Out in Hill Country for the day

So I've come to realize that there isn't a whole lot to do here in San Antonio. Well - maybe there is, but you need time, money and a babysitter. We seem to have the time thing covered - now that Jason is finished with his Internal Medicine Internship and a few months into his Anesthesiology residency, he actually has a lot of weekends off. I love Anesthesiology - it's great! So now that he's home more and has a more consistent schedule, we can start making plans for the weekend! Woohoo! The only things we're missing are money and a babysitter. We actually prefer to bring our little kiddie-poos along with us wherever we go, but it would be nice maybe once every month or two for Jason and I to go out alone. So let's see here...that just leaves the minor issue concerning money. Rrrrr... I hate money! I hate that it takes so much money to do even the littlest of things. Even little chunks of money spent here and there add up so quickly! It's ridiculous!
Anyways - now that we have a navigation system for the car (Jason's sister Rachel and I decided to "buy each other" one for our Christmas present to one another while we were in Virginia), we've become more adventurous with our driving excursions. Karen, our "guide", takes us wherever we want to go. I love her Australian accent! :) Karen and I have only argued once or twice so far. When she starts to get a little pushy, I calmly retort, "Shut up Karen, you don't know what you're talking about!" ;) Anyways, we decided a couple weekends ago to take a drive into the Hill Country (we keep hearing about how beautiful it is out there). It was pretty, but I don't think any of those people have ever been to Washington or Oregon. A little driving excursion shouldn't cost too much money-right? We'll see...

After 40 minutes or so of driving farther and farther away from civilization, we started following signs to a restaurant by a lake called The Oasis. We finally found it after a couple of u-turns and went in for lunch. We chose to sit out on the deck close to the water, so we could soak in all of the scenery (blue sky, glistening lake, sailboats and cool breeze). The food was so-so. Jason had a burger with sweet potato fries, Kristin had a grilled cheese with sweet potato fries and I had a small Caesar salad and cup of their award-winning gumbo. I thought the gumbo was pretty good, but not award-winning. I must have snobby taste buds or something. ;) Then again - I don't partake of the gumbo often enough (I think I've only had it once or twice), so I probably just don't have much gumbo-eating experience to know what's good and what's really good.











After lunch, we walked down the pebble-stone path behind the restaurant that led to the lake. We walked out on the dock to take a look at the mirky water (at least it was pretty from a distance!) for a little while before taking a few pictures and heading out. On our way home, I had Jason drive us over to the Wall Home model houses that my parents and I looked at (when they were here last June). One house in particular. I gasp in awe whenever I step into this house. It's just gorgeous! If Jason and I ever get a house - I want it to look just like this one! There isn't anything I'd change about it (well, except add a swimming pool)! It's perfect! Who needs a starter house? Why not just moved into your dream house right off the bat?! ; ) It's called the Medina II. It's a quaint 3, 866 sq ft (that's not including the optional 3rd floor gameroom or optional media room - that we'd have to get)! It's in the $600Ks, but who's counting?? Actually that price would be a steal in the D.C. area, but here - that just stinks! Especially with property taxes being 3% of the price of your house. Eek! The only problem with this house - is that it seems just a wee bit big for a small family of 4. So we either need to pop out some more babies or invite a family or two to come live with us. Either way - I love this house!!!!







Okay, so anyways. Enough writing for today. Oh yeah. Remember how we didn't think we were going to spend much money on this excursion? Well we spent $28 at the restaurant and we spent $20 worth in gas driving around and around. Goodness friggin' gracious! ;)