A WONDERFUL, FUN DAY WITH THE FAMILY!

Saturday, April 2 – We went to the St. Arnold Brewery today.

Saint Arnold was founded in 1994 by a Houston Native attending Rice University. It is the oldest microbrewery in Texas. They brew a variety of full-flavored, big, tasty beers. Examples are Fancy Lawnmower, Texas Wheat, Brown Ale, Amber Ale, Elissa Ipa, and this season's brew, Summer Pils.

St. Arnold is the patron saint of hop pickers. WHY you ask? Following the collapse of the roof of an abbey brewery in Flanders, the good Saint Arnold of Soissons asked God to multiply the stores of beer which were left for the monk's consumption. When Arnold's prayer was answered in abundance, the monks and townspeople were prepared to canonize him on the spot. While Arnold of Soissons is best known for his miraculous provision of beer, he is also credited with a most practical improvement upon the brewing process. Now you know the rest of the story.

The Beer Garden opens at eleven o'clock, and we were there soon after the doors swung open to get a seat in this very popular place.

For $7.00 per person, you get a tour and four glasses of micro-brewed beer. We played cards and Farkle, sampled each of the six different beers, ate some snacks and enjoyed the loud crowd. The noise level was up there.....from the old and young having a great time!

Paul and Kelly


The girls enjoying a little brew.

Our daughters even got to meet a celebrity. On a trip to the bar they noticed Ali Fedotowsky, from last season’s Bachelorette reality TV program, standing with her boyfriend, Roberto Martinez, and several other couples. Our girls didn't want to interfere with her day so didn't approach her. But soon a couple other girls asked her for a picture so our daughters requested one too. She was happy to oblige and handled the fame with grace. They were really a beautiful couple.....made for TV.....ha! ha!

Kelly, Ali, Roberto, Carrie

We then went on a tour of the Brewery. Our tour guide was non other than the founder and owner of the Brewery, Brock Wagner. Brock develops the recipes for the Saint Arnold beers based on his own home-brewing experience coupled with a desire to create world class beers for local tastes. He did an excellent job of explaining the brewing process and delighted the crowd with his humor. The Brewery is currently producing 10,000 barrels of beer and will soon be expanding to about 35,0000 barrels. Quite a few of those barrels were consumed by this huge gang today....LOL

There is a small crew of 29 who does everything at the brewery. They make ten different beers. Five are made year round and five are seasonal.

Each beer tank was named after famous people.

Someone very famous, but we don’t know him.

Not who you think. He is the famous brewer in England.

The place was very clean.

Who knew that drinking more Saint Arnold could help our planet? If a person brings in a twelve-pack and six-pack carriers and we will exchange them for cool Saint Arnold stuff. If a person brings in 200,000 carriers here is what he will get

Tie-dyed 1957 Bentley

We think this was Marsha’s favorite part of the day.

You say what is so great about a bunch of men standing in line…They were in line for the MEN’S RESTROOM. Unheard of!!! There was no line for the women’s room. This was just such a lovely site for the women.

The visit to the Brewery was a fun activity. We enjoyed the tour, the beverages, and met quite a few fun-filled people. We especially enjoyed touring with our daughters and another day filled with laughter and family fun.

After the Brewery, we headed to Elenior Tinsley Park to play Frisbee golf. This is just one of the many parks in Houston. What a beautiful park, tucked right in the middle of downtown skyscrapers and freeways. It is located on 124.05 acres.There is a huge skate park filled with hundreds of kids.

Jogging and biking trails. A beautiful stream, that ate two of our Frisbees by the way, and hundreds of acres of beautiful rolling hills to stroll through and enjoy nature.

HUGE trees.

This is the first time we have ever played Disc Golf. The girls had much better form than we did.

Carrie gets her entire body in it.

Kelly can throw without dropping a drop of her drink.

Paul didn’t tell Marsha he was going to take a picture so she didn’t put her whole body into it.

Paul and the form that landed his Disc in the water.

Beautiful background for a picture of the family. It was a bit hazy on Saturday.

Just one of the many art objects in the park.

We then returned to our daughters house for dinner and to watch NCAA Final Four basketball on TV. If we didn't have enough to do, we could have attended the games live. They were being played in Reliant Stadium this year in downtown Houston! Weren’t we just there about ten days ago at the Houston Rodeo. It didn't take them long to convert the stadium from a Texas Ranch to a College Basketball Arena.

We finished the day with barbeque chicken and grilled vegetables that Paul cooked on the grill. Yummy! We celebrated Kelly’s birthday. What a great day!

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y’all back real soon. Have a great day!