birthday party. Then, to wrap up the month, the Blums came down from STL, to SA, to pay us a visit. It was a ton of fun, having family and friends visit is the best!

Kim and Marty were in Austin for a jewelry convention. They just opened their own jewelry store in Kearney called Carr Fine Jewelry and Gifts, it sounds like a fantastic store, and we can’t wait to get to Kearney and see it for ourselves. Fortunately for us, they were able to extend their trip to Texas for a few days to stay with us in SA. During their time here we did all the mandatory SA tourist stops, extraordinary Mexican restaurants, the Alamo, and the Riverwalk. We also took in a few additional stops, such as the Rivercenter Comedy Club (a blast!) and we caught Hitch in the theaters. Kim and Marty wanted to make their trip extra memorable by helping John surprise Sandie by installing a new kitchen sink while she was at work. By her reaction, you would have thought we redid the entire kitchen, it was really cool!

A couple of weeks later Sandie’s brother Ryan, his wife Jen, and their two daughters, Sophie and Ava drove their new Honda Odyssey down to SA. We took in all the same mandatory SA tourist stops but we were able to add Sea World. We had so much fun at Sea World that we decided to buy season passes so that we can go all season long. If any of you come and visit this summer we’ll probably try to push you that way. J Of course, the highlight of Sea World is their star Shamu (or as Sophie called him, “Shampoo”). John decided that the “Shamu Experience” wouldn’t be complete without sitting in the “splash zone” (the first 10-15 rows). On retrospect, it might of not been a good idea to have a 1- and 3-year-old sitting in the direct line-of-fire of a Killer Whale. Oh well, it was fun (and wet). J

If any of you are trying to figure out your 2005 vacation plans, we’ve always got space for friends and family… and it’s just a short 900 miles from Nebraska! J

We hope you are all doing great. Please drop us a line when you get a chance: johnandsandie@satx.rr.com.

All our best,

John & Sandie

(& Einstein too!)