Never fear, Ben is here!

I have return. Last week was amazing. I got to shoot things, shoot people, fall off dams in a kayak, meet lots of family, and visit the big SA. That's right, Sara's Abode. So sorry, this will be long...I wouldn't want you to miss out on my fun...

Sara, Marisa, Matt, and I went to Sara's house in Harper, TX, northwest of San Antonio (the real SA). Harper is very small. And by that, I mean smaller than you think. And by that, I mean SUPER-MEGA-ULTRA-MICROSCOPIC!!! Sara lives on a few hundred acres of land, which has fields, pastures, barns, and lots of animals - several goats, a llama, a few horses, some pigs, 2 dogs, and 2 cats, among wild deer and antelope. We got there Friday night, where we were greeted with food from Lin's kitchen. Sara's mom (Lin) is an amazing cook, and she loves to do so - the best combination.

On Saturday, Sara's 15-year old brother Oren, Matt, and I went to Kerrville (just South) to play paintball. It was dirt cheap. We played about 8 or 10 games before we got all tuckered-out and decided to go home. We had dinner with the fam and then the guys went varmint hun'in. This consisted of loading up some shotguns and a .22 in the truck, driving around the fields looking for varmints, and shooting the heck out of them. It was loads of fun. This is actually useful for ranchers to erradicate the fields of racoons, foxes, skunks, and rabbits. And who am I to turn down the chance to shoot stuff? I mean, really. DISCLOSURE: We did, and always will, observe proper firearm safety. Matt is in the Marine Reserves, I am an NRA-certified rifle and shotgun instructor, and Oren is...well...a sharpshooter. Just this weekend, he was in Colorado participating in the Junior Olympics in either the air rifle or BB gun shooting event (I forget which).

Sunday was Family Day. Much of Sara's mom's family lives in Harper, so they all came over for Sunday lunch. It was basically Thanksgiving all over again - 2 cooked turkeys, several casseroles and desserts, salads, vegetables, rolls... It was glorious. It was very funny to meet Sara's grandma because she reminded me of Granny from The Beverly Hillbillies. Not quite as "active", but the similarities were there. Many cousins were there, too.

On Monday, Matt and I left early to meet up with his parents and sister in San Marcos, where his sister lives. His parents brought down his kayak from Longview for us to use. Matt and I kayaked down the San Marcos River about 24 miles in about 5 hours. It was pretty sweet. There are many stories, but to keep it short - we took turns dragging each other behind the 1-man kayak in a raft, which promply became holy; we almost died a couple times; and we were stranded on an un-named road for about half-an-hour before we could figure out where to tell our ride to go. But we had a blast. While we were kayaking, the girls went to the outlet stores there in San Marcos. I think they were there like all day. Literally. They're crazy. They probably walked 5 miles around those stores. What women will do in the name of fasion... Afterwards, we all met-up and Matt's sister's place for dinner, courtesy of his parents. Who am I to turn down free pizza? Matt's dad is head of security at LeTourneau University in Longview, TX.

ASIDE: Matt and I first met when we were randomly matched as roommates our Freshman year at LeTourneau back in the 2002-2003 school year (thus, we're the same age). He left and eventually ended up here at UNT, where he met Marisa in a class they had together. Marisa is Sara's RA and they're pretty much best friends (and the same age). Last semester, Marisa adopted the 1st floor middle wing, where I lived, making her my RA as well. Now that I'm an RA, she and I are co-workers. I'm not sure how Sara and I met exactly. We didn't even really get to know each other until the last week or two of last semester and over the Christmas break. It's weird how we all know each other. Small world.

On Tuesday, we had lunch with Big Moe, Sara's dad at a nice little Mexican restaurant in Kerrville. Sara took us on a tour of Harper to see the two restaurants, her school (K-12 is all on one campus and has fewer students than my graduating class), the 2nd feed store (which apparantly caused a huge controversy in the town - why do we need two?), and the "residential" section of town. Needless to say, Harper is tiny. I believe it was Tuesday that Big Moe made fajitas for us. We ended up helping, but I'll give him credit. We also made our own Spanish rice from scratch. That was interesting...but yummy.

We slept in Wednesday and piddled around for most of the afternoon before going to San Antonio. We walked up and down the River Walk and had dinner at Café Olé. It was very yummy. They had a Mariachi band that was playing right next to us most of the time, since we were pretty much sitting at the entrance. We did get them to come play a romantic Spanish song just to us though. It was nice. After food, we went to see the Alamo. I wanted to see it at night because I think it looks cool all lit-up. Of course, this meant we couldn't go in, but we've all seen it before.

Matt and I drove home Thursday so I could be to band practice for church Thursday night and so he could be to drill Friday afternoon. Marisa flew home to Houston for the weekend before coming back to school, and Sara just chilled at home. This brings me to the now, sitting at the front desk, watching everyone go by. That reminds me - I was going to print up a map to get everyone to place a dot of where they went over the break. Hmmm, maybe I still can...

Sorry if that was too long, but I had loads of fun. None más for now. Adios.