new braunSfels

I am a little late in posting this, but better late than never, right? Two weekends ago we visited our family the wonderful town of New Braunfels, Texas. Sidenote: Tate hates when I, or anyone else for that matter, pronounces it with an extra "s". As I am writing this, we are literally having this convo on the phone...

T: What are you posting about?

D: New Braunfels 

T: What?

D: New Braunfels

T: New...what?

D: BRAUN-FELS. Did you really not know what I was saying?

T: Ok. Well, I thought you said New BraunSfels. 

It's like he's the sheriff or something. With that being said, I like to throw an "s" in the middle from time to time just for the heck of it.

We were happy to visit PaPa, Grandma, Aunt Roxi and Uncle Randy for the weekend. It also happened to be Grandma's birthday, so we were prepared to par-tay! We arrived in NB late Friday night and were welcomed by a PaPa fist pump as we drove into the driveway. Everyone had waited for us to get there before eating dinner. After tacos, we watched as Grandma opened birthday presents in the kitchen.

Saturday we woke up early to play golf at the Bandit. Last Christmas, PaPa and Grandma gave us  golfers in the family (Randy, Roxi, Tate and myself) gift cards for a round of golf each. We were a little late putting them to use, but exciting about our golf outing nonetheless. As we loaded our golf bags in the car Tate realized I left my golf shoes in Houston. Bummer! Silver Lining: I now had a reason to play horribly, which I did. On a more positive note, my BLT at the clubhouse was delish!

Tate and Uncle Randy have an ongoing tournament which they call the T and R Southern Shootout. It involves one trophy and a lot of trash talking. Each time they play golf together, the winner gets bragging rights plus the honor of housing the trophy until the next golf outing. It is serious. One time Uncle Randy won and Tate forgot to bring the trophy so I had to go to the post office, box it up and pay to have it shipped. Tate started the trash talk early Saturday morning, which backfired. On this particular weekend, Randy was crowned T and R Southern Shootout Champ and flaunted the trophy quite nicely.

Later that night we headed to the Gristmill for dinner. Yes! I had been craving chicken fried steak like mad. For those of you who haven't had the pleasure, the Gristmill is an old mill turned restaurant in the historic town of Gruene, Texas on the Guadalupe. Despite the heat and the skins in my mashed potatoes (which should be a sin), I was quite content overlooking the river with my sweet tea and chicken fried steak. 

After a great dinner, we went back to the house for Grandma's birthday cake and ice cream. Sometimes I forget how good Blue Bell vanilla ice cream is! Classic. I realize this is becoming an ode to Southern food, so I am going to stop here. We visited for a while then went to a movie. In efforts to keep Roxi on staff at her church, I won't tell you which movie, but surprisingly, it didn't Shmuck!

The next morning Tate woke up early for a very hilly run, and then we all went to church. By "all" I mean everyone but one person, but I won't name names because it was her birthday. After church we met over at Grandma and PaPa's for a homemade lunch then hit the road H-town bound.

It was a great visit! I am thankful for my new family and chicken fried steak. Next time we going to float the heck outta that river. Can't wait to go back for some more fun in New BraunSfels!