Eric Holen

Yvette and I just celebrated our 13^th anniversary, which makes it a lucky number.  But then 12 was a lucky number and 14 will also be a lucky number.  How did we celebrate?  We went camping for 4 nights in a rented 28’ fifth wheel trailer.

It was Yvette’s idea to go camping as a way for us to save money while getting us both out of the house and away from work.  At 4 nights, it was the longest or tied for the longest camping trip that we have taken.  Yvette was right, the trip relaxed us.  We played games, walked and read books, all while enjoying great weather.  Yvette was right.  Getting away from work, at least for me, was a great way to recharge myself.

One of the interesting things that Yvette I started doing since our 10^th anniversary, is reminiscing over the past and quizzing each other on fun facts.

Here are two of the questions that came up this trip.

Question:  Which is the only state, in the contiguous 48 states, that Yvette and I have eaten just one meal?

Answer:  Utah.  Yvette and I crossed the state line from West Wendover Nevada into Wendover Utah to eat lunch at a Subway restaurant.

Question:  How many different barbecue restaurants have we tried in Austin and the surrounding areas?  Chain restaurants, with multiple locations, only count once.

Answer: We came up with 11; we must like barbecue.  One of the 11 we recorded that day when we tried a place in Elgin.

Finally, I am not the greatest when trying to come up with a gift for Yvette.  In addition, this year we agreed to keep the gifts under $50 to save money.  I surprised Yvette and myself this year.  In December, Yvette took me on a cruise for my 40^thbirthday, but it meant that she was missing out on attending a Wynonna concert.  Well, about a month ago, I found out that Wynonna would be playing at Billy Bob’s in May and the tickets were only $35 each.  Yvette opened the card with the tickets on the drive-up to the campground.  When she screamed, I knew that I had done good this year.

Today, Yvette and I celebrated our 12-year anniversary. There are days when I am still surprise by how lucky I am to be married to her. She will be the first to tell you that I was a big jerk the first AND second times we dated. Luckily, when we got back together for the third time, I had my head on straight and knew that she was the one for me.

For this anniversary, we had previously planned to go on a cruise. It would have been our sixth cruise. However, with the economy, we decided to pay off bills and save the vacation for next year.

For breakfast, I made French toast, her favorite. Then . . . we cleaned the house, which is typical for a Sunday. For a late lunch and our celebration, we went to Estancia Churrascaria, a Brazilian steakhouse. It was the first for us, and we were not disappointed.

The food, salad bar and the service were wonderful. The atmosphere and décor of the restaurant was also nice. The best example of the service was that I don’t think my tea glass ever dropped below half before someone was refilling it. The salad bar had HUGE mozzarella balls and asparagus spears. For side dishes, they served fried plantains, mashed potatoes, and fried polenta. The sides were good, but did not keep our attention like the meat. My favorite cut of meat, and I think we tried almost all of them, was the garlic pichana. Yvette had two favorites, the filet mignon and the linguica (pork sausage). In the end, we were two stuffed to stay for desert. With tea and tip, we got out for just under $80.

While driving back home, we decided to stop at Baskin-Robbins for some desert. They had a great “no sugar added” ice cream. Yvette and I each enjoyed a scoop.

Here’s looking forward to this next year with the woman I love.

• Weight: 184.4 lbs | Goal: 160.0 lbs
• I lost almost 8 pounds in three weeks, due in large part to Yvette and I exercising again. We’re getting up and going to workout at 4:40 AM. I have been surprised about how much I like working out that early and how it increases my energy level during the day. Furthermore, I don’t feel guilty about being lazy in the evening.
• Finally fixed the problems plaguing my Motorola Q9c smart phone (more on that later).
• Excited that the Texas Longhorns softball team is on a winning streak again.
• Things are really ramping up at work (not that they haven’t been busy already). The next four months will be very busy and, for the 6th year in a row, keep me from going to Texas A&M fire school in July.
• Had a great weekend. Saw Pete Benz at Wyatt’s 1st birthday. If you have the chance and hear he is playing nearby, I encourage you to go see him. Not only does he sound great, but he has a good connection with the audience.
• Yvette and I saw Fireproof on Saturday. The wait was too long to on Netflix, but to my surprise it was available at the Kyle Community Library. As a short review, the movie was wonderful and highly recommended for married or soon to be married couples. Yvette and I both cried at the ending.
• We also saw the James Bond film Quantum of Solace, which we thought was one of the better Bond movies. A lot more action and grittiness then you would expect.
• I responded to a mobile home fire Sunday night, but luckily it turned out to be minor.
• Looking forward to this weekend when Yvette and I celebrate 12 wonderful years of marriage. I am taking her to Estancia Churrascaria a Brazilian steakhouse. It will be our first time, so I will try to follow up with a review.

Last week, Yvette and I spent 6 days and 5 nights at the Occidental Grand Cozumel for our 11th anniversary.  We selected Cozumel because we had been there previously on three of our five cruises with Carnival Cruise Lines.  Cozumel is our favorite port of call and when it came time to select an anniversary spot, it was the most likely place.  We selected the Occidental Grand based on their website, although we booked it through Funjet Vacations.

Our flight was at 7:40 AM and, since it was an international flight, we were at the airport by 5:40 AM which meant waking up at 4:00 AM.  At the Austin-Bergstrom airport, we had breakfast at a restaurant that has become our “standard” whenever we have a morning flight.   The flight from Austin to Dallas/Fort Worth was uneventful.  In Dallas, we arrived at terminal A and took the tram to terminal D.  It was interesting to see all of the outbound international flights to places like Japan.  I had hoped to catch a glimpse of a 747 or some other large aircraft, but did see much.

It was not long before we boarded our American Airlines 737 for the flight to Cozumel.  During the flight, I watched episodes of CBS’ Two and a Half Men and Rules of Engagement.  I cracked up several times which brought a couple of smiles from Yvette.  This was Yvette’s first international flight while, but I had flown twice before to Vancouver on business.

After an almost three hour flight, we had another “first”.  In Cozumel, we debarked the plane using stairs instead of a jetway.  We passed through Mexican customs without any problems.  It was interesting to see that they were using Dell computers.  After customs, they had us pass through another checkpoint with a “stop” light and a push button like at a cross walk. When you pushed the button, it randomly selected people for a secondary screening by flashing a red light; otherwise you got a green “pase” light.  Only one person from our flight got pulled for screening. 

We collected our luggage but before we could get to our transfer shuttle, we were intercepted by “Vicente”.  He was trying to get us to attend a vacation time share presentation.  Yvette and I accepted after he gave us a rental car for the length of our stay for only $50.  Mind you, the rental car was an ultra small compact and did not have power steering, but Yvette and I found it very convenient when driving between the resort and San Miguel, the town on Cozumel island.

Our next “first” was actually driving down the main thoroughfare through San Miguel.  We had walked the street during our previous three cruises and taken a ride or two, but had never driven.  The drive from the airport to the resort took approximately 25 minutes.  During the drive, Yvette and I marveled at all of the stores and sites that we recognized from our previous trips and of the three cruise ships that were in port.

Next time . . . . . the Occidental Grand Cozumel resort.

Note: There are no pictures because I am writing this in Dallas while Yvette has the camera in Kyle.