2024-03-18 A Breath of Jasmine School Play Competition

Monday evening, Elaine and I drove into town to see my granddaughter Morgan performing in a play called "A Scent of Jasmine" for Steele High School. She wasn't originally too happy about being cast as an older southern woman but she nailed the part.

If I hadn't been able to see her, I would not have recognized Morgan speaking as she had the character and voice down perfect.

Morgan's play won the district competition and and she received an award for best actress. We are very proud of her.

Morgan and her very proud Dad.

 

Dancing the Night Away

I made a spur of the moment decision on Saturday and I am so glad I did. My granddaughter's dance recital was Saturday night in Brownwood TX. My son and DIL were driving up there for the recital but they were picking up the kids from their mother on Sunday morning to head out on a summer vacation so they weren't coming back here to San Antonio. It has been a couple of years since I got to see Morgan dance and my grandson Cameron was playing his trumpet during intermission as well. So I made a motel reservation and headed out on the 4 hour drive to Brownwood about 1pm so I could arrive, check in to the motel, and drive a further 12 miles to the auditorium for the 6pm program. I decided to spend the night because there are a lot of deer with trees and brush close to the road at our end of the journey.

The theme of the program was "Take Me to the Movies". Morgan was in a number of the dances.

"Theme from Love Story" from Love Story.........Morgan is right under the "Take Me" in the sign,

 "The Greatest Show" from The Greatest Showman....Morgan is in the middle. I guess I caught them in a very serious moment.

"Singin' In The Rain" from movie of the same name.  Morgan is on the left.

 My picture of  "Footloose" didn't turn out and it may have been my favorite one. Darn. My pictures aren't great but I took them with my phone and no flash so not so bad considering. Helen was using a fancier camera but the photos are on the way north in the camera with her.

During the intermission, the "Little Brass Band" played several songs. They were very good. Morgan is on the far left. The six girls just finished 6th grade and Morgan has been playing for less than a year. Cameron is the second from the right. The two boys just finished 8th grade. I think Cameron's participation was definitely not his idea but he put together the music and got his friend to play also. I may be a little prejudiced but they were really good.

We got a couple of pictures right after the performance.....my son Steve and me with Cameron and Morgan. Gee, I thought I had a few more months before he was taller than me but I see I was mistaken. By the end of the summer, Morgan will be taller than me too. I'm 5'8" or at least I was. Since Steve is 6'4" and their mother is 5'10", heighth is to be expected.

Steve and my DIL, Helen, with the kids. Morgan got a unicorn this year instead of roses since they were leaving early the next morning on their summer trip together. I'm glad they are getting to go on this trip with Steve and Helen but I sure am going to miss them as they will be gone a long time.

Busy Days at Home

Back at Grandma's house after a mini vacation at the hotel.  Did you ever see so many chicken legs?

Steve and Helen are looking for a house in San Antonio as they are going to be moving here so we had to fit a lot of househunting in this week.  When Helen was able to go look with Steve, the kids and I went to Pickerel Park for several hours.  Cameron and Morgan had a great time.  They love this park.

Grandma also had a great time watching the kids and reading her kindle under a shade tree.

Bean Bag Toss Anyone?

Steve and Helen bought one game for the whole family and it got put to good use while they were all here.  Some people call it the Bean Bag Game and some call it the Corn Hole Game but it is getting to be pretty popular.  There are two "boards" and 4 bean bags for each team.  In this case, the boards fold in half lengthwise.  Steve wanted it to fit in the RV, he thinks ahead.  They played this game in Florida at a friends house a couple of summers ago.  Those boards were home made and very heavy.  Steve said that some of the guys built this game to play while he was in Afghanistan.  Anyway, Cameron really liked it and was pretty good even though he was only 7 at the time.  The "girls" team was sizing up the opposition.

Steve and Cameron were ready.

I'm not sure if Steve was cheering or he just threw the ball for Harley.  You can believe that Harley was right there in the thick of things.  He didn't try to get the bean bags but he kept trying to get the kids to throw his ball instead.

Morgan checking to see if she hit the board.

It's a fun game for all ages.  Give it a try if you have a chance.

Christmas with Family and Friends

We had a wonderful Christmas dinner.  Oh, the food was good but the company was even better.  In addition to our son and daughter-in-law, Steve and Helen, as well as Cameron and Morgan, we were also joined by Margareta and Susan.  Both ladies are RVing friends of mine and it was great to have them with us.

Once again, Helen jumped up to man the camera.  There would have been more pictures of the food but everyone was too eager to dig in.  Helen does a lot of things really well and having her around to help with getting dinner ready was wonderful.  It meant that neither one of us was worn to a frazzle and everything was ready right on time.  Here is to many more dinners fixed and celebrated together Helen.

It would have been nice to have our other son and daughter-in-law, Brian and Lorri, and Zoe, Kirsten, and Mike with us as well.  Maybe one of these years.  Family, good friends, good foods, good times......it doesn't get better than this.   Hope you had a wonderful day too.

Morgan's First Wheel-less Ride

Sunday was a very momentous occasion for granddaughter Morgan.  She rode her bicycle without the training wheels for the first time.  Since she is six, it might not seem like such a big deal.  But it definitely was to her.  She couldn't keep up with Cameron in the past so bike riding was really no fun for her. And it was kind of an ordeal for everyone else too.  She just couldn't make the bike go where she wanted it to go.  Her Dad finally decided that maybe she just needed to give it a try without the trainers.  He showed her how to always start with her foot on the pedal at the top and then he ran beside her the first trip around the court but once she got it down, she was ready to roll and they were off around the neighborhood.  You have to be ready to try something new and this time Morgan was ready.

And she's off!

Playing Ball and Dancing the Night Away

Today was one of those really long days.  We were up and on the road from San Antonio to Brownwood TX at 0500.  I don't really consider that morning anymore because we drove an hour before it got to be daylight outside.  We arrived at Brownwood and found our way to the new baseball fields in time for Cameron's first game of the day at 0930.  Here he is in pitcher position even though the kids at this age use a pitching machine.  Someone has to be there to do the rest of the pitcher job.

Here he is sliding into 3rd base.

Now he is the catcher.  They rotate the kids to all of the different positions so they learn the game better and figure out what they are best at.

I'm not sure if Morgan was practicing her cheerleader moves or just having fun on the playground.

 The boys played three games today:  9:00, 10:30, and 1:00 so it was a long day.  They lost the last game or there would have been more games after that.  I think three games is a lot for an 8 year old, I know some of them were dragging.  Here is Cameron with his medal.  He also got game ball as he will be gone for the rest of the season.  Since he is going to spend the next 6 weeks with his Dad, he didn't think missing the upcoming games was any big deal.

After a short break at the motel, Steve and I were off to the Dance Recital in Bangs, TX about 10 miles away.  Have you ever been to a dance recital?  Interesting, one little girl cried all the way through the first number.  I'm guessing she was about 2, not more than 3.  What are parents thinking?  The recital started at 5:00 with a one by one parade across the red carpet.  There must have been 100 girls.  Then the dance routines started.  Morgan with her Dad at intermission.

This is the outfit for the second routine that Morgan was in.

At the end of the show, each of the girls received a certificate and some of them got flowers from their families.

Here is the tired dancer and her proud Dad after the show which lasted until about 8:15PM.

The kids went home with their mother and we finally got some dinner before hitting the bed early.  Tomorrow at noon, we pick off the kids and head back to San Antonio to get the RV ready.  If all is ready, we will head out to Florida on Monday.