October 2021

 10/31 - Halloween.  Landon was going to a friends house to hang out and go trick or treating.  He had last minute costume to be a safari guy??   Kasey had convinced us to get her a big red blow up costume that was really fun but not so practical.  Anyway, she had asked a few friends to come over, then a few of her new friends also came over.  Kasey went to like 2 houses as the big red dog then decided it wasn't worth changing batteries so she had on underneath her shirt that says this is my human costume I'm really a chicken nugget.    5 girls ran around our neighborhood.  Greg and I sat outside with candy and watching the cowboy game with neighbor in his front yard

10/30 - today was a crazy day.  I went with the band to Mesquite for Regional marching contest.   We had call time at 6am, the band practiced before we left.  Then we got there and they got ready and performed in the morning.  We had Rudy's BBQ catered for lunch - yum.  Then we all headed to Forney high school for afternoon practice.   The volunteers sat in the shade and had some snacks :)   Then we went back to Mesquite to get results and Allen made the finals.   This is a big deal as they haven't done this in a few years.   We all had dinner, the directors talked to the kids about being proud of what they accomplished and not negative that they shouldn't make it.   They performed pretty well, but ended up getting 10th (out of 10) in the finals for Area.   At the end all finalist bands come on the field.  Because of the size of Allen it took our band the same amount of time to get on the field as 9 other bands competing.    It was a long day, but fun to be a part of.  I think we got back to the school after 11pm.

10/29 - Greg helped out with band and it was an away game so Kasey and I went to dinner with Grammy and Gramps.  We went to Chepas - yum!!

10/23 - Kasey made all city band so she got to go to a clinic with visiting director (who is actually someone that volunteers and has kids in the Allen band), learn new music in several hours then perform for the parents.   Proud of her for making it.  

Landon went to his first homecoming the same day.  He was going with a group of guy friends - they all agreed to wear collared shirts and slacks or suit pants - no tie, no coat.   They don't like planning at all.  They finally decided to get dinner at Black Walnut cafe.   I took a few of the boys up there.   Then after dinner I took them to the dance.    There was a huge line at the high school.  I told them to text me if they didn't want to stay.  They stayed for a while then went back to one of the boys houses.  They played basketball in their nice clothes - they had actually planned ahead for this taking tennis shoes :)

the only picture I was able to get of the group was after dinner when it was already mostly dark.  Not great, but I got a picture.

Greg went to A&M for South Carolina game with the boys.

10/22 - I volunteered with the band at home game.  They really needed extra people on the field to help so Kasey got to help hand out snacks to all the high schoolers after halftime while Greg helped in the field.   Pretty cool.

10/16 - I volunteered with the band for Regional marching contest.  We had call about 9am and were back around 2:30pm.  The band advanced to the next level of competition at Area marching competition.

10/13 - Kasey went with me to volunteer with the band.  We were changing a part of all of the uniforms to the show uniform.   Let's just say undoing and redoing a bunch of buttons was hard on the hands.

10/9 - All 4 of us went to College Station for the Alabama football game.  We ate at Copy Bridge for some burgers with friends.   We went to the game.  I figured this game we would either lose bad or win.   We beat the number 1 team in the country.   Right after the win we got a fun picture of the 4 of us.   Both of the kids were even into this game.  Fun times!  Gig'em

10-8 - Today was boo bowl where the band dresses up in Halloween costumes.  Landon and one of his friends dressed in Christmas sweaters and hats.   I had to borrow a sweater from a friend a work.

10/7 - Julie and I got to go to a Girl Scout VIP event  on behalf of TI.  It was a happy hour that was part of the Women of Distinction luncheon that honors a few Gold award recipients and a few key ladies in the community.  It's a great program.

Greg was at USA/Jamica soccer game.  Grammy and Gramps came over to have dinner with the kids until I got home.

10/5 - Kasey's middle school band planned at the football game today.   This was the only time they were doing it.  Greg volunteered to help out.    I came from work.   I think there were more parents taking pictures of the band than watching the game.  Fun times.   The director started talking to the kids about going down on the field at halftime.   They had never practiced before.  She was joking but several of the kids believed her.  It was funny that several parents volunteering  were the same parents that volunteer at the high school band often.

10/2 - Greg, Dave, Kasey and I took bus to day trip College Station to see A&M play Miss State.   Landon had Marching regional competition that day.   Grammy and Gramps hung out with Patch and were home when Landon got home late.  We got about around 1:30am but somehow we lost our car keys.  Dave brought us home and we had to drive back to get the car the next day.   We had a pretty fun day.   We might have had a little to much to drink on the bus, the aggies lost and we lost our keys, but still fun.

September 2021

9/29 - We put Grimmy up - Kasey's 12 foot Grim reaper blow up for Halloween.

9/26 - Kasey had her first cotillion class.  She rides with 3 other girls.   Its fun to listen to them.  Many of the boys are shorter than the girls and most of the boys don't know a lot what is going on so they have a lot to talk about.

9/25 - Kasey had a birthday party at a mall dave and busters.   I took her up there, did a little shopping at Sam moon and then went to the bar for a drink and to watch the Aggies not play Arkansas very well.  I got to chat with her friends mom for a little while

9/20 - It looks like Kasey is officially taller than me.  I'm the shortest person in the family now :)

9/18 - Landon drove me for the first time to church for a court of honor.  Greg went to the A&M game with Doug.  I stayed home with the kids.

9/17 - I had an onsite/offsite with my managers.  We were in a room most of the day wearing masks because of the rules.   It was good to see each other.

9/16 - we went to Addison Oktoberfest on Thursday because it was the only day we could go.   Greg, Kasey, Doug and I went.   Kasey talked us into getting her a chicken hat.   The new setup the big tent is still covered but totally open on the sides.  As usual we had good food and drinks.

9/10 - Grammy and Gramps stayed with the kids while Greg and I went to Colorado for the A&M game. 

Friday Kasey went to football game with friends.  Landon was there with the band and then went out with friends afterwards.

We had earlier flights and had a bite to eat and drink in Dallas before leaving.  There was a guy in the bar with us that ended up at the same place we went to after we arrived in Colorado.  Friday night we went to Elway's for dinner.  Steak house which was pretty good.  

Saturday we had early lunch - really good burgers before we went to the game.  It was actually really warm in the sun, but luckily our seats ended up in shade after a while.  The game was a little crazy.   Aggies ended up winning but barely.  The fans from the other team were pretty rude - lots of language that made us think the kids should not go to school there!

We had a few drinks at the bar near the hotel before getting ready for dinner.   Saturday dinner was much different - much more upbeat vibe and I liked the food better than Friday. 

Sunday we came back home.   We didn't have to get a car because we were staying downtown.  We took a train to the area, walked to where we needed to go including dinner and the game.   It was a fund short weekend away.

9/8 - Landon really needed a hair cut but didn't want the short cut that he has been getting for a while.    I took him to a friend who recently got her license to help him find a style that is cool for a teenager :).  It will be a journey but glad we have someone to go to.

9/4 - We went down to A&M for the first home game.  It was red, white and blue game since it was near the 20th anniversary of 9/11.   The students organized again just like they did 20 years ago to have different tiers of the stadium wear red/white or blue.   Pretty cool to see the stadium that way.  

We stayed at Best Western.   After the game the kids went to bed and Greg and I had a drink at the bar.   Cool bartender and we enjoyed some bourbon.

August 2021

 8/28 - Greg, Doug and I went to speak easy where they have good food, lots of bourbon and drinks and sometimes have live music.

8/27 - First Allen home football game.  I volunteered with the band.  We get to be security, help kids take jackets off when they go to the restroom and make sure no one sneaks away or into the band area.   Watching and listening to them step off as they walk from the practice field to the stadium is really cool.   I've volunteered with PTA for many years, but volunteering with the band is really fun because you get to be around the kids.  They are good kids and seem to appreciate us helping.

A few of the dads are photographers for the band and they are great at capturing the kids through the season.  It's fun to go through the pictures and find kiddos and friends.

Greg and Kasey came to the game.   Kasey sat in the middle school section with friends and Greg hung out at the top most of the time.

8/20 - Greg and Landon went on water sports campout.  Landon got to wake board once, but had fun.  Kasey and I hung out over the weekend.  I started cleaning out my closet which was a complete mess.

8/16 - Landon presented is Eagle project to the troop at the weekly meeting

8/15 - Landon and Greg went driving today.  Landon drove home from Ereckson - he said it felt really weird, but exciting.

8/11 - First day of school - Landon started big high school campus 10th grader and Kasey started middle school as 7th grader.

They both had pretty good days.   Kasey doesn't have to many friends in her classes but knows someone in all of them.  She has several friends in band, and has a few friends that she eats lunch with.   She likes her history, science and math teachers, but doesn't really like her PE coach.  She has PE + homeroom + lunch all together which she says is really long.  That might change when she has to change clothes for PE.  Kasey is growing up a lot.  She got a phone at the beginning of summer.  She has many text groups and chats on discord.  She still says boys are icky, but admitted to me she has her first celebrity crush - Tom Holland (spiderman).   After pine cove and being around several other girls Kasey started shaving end of July.  She also showed interest in make up at the end of July.  We got some mascara and lipgloss.  I've seen her wear lipgloss but don't think she liked the mascara.  They grow up so fast.

Landon has to leave at 6:15am to get to band before school.  Our neighbor is very nicely taking Landon to band since he's driving and going anyway.  Landon has A and B days.  A days he's at the high school all day and gets out before last period about 3:15pm.   B days he has to take a bus to a different campus around lunch time and has 15 minutes to eat.  Not his favorite but hopefully the engineering class will be good.  Landon really just likes talking to and playing video games with friends.  He wants to try growing his hair out (which Greg is against), but we'll see how it goes.

8/9 - Last silver award class at Larkspur - making little Chickens and accessories.  We only had a few ladies but they had fun and got to have some of Kasey's yummy chocolate chip cookies.   

8/7 - Landon Eagle Scout court of honor.   I think the court of honor went really well.   We had several family members there, Doug came, our neighbor Steve and several Scout families.  We are able to get a picture of Landon with 4 other scouts who have all been in scouts together since early elementary school.   In the ceremony we got to celebrate that Landon was a 3rd generation Eagle Scout.  Landon put mom pin on my, I put Landon's Eagle award on him, he put his dad's Eagle award on him and Greg put Pops Eagle award on him.  Landon achieved his goal of getting further than both his dad and grandfather.   He completed 36 merit badges which is 15 beyond the required number for Eagle.  This means he earned 3 Palms.  Pops earned 1 Palm and Greg just completed the required number of merit badges.  I had put together a slide show of Landon from cub scouts to now which is really fun to watch as these boys have grown up together.  Kasey did the music for the slideshow.  She found the songs and did the edits which took a good deal of time.  Thx Kasey. For the display we showed several things from cub scouts including some pinewood derby cars and Landon's first place trophy.   On the boy scout display we showed several of Landon's patches for trips, leadership and ranks.  We also showed some of the things from 3 generation of Eagles.  We had all 3 of their order of the Eagle Sash, Greg's Merit badges and Eagle project folder.  Very fun event and we got some great pictures.

8/6 - We had Fan Fest and Watters Creek for the band.   I was there helping to set up pop up shop on the green.  I also ended up helping with security as the band walked down streets.   It's pretty nostalgic being part of that and seeing all of the band walk through.   I also helped with handing out water before going back to the pop up shot.  Greg was sitting on patio and Lion and Crown and may or may not have had drinks for when we had down time.   Fan Fest was really fun.  Got to see the band play, they shared some new songs, and we got to yell for different sections.

8/5 - Landon went with a friend for most of the day to Hawaiian falls then had to come to school to get additional band uniform fittings.  I was helping kids get fit again.  That day the band walked to the stadium and played in their spot.  Landon will be bottom corner of the band during football games - which means he's sitting right behind the drill team.

8/4 - I took a day and a half off to help with Ereckson PTA meet the teacher - we were selling membership, spiritwear and donations and I was one of the only ones who had been involved in in person events the years prior.   I was also working on Landon's Eagle Court of honor and helped the next afternoon with extra band fitting.

8/3 - Kasey went with friends to cheer on Ereckson teachers and see a few norton teachers as all of the teachers and staff went to the Allen convention center for convocation.

June & July 2021

 July 31 - helped band fit uniforms all day - lots of kids had never worn uniforms before so we had to fit them, teach them about uniforms and teach them how to hang them up.  I had to get up and down on the floor several times to help get the leg snaps the right length.   My arthritic knees didn't like this much, but I enjoyed seeing kids coming in to get fit.

July 30 - Landon's first pep rally with band - they streamed it live which was fun.  Took boys to school for uniform fitting so they could go to the lake for the weekend.

July 29 - Kasey and Lucy had another art class  on bookmark making for their silver award.

July 26 - 30 - Landon had summer band camp from 7-3:45 each day this week.  Monday he had flight school to get to know the new campus some.  He said he didn't learn much.  Tuesday and Wednesday he decided not to go to the evening activities.  Thursday was an all high school event - the band played and they had food trucks and dunking tanks and such outside.  The boys stayed for a while but not the whole time.

July 25 -  A few of my managers and I donated a beer tasting to united way auction.  Today we had that tasting with several other colleagues.  Some of which we hadn't seen for almost a year and a half.  Very fun tasting, yummy snacks and great getting to see people in person.  Westlake Brewery is awesome.

July 22 - Kasey did silver award class making small notepad holders with multiple people at Larkspur.  She was asked to bring them back the next week as a few people weren't able to go that day and time.

July 19 - 22 - This week was kind of the end of the summer for me.  I had 2 PTA board meetings, band board meeting and a girls night where we talked about not believing how fast our kids were growing up.   This time of year is always crazy getting back to school.   I also started thinking about Girl Scouts for this year.  As a few of the girls have made great progress on their silver awards others weren't able to make as much progress.  This year we are looking to raise money for a trip next summer.  The girls are going to create badge work for younger girls.  We also want to try cabin camping again - its been a while.

During this week Kasey had art camp with some friends that she enjoyed.  

July 18 - Greg birthday celebration with Grandma/Pops.  We went to Spring Creek for yummy BBQ and had Greg's dessert back at their place.

July 17 - Travis was the first of boys that Landon joined boy scouts with to have his Eagle Court of Honor.  It was nice to see families and also get to see details of the court of honor.   That night we went out for Gramps & Greg Birthday. We went to AKA Japanese Hibatchi then back to the house for homemade cobbler and ice cream.  

July 13 - For the first time in many months, we had several people in the office for in-person meeting. I took a picture.

July 3-10 Saturday we left early about 6am to get on the road and drive to Orange Beach.  The drive wasn't too bad until we got close.  We stopped to get Papa Murphy pizza to cook at our place.  Traffic was crazy going to the shore.   We got there, had dinner and hung out.  On the 4th we spent some time on the beach and decided that night to go on the beach with a drink and watch fire works.  We could see bigger fireworks down both ends of the beach and there were people pretty close by also setting off fire works.   Pretty fun.   On the 5th we had some beach time, early showers and headed to Flora-Bama - fun restaurant on the border between the 2 states.  On the 6th we had some rain and stayed inside most of the day.  That night we ate on patio at Fresh off the Boat - which happened to be just below one of our favorite restaurants.   Yummy food and dessert.  Greg ended up teaching the waitress how to open a bottle of wine - I think the kids were embarrassed but we like to help people.   That night I went for a walk on the beach listening to one of my favorite pod casts - smartless.  On the 7th we did some putt putt golf, got some yummy milk shakes.  That night we ate on patio at GT's on the Bay.  They had live music which I love.  That day and night the water was pretty rough. We went outside to the water.  Greg and kids got in and I took some pictures and got my feet in the water. On the 8th we went to our favorite go-kart place and drove several times on different tracks.  Then we went to play putt putt again which is fun.  That night we went to Cobalt for dinner.  We had to wait a long time.  We all had a few drinks waiting, they had live music outside.  On the 9th we went to the beach since it was our last day.  That night Landon, Greg and I went to Louisiana Lagniappe - one of our favorites.  On the 10th we got up and left really early again to get home.  It was a nice trip.  We got to relax, enjoy  the beach, good food and some fun together.    

July 1-2 - We left after lunch and headed to see family for the first time in too long.  Thursday night we had a smaller group and went to get BBQ.   Friday we watched a movie together, had leftovers for lunch and got ready for more family to come over.   We missed a few cousins because one was sick and another was out of town.  We still had fun catching up, talking to teenagers as they are growing up looking at the next stage of their lives.  Younger kids played. It was great to see most of the family.

June 26 - Gabby Sixteenciera - since it was cancelled in 2020 we finally got to celebrate.  We got all dressed up - got some good pictures, we all did some dancing (even Landon).  Kasey had just gotten back from camp so we didn't stay late.   Fun gathering though.

June 20-26 - Kasey went to Pine Cove for the week.  She was in cabin with most of the same girls from last year.  These girls really bonded because they got to be together in 2020 with all of the crazy COVID stuff.  Interesting how getting girls together same age from different places with different rates of growing up.  Church camp friends brought up good discussions about dating, shaving, make up.   She's growing up so fast.

June 19 - We celebrated father's day with Gramps at Numero 28 - yummy italian restaurant not far.  There was an older gentleman who came by offering to take a picture of us.  He held the phone the wrong way and took a picture of himself.   Sweet man.

6/14-15 - Kasey's dance studio decided to do recital just a handful of classes at a time.  Kasey was in 2 different performance times and performed 3 times.  The grandparents were able to come and see her perform.  Next year she has decided just to do hip hop.  

6/8 - The girls had prepared and presented their first silver award class where they made bracelets.  The girls prepared the materials, made scripts, prepared kits for others who couldn't be there and taught about 13 ladies how to make them.

May 2021

 5/24 - 28 - Kasey and I left for mother daughter trip to Universal Studios.   We flew in Monday, went to the parks Tuesday through Thursday and flew home Friday.  We went back and forth between the parks - walking and taking Hogwarts Express.   We ate dinner at the resorts most nights, and lunch in the park.   We tried the first 2 days to get a time for Hagrids new ride and didn't luck out.    The 3rd day we got up early and headed to the park.  We finally got in line to ride it.  Awesome ride.  We then later got a time to come back.  Sadly when we came back at that time we waited in line over an hour which was longer than anything we had waited for.   We stayed at Loews Portofino which is really nice and includes express pass which allows you to get in shorter lines - completely worth it.  Wednesday night we went to Margaritaville - at Kasey's request - we got there for our reservation and went into the store.   We got a few things and checking out the guy asked if we had gone on the new Velocicoaster.  We said no, we thought only season ticket holders could go.  He said no they were testing it and to definitely try it.  We decided after dinner we were going back to try and ride it.   We got in line and rode it - AWESOME ride so we tried to ride it again in single rider.   It closed down for a little while and we were stuck in an area that kept repeating the same videos over and over.  The story is that the ride is part of Jurassic world park and they are letting velociraptors out and the ride will safely keep you away from them.  The ride goes up to 70 miles and hour and has up to 12 seconds of being weightlessness.    Such a great ride, we were so excited that we got to ride it.  Our last day we got to ride it one more time.  Fun trip!

5/22 - Boys left for Sea Base high adventure - they flew to Florida, spent a day going on an airboat tour getting to see some of the marshes and got to hold a baby alligator.   On their Sea Base trip they sailed on a boat for a week working on the boat, cooking, snorkeling.  They got to see turtles and some nice sunsets along the way.

5/21 - Landon got his driving learners permit - after last day of school Greg took him to get his permit.   

5/18 - Band spring concert at the high school.  They had concerts by band, Landon was in Wind Ensemble (highest band for his grade).  This was the first band concert that didn't have designated seats for parents.  Greg and I were both able to go but we could only have 2 people per student.

5/17 - Landon turned 15.  Landon had his Eagle board of review tonight.   Grandparents, Kasey and I all went up there.  Greg and I got to hear the end of his review and then we took pictures of him, Landon and Travis who also had his Eagle BOR the week before and with the family.  We are all very proud of him.   Landon and Travis were also presented to the troop as newest Eagles, it was posted on facebook as latest double eagles - Eagle Scout and Allen Eagle.

5/15 - Landon solo and ensemble contest - he got a 2.  We had a big family dinner for Landon's birthday.  We went to Bavarian Grill - I don't think my parents had been before.  Greg and I go often - trying to help local businesses during COVID of course.  Yummy beer, food and we pre ordered the Black Forest cake which is always good.

5/14 - In and out burger dinner at Norton - our last event at the Elementary school.  We paid ahead and then went to get our burgers, chips and drinks.  We ate outside at a local park with friends.  Fun to watch the kids interact with each other and get to catch up with parents - in COVID world we didn't get to see much of this.

5/12 - Greg and Doug volunteered to help set up Coaches night.  I drove down after work.  We got our picture with Orange Bowl trophy and got to try some Aggie bonfire whisky and vodka.

5/9 - Mother's day with Grandma, we had lunch at Abuelos - a favorite for everyone.  We also had Mother's day with Grammy - yummy meal and BJs with dessert and all.

5/8 - had end of year girl scout event -  We want to Lupe Tortilla to eat, and then had nothing bundt cakes for dessert - we bought them during Norton Spirit wear week.  The girls shared their silver award plans and got to fill out a sheet on their moms to give to them for mothers day.

5/7 - Girl Scout leader awards - we had outdoor leader award meeting.   fun to see other leaders and appreciate awards for several friends and fellow leaders.

5/4 - Last Norton PTA meeting - 10 years in the making - I have been on the Norton PTA for 10 years.  This was my last meeting.  Kind of bitter sweet.  I will still be involved with PTA at other schools but no longer at Norton.

Also that day we spent several hours putting together rose bouquets in vases for teachers.  We use the roses as fundraiser to help pay for 6th grade graduation.  

5/1-5/2 - Great wolf lodge - I took Kasey and a friend to Great Wolf Lodge for Saturday and Sunday.  It was Girl Scout cookie award weekend and they didn't have enough girls to earn the award.   We got there in the afternoon and the girls went to ride rides in the water park.  They did several on their own and let me ride a few of the big rides where we all got into a big tube.  One of them was a big drop into a funnel that took us back and forth - I had to convince the girls to go on this.

April 2021

4/24 - lifetime award banquet - as VP of membership I was there to help present lifetime awards to teachers and parents at our school.  this was one of the first events that didn't have true social distancing even though we still had masks.   That night we had a dinner out with friends.  It was really nice to get together for the first time in a while.

4/17 - Camp James Ray - Landon's campout.  He was part of the tug o war and go cart teams below.

We had a fantastic full day of scouting today.  Scouts woke up early to start breakfast this morning to “be prepared” for a full day of fun.  Our day started with our troop leading the flag opening ceremony and then quickly went into range activities for archery, shotgun, and rifles.  Scouts enjoyed refining their range skills and improved their marksmanship.  

Next up was a quick lunch to fuel up for our afternoon competitions.  The tug-of-war was first the first camp-wide game and I am happy to report that Troop 1299 was victorious.  It was a close match but our team pulled through at the end.  We also had several scouts qualify for the gagaball finals.  The competition was fierce in a winner take all final  match.  1299 scouts tried their best but were not successful in being the last scout standing for gagaball.

The main and final event was the go-kart races.  The troop kart looked amazing and was awarded top honors for best looking vehicle.  After judging, the pit crews discussed strategy and got ready to race.  I am extremely proud to report  the troop was triumphant and was undefeated in a double elimination competition.

Scouts returned to camp to cook dinner and dessert after a long day of scouting.  It was great to see so many delicious scout prepared meals.  No patrol had any leftovers since all were hungry from the full day of fun and games.  The evening closed with campfire and an OA call out ceremony.  Congratulations to all scouts and scouters which were elected to this prestigious scouting organization.

Greg went to FC Dallas game with Doug so Kasey and I got Freebirds for dinner and chilled out at the house with Patch.  Greg also won his second lottery at Bethany liquor store and got another Eagle Rare.

4/10 - We went to birthday dinner with Grammy and Gramps.  Fun to get dressed up, have an awesome dinner, and we got a good picture of all of us afterwards.  Kasey looks like she's taller than me, but she's not quite.  Landon is also close to Greg's height but not quite.

4/5 - My birthday!!   I went to work out, had to work, had lunch with my parents.   They got me a baskin robins ice cream cake - yum.   We all had activities that evening so Greg got us burgers from village burger bar and we got to have cake together after meetings and dance.

4/1-4/4 Broken Bow Easter weekend - We booked a cabin in Broken Bow.   Greg, the kids and I and Doug went up for the weekend.  We left after school on Thursday.   We got into our cabin and headed to Greatful Head for some dinner but they were no longer sitting people.  We ordered food to go, got a beer and sat out on the patio.   We had good pizza dinner and some good wine.

Friday morning the boys went for a hike.  Kasey and I made breakfast.  Kasey tried out new double waffle maker, I made bacon and we both made eggs.  That afternoon we rented a boat.  It was a bit chilly.   All of us did some tubing.  Kasey sadly got pulled under and was the only one to go all the way in the water.  It was fun.  I have pictures of the kids in sweatshirts and covered in towels to stay warm.  After the cool lake we got in the hot tub at the cabin.

That night we made dinner, and Kasey made me a birthday cake.   Greg cooked steaks on the Grill, Doug made his famous gambas shrimp and we had salad.   I also go Taylor small batch for my birthday.   We enjoyed some wine and bourbon.

Saturday morning Greg and Landon went for a hike and Kasey and I cooked breakfast again.   We decided to do a few things in town.   We went to the putt putt place we've gone to before.   In the afternoon Greg, Doug and I went to Hochatown distillery tour.  They made Vodka and bourbon.  Cool tour and we got to do a tasting at the end.  After that we came back to get the kids and went to go cart place.   Always fun and Kasey really wanted to go.

That night we had dinner reservations right by us.  We got to sit out on big patio that had some live music.

Our cabin had an outdoor fire place, Patch loved being outside, and we got to see several deer go by near the cabin several times.

We had a great weekend and enjoyed the get away.

March 2021

 

3/27 - Landon has pre-UIL performance after evening and most of day practice.

3/26 - Kasey had a Pom Squad dance performance.  In the dance parking lot again instead of at a baskeball game.

3/20 - 3/21 - We had several scouts over to the house to help Landon paint and put together the benches.  The boys did a good job with help and guidance from a few of the dads.

3/5-3/12 - Big Island Hawaii spring break

Friday took the kids out of school and headed to Hawaii.  We got $200 tickets round trip and couldn't pass it up. The flight was long and not great with masks, but so worth it.  We rented a place on the coast which I love.  It wasn't beach but we could see and hear the waves hit the rocks all the time on our patio.  Beautiful sunsets and just being in my happy place Hawaii.  Landon had his own room, Kasey had a loft she called her palace with 2 twin beds and a chair.  Kasey brought her rubber duck Fred who needed pictures in several places in Hawaii.

The first night we went to close restaurant where we sat outside and enjoyed food and some drinks.  The next morning we decided to go exploring near our place.  There was a short walkway in front of our place and we walked over rocks to a beach and over to some ruins.   After that we went down to south point (southern most part of US).  On the way down we  had lunch at a local restaurant that happened to have our favorite beer on tap from Kona brewery.   We hiked around some at south point, got some cool pictures.   We decided to try and hike to the Green Sand Beach.  Its a few miles hike, it was crazy windy with dirt.  After putting on sunscreen I looked like I had been riding a motorcycle in a sand storm.   We didn't actually make it to the green sand beach but it was about the adventure :)

Sunday we decided to go up to the North side to Waipio valley and to see waterfalls.   We took wrong directions getting to Waipio valley but went down a cool road surrounded by really tall trees.    We went down to observation area at Waipio valley and decided to drive down since we had 4 wheel drive Jeep.   Drive down is really steep but we made it fine.  At the bottom there were huge pot holes larger than the car and filled with water.  There was another car in front of us that looked like they had been there before.  We basically drove on the outside of the huge pot holes.  Once we got down there we walked around on the black beach listening to the ocean.  In the valley was a stream flowing into the ocean.  Greg and the kids tried to cross it but didn't get all the way across on large slippery rocks.  As we were starting to leave there were some horses that walked up to the water.  One of them was walking up to people looking for food or something.

From there we headed to a brewery for some lunch and to try some local beer.   It was raining some and of course the one time we didn't bring our rain coats.  We decided to go ahead and drive to the water falls since we were already up in the area.  We went to Akaka Falls and Kahuna Falls that were near each other.  There was about 1/4 mile circle to walk around to see them.  We were soaking wet but got to see some cool waterfalls.  We got a few pictures of us all wet in front of the water falls.

Since we were eating later lunches, we weren't that hungry for dinner.  So we ended up having ice cream/dessert for dinner 4 days in a row.  The kids enjoyed it and really so did I :)  In the evenings we had brought some wine and bourbon to enjoy.

The next morning we went to a close by cove to do some snorkeling.  It was pretty cool.  Landon and I saw a turtle and several cool fish and sea urchins.  That afternoon we drove down to Kona Brewery for a late lunch and did a little shopping.  That afternoon Greg and I went to the store for a few things and stopped at the outdoor restaurant for a drink.  Greg wanted to try a Bourbon they had.

The next morning we had a dolphin tour booked.  We headed out on the boat with captain Chad.  We saw a bottle nose dolphin, a hawaiian monk seal (who are endangered), and huge manta ray feeding on the surface.  We had not seen the large pod dolphins that they usually see.  After about an hour and half the captain got a call where the dolphins were.  He asked what we wanted to do, the dolphins were kind of far away so it would take longer.  He knew a cool place we could snorkel or we could go find dolphins.  It was just our family and 1 other guy and we all decided we wanted to go find the dolphins.   We did find then and when we got there he let us get in the water and about 150 dolphin were swimming below and around us.  Very cool.  We could hear them in the water.  Kasey decided to stay in the boat and so she got to see the spinner dolphins above the water flipping and swimming on the top.

We got back in the boat and went to the front of the dolphins so we could get in again and watch them go by.   So cool to see all of them swimming with each other.    We got back in the boat and went to the front of the dolphins again.  This time about 5 feet from our boat some hump back whales came to the surface.  They were pretty close and pretty big.  There were about 6 whales so we watched them for a while.  We weren't supposed to get in the water with them, but at one point they were playing in the middle of the dolphins.  One of the whales was flapping his tail several times in the water.  So cool.   We headed back after that.  We were about an hour late and the next tour had been waiting on us for an hour.  Such a cool experience.

That afternoon we went to another Brewery in Kona called Ola.   Pretty good.  Greg was collecting brewery shirts along the way.

The next day we went to Huggos on the water for some lunch and view.  We had some beers, some Ahi tuna and the kids got some daiquiris.    we could see little yellow fish in the water right in front of us.   Doug flew in that day.  We met him in between where we were staying  at Tommy Bahamas.  We had a nice dinner, enjoyed a few drinks, good food and even got dessert.

The next morning Doug came down to our area.   We got to see some dolphins off our patio.  We headed to the cove for some snorkeling.   We then tried to go find another place we had been in 2005 where we swam with big turtles.   We didn't find it but did some more snorkeling at a cool place.  That afternoon we went back to Kona Brewery for a good lunch.   We hung out at our place in the afternoon and then we had booked a manta ray tour that night.  We had tried the previous night but there weren't any out.   We called the guy from the Dolphin tour and he was able to get us booked on another one.   All 5 of us went.  The water was a bit cold.    We went out with snorkels, and had a surf board with a light under it.  Each of us held onto a handle, floated on the water and had noodle under our legs.   We got to see several manta rays swimming around.   There were other tours out there and they would sometimes swim up under the lights.  They didn't do that with our light, but that's ok.  Not sure Kasey would have liked it.

The next day, our last day in paradise, we  got packed up and went to meet Doug for lunch closer to the airport.   We had a few drinks, good food and got to sit outside.   We were early at the airport, but got to see other friends who were coming to the island.  Wonderful trip!!