Christmas Day Lunch with Friends

On Christmas day, we had several friends over to eat lunch. They - like us - didn't have family in for a visit or weren't heading off for the holidays. Our friends brought salad and dessert while Rosie provided three different soups plus jalapeno cornbread. It was all delicious.

Here's the group at the table. From left: Judy Parker, Tom Hubert, Bob, Thomas Chesnutt, Ellie Hubert, Sharron Chesnutt (Rosie was busy taking the picture).

Here's a close-up of the women: Sharron, Judy, Rosie and Ellie.

Now here's a great picture (Tom, Thomas, Bob):

We had a great time (ate too much!) and really enjoyed the fellowship. We wish all of you a Happy New Year!

Garvan Gardens Christmas Lights 2009

On Monday night, we (Rosie, Bob and Sam) traveled to Garvan Woodland Gardens in Hot Springs, AR, to see their yearly Christmas light display. The weather was nice and the lights were beautiful. Here's a picture of the carp and its reflection in the water.We also enjoyed the lighted swan.Rosie and Sam under the "outdoor" chandelier.Bob, Rosie and Sam in front of a giant Christmas present.We enjoyed seeing the gingerbread family. Rosie and Sam posed in front of a gingerbread man.
Here are several shots from around the light exhibit:At several points in the exhibit there are butterflies that light up in sequence to make them appear like they're flying. We took a short video of one of the butterflies.

Bald Eagle Watch on Lake Ouachita

Today, we (Rosie and Bob) drove to Lake Ouachita to go on an eagle watch tour. The tours are held about 1-2 times/week during the cooler months when bald eagles are in the area. Our guide said today would be a good day to see eagles in the trees near the shore - the weather was overcast, cold (35F) and rainy at times. On sunny days the eagles are typically soaring above the lake.

The lake was fairly smooth when we started off. Here's a picture of a calm inlet on the lake.Before we got to the eagles, we saw a loon feeding near the shore. Loons are not typical residents of this area. They stop by during their migration.We started up the north bank of the lake (the shallow side) where eagles had been seen the day before. Before long we spotted two eagles in a tree. This is a male/female pair. Eagles mate for life; the female is typically the larger of the two. (See, it's not just a human characteristic!) Their normal life span is about 25 years. Also, eagles are about 5 years old before their heads turn white.As we approached the eagles, the male (a bit skiddish) flew off. However, the female stayed around and was a great model. She posed as we motored back and forth in front of her tree. She was really beautiful.We went around the corner and got a quick shot of the male before he flew off again.After about 1 hour of our 2 hour tour, the frozen rain really started to come down. We all decided that we had had enough "fun" for today and headed back to the state park. Overall, a very successful eagle watch tour.

And since we were in the general area, we headed to The Shack in Jessieville for a burger for lunch. Interesting how we plan our trips around places where we like to eat.

Birdy Christmas Tree

We have two bird feeders in our backyard. Now, we've decorated a tree for the birds. We put up our skinny "Charlie Brown" Christmas tree and decorated it with apple slices, orange slices and popcorn strings - hoping to attract more birds. It looks neat; now all we need are customers.We had to put heavy rocks around the base to keep the wind from blowing it over. Even with the rocks, our recent wind gusts of 35+ mph blew it over anyway - so much for our engineering.

Merry Christmas!

Our Christmas Tree Is Decked!

We've put up the Christmas tree and "decked the halls" (falalala....). The Christmas spirit is all around the house. Our new tree came with built-in lights. That may be "cheating", but it sure is a lot easier to put up. Here are pictures of the tree with and without the camera's flash - to better show the tree lights.We hope you and your kin have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Thanksgiving in Galveston, TX

This year we (Bob & Rosie, Chris, Amy, Adam and Lottie, Karen, Shane, Logan and Kayleigh, and Doug and friend, Ashley) got together to celebrate Thanksgiving together in Galveston, TX. We rented a big, old, restored Victorian house that is on the Texas historical registry. Eight of us slept in the house each night. Karen and family drove down from Dickinson each day (about 30 minutes). Here's a picture of the front of the house.

We had a lot of fun just relaxing over the holiday weekend. Here's Doug and Ashley taking Logan for a walk around the neighborhood.Chris and Lottie looking around the the Strand area of Galveston.We had a fun time using the heated pool in the backyard. It was a bit cool to swim but OK as long as you stayed in the water. Chris, Adam, Doug and Lottie are "enjoying" the water.Rosie (aka Gram) is having fun with the grandkids as they kick around the pool.Here's Aunt Amy working on Kayleigh's hair.For Thanksgiving dinner, Chef Shane fried two turkeys. They were delicious. Here's Chef Shane and his assistant, Bob (aka Bapa), getting ready to put in a turkey. We're waiting for the peanut oil to reach the proper temperature. Shane is helping Karen with her turkey selection. Hey - don't worry - both are delicious.The grandkids enjoyed playing with each other. The older three had fun taking a bath together; here's Lottie, Logan and Adam in the tub together.
Getting all four to look at the camera and smile at the same time proved to be difficult. Many shots were taken trying to get ONE good picture. Thank heavens for digital cameras.We also took some family shots.

Front row from L to R: Lottie, Doug, Logan, Ashley, Amy, Chris, Adam

Back row from L to R: Shane, Karen, Kayleigh, Bob, Rosie

Here's a picture taken on the stairs in the house. Ashley's missing from this shot since she was the photographer.

Thanks to everyone for making the trip to Galveston. We had a great time and look forward to getting together next year. Have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

2009 Hot Springs Spa 10K and 5K

On Saturday, 21-NOV-2009, we (Rosie & Bob) ran/walked the Spa 5/10K in Hot Springs, AR. The Hot Springs Spa 10K is always the Saturday before Thanksgiving. I guess after running/walking on Saturday, you don't feel so bad about "pigging out" over the next week. The race started at 8 am. The temperature at start time was about 50F. Much nicer than the 25-30F start temperature from last year.

Here's a group of Hot Springs Village residents (i.e. Village People), getting ready for the Spa Walk/Run.From left to right: Jean, Rosie, Barbara, Bob and Shirley.

We stayed inside the Hot Springs convention center as long as we could. Here's Bob and Rosie heading to the starting line.Rosie walked/ran the 5K in 40:38 or about 13.06/mile. Bob ran the 10K in 52.53 or about 8:32/mile. Both of us had a great time and look forward to next year. We hope you can join us. Just be sure to put in some "hill training" if you run the 10K. From mile 2.5 to 4 is almost all uphill. But from mile 4 to the finish is nice - plenty of downhill.

Leaf Looking - Drive to Mt. Petit Jean

On Saturday, 24-OCT, we drove to Mt. Petit Jean (about 75 miles north) to see the fall colors. Although the colors weren't at their peak, we still saw some very pretty sites both at Petit Jean and along the way. Here's the first photo taken from the car on the way up.

We stopped at the first lookout in the park. We not only saw some pretty trees but also some black vultures just "hanging out." They weren't camera shy.We next stopped at a place where we could get a good look at Cedar Falls. Since we've had a lot of rain in Arkansas, the falls was flowing very nicely (and making a lot of noise).We also got some good views back down through the valley.Here's a picture Rosie took on the way back.The green pine trees really make the color stand out.

We also stopped at The Shack - our favorite place to get an old fashioned hamburger. Since we had already had lunch, we shared a small peanut butter/hot fudge shake. Yummy!

We simply couldn't resist this final photo. Each year during hunting season, the local liquor establishments put up signs saying, "Welcome Hunters." That seems like a great idea - NOT! That's all we need - a bunch of "liquored-up" hunters roaming around the woods. Maybe this is an evil animal rights plot; i.e. drunk hunters don't shoot straight.We hope you're enjoying the changing seasons and getting a chance to see some of God's beauty.

Fishing with the HSV Anglers' Club

On Friday, , 23-OCT, I (Bob) fished in a tournament with the HSV Anglers' Club; Dallas Middlekauff was my partner and we fished from his boat. We have tournaments about twice/month during the "warmer" months. However, Friday was not one of those warmer or nicer days. The temperature was about 50F and the wind was 5-15 mph; a pretty blustery day to be on the water.

In spite of the lousy weather, I had an OK fishing day. I caught a largemouth bass that weighed about 2.5 lbs and a striper that probably weighed 8-10 lbs. The striper was especially fun to catch since I was using lightweight fishing tackle. He fought hard and took more than 5 minutes to get into the boat.
I also won the "big bass of the day" prize for my largemouth bass. What a surprise!

Trip to Texas

On Friday, 02-OCT, we (Rosie and Bob) left HSV headed for Killeen, TX, and Ft. Hood. Chris, Amy, Adam and Lottie live in Ft. Hood after returning from Japan. We had a fun but short visit with them at Ft. Hood; on Saturday morning all of us packed up and headed for Dickinson, TX, to see Karen, Shane, Logan and Kayleigh. This would be the first time all 4 grandkids were together. It was also Chris and Amy's first time to see Logan and Kayleigh and Karen and Shane's first time to see Lottie (actually Shane's first time to see Adam, too).

Bapa (aka Bob) and Lottie are getting ready to leave Ft. Hood on Saturday morning.

Aunt Amy holding Kayleigh.

A key reason we all went to Dickinson was to see Kayleigh's baby dedication at their church - The Magnolia Creek Baptist Church. Here's Karen, Shane and Kayleigh with the pastor at the front of the church.Well - here's the picture you've waited for - the 4 grandkids all together.From the left: Lottie, Adam, Kayleigh and Logan. Aren't they a cute looking bunch!

Chris got a chance to play with Kayleigh. However, I think the dogs wanted to join in the fun.
After lunch it was POOL TIME! The kids and some of the adults really enjoyed Karen and Shane's pool. However, it was a bit cool that day, but not bad to be able to get in the pool in early October.
We had a great time with the kids, spouses and grandkids. We plan to get together again at Thanksgiving; this time Doug and friend, Ashley, will get to join us.