Christmas Morning Arrives

Christmas morning and who was up first???  That would be Grandpa of course.  Any other day, he is the last one up but he said he couldn't sleep.  I think he likes Christmas.  So when the kids woke up, the Christmas lights were all on.  Morgan came flying in to wake up her Dad but she got the wrong room so I got her first excited squealing.  Then she was off to wake up her Dad and Helen.  Funny how they took a while to pull themselves together and get downstairs.

Dave said Willy made a beeline for the "doggy stocking" when he let the three dachsies out of their crates.  I guess he could smell the doggy treats.  Gretchen is heading down with hers and Willy is just getting his.  I think Harley was first so he was already down.

Cameron found a Yoda in his stocking.  So did Grandpa....they have interests in common.  Harley was a lot more interested in whatever Steve had in his other hand.

 I think this is a package of beef jerky which Cameron loves.

Ouch, scary picture.  Gretchen wanted to help me look in my stocking.

Then it was on to the presents under the tree.  Steve likes to hand them out so everyone gets one before we start opening them.

Steve and Helen will have lots of ornaments when they finally put up their own tree next year.

Cameron was excited about his fleece pajamas.

Morgan will be busy this afternoon.   She is our little artist.

Steve will be nice and warm riding his motorcycle in chilly weather now.  Can you see my present in the background?

The grand kids are always happy with whatever they get.  Their Dad and brother were the same way.  Fortunately, we have never had to get through one of those melt-downs some kids have when they didn't get a particular present they thought they just had to have.

Morgan loves getting clothes.

Hmmmm.  A sleeping bag.  Oh boy, this will work for camping.

Morgan got fleece pajamas too.

Another sleeping bag!  Harley told Morgan he would fit right inside with her just fine.

This was a present for the whole family from grandparents down to grandchildren.  It's a bean bag game (also sometimes called the corn hole game).  They already planned on how it would fit into Grandma's RV when they go camping this summer.

Steve and Helen got Cameron this Bey Blades set.  Steve thought it was kind of dumb but he knew that Cameron liked it.  The two of them played it continuously and, the day after Christmas, Steve was back at Walmart buying another top so he would be able to beat Cameron occasionally.

And where was Helen while this was all going on........oh, she was there.......but she was hiding behind the camera.  She took most of these pictures which is why it looks like she was missing in action.

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Happy Hanukkah or whatever and however you celebrate...we hope it was just as wonderful as our Christmas.

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!

Retama Park, San Antonio, TX

 Saturday night, we decided to experience something new.  None of us had ever been to watch the horses run at Retama Park.  As an added incentive, parking was $5 but admission was free, and hot dogs and sodas were $.50 plus they had face painting for the kids and a clown.  How can you pass on some inexpensive entertainment?  We didn't plan on doing any betting so it was just for fun.

First we watched the horses come out and warm up.  The first race was for pretty young horses.  They get led out by more experienced horses and walked up and down the track.

Cameron and Morgan got to run around in the open area right next to the track so they could see the horses up close.

And then they were off.  After we watched the first race, we went up in the grandstand so we could see the other side of the track as well.

And they are off!  We watched three races and that was about enough.  There is some down time between each race and it was getting cooler.  We also wanted to check out the face painting.

There were about 30 designs the kids could choose from.  The line wasn't too long and the kids were excited.  You would never know that in this picture.  They knew they needed to sit still and they took that seriously.

Even Morgan sat very still.

This woman was really good.  You can see the dragon beginning to take shape.

Morgan wanted a unicorn.

This is definitely a fire-breathing dragon.

The unicorn turned out pretty well too.

Cute huh?

The kids were pretty excited about their "tattoos".  Too bad they had to get washed off in the shower a couple of hours later.

Santa Bowling

Steve and Helen picked up the kids from school at noon on Friday so they were back in San Antonio for dinner.  Saturday morning we were off to a Christmas party that the Randolph bowling alley put together for kids.  They got their pictures taken with Santa and his elf.

And then we got a family picture with Steve and Helen.  I'm not sure what caught Helen and Morgan's eye but the guys were focused.

Bowling equipment sure has changed over the years.  It's all electronic so Steve got it set up for them to bowl.

This is the screen you see overhead.

Morgan was cheering Helen on.  The place was lit up with Christmas lights.

Morgan has her own unique style.  You can see the bumpers that you can pop up in front of the gutters for kids.  Sure makes a difference.

Cameron can put a little more muscle into his throws at least for the first game.

Steve has done this a few times before.

The scores were not stupendous but fun was had by all.  The bowling had cocoa, orange juice, and donuts for the kids as well as coffee for the adults.  They did a great job.

In case you haven't guessed, Grandma took the photos.

Happy Anniversary

Wow, I am really behind on posting to my blog.  My son and daughter-in-law arrived on Sunday the 16th.  We were expecting them about 10 PM but they walked in at 6:00 PM just in time for dinner.  Seems that they didn't give us their real locations when they called in along the road.  They left Panama City way before dawn.  Anyway we were thrilled to see them.  We did a some Christmas shopping during the week and spent a little time looking at houses for sale.  On Thursday, the 20th, we took them to Cooper's BBQ Steak Nite for their anniversary which was actually on the 22d.  They got married here in San Antonio two years ago.

I think they enjoyed it and we enjoyed celebrating it with them.

Visit with Blogger Susan

On Sunday, I drove out to Fentress TX to visit my friend Susan.  She is a fellow blogger and full-time RVer who is currently working at the Leisure RV Resort.  Susan and Angel, her sweet little white dog, have a large 5th to call home.  I headed out across country following the directions from Hillary the GPS.  It was definitely a cross country back roads trip from New Braunfels on.  It was a pretty gray day with rain in the distance but I didn't actually run into any.

Susan fixed us a fantastic salad for lunch and then took me on a tour of the resort.  It's located on the San Marcos river.  During the warmer months, you would see toobers floating along here.

This lower area is for primitive camping. but there were no tents the weekend I was there.

In addition to full hook-ups for RVs, the resort has cabins to offer.  They are on wheels so, on the rare occasion that the river floods, the hookups can be disconnected and the cabins pulled to a higher location.  These cabins have a separate bedroom.

These cabins are all in one room.

You can also spend the night in a "treehouse" if you want to try something different.

The park has a pool but Susan and I have both seen hot tubs bigger than this although the area around it is nice.  I guess the river gets more use.

There is a nice playground for the kids.  And, although I forgot to take a picture, there is also a large enclosed area for dogs.

We sat outside after our walk and had a really nice visit.  Susan went in to get something and Angel is keeping a close eye on her.

Thanks for a really nice visit Susan.  I enjoyed seeing your park and having a great visit with you and Angel.

Post Script:  I forgot my camera up at Susan's on Sunday.  She had to make a trip to New Braunfels this week so we met at the Fork and Spoon for lunch.  The Tortilla soup and the Tomato Bisque soup was great.  Susan brought my camera and also brought me a cute little box of cake pops and cookies that she made.  Thanks again Susan.

Deck the Halls!

 I am so far behind on posting.  It all started last weekend.  DH decided he was going to put up the outside lights which really surprised me as he normally holds off until the last minute and doesn't get into doing this.  We carried all the outside decoration from the storage building.  He put lights up on the front porch and across the front of the garage.  I put up the wreaths and the pointsettias. And he put the inflatable Harley Santa up in the front yard.  That was it for him.  And the inside wasn't even started.

We don't have a huge tree anymore.  Haven't had a huge one since Gretchen was a puppy and we decided that it would be smarter to put the tree up on a table.  But last year, the tree was a mess.  Some of the lights were on all the time, some flashed on and off like a traffic circle, and some didn't light up at all.  So I decided to take them off and see if I could figure out what was wrong.  It took me over three hours to get them off because those little chinese workers attached them with miniature zip ties instead of the little clips.  Once I got them all off, I found out there were three of those little flasher bulbs on one string.  I replaced them all,  Didn't do a thing....still flashing, solid, and dead.  I tried replacing some more bulbs....nothing.  I finally through them all in the trash and went out and bought two replacement strings only this time I got the clear ones instead of the colored ones.  Well, I had to make another trip and get two more strings of lights because the new ones had the same number of lights but were only two inches apart.  It took almost three hours to restring all the lights because the top half of the tree comes off and the bottom branches fold up so you have to be very careful how you string them.  All in all, I was happy with how they came out but it would have been so much easier to just buy a new tree with the lights already on it.

And then I still had to put all the ornaments on it!  That took me quite a while the next day after I hauled everything out of the closet and downstairs.  Most of our ornaments are from the first few years we were married when we painted ceramic ornaments.  I also made some beaded ornaments and some felt ones.  And then there are the ones my mother and mother-in-law made and some the kids made.   And some we picked up in special places here and there.  So it is definitely our tree even though I have given the kids some of the ornaments they specially liked.

This is a little blurry but you can see all the lights on it.  It glows!

Harley climbed up on the back of the couch while I was decorating the fireplace in the family room.  Hmmm, what's with that?

I think he was a little annoyed because I told him he couldn't play with any of the balls on the tree.

Now I still have all the Christmas presents to buy, some to mail, and some cookies to make too.  I think I will wait until Monday as we are going to have a serious cold front come through and take away all this lovely 75 -80 degree weather we have been having.  Darn.