Bluebonnets

It's spring! Time to take a trip to Brenham to see the Bluebonnets....

Indian Paintbrush

Christmas Eve & Christmas Day

Christmas Eve at our house

Presents under the tree

Decorative Table

The Baileys, Navarros and Slevens

Our Christmas Eve game was Apples to Apples and

Carolyn cleaned house, Bah Hum Bug shirt and all

Christmas Day at Christine's House

More presents under the tree

Neal's hot air balloon ornament that I got for him

when we were in New Mexico last September

New addition to Lynn's Christmas china set

"Bless This Home"

Snow!

For the second year in a row, snow came to Houston! This time we got over five inches, and everything looked like a winter wonderland. It was beautiful!

Mom & Dad's Visit

My parents came out for a week to visit! It was so nice to have them here and fun to show them some other parts of Texas. Here are our adventures....

Mom & I

We spent Thanksgiving two doors down with

Mike, Lisa and their family. It was great to have

a big Thanksgiving - I miss those!

Dad helping Mike get the turkey in the deep frier.

My parents absolutely loved that deep fried turkey!

Lisa cooking their infamous stuffed artichokes. Yum!

The next day we took my parents to Brazos Bend State Park.

We promised them alligators and we delivered! This guy is

scary looking - wouldn't want to be chased by him!

"Reflections"

(above and below)

Swooping crane

Snack break

Dad & I

I love the fall colors of these trees

That night Christine and Tony came over for dinner and

surprised me with a birthday gift. Thanks guys!

Saturday was mom's birthday so I got up early and made

Eggs Benedict for breakfast.

After breakfast we drove 3 hours to San Antonio for a little

fun on the Riverwalk and some Texas history.

All that remains of the Alamo

Random fact: Did you know that since Phil Collins has

mostly retired from the music scene he has become the

world's largest collector of Alamo memorabilia? He claims

that he grew up reading Davy Crockett too, which sparked

his interest. Who would have thought?

The Riverwalk was absolutely magical at night, all decked

out in holiday lights dangling from the trees. Boats with

carolers floated by and everyone seemed to be in such good

spirits. We took a boat ride ourselves, which allowed us to

see the whole length of the Riverwalk.

Dinner at the Iron Cactus

Dad and Neal hanging out on our hotel balcony

There were these beautiful trees lit up all along the

water up against our hotel. Here is mom capturing them.

Before leaving San Antonio the next day, we couldn't pass

up a quick trip to the Natural Bridge Caverns. These caverns

were discovered by a group of college students hiking the area

in 1960, and they are amazing.

Descending into the depths....

I call this one "The Jellyfish"

Mom nicknamed this set of stalagmites "Vatican City"

It takes 100 years for a stalagmite or stalactite to grow

an inch, so when you see the size of some of these, you can't

help but be amazed at their age.

We had planned to have an early Christmas gift exchange

the following day, but dad was too excited to wait and

suggested that we open gifts upon our return home that

evening. Who can argue with that logic? :-)

Me examining some salts and minerals my parents

brought us from their trip to Israel.

On their last day we made a trip to Best Buy and caught

my mom playing the new Rock Band Beatles display.

Naturally, we had to get her back on the drums when

we got home. :-) The four of us played a few songs

and had a blast.

Dad sung his heart out and scored pretty high. Go Dad!

We had such a fun time with you both - thanks, again, for coming out. Can't wait to see you again soon!