Visitng the Karen and Family in Dickinson, TX / DEC 31 - JAN 03

Our drive from Ft. Hood over to Dickinson was easy - thanks to the EZ Pass from Chris.  We arrived in Dickinson before lunch.  We then jumped into their pickup and headed to Chick-fil-A for lunch.  We ate and the kids enjoyed playing.

That afternoon while Kayleigh had her nap, Logan, Karen, Gram and I enjoyed playing the game Mouse Trap.  We played several rounds and had a great time.

On Sunday morning we went to Magnolia Creek Baptist Church for morning worship services.  Karen sang with the praise team and had to leave early.  Gram and I had fun bathing Logan and Kayleigh and getting them ready for church.  Here they are all dressed up and looking good!

Good helper dog, Bug, was always in the kitchen when there was cooking in progress.  He didn't want to miss the action.  He's so big it's hard for him to maintain a "low profile."

That night we had an fun session of Uno Attack.  Logan won the first two hands!  I think the machine liked him.

The Flachmans got a trampoline for Christmas.  Logan and Kayleigh are enjoying bouncing around.

Hey, look guys - I can levitate!

Karen is catching some serious air under this leap.  Love that hair!

On Tuesday morning Gram and I got to take Logan and Kayleigh to school.  After dropping them off, we started the drive home to Arkansas.  On the way back to HSV, we stopped at Lufkin to eat lunch.  Across the road, Rosie saw an oil pumper decorated to look like a reindeer.  It was also pulling Santa in a sleigh which you can't see in the picture.  When we saw this we thought, "only in Texas."

Flachman clan - we had a great visit.  Hope to see all of you again soon!

Visiting Chris and Family at Ft. Hood / DEC 26-30

On the Monday after Christmas, we drove from HSV to Killeen, TX (Ft. Hood) to visit with Chris, Amy, Adam and Lottie.  Santa had come and the Christmas excitement (or frenzy) was winding down.  Since the after Christmas sales were in full swing, we headed to a local mall with Amy.  Rosie, Adam and Lottie are "chilling" in the mall.

 

Adam and Lottie enjoyed modeling their new PJs.  Looking good!

When Dad came home, Adam enjoyed wearing his hat.  Almost a good fit!

We went for a drive around Lake Belton to see the Christmas lights all around the lake.  It was a really fun drive with lots of lights.  Here are a few samples of the lights:

Amy is a great train track builder.  Here she is helping Adam put his train and city together.

On Friday we visited the Railroad and Heritage Museum in Temple, TX.  It was a neat place to visit.  Inside they had a lot of history about trains and a Christmas model train display.

Outside, there were real trains to look at and climb on.  Adam and Lottie are on the engine.

They even got to climb inside the engine.  "Lookout down the track!"

Gram enjoyed her trip through the engine.

The Museum also has a playground attached.  It was very popular with the kids.  Chris is pushing Adam and Lottie (plus another unidentified kid) on the tire swing.

After the Museum we drove down to Austin and had lunch at Chuy's - delicious!  The kids got ice cream push-ups for dessert as part of their meal.  Lottie is enjoying her push-up.

Thanks for the fun visit!  Now it's on to Dickinson and the Flachman clan.

 

National Audubon Christmas Bird Count 2011

On Monday, 19-DEC, Rosie and I participated in the Audubon Society's 2011 Christmas Bird Count.  A national count is done each year in December.  Here's our team (except for John Taylor who took the picture):

From right to left:  Carolyn Minson (our team leader and outstanding birder), Rosie, Lillie Wallick, RHC, Angela Taylor (kneeling), Donna Osborne and Vic Prislipsky.

We had a morning break at Bill and Penny Kasdorf's house on Lake Sophia.  Bill had the outdoor fireplace going.  It was a great time to warm-up, have some snacks and count the ducks on the lake.  My priorities were fireplace and snacks.  Surprised?  I thought not!

We had lunch at Cranfords' - a local grocery store that also has a sandwich bar.  It's convenient since their eating area has windows on two sides.  You can eat and continue to look for birds.  Here I am looking for birds during lunch.  Don't I look like a "bird geek"?  Looks can be deceiving.

John Taylor got many good bird pictures during the day.  Here's a picture of a red tail hawk in flight.

We started at 7:30 am and finished at 5:15 pm (it was getting too dark to see birds).   As a team we saw 60 different bird species (an excellent day) and a total of 614 birds.  Thanks to Carolyn and the entire team for a great day!

Doug and Ashley's Wedding, December 10, 2011

On Saturday, 10-DEC, Doug and Ashley Kulju were married in Westerville, OH, at Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church.  We had a great time at the wedding.  We also enjoyed visiting with all our kids and grandkids, plus family and friends.

The wedding rehearsal was Friday night.  Ashley's parents, Bill and Ann Kulju, watched the  activity. 

Rosie and I were photographed by three year old Lottie, the candid camera girl.

Doug and the groomsmen practice following Pastor Will Hartfelder to the podium.  Pastor Will called it "dead man walking"!

 Here's the wedding party with Pastor Will.

Adam and Logan enjoyed playing Angry Birds on one of the phones.

The rehearsal dinner was at Brios' Italian restaurant.  The food and service were great.  I think everyone had an enjoyable evening.  Here's Amy with Lottie and Adam at the rehearsal dinner.

Saturday morning we went to First Watch for brunch at Doug's request.  Adam wanted to eat with the groomsmen and tried to contribute to the conversations.

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The wedding started at 5:30 pm on Saturday.  Adam, Lottie and Kayleigh are ready to do their "ring bearer and flower girl duties."  Don't know where Logan was, but I'm sure he was ready!

Lottie did have time to get a picture of Aunt Karen.

The flower girls are ready.

Here come Adam and Lottie down the aisle.

Followed by Logan and Kayleigh.

They all looked really cute.


Here come Ashley and Bill.  Ashley was beautiful in her wedding dress.

Here's the bride, groom and attendants during the wedding.

What a great looking group!

Everyone looks a little relieved now that the service is over.


Here are the parents with the newly weds.

Doug and Ashley make a great looking couple!

After the wedding we all headed to the reception at the Medallion (Westerville) Country Club.  All the attendants were introduced.  Here comes Chris - Doug's best man - and Abby Kulju - Ashley's sister and maid of honor.

The wedding cake consisted of lots of cupcakes - 4 different kinds.  Using multiple data points, I can tell you they were all good.  Ashley and Doug cut the first cupcake.

The panda bear cake topper that Ashley ordered from Hong Kong was really cute.  

The little kids really enjoyed the dancing.  Lottie is getting Logan out on the dance floor.  "Let's boogie cousin!"

Shane is having fun with the little boys.

Chris and Adam are having a good time.

All the seats had horns to blow.  The newlyweds were to kiss whenever the horns were blown.  Adam and Logan enjoyed their dinner and blowing their horns.

Doug and Rosie had a son-mother dance.

Doug and Ashley danced with the kids.  This got the rest of the group into the dancing mood.

During the wedding we stayed at the Hampton Inn.  It was very nice and ideally located for all the activities.  Here are the four grand kids in front of the Christmas tree in the lobby.

Finally, here are all the kids and grand kids.

Ashley - welcome to the family!  We're excited to have you.  We hope you can stand the craziness.