ROSES, JOE T'S AND MEMORIES

Yesterday was a very special day for us. Since the actual date of our anniversary is August 2nd, we decided to treat the family to a meal at Joe T Garcia's where we had our first date and continue with our celebration.

For 70 years, the family of founder Joe T. Garcia has been serving diners from around the country. The hacienda-style restaurant compound occupies a full city block and includes party pavilions and outdoor dining areas as well as the main restaurant, a white clapboard structure decked out with autographed celebrity photos. When the weather is good, there is no finer place than the Fiesta Garden to sip margaritas, dip warm tortilla chips in house-made salsa and feast on authentic Tex-Mex food.

When we first went there 53 years ago, they only had one dining room and a large ice chest where you could help yourself to soft drinks or beer, and all you could order in the way of food was the family style dinner.

When you finished your meal the waiter would ask how many beers you had drunk (they worked on the honor system) and the price of the meal was determined by how many beverages you had consumed.

Their nachos are unbelieveable and each person who orders the familiy dinner gets 2 of them. What a way to start a meal!

They still serve the family style meal and have added fajitas and Margaritas, but they have never taken anything but cash. In this day and age, there aren't many places who don't take credit cards, so if you don't want to do dishes, you'd better have cash!
Franklin, Beth and the boys came over after church and greeted us with the most beautiful yellow roses and champagne.

After I arranged the roses in an antique cut glass pitcher that belonged to my grandmother, we all had a celebration toast and then headed for Fort Worth and a late lunch.

Franklin was our bartender and mixed the Mimosa's with Ian's help.

And speaking of Ian, he really looked cool when he arrived with his black silk shirt and his shades ... just like a movie star!

Everyone was able to be with us except Matt, Rachel's husband. His grandmother was celebrating her birthday, so he needed to be with his family on this special occasion. One of these days maybe we will all be able to get together! At least 2/3rds of Rachel's family were able to make it. I can't believe that Ethan is a teen-ager now!

Nick and Dayna don't look the worse for wear after the move

and Franklin and Beth were thoroughly enjoying the food as well as the Margaritas.

They had their rehearsal dinner in this very room 15 years ago. There were only 10 of us there yesterday but there were 93 in attendance at the rehearsal dinner, so we had the room all to ourselves.

When we finished our lunch, we asked our waiter to take a group shot of us on this special occasion and I think he did a great job. We all look pretty good here!

Of course no family gathering is complete without shots of the youngest generation, so here they all are. The boys look so cute.

We were talking this morning and suddenly realized that after 50 years of wedded bliss, Frank has been retired the last 24 years, so he really hasn't worked for half of our married life! Maybe that's the secret to a long and happy marriage. It has certainly worked for us!

We came home around 3:30 and the gang decided to go for a swim. Even Harry enjoyed the pool and then got into the ornamental grass and thought he was in the jungle!

We were going to play a board game, but ended up spending the rest of the afternoon around the pool.

Nicholas and Dayna had to get to Home Depot before 6:00 so they left early. They have just purchased their first home in Dallas and they have a lot of work that has to be done. They only moved in this week so it is a very busy time for them!

Before everyone left, Boompa had a drawing for the football tickets to a pre-season game that we won't be here for. Ian drew for his folks and he got the winning paper, so they get to go to the game.

Speaking of busy times, we leave in 2 days for Scandinavia and I haven't packed yet, so I'd better get busy myself. You'll be hearing from me when we return but I'll be out of touch for about 3 weeks.
Until then ... enjoy the rest of your summer.
XOXO, Pcasso