...completed!

with doc appt's putting me out of commission for some time, days upon days of rain, travel, travel, travel...it tool a bit longer than anticipated, but here is the finished product.

Home Projects

Lauren loves to help dear ol' dad with home projects. Note the new fence I built a few weeks ago. Now, it's time for the stone path.

Guys Weekend!

Ryan and I spent this last weekend in Llano, TX. A little R&R at the deer lease, 4-wheelers, target practice, hiking, gaming, and sleep!

Ryan's role as the gate opener/closer as we entered the deer lease.

Ryan and I had a nice hike one morning, 'til we ran into this guy below. We escaped unharmed and let him live to rattle another day.

...and here is Ryan "roughing it" at the camphouse with Halo3.

2009 Destination

I have presented Jeff with our goal for Summer 2009. On our trip last year to Breckenridge, we took 1 day for a MAN hike - one that only the guys go on so we can fully experience oxygen deprivation and altitude sickness... so we can feel like absolute crap the entire day/evening. ...And worth it! Fortunately, the women are supportive of this knowing they have the kids for the day. Wives, we thank you.

Mt. of Holy Cross, 14,005 ft....should be approximately 11-12 miles round trip and 10-11 hours, depending on which literature you happen to acquire and the true potential for losing the trail with my navigation skills AND of course, weather. Online blogs vary from "hardest 14er I've ever done" to "great day hike with my family" so it seems to be a bit unpredictable. Standard route UP with a glissade down Angelica Couloir on the decent may be the plan. Jeff loves the snow.

Happy Birthday, Ryan!!!

Ryan's 11th...YES...11th. birthday. And this below is Jenn's Manga Masterpiece on the birthday cake. He had a wonderful day, lots of comments from friends at school, phone calls from family, b-day cards in the mail, and MONEY. He was truly appreciative and that makes mom and dad proud. He's looking forward to investing into some additional art supplies to support his Manga habit.

Money!!!

The Texas shuffle

Our Texas trip started as we headed out around 1p.m., Christmas day, to my brother's (Tim's) house in Burkeville - deep east Texas...Roughly 5 hours. He lives on some acreage with his wife Meredith and their two kids, Michael and Jo. His in-laws have a house about 1 mile away and between the two, they have a nice 1-room guest cabin where we stayed the night. It was perfect...and a nice getaway atmosphere for us. Not sure why we didn't get any pics. The kids really enjoyed it.

We had dinner upon arrival at Tim's house and exchanged gifts for the kids.

Here is Nanny, my grandmother at age 92. We gave her a digital photo frame with about 150 pre-loaded pics.

Of course Ryan loved gaming with Michael - who btw is 14 and 6-4". Lauren and Jo had a blast playing together for hours.

For those that don't recognize this one, this is my Dad with Darlene.
It was good to see my Dad, Darlene, and especially my brother and his family. We don't see them very often.

Next day, we drove to Lufkin to visit with Nanny some more, dinner with my Dad, Aunt, cousin, etc. Ryan and Lauren thoroughly enjoyed Nanny's new puppy.

Next day, we were off to Houston. Here is the 4th generation with Lauren, Jen, and Granny at 101 years.

Seldom do we get one with all four of us!

Christmas Eve, Christmas Morn

Christmas Eve, Santa prep...

An Ipod Shuffle for Lauren.

pre-present snack.

I'm not sure where she learns these looks.

Today she stated that Ryan was antagonizing her.

Ryan and ROCK BAND!!!

Performers below...