Blackmans on the Web (log)

There’s nothing like San Antonio Fiesta! Mom and Dad nabbed a hotel right on the riverwalk and despite having to dodge some raindrops, a great time was had by all! Saturday afternoon was spent in Kyle at the Calvonos with baby Anthony as the rightful center of EVERYONE’s attention!

Individual Photos ...

20 Photos

Photos by Scott. Thought (below) by Ann.

Reside: To be inherently present; exist

… An aha! moment in Santa Fe: That where you reside and where you live don’t always share the same address.

Whew! Great day. As always. Food was terrific (turkey was especially good this year). Bill and Lorette were here for the first time in a long time. New babies: Anthony and Allison. Great to have the boys home too.

FR: Sam, Sarah, Amber, Oliva, Peter, Allison, Amy SR: LeAnne, Jacob, Lorette, Bill BR: Pat, Diana, Joe, Anthony, MariFe, Matt, Alex, Shelby, Ann, Scott

Earlier picture:

Thanksgiving 2009

68 Photos

..and present. And boy have they grown. The photo on the left was taken when the boys were in elementary school at Smith Elementary. Ashlee Verbruggen and Sam were in the same class together. Ashlee’s dad, Hans, suggested Sam and Alex go to a dance recital with him. He took this picture. Ashlee ended up going to a different middle school and they lost touch a bit. Then, back in High School Ashlee is a Sweetheart. Sam’s girlfriend Sarah is a Sweetheart. Sarah introduces Sam to her friend Ashlee and – shazam – the friendship is rekindled. This weekend we went to the State Fair. Big group of us. And there were Alex, Ashlee and Sam and that picture popped into my head. Sure glad I got it!

More photos from the 2009 Texas State Fair HERE

The countdown began for Sam’s last week at home with a nice evening with friends at Billy Bob’s. Billy Bob’s is in the Stockyards in Fort Worth and is billed as “The World’s Largest Honky Tonk”. Wouldn’t argue with that. Six of Sam’s friends and several parents went along for some two-steppin’ and knee slappin’. Great time was had by all. Even Alex and Shelby came up from Stephenville and showed us all how to REALLY two-step. Wow, somebody is going to throw their back out doing that, for sure. Click on the photo to see the fun.

I earned it!

For us, summer this year started last Saturday, the day of Sam’s high school graduation. The graduation parties of friends started the week before and, in fact, he’s at another friend’s graduation party tonight, but we squeezed all his celebrating into that same day as the Centennial High School graduation ceremony, June 6. That allowed us to take advantage of out of town family to attend both ceremony and party.

To quote Jane Austen: One cannot have too large a party. That’s exactly how we do it around here! We are truly blessed with loving and supportive family and friends. Like with Alex’s graduation last year, the menu and other party plans all came from Sam. Needless to say, with fajitas and slushees on the menu and the volleyball net up in the pool, it was a fun day for everyone.

Click on the picture to the right to see more photos from the day. NOTE: There are not 200+ photos like we normally have because Scott was having as good a time as everyone else, just hanging out and enjoying the day to celebrate Sam!

Click to see Slideshow

Tomorrow’s the day. Sam graduates. After a lot of planning, hard work and dedication, Sam has finally achieved his goal of graduating a year ahead of schedule. He commented on Wednesday evening, after we watched this slideshow, that it “hit him” that afternoon – he really had finished high school. It hit us, too.

We couldn’t be more proud of you Sam! Next stop: The University of Texas at San Antonio, School of Architecture.

The song is “Over the Rainbow” as sung by Israel Kamakawio’ole from the Album Alone in IZ World