November is a great time to go to Fiesta Texas!

So Steffi turns - omg - 19 this week. Where did the time go? How much longer can I stay 29 when she is well past halfway to that number herself?

Because Stef's birthday is on a Tuesday we decided to celebrate on Saturday by going to Fiesta Texas. Duncan and I drove down to pick up Steffi in her apartment and got there exactly as the GPS planned at 11:29 a.m. We did a quick inspection of her digs and set off for the theme park, which is about 7 minutes from her school. We got rock star parking when we got there. Not surprisingly, November doesn't have the same crowds as July at this park. Immediately we jumped on the Boomerang. First it drags you backwards up a very steep incline and then you wait and wait and wait. And then whoosh, you drop at a million miles an hour and go around curves and upside down several times. And then you do it again from the other side. Anyway, the kids dragged me on this one, but it was fun.

The next ride was the Rattler, an ancient looking wooden roller coaster that everyone (except me) loves. I sat this one out, but allowed my own children to risk their lives on it. I watched it sway while they were riding it and looked closely for some sort of metal reinforcements on the structure. Whew - they survived!

After the Rattler we made our way to Superman, my favorite roller coaster where they got this really great picture of us that I had to buy. That is pure joy on our faces.

Another roller coaster they went on was the Poltergeist. They advised me not to ride this one because it has too many turns and I would lose my lunch which we hadn't even eaten yet. That was enough to persuade me to just take pictures.

After this wild ride, we had lunch and then did something they used to love when they were kids and didn't have their own real cars. Yes we rode the Texas Speedway!

Duncan went solo, mostly because his legs are too long for anyone else to get in the car with him.

Steffi and I went together and I let Steffi drive. She had trouble keeping the car going straight, but with my coaching she made it successfully around the track. :)

Duncan was honking at us but our horn was broken and we couldn't honk back.

On our way to the next ride, we found what looks like the place where Santa will be sitting one of these days so we posed for potential Christmas card photos. If we go with this one, I'll obviously have to crop the rafters out of the photo. Looks just like we're at the north pole, doesn't it?

At the end of the afternoon we went back to Steffi's apartment and tried our best to set off the fire alarm by lighting all 19 candles at once.

Duncan and I sang our best off key version of Happy Birthday with me singing the original sweet loving words competing with Duncan's version: "you smell like a monkey and look like one too"

You'll have to read Steffi's blog about our dinner adventures. Let's just say that we should've put our name on the list at the first place and waited and we would have been done sooner than we were trying to find a shorter list. The economy, at least for the restaurant business, must be just fine down in San Antonio!

Happy early birthday, Stef!!