Well, Cynthia got a lot of phone calls and texts on her actual birthday 5 days earlier, but with everyone's hectic schedule, September 23rd was the easiest day to get everyone together.
It started out a little different. Everyone met at my house at about 10:30 a.m. that morning. Cynthia and James then walked in with about 30 breakfast tacos for the group from Bill Miller's. Also, as it turned out, Cynthia found this Wine and Chocolate Festival at Grapetown Vinyard in Fredericksburg, Texas. So after feasting on a barrage of breakfast tacos, the 10 of us piled into 2 cars and headed to Fredericksburg for a little fun.
Here we are pictured with multiple glasses of wine being imbibed. In addition to the wine and chocolate, the place had a small animal farm that Stella, Kevin and Sophia got to experience. Also, there was a photo op for some Grape Stompin' and some of us got our feet a little wet and dirty doing this!
Of note, notice the significant "baby"-bump that Erica is showing! She is expecting in late January. Of course, she couldn't enjoy the wine tasting like the rest of the group but got to join in the fun in other ways.
Of note, notice the significant "baby"-bump that Erica is showing! She is expecting in late January. Of course, she couldn't enjoy the wine tasting like the rest of the group but got to join in the fun in other ways.
Needless to say, it was a lot of fun for the 2-3 hours we spent there. But then it was time to head to a new eating place, the Mambo Seafood Restaurant off of 410 West in San Antonio!
Fortunately, Andrew, who was working that day, was able to make it for a few minutes to enjoy the dinner with us. But everyone enjoyed the cajun-style dinner and mango margaritas. And then it was time to head home for cake and presents!
What's a birthday party without cake, right? We ordered a tres leche cake from Nadler's Bakery and Cynthia got A LOT of help from Kevin in blowing out the candles! In fact we lit them about 5 times because Kevin kept blowing them out as fast as we were able to light them.
In addition to the tres leche cake, there was an assortment of other cookies and pastries for the group, including some pumpkin spice cake pops (see dish at the lower end of the picture above).
Of course, we sang, "Happy Birthday" to the birthday girl and then it was time to open the presents. Cynthia got a Boston Tee Shirt and a Celtics tee shirt in preparation for her upcoming trip in October to Boston. There were a variety of other gifts from the group, including multiple gift cards! Another gift for all of the 'girls' was a group of tickets to see PINK in concert in Arlington, TX the following weekend!
Here she is showing off perhaps the two most unusual gifts that she received that day! She is modeling the Grinch outfit that she got from James. These were purchased from the Cracker Barrel store. Also, next to her was a beautiful knitted "sunflower"-blanket. All-in-all, the girl was spoiled appropriately. One of her gifts, was a game called "Pick-Your-Poison", a game of "would you rather" purchased by Michelle, and after the present opening, we all played the game revealing a little too much of each of us! And guess what? The men won the game! (Actually, James won the game, but I included myself in the winning team just because.) But it was another fun birthday celebration for the family!