Dashing through the Sleet

Yes, it is Christmas time yet again in Texas, which is a mix of wearing shorts and the next day putting up with slushy sleet. We once again ventured out into the surrounding wilds of Dallas to search for a Christmas tree - Lily was overjoyed to be invited this year. It was a great family place, with lots of trees to choose from.




Once we finally chopped our s down and tied it to the car, we realized we were idiots, and had tied all the doors shut. So, naturally, we got in/out of the car through the windows. Classy.



We spent this Christmas with Mom and Lew here in Dallas. There's nothing that can quite match a Christmas with your mom, and this was no exception. Wassail and Christmas music abounded, and we had a lovely holiday with them and our extended family.

Turkey Day '06

We spent this last Thanksgiving with David's family at their uncle's lakehouses on LBJ. Being used to family affairs that max out at around 10-15 people, I was a bit overwhelmed when the partial family get-together ended up consisting of around 40 people. We had a nice time outdoors on the lake, and just visiting with family.




These pictures are of David's brothers and sister with our 'significant others' as it were.

Kum-Bah-Yah

All my mildly spastic o-workers decided to throw a pot-luck feast on Tuesday before Thanksgiving. It was lots of fun seeing everyone's culinary skills - of which stuffing was the predominant specialty. Good thing I love stuffing. (i hate it) But there was plenty to eat - I got my turkey aversion a bit earlier this year than normal.

Trick or Treat

Reverting back to the 3rd grade, this year I had my mommy make my halloween costume. Actually, it all started when I asked her if she would help me think up and idea, and before I knew it, mom had come up with an idea, and was making it. So here I am in all my glory - we thought the Little Red Riding Hood was appropriate, as I am always bringing sweets (cakes) to someone. So, after nearly driving herself insane and 50 trips to JoAnn Fabrics, her masterpiece was done.

In return, I was a prop for mom on Halloween night - it was fun to see all the little kiddies. Next year we (Mom, Lew, David and I) are going to go out to haunted houses and things dressed as Little Red, the Woodcutter, the Wolf, and Granny. Check back next year for the pics!

Hawaii

Hi All -

Well, 3 months later I am finally putting up our trip to Hawaii. I was waiting for my sister's pictures (because they are much better) but I have given up. I will replace them later.



We had a wonderful 10 days with my sister and her husband, Paul. It was so good to see her, as always. I can’t wait for her to move back, so we can still not see each other - but at least we'll be closer.

We flew into Honolulu, relaxed on a beach for the rest of the day, and got up the next morning to fly out to Kauai. Courtney found us a great little condo that backed up to a cliff overlooking the ocean. It was great to open our doors at night and hear the crashing waves.



While we were there, we mainly hung out at beaches, but we also had fun exploring some shallow caves, hiking a little, scuba diving, and of course, horseback riding. I had a good time, just glad to be riding again - and my horse was definitely a challenge! He was a bit nuts. Everyone fudged about their riding skills a bit so we could canter, which was great. Everyone did real well - no one tried to back off a cliff, which is more than we can say for the other couple who was with us on the trip. Eventually this girl had to switch horses with Courtney, because they weren't getting along. For the record, the horse was fine with Courtney. I am hoping that riding skills are genetic now, to pass on to my kids. (yay! haha) 5 hours later we dismounted, and even I was a little sore in the behind. I don't think Courtney could sit properly the rest of the time we were there.




Which turned out to be good, as poor Courtney got sick. She was a trooper, and hung with us well folks most of the time.

In the picture below, you can see me making a face and holding some weird red things - Paul had decided to make us eat random indigenous foods that happened to be disgusting. We were all gathered round to play Settlers of Catan, which became a nightly thing. This game turned out to be particularly long, and culminated with my poor sick sister buckling under the late hour and going to bed before we finished. (I ended up winning. In your face, Paul! :)



We had a wonderful time laying out on the beach - where I could not get any sun for the life of me - and trying to find good snorkel spots. We then decided to go on a night dive with a scuba charter - it consisted of a twilight dive (probably to make sure you weren't going to freak out) and then a pitch-black dive. It was ill-fated from the beginning. Unbeknownst to us, Court and Paul get violently seasick. They both made it on the first dive, but poor Court was done when we got to the second dive site. Paul gamely got in the water, and he became the new best friend of all the shrimp within a mile radius. It was pitch black at this point, and since Paul's diving buddy didn't actually dive, I felt responsible to keep an eye out for my sister's husband. So, imagine my horror when while counting lights, I realized that PAUL'S WAS MISSING. I had a nice little 5 minute freak out that I had lost my siser's husband while Paul made friends with the surrounding shrimp yet again. After that, all was well and good until I realized that my light was dimmer than everyone else's. It wasn't long before I realized that my light was rapidly going out. 60 ft under in the pitch black was NOT something I wanted to experience. Luckily, the dive master had brought an extra one down. Other than that, it was fairly uneventful. We got to see a lot of things that aren't out and about during the day, so that was great. We ended up seeing the biggest turtle I've ever laid eyes on - I thought it was a boulder at first. And culminating the experience, we left behind a memento - David’s wedding ring is somewhere on the bottom. May it rest in peace.



After recovering, we flew back to Oahu and hung out at Court's house. Now being BROKE, we became beach bums - there was actually a chance to get a tan on Oahu, so I tried to make up for lost time. David and I spent a day by ourselves, exploring up the West Coast, which we have renamed Squatter's Coast due to the many beach shacks, and spent a day enjoying some great snorkeling at Makaha beach. Later, David, Court and I went on a long walk around the tip of the island, to this area where monk seals are known to congregate. There were a couple playing around, and the guy below was kind enough to stay still for a pic. He actually let me get really close - it was fun.



We visited all sides of the island, saw some big waves, ate some island pie with Court's home cooking, had some amazing shave ice - once we got them to leave out the beans - played board games and were somehow beaten by the guys - I don't know how they pulled that one off. Sheer Luck! Our final day we went to the beach where we were engaged - the island in the distance below is where it happened. We indulged our inner child and built a great sandcastle - complete with barracks, stables, a moat and bridges. There were a bunch of kids who wanted it after we were done - but the honor went to Pirate the Puppy. It was just too great to pass up. Pirate stormed the castle and destroyed it, which prompted the kids to dub him "Evil!!". It was totally worth it. Unfortunately I managed to leave something behind as well - my driver's license. Which I discovered was missing about 2 hours before our plane departed that evening. It is a good thing my brother-in-law is a cop!

It was a nice relaxing time, and I was sad to go. Thanks to Court and Paul for being such wonderful hosts, as usual.

I'll leave you with some random pictures of us having fun.










I feel the need to explain this picture - we had built a bif sandcastle and there was a puppy named 'Pirate' nearby - we decided he should sack it. He had a great time.

Lily

Hello All,

Here are some recent pictures of our beloved doggie - I'm sure you all hadn't had enough already.

Lily's favorite pre-dinner pastime is selecting a piece of food to fling around the house, followed by pouncing, and then more flinging. David and I will be sitting at our desks, and a piece of food will hit us in the head, or land on our keyboards. Luckily, she does not do this too often with her toys - the impact of a heavy rubber toy is a bit more distracting.

Picnic in the Park

The patented Lily head tilt - her way of going, "What?"

Excited with the new fall weather, David decided we needed to go for a picnic in he park after work one day. So, we packed upour doggie and our dinners and headed out to the park right across the street, where we lay on a blanket for a while, and then when Lily couldn't take the inactivity any more, we got up and played some frisbee. It's just nice evenings like this that make us want to quit our jobs.

Floating the River or Getting Lost in the Back Country

The camping crew got together and decided to go on another trip, this time to float the river in New Braunfels. All was going well – until about hour three, when I realized that Google Maps is not all knowing, after all. I think I nearly lost it after driving down back roads for an hour with everyone thinking, “Where the heck are we!?” but politely not saying anything – and then we hit a gate saying private property. I was close to being apoplectic, mixed with the guilt of dragging everyone around like one big lost caravan. We finally found our way to the raft place, thank goodness.

So in to the river we went! And there we stayed, because there was absolutely no current. We even had to pick up our tubes and walk at some points. In one picture you can see me holding up my sandals up – I used them as paddles to get around. I still had a good time, because we went there to hang out with one another, and we still did that – we had a lot of time to do that, with us moving about 20 feet every 30 minutes for a while. The only problem was due to our slow speed, we were easy targets for small children. At one point, said small children had water guns, and were attempting to hit passersby. I heard some encouraging coaching from a parent – “Aim higher!” – right before getting sprayed with a water cannon. Ah, the Hope For Tomorrow.

Out of the river, we piled back in to the cars and attempted to find our hotel – or motel, as it turned out. By the time we booked, there were only 2 hotels left with three rooms available. Upon arriving, I was informed that one of our rooms had flooded, and they had no vacancies. Great. So we went schlepping around, trying to find some solution – in the end we just got a room at the La Quinta next door, instead. After meeting back up with the boys, we were informed that their room smelled like rotten melon – at this point I just had to laugh at the ridiculousness of it all. Forsaking our rooms, we headed out to the Grist Mill for dinner – along with the entire population of Greene. For the next three hours while we waited for a table, we played football, walked through the shops, and stared at the magic chalkboard that was for people who were about to get tables, waiting for our name to pop up in vain. Right as I thought I might have to rob a waiter passing by, the Glorious Moment occurred. Finally seated, we got our dinner around 10:30. It was a beautifully designed restaurant, and I encourage everyone to go eat there – just try to pick a less busy time, such as 3 am or Christmas Day. Everyone was exhausted, so we retired to our hotel rooms to sleep – or in Rachel and Amanda’s case, to cuddle on their tiny cot. They we good sports about the whole thing. In the morning we headed home, and I got my country music lesson, as they tried to teach me to recognize various artists. It was definitely an act of futility.

San Antonio Arboretum

David and I go to San Antonio from time to time to visit his mom, Corene. She is truly a blessing of a mother-in-law – so caring and encouraging, I could not have planned it better. It is always a joy to go and see her.
On this particular trip, we went to the arboretum for lunch and the view. Lunch was entertaining – each plate came covered I various green, and looked like something you would feed a horse. But underneath it all, it was delicious. The more adventurous of the group actually tried to eat their plate arrangements, to their detriment. It was a nice, relaxing day spent outside with family. That’s his sister, Ruthie, and her boyfriend Josh with David in the picture below. It was good to see them both again.