Barbarian

Greetings to you this Monday morning.  I hope you and yours had a wonderful weekend.  This weekend was a fairly busy but fun one.  The fiance wasn't working so that in itself was wonderful.  We treated ourselves to a wonderfully tasty Chinese buffet Friday night, which we capped off by playing Wii at his brother's house.  Thanks to my parents not allowing me to have any video games as a child, I am horrible at Wii.
Saturday morning we slept in until 7:30!  It was a brisk morning, so we watched some TV and ate some breakfast and stayed warm with the pupps under the blankets.  The great thing about where we live is that a 25 degree morning warms up to a 55 degree afternoon.  And the sun actually shines.  So we ended up taking the dogs to the park with the fiance's brother's family.  Vedder loved barking at every person, dog, and leaf that crossed his path; while Gabby loved sniffing (she is a true hound dog).
But the real thrill of the weekend was a cultural event we attended Saturday night.  This event wasn't offered in Waco, so we had to journey about 50 miles south to the town of Belton, TX.  I'll give you a moment to check out a map to locate this town...  As we pulled into the parking lot, you could smell the excitement in the air.  Literally... you could smell the diesel fumes as soon as we got out of our car.  We had arrived at the Monster Truck show, live in Belton, TX.  It was a true cultural event where I learned all about this surprisingly popular world of Monster Trucks.  There were lines to take pictures with the trucks, get the drivers' autographs, and thousands of long-time fans all packed into this small arena to see their favorite truck destroy things.

Now I'm not knocking them or this event.  It was entertaining.  I mean, who hasn't wanted to smash into a car or drive recklessly fast while careening over a huge dirt ramp?  Plus, there's the element of danger with every rev of a 1500 horsepower engine.  And we were lucky enough to witness one of the most popular celebrities on the Monster Truck circuit.  As the event M.C. informed us, "this guy is so big, that you can go down to your local Wal-Mart and get yourself a Barbarian t-shirt".   Jealous?

Sunday was an excellent conclusion to the weekend, complete with the best Mexican breakfast I've had in a long time (another joy of living in Texas).  We also grilled some ribs, made homemade soft pretzels, and watched the football games.  All in all, it was a wonderfully full, fun, and educational weekend.