CAN YOU BELIEVE THE MAN I LIVE WITH HAS TURNED 60?!?!?
I tell you what! It's hard for us to believe! I wanted his present to be something that would make this birthday fun and memorable so I decided a trip to Pebble Beach and golf on Pebble Beach and Spanish Bay courses would surely make it memorable! He emailed his "golfing" brothers to "kinda rub their noses in the fact he was going to play Pebble Beach" and said --- 'sure would be nice if you could join me' and before the end of the day, one had committed and by the next day, the other one had! It has become a trip of 3 couples and a visit with an uncle and aunt in San Francisco!!! We are leaving New Years Day, staying in SF for a couple of nights, staying at The Inn at Spanish Bay for a couple of nights, one night in Carmel and then back to SF before flying home on the 7th. I promise to have a few photos when we return!
We went to dinner at Perry's Steakhouse for his birthday night and had a few friends meet us there. It was a fun evening and the food was delicious! If you've never been, you MUST try it! Alan Kemp, Mark, Sharyn, Gary Chancellor and unfortunately, Bruce Romine left before the photo op! Thanks guys for a great evening and for making Mark's birthday extra special!
My Dad spent 5 days in Brackenridge Hospital here in Austin in late October. He and Mom spent the following 10 days with Mark and I and then they felt it was time to "be home". I drove them home and stayed with them for 5 days. Three days later, I left for Dallas to work for a week. Stephanie flew up and spent 3 nights with me. While I worked, she was able to do "fun stuff" and then we did some shopping at night and we met friends for dinner 2 different nights. WHAT FUN WE HAD! Both my parents had hospital stays during the last couple of weeks in November and Mark & I both spent 10 days with them. My entire family gathered at Mom and Dad's for Thanksgiving this year and it was great to have everyone together. I ended up with strep throat on Thanksgiving Day so I have no photos to share but it was indeed a great day in S. Texas! Anson, Reid and Lane LOVED the wide open spaces of the country and enjoyed playing in the plowed fields behind my parents house with their 2nd cousins. My parents were "in Heaven" having all the children in their home.
Today is MY baby's 34th birthday! Hard to believe she's all grown-up with a family of her own but she makes ME the proudest Mom. HAPPY BIRTHDAY SWEETIE PIE! I LOVE YOU!
Lori & I went to Savannah over Labor Day weekend this year on our 11th Annual Girls Trip and ---- WOW! It's really pretty in "The South" and well preserved!
We saw beautiful homes,
beautiful churches;
First Baptist Church is the only church in Savannah that didn't close their doors during the Civil War. I doubt seriously they wanted to welcome the Yankies but they did let them in!
Cathedral of St. John the Baptist.
Saw OLD oak trees standing magestic;
the Atlantic Ocean;
View from Fannie's on the Beach Restaurant
and boy did we eat at wonderful places:
Mrs. Wilkes Boarding House,
The food is served family style at tables of 10. We had 4 meats, 16 (SIXTEEN!) vegetables, cornbread, SWEET tea, banana pudding or blackberry cobbler. YUM!!!
Paula Deen's "Lady & Sons" restaurant,
You start standing in line at 9am and when you get to the podium, which was 1/2 down the block on the other side of the building, you get to be put on a reservation list for lunch or dinner. We waited 30 minutes and the only choices left for lunch were 11 or 1:45. It is a 3-story restaurant so they can handle alot of people at one time and they seem to have it down. They run a smooth operation! And yes, the food was delicious!
Clary's (Established in 1903 and made famous in the movie Midnight in the Garden of Good & Evil),
Fannie's on the Beach at Tybee Island
and had delicious shrimp on River St., which is right on the Savannah River.
We were not traveling for the Food Channel but it sounds like we could have been!! We ate alot of good stuff in alot of great places!!!
I can check something off my Bucket List that I didn't even know was on my Bucket List!!
We went to a transvestite cabaret show! We can now say "been there-done that"!! It's hard to believe "she's a he" but they put on a very entertaining show. Lady Chablis, from the movie Midnight in the Garden of Good & Evil, was the headliner for the evening. We went to the 8pm non-smoking show and were part of a very touristy crowd. I'm told the late show gets pretty raunchy so glad we went to the early "PG" show, which was a far cry from PG!!!
We had lots of fun seeing all the sights and would love to go back again sometime--if for no other reason than to eat the delicious food!!
I love to get out on the lake with my "kids"---all of them! Mark had made plans to play golf with a friend but I decided a morning on the lake would be good --- and it was!
For those of you that know Lake Travis, you KNOW it is very low right now..... lowest in 46 years!!! Our 2 yr. rainfall is almost 33" below normal!!! This is a photo from the deck of Lakehouse Grill....it is in Driftwood and we get there via boat. (DELICIOUS food if you've never been--try it out!) And yes, we climbed from W-A-A-A-Y down there where you see boats docked! It's further down than it looks and trust me when I say you'll be winded when you get to the top! The hour ride to get here showed many dock graveyards! I'm beginning to sound like a broken record but .... we need rain!!!
Here are a few pictures from our relaxed ride to and from brunch at Lakehouse Grill.
Thanks Steph, Stacy, Anson, Reid and Lane for a fun morning!
Stephanie, Stacy & Anson went to Colorado in July. A 16-hour drive is still a bit much for Reid and Lane so they stayed behind. Jane & I put our heads together and decided the best plan was to divide and conquer!! It worked out beautifully! Lane came to stay with us first (on Friday) and we had lots of fun playing in the swimming pool. I let him fill it each day and luckily for me -- he didn't want it very deep so we could move it each night to prevent the grass from dying underneath. (We scooped out the water each night and our thirsty flowerbeds appreciated the extra drink!)
Lane
Lane & Pops enjoyed splashing. Enjoy the video!
They were very excited to see each other at "school" on Tuesday.
I brought Reid home from school with me on Tuesday and kept him until Thursday, when they went back to school.
Reid
This is a MUST SEE video!! (Be sure you have the volume turned on to hear Reid's belly-laugh.)
Jane & I picked them up from school at noon on Thursday and went down to their home in Rockport. The children had a great time playing together. Back to Austin on Sunday for the arrival of Mom, Dad and Anson. They had a great time in Crested Butte with lots of stories to tell including A BEAR GOT IN THEIR SUBURBAN but fortunately no damage!!!
AUGUST
Anson came to spend a few days with us the first week of August. We did what all grandmothers want to do in their life----we went to the SNAKE FARM!
We were then off to NATURAL BRIDGE CAVERNS. They were very pretty and I would recommend going.
Our journey then led us to San Antonio. We enjoyed the hotel swimming pool, dinner at LaMargarita and breakfast at MiTierra but Anson thought their decor was too "messy".
We took him by The Little Church in LaVillita so he could see where his Nan and Pops got married.
Then off to N. PADRE ISLAND. I particularly chose red to mention the beach because that was the color of my back!!! I was so busy making sure to reapply sunscreen on Anson, I forgot to have Mark reapply the sunscreen on my back!! YIKES! You'd think I'd have learned in all my years!! As most if not all of you looking at this know, I'm a person that loves to get up early to watch the sunrise. It's just a special, peaceful time of day for me and many times, it's just "me and God" (---have you heard that song by Josh Turner??--great song!) Mark does join "us" most of the time when he's along. This trip, Anson & I made a deal: the first one to wake up was to wake the other one so we could watch it come up together. Mark got up too so we all enjoyed it together each morning!!
Anson enjoying his hot chocolate.
This is a view from our room. I love being right on the beach! It just can't be beat!
There are some who might wonder 'why in the world would you take a bike to the beach?'----WELL--here's why! He and his Pops built ramps and trenches for him to ride over and through --he put many-a-mile on his bike that day and had a blast dodging the waves and riding through the water!
And at the end of the day, don't we all like to feed the seagulls our left-over bread??!?!?!
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