Shrimp!!!

Jason took me to a little shrimp place called 'Sea Island Shrimp'.
The atmosphere is casual and you pick out what table you would like to sit at(there are indoor and outside patio area with a play ground for kids).


I ordered the 'shrimp Feast' which has 20 shrimp on the plate!!! WOW.
There are the usual jumbo coconut shrimp(very delicious) and then some that are breaded, glazed and fried. Much of the meal is fried foods, but I still highly recommend it :)

Really good food, good value and fun atmosphere with lots of condiment choices from malt vinegar to lemon pepper to hot sauces and more!


LOOK AT ALL THE SHRIMP!!!

Our second restaurant pick in TX

J and I decided to try the seafood chain, Joe's Crab Shack. From the outside, the building was very festive and had a great ocean vibe to it, the music was fun, but a little loud, this could have been due to us sitting outside in the patio area.

Sadly, we were both disappointed with our meals. I had crab stuffed shrimp, the crab cakes were good, but the shrimp was overdone, the rice had a good flavor, but was also very dry and my food in general was rather cold. The portions were also rather skimpy(most of one side was some vegetables spread out across the plate) and I was surprised that there were no breadsticks/rolls/salad or other such 'pre-snacks' to the meal.


I have to say that I FAR prefer Red Lobster and Olive garden comparatively, for taste and value, I probably would not recommend this chain.

I'll let J fill you in on his meal...

Here we are happily smiling before our meal, at least the weather was lovely.

Our Adventurous Walk

All curled up in the bush...

Jason and had an adventurous walk yesterday evening.

We were walking on the sidewalk when all of a sudden I nearly jumped on top of Jason, away from the inner part of the sidewalk.
There around waist height, was a rattlesnake all curled up in a bush, right NEXT to the sidewalk.
Here are some of the pictures I took, and PS Mom, don't worry, I used zoom, so I was at a relatively safe distance.

This one was taken on the way back, you can tell it is slightly darker out, and the snake stuck it's head out to say "hello."

***PS. This is Jason's first week, so please keep him in your prayers as he gets use to this new company, pray that he will have favor in the eyes of those he works with and be able to apply his knowledge and skills as he works hard and learns new things.

***Please also pray for me as I start searching for jobs, that God would direct my search.

and there is a pool!!!

I am very excited about the pool and spa that are right next to our place...
I'm going to enjoy the nice TX weather! :)
but here are some pictures of the pool area...

Texas Pictures...

The process of moving from IL to TX...

PACKING...
Everything from Camping gear, to clothes, to cleaning supplies and more!!


18 hours of DRIVING...

Here is Jason waving from our VERY tightly packed cars, right before we headed out.

Here I am in the Honda, just fitting in between all our stuff and my abundant bag of goodies for the road and a whole flask of coffee in case I get tired. I'm wearing the hoody and jacket, since it was chilly that morning.

Here is a picture that I took, you can see the sun is setting and there is the Oldsmobile, Jason was the leader and I followed in the Honda- that was our little 'convoy'.


ARRIVING...

Texas housing....

We were originally located on the second floor, but switched with a couple who really wanted to be on the top floor. It's really nice, with wood floors and more space than we are used to...

Me at our door...

Jason in our living room...

Me, snacking on leftover Funyuns from the road trip...

Jason in the office area where we have our computer, camping and art.

My art corner :)

Dining on Concrete

I know that this is out of order, we haven't even posted from just getting/being here in San Antonio yet, but Chantal's on the phone, and I wanted to do this now.

So, I'm going to do a mini-series about the places we're going to dine at while we're here in Texas. I'm blatantly copying Alton Brown and his show "Feasting on Asphalt." I'm a bit of an A.B. junkie/wanna-be. We won't be exploring the country quite like A.B., and we won't be as dedicated to traveling only on the side roads, and we certainly don't have motorcycles. Hence, "concrete" (as is more common on interstates) and not "asphalt." Anyway, here goes...

We went to a place called "El Jalisco Grill" this evening. It's a Mexican restaurant a little off the beaten path from the main commercialized area off I-10 at De Zavala Road. It wasn't too expensive and it was far more empty than what the cuisine deserved. There are a number of remarkable features that we liked about the place.

The menu was in Spanish first and then English, cool. Each item had a picture behind it, which is nice if you want to order something you've never heard of before. Chantal had some sort of really spicy shrimp dish, and it was more spicy than she really wanted. I had the barbacoa, which was outstanding. Even Chantal, who doesn't like barbacoa that much, liked it. It wasn't very flavorful in itself, but it came with many other things that made flavor in the meat less necessary.

The refried beans were probably the best I've ever had. They had a smoky flavor to them that enhanced the barbecue dish flavor. The other thing that made the dish outstanding was that I got a pile of fresh chopped cilantro. I've never had that anywhere else before.

The salsa with the chips was really good as well and also had a nice barbecue flavor to it. The chips also came with nacho cheese, another first for Mexican restaurants in my experience.

All in all, I highly recommend it.

We forgot the camera, but here's a business card to the right.

Seeing Friends and Family...

Hello Everyone,
We have had a couple VERY busy weeks and weekends, not only seeing lots of people, but also finishing up our semesters and getting ready to move down to TX for the summer.

We had such fun seeing friends...
Here is Raquel and Matt (and in the tummy is the new addition that will arrive this summer :)


And we also got to celebrate the soon to be arrival of Jordon and Nikki's baby...(Nikki is on the left and Suzanne is on my right)...


Also, we had a treat when Phil and Mary Lou were in the area and we all got to go out for BBQ and ice cream and great conversation...


And we also got to see Pa and Ma and they both got early Father's/ Mother's day gifts from us...
Lots has been happening, a new tub was put in and the deck is being re-done as well...more of those pictures will follow soon.


Tomorrow we also get to see Dad and Mom(Haas) as they will stop by on the way back from their 'vaca' in Georgia! Yea :)