Beware!!!

Sorry it's been sooooo long since I blogged.

On my last post you saw where Chris was catching fish, on this one, he's about to be bit by one! (see picture)

On our way back to Texas from California, we spent a night in Las Vegas. One of the highlights was going to the Mandalay Bay and touring the Aquarium there. If you ever get the chance, go there it's awesome (but a little pricey).

Another highlight, at least for Jon and Chris, was Grampy and his trick-or-treat bag. Next time you see them, ask them to explain. Also, maybe Bruce will show you his "card collection" from Vegas. :-)

Fishin’ Pros

On Wednesday we (minus Bruce) got up and were on the road early, heading north to the Sacramento River where Becky and Les have their yacht anchored. Upon arriving, after a 2 ½ hour trip, it was so windy we weren’t sure we were going to be able to go out of the river to fish, etc. That would have been fine with us, it would have been fun to just sit on the boat and chill.

However, Les and Becky decided that we could at least take the boat out on the river for a cruise. After getting out there, they decided that it would be fine for fishing if we went back into one of the sloughs (sp?) where it was calmer. So we headed back to their slip, hopped in the car and went to the bait shop to buy day fishing licenses for the boys and sardines to use as bait.

We headed back out to their favorite fishing spot which takes about an hour to get to. First off, Les grilled hot dogs and brats for us to eat and boy were they yummy. Oh, let me backtrack. On the way out to the fishing spot we sat up where Captain Les sits and just enjoyed the weather, ate snacks (SALAMI!) and learned a lot about the river.

Back to the grillin. Les has this neat little grill that he attaches to the back of the boat and cooks away. Jon can attest to what a master griller Les is (we’ll tell you later what else he’s a master at), the boy ate two hot dogs and two brats!

After eating it was on to fishing. Chris has lots of experience shallow water fishing and this was Jon’s first experience fishing. Well, let me tell you, they both did themselves proud. With Les handling all the baiting chores (for which he was deemed the master), the boys both set to fishing and promptly caught fish. The pictures are of Jon with his first fish and Chris with one of the large catfish he caught. Chris ended up with seven fish, four catfish and three striped bass and Jon caught six striped bass. Jon was dubbed the Master Caster for his casting prowess while Chris earned the Catfish King title.

Jon and Chris both though it was pretty cool when Uncle Les let them steer the boat.

HUGE thanks to Becky and Les for letting us come up there and visit with them and their yacht. The boys are already talking about coming back and fishing the other “sweet spot” Les told them about.

New Wheels

Bruce got a new ride last week. His truck "Titus" had some mechanical problems that were going to cost some big bucks to fix so we decided that it was time to get him a new set of wheels.

I have a gold car and Titus was gold so he decided that he would keep in that tradition.

As seen in a previous post, we name all of our vehicles. Since this one is a Gold, Ford Truck, its name had to start with a G, F, or T. This new truck went through several names before we finally settled on one.

First name Bruce came up with was Goldilocks, but we decided that a girls' name just wouldn't do. Next was Gomer, but he was too dignified to be a Gomer. I suggested Tyrone but we decided that didn't 'fit' him either. Next came Thaddeus and Texas but he finally settled on Teddy Roosevelt. I call him Teddy but Bruce uses his full name.

I think Bruce's favorite part of the truck is its Sirrius radio. He can now listen to his Classic Country (Willies Place or Roadhouse) commercial free not matter where he is.

Enjoy the pics.

Our First House

Since I was in San Antonio this past week, I thought I'd go by the house we lived in for the three years that we were there (1977-80). It was the first house we ever bought and it was brand new. This is the house we lived in when Megan was born. Two shots, one closeup and one from across the street.

When we lived there there were no trees at the street and only one in the front yard, the one on the left side of the yard about the middle of the lawn (which you can't see).

Enjoy.

25 Year Award

I recently received my 25 year service award at our national convention. It was held in San Antonio so that enabled Bruce, Heather, Megan and Parker to come down for the presentation. Another special circumstance was that my boss, Nick, is president of the organization (CoSIDA) this year and was the one presenting the award.

Enjoy the pictures. Parker was asleep in his stroller for the picture.

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY

While the WV crew was here I snapped this picture with Grampy and six of the nine grandchildren. On the couch with Grampy are (l-r) Kelsie, Landry, Ashton and Kaylie. Brodie and Jon are behind the couch.

Chris was working, Parker couldn't miss school (Megan was on call and couldn't get the day off) and Brianna decided not to make the trip to Texas. We missed them.

West Virginia Kin

Jennifer, Kaylie, Kelsie and Kevin made trek recently from West Va. to visit us. The three days passed quickly and a good time was had by all.

They arrive around 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday and after they rested a bit (from the 18 hour drive) we went to Waco to visit my mom. Later that night we all met at Cheddars for dinner, compliments of Ninny.

On Thursday we loaded up two cars and headed for Frisco. Spent the day with Erin and her crew, swimming and eating.

Friday was spent shopping and a dinner at our house.

Thought it was cute when they gave Parker a cupcake, enjoy the picture.

They left to go home this morning, travel safe. We enjoyed having you!!!

PS - BJ we missed you.!!!!