Happy Holiday Season 2018!!

 

We wrapped up a great year (pun intended) with quite a few events during the month of December, the first of which was the Ugly Sweater Contest ... it doesn't get much uglier eh. Here's the blogster and Jo-Anne and our great friends for over a year now, Connie and Gary. Actually from the 30 or so participants Bruce won first place with his biker sweater outfit and $25 at Buffalo Wild Wings; just proving he was the ugliest there! Dig those tattoos.

 

Then a bit of karaoke with our DJ Andy and the girls with a rousing version of "Santa Baby."

 

With the silliness almost over we ventured to the kids' house for Christmas Day as we have for several years now. Leigh and Brooks have made an amazing transformation of the house over the last year and it really looks super, especially for the holidays.

Then the part that Everett waited for very patiently ... no, not necessarily the presents themselves, but the ability to rip the wrapping off and dive into the pile like he does with the leaves outside ... fun. About a minute after the nice pic below he was under a massive pile of paper ... moving too fast to shoot.

And we couldn't ignore Winston on that bed of fake snow that he assumes was put there just for him.

Finally the last wine toast of 2018 which was a really busy but fun year ...

... filled with travel, great friends, awesome food, good health, and a view of what we are going to do in 2019 operating out of our new home in Flower Mound Texas.

And a Happy New Year To All!

 

 December Bits and Bites

Leigh and Brooks wanted to celebrate their 20th anniversary in Las Vegas so over the weekend of the 16th we had Everett as a guest for two nights. At 8 his main forte is arranging, sorting, or counting things, so what better than our 500+ wine corks.

 

However, obviously, I didn't quite get the proper sorting technique down, but with a lot of guidance I finally passed the test.

 

Then over to Lego Land where we had a super time building all kinds of things from houses to race cars. Then next door to Sea Life Aquarium where we spent a lot of time with the animals. We got to watch them feed the sharks which was a hit and then pose with the Moray eel ... yellow face behind Ev. Ewww that thing was big and ugly and yet shared his nest with another eel, wow.

On another occasion we went over to the Aviation Heritage Museum with Ev and his mom and dad and had a nice afternoon exploring this nice selection of aviation artifacts located on Love Field in Dallas. Here's dad and the future pilot checking out the accommodations.

 

And finally here is Chef Bruce demonstrating how to cook a phyllo dough brie ... hah ... actually I was the student in one of our cooking classes ... and Jo-Anne is laughing as my brie was oozing in the oven.

 

More to follow as we move through the Holiday season and wrap up the busy yet fun year of 2018.

Fall Review

 After we got back from our Big Bend adventure we immediately rolled into the very active life in this apartment complex. First up was Halloween and the mandatory costume party.... well. I went as the eagle below. While a good idea and got raves at the party it was HOT and I could only stay in it inflated for a few minutes ... maybe a different idea next year.

 

Jo-Anne rummaged through my old duffle bags and came up with my desert uniform for the occasion; actually looking quite good, even though she had her slippers on inside the boots to make them fit. We made her name tag to read, "GI JO". The party and dancing though were great though and a lot of fun, even though I had to shed the giant eagle outfit ... lost five pounds in sweat.

The next we headed south to Bryan to work the final estate sale for my parents' remaining property and it was work but fun as usual. The highlight was seeing brother Bill from California and made even more special because he brought new friend Zack, and they make a perfect couple and we hope we can see more of her in the future.

We did dispose of a lot of stuff at the sale and also had that last chance to bring home treasures like these bronze shoes ... remember them?

 

And Dad's desk that he built in 1943 and used constantly until he passed now has a new home in our apartment and is Jo-Anne's new art center for painting and drawing.

 

 

On Veterans' Day the Overture apartment management dedicated a Veterans garden complete with flagpole and future bricks in our names, which was a really neat gesture. Below are Doug, Gary, Larry, Tom, myself, Lonnie, and Bud; representing many years of military service from Korea through very recent retirements ... what an honor.

And to wrap up today a nice shot of the little stream behind our place on a nice fall day ...

... with today being about 33 degrees and a mix of winter precipitation, a nice shot indeed. We'll get to 2019 eventually but have more of 2018 to add to the blog before we wrap up a really busy yet fun year.