March 2019 - Birthdays, soccer, San Antonio and some more winter fun
Birthdays
March is a month full of birthdays, which makes me conclude that June must be a really entertaining month 😏It started with the birthday of Geert on the 2nd of March.
We haven't been able to celebrate all these birthdays of course, but we did for Simone and Anouchka.
Simone's, because there was a breakfast get-together planned on that day with the spouses.
And Anoucka's, because it was her 30th birthday and that was something we couldn't let go by without a proper celebration!
We celebrated it the same day as Belgium played ⚽️ against Cyprus. So we invited all the Belgian families to our place to watch the game together, and afterwards some friends came marching in to surprise her.
Soccer
Hendrik also had his first games for the High School soccer team this month.
The competition for the soccer clubs will only start in April. As Hendrik will be playing for the High School Team, he will no longer be allowed to play for his club. And Willem will not be playing for the club neither ... because he doesn't want to play soccer anymore 🙄 ... puberty kicking in??
But they both did the referee training a few months ago and they got their uniforms this month, so this season they will be on the other side of the sidelines!
San Antonio
Geert left on Sunday morning, and I joined him on Wednesday evening. We stayed until Saturday noon. It was great in every way! San Antonio is gorgeous, we had a great AirBnB, the weather was awesome (which is really not normal for when we go on a trip 😏), and we could enjoy all of this with just the 2 of us!
We stayed one night in the hotel where Geert had been for the meeting, but the 2 other nights we stayed in this charming little hotel: 'Inn on the Riverwalk'.
walking to our hotel ... the blue house on the right
@ the porch of our hotel
the 'Travis' room (Travis was a commander of the Texan troops at The Alamo)
breakfast at the patio 😍
our hotel @ night
San Antonio has a rich colonial heritage and contains 5 18th century Spanish frontier missions, including the famous 'The Alamo' where a pivotal battle took place in the Texas revolution in 1836 ... 'Remember the Alamo!', remember?😏. If not, look it up! The Alamo is located in the heart of San Antonio, while the other missions are spread out South of downtown on an 8 mile strech along the San Antonio River. There's a public bus that stops at every mission, but you can also rent a bike and take the enjoyable River Walk bike path along the river to visit them all, as we did because the weather was gorgeous.
The River walk bike path
The Alamo
In the garden, behind 'The Alamo'
'Concepcion', the 2nd mission
On our way to the 3d mission
Mission 'San Jose', the 3d mission
Mission 'San Juan', the 4th mission
Mission 'Espada', the 5th and last mission
Now about those sidewalk cafes ... San Antonio is famous for its 'River Walk', which is like an urban park and a network of walkways along the banks of the San Antonio river, one story below the streets of San Antonio, and it's full of sidewalk cafes and restaurants! And as the weather was absolutely gorgeous -did I already mention that?😆- we really were able to enjoy it to the fullest!
The Historic Market Square, is also definitely worth a visit. It is the largest Mexican market in the US and advertised as a place where you can enjoy the sights and flavours of old Mexico. It sure is a colourful place with a fun vibe, but I wouldn't say it feels authentic 😏.
The 1st evening we had dinner with the Belgian team in 'Acenar Mexican Restaurant'. Although it only has 3,5 review stars on Yelp (we tend to go only for 4 star review places, but this one had a nice terrace on the banks of the river ánd it could accommodate a big group), the food was really ok, and the outside patio was lovely!
Guess who are the pilots in the group? 😜
We ended that evening at the piano bar 'Howl at the Moon'. A great place to hang out, have a drink, listen to live music and dance.
The 2nd night we had dinner with what was left of the Norwegian team @ 'Little Rhein Steak House'. It's also located on the banks of the river, and has an even more lovely terrace than the previous one, and the food was absolutely delicious ... but you'll feel it in your wallet 😳.
Our last evening we had dinner with just the 2 of us @ 'Fogo de Chão Brazilian', an authentic Brazilian steakhouse where you are served by meat carvers who cut slices of different types of meat on your plate from huge skewers ... as long and as much as you want. I guess it's heaven for meat lovers, but I wasn't blown away by this hype. It's also very expensive if you're not a big eater.
On Saturday we were reunited with our boys, who apparently loved their time alone and were asking us already when we would leave again on another trip without them!? 🙄
Winter fun
March is definitely still a month to have some winter fun in Utah. Of course we did some skiing, and on Sunday before 'Mardi Gras' we even did that in 'Mardi Gras' style while we 'tailgated' with the Gates family who have some college roots in New Orleans. For the non-Americans, I guess this needs some explanation, right?
First of all, 'Mardi Gras' (in Flemish this means 'Vette Dinsdag', but we know it as 'Vastenavond', the day before 'Ash wednesday') is a big thing in New Orleans. For days there are big parades which you can compare with our carnaval parades. Colourful plastic beads are thrown into the crowd. Women are known to flash their tits to get more beads, and although this is forbidden now in many places in the city, in the French quarter this tradition still holds 😏. So 'Mardi Gras' style means being dressed with those colourful beads.
And 'Tailgating' is a typical American pre-sport game event, where people have a BBQ on and around the tailgate of their car ... they're considered essential for the game day experience! So you grill some hotdogs or hamburgers on the parking lot and have a some beers together with you friends before the game starts. It's also done on the parking lots of non-sporting events, and ... ski resorts 😉.
'Mardi Gras' style ... no, I did not show my tits to get those! 😅
During the weekend I go skiing with Geert and the boys, and we often join up with friends. During the week I try to go skiing at least once with some of the spouses or by myself.
At the end of March, it's starting to get a bit warmer, which is great, because then you can enjoy the patio's of the lodges in Snowbasin and when you come back to the valley, it already feels like a Belgian summer 😏 sometimes.
I also went ice skating one day as an activity for the Energy Club which I lead for the American spouses. A lot of fun, but also pretty painful as I tested out the hardness of the ice with the back of my head 🤕.
And then we checked out how it really needs to be done! We went to see an Olympic speed skating race in Salt Lake City where plenty of world records have been broken, and a Utah Grizzlies hockey game. It's a pretty entertaining sport, partly thanks to the fights that take place throughout the game!
@ the Olympic speed skating race
@ the Grizzlies game
And of course I had my monthly recurring activities, like the book club and Bunco (popular dice game here in the States) with the American spouses, and coffee with the international Spouses.
@ Bunco, with me wearing the Bunco hat
@ the Book club
Coffee time @ Kneaders
For people back home who are wondering if I'm not bored yet without my job .... what do you think? 😝
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