About That White Christmas (December 23 - 29)

Dear Family and Friends,

Our last week at Grapevine Lake was spent with family. Christmas Eve began with the children's service at First Methodist in Dallas. It was totally chaotic, but what a great way to teach children about God's great gift to all of us. For the third year, Abby was an angel in the choir. Christmas Eve dinner was followed by opening a few gifts.

 This was easily a production of 50 children. Abby is in the very back row of the choir.

Jackson is opening the coveted Darth Moll.

Abby got the horse to her American Girl Doll, Kaya.

Jackson lives in Star Wars.

Suzanne and Rob opening their presents.

On Christmas Day, the Ft. Worth/Dallas area received their first white Christmas that I can remember. The shots below show the fallen snow on December 26th.

Very icy morning!

On Wednesday, December 26, Roger picked up Abby in Dallas, and brought her to the RV to spend the night before we left Grapevine Lake for Abby's first ride in our motorhome. On Thursday we drove to Buckhorn Lake Resort in Kerrville, Texas, where Abby is staying with us until her parents pick her up in a week. She was a great traveler as we drove 6 hours to the Hill Country of Texas.

 Roger and Abby 

 Bear loves Abby

 Santa brought Abby an Easy Roller which we took with us to Kerrville.

 A quick game of Concentration with Grandad.

We woke up early on the 27th to prepare for our trip to Kerrville. Abby rode in the back of the RV with her Christmas toys.

 Abby takes a turn in the navigator's seat on our trip.

As I mentioned earlier, Abby was the best passenger anyone could have. After arriving, we went to the playground to unwind from the trip.

 The Easy Roller works well at BLR. Here Abby is taking Bear for a trip around the park.

We are enjoying our time with our granddaughter and look forward to the rest of our time with her. Thank you for reading the blog.
Roger, Abby, Bear and I wish all of you a Happy New Year!

About That Week Before Christmas (December 16 - 22)

Dear Family and Friends,

It is with a heavy heart that I begin this blog. Our hearts grieve for the people of Newtown, Connecticut, whose lives are forever changed by the evil that occurred last week. May this holiday season give us cause to examine our hearts and minds that we may take action as a country to do everything we possibly can to stop the runaway violence in our country.

We had Jackson for the weekend and believe me, that child was held tighter than ever. His antics continually delight us and we are so grateful for that young man and his sister, Abby. Our weekend with Jackson was filled with movies from RedBox, going to see Wreck It Ralph, cuddles and flying the  balsa wood airplane with Grandad, and trips to the playground.

 Hooray for RedBox!

 Early morning cuddles with Grandad and Bear!

 Jackson loves whipped cream squirted into his mouth and topped with chocolate sauce.
Being the good Texan that he is, he calls it Whup cream, y'all.

 Who loved this more, Grandad or Jackson?

The weekend went by so fast. Soon it was Sunday and we had to return Jackson to his parents.

 My mother has hosted a Christmas luncheon for thirty years at a club in downtown Ft. Worth. We were a group of twenty eight including cousins and mother's friends. It was great to see extended family members.

 Mother poses in front of the Christmas tree with us.

 Suzanne, Mother, and sister, Sally

 Diann, their son Graham, brother Chris

 Cousins Betsy, Graham and Claire

 Santa meets Jackson

 Abby meets the Claus family

 My sister Sally's family (Betsy, Sally, Charlie, Pam and Claire)

 Our son Rob with Suzanne and their children, Jackson and Abby.

Roger and I returned to a much quieter RV and relaxed after a hectic few days. Our week before Christmas was spent seeing family and friends in the Ft. Worth/Dallas area. We look forward to our move to Kerrville, Texas on the 27th. This time Abby will ride with us and spend the week with us before her parents and brother arrive to pick her up.

Roger joins me in wishing all of you a very Merry Christmas. Thank you for checking in with us.

About That Are Those Sleigh Bells Still Ringing (December 8-14)

Dear Family and Friends,

Roger, Bear and I are now into week #4 at Grapevine Lake in Texas. This week was lots of fun beginning with a race for Roger while I took care of the grandchildren. Without a doubt, I had more fun. Abby (7) and Jackson (4) arrived on Saturday afternoon. Our daughter-in-law, Suzanne, picked Roger up and returned to Dallas because Suzanne, Roger and Rob were planning on running the Dallas Marathon (Suzanne) and Half Marathon (Roger and Rob) on Sunday morning. More about the race later.

 Abby loves anything to do with arts and crafts.

 Jackson lives in the Star Wars universe. Here, Darth Vader is battling Luke Skywalker.

 Bear loves having the children in the Tour.

Lots of puppy kisses.

 Jackson and Abby love the playground at the park where we are staying.

 Big sisters come in handy!

Sunday night we headed into downtown Grapevine where we participated in the Christmas festivities. The entire Main Street is devoted to the holidays.

 Jackson loved the mechanical elves.

 Abby and Jackson are fascinated with a display about Santa waking up for his Christmas Eve trip.

 Jackson is "rocking" the singing Christmas tree.

 Please do not touch baby Jesus, Jackson!!!

 Bronze sculptures are located throughout the town.

Sunday morning was a trip to the Gaylord Texan, a hotel and convention center that houses a huge ice display for the Christmas holidays. A team of 25 ice sculptures spend several weeks creating a themed collection of giant ice sculptures. This year it was about the Speilberg movie, Madagascar. I knew nothing about the movie, but Abby and Jackson did.

 Walking through the atrium to get to the ice show.

 This nutcracker points the way to the Ice Show.

Before going into the ice area, we don heavy outerwear. The ice sculptures are in a below freezing environment.

 Santa with Abby and Jackson. Food coloring is used to define the colors in the ice sculptures.

 Abby loved sliding down the five shoots completely made of ice.

After leaving the ice arena, we quickly returned our outerwear and went back to the atrium where we took a few more shots.

After an amazing morning, it was back to the Tour for lunch. What a fun morning with my grandchildren!

Meanwhile, in Dallas:

Roger had been preparing to run the half marathon for 6 months. To have the opportunity to run with our son Rob, was a dream come true. After carbo loading on Saturday night, Roger and Rob started the Half-Marathon at 8 o'clock. Their time was 1:57. Roger was 13th in the 60 - 64 age group.

After the race

The rest of the week flew by in a hurry! We had lots of fun with family and friends. Nancy (a friend from elementary) and Sally (a friend from middle school) met me in downtown Ft. Worth for a quick bite and a lot of catching up. We were so busy talking that I forgot to get a picture. They both look great and it was a thrill to have the opportunity to see them.

Jackson spent Friday night with us so be prepared for more family pics next week. Thank you for checking in with us.