Dondi's knee

{From Dondi}

Roy and I saw the orthopedic doctor this morning. My MRI shows that I have torn the left cartilage, torn the middle ligament and cracked the right cartilage of the right knee. So the doctor recommends knee surgery. The facts we know so far:

• It is a day surgery
• I will be in pain (and on pain killers) and basically out of commission for two days at home.
• After the first couple of days, I will be doing physical therapy and on crutches for 3-6 weeks, depending on healing
• I can't drive for at least three weeks, and can't go to work for at least two, but maybe three, weeks. (I can work from home with my laptop, he said).
• He also mentioned it would be six months of complete recovery time.
  

President's Day Weekend

Hello! I'm trying to get better about blogging, so, here is a short update:

* Saturday night, Dondi and I went to the new Studio Movie Grill in the Arlington Highlands. We saw Music and Lyrics with Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore. I normally don't like either of them, but this was a pretty good movie. We also thoroughly enjoyed the new theater, and are looking forward to the rest of the Highlands opening up this spring. It should be a fun place to shop, eat and just take in the afternoon.

* Monday was an eventful day. Dondi had to work, but our offices were closed for the holiday, so Grandma joined Jordan and me for a trip to his doctor. He's had this cough for weeks, if not months, that won't go away. The doctor agreed with Dondi and me (who needs medical school?!) and agreed Jordan should get an allergy test. So Aunt Cristina and I took him to get blood drawn for an allergy test. It took Aunt Cristina and me to hold him down and two technicians (who obviously didn't care for children) to draw blood. We should have results as to what he is (or isn't) allergic to.

Monday night Dondi had the MRI on her knee. We see the doctor again on Friday to learn the results and hear his recommendation on what to do next.

* Tuesday was back to work for me and back to school for Jordan.

Happy Valentine's Day

Hope everyone is well out there. We've had a fun weekend. And by fun, I mean utterly exhausting. Here's the rundown:

* Saturday afternoon was kind of cool and windy, but Jordan was suffering from cabin fever, so we thought, let's take him out and play with the t-ball set Santa brought him for Christmas. Jordan had fun. When it was time to go in, Roy brought Jordan in and Dondi went to collect the set into the garage. And, that's when Dondi fell in a small hole in our backyard, severely twisting her left knee (for the Camp Fire-types Dondi used to hang out with, that's the same knee she messed up on your 1991 ski trip to Red River, N.M. ). She spent most of Sunday trying to keep her knee elevated.

Dondi went to her PCP Monday morning, who referred to her an orthopedic surgeon. That appointment was Tuesday morning. The doctor scheduled an MRI for Monday the 19th, and we'll get the results Friday the 23rd. We'll let you know the results then.

* Saturday morning, Grammie D also took off for Perkins, Okla., to help her mom (Grandma Cross) get ready for an angioplasty Monday morning. The angioplasty isn't going to fix what's wrong with her, so she'll undergo a bypass surgery Wednesday at 7:30 a.m.

Otherwise, life is pretty calm around here. :-)

What's New

Well, for those of us who call North Texas home, January was the pits. This was apparently the coldest January in more than 20 years. Jordan is going through intense cabin fever, compounded by the fact he's been sick much of the month. It's not been fun.

So, what's up? Well, some highlights.

* Yep, Jordan's been sick. He's been to the doctor four times in January, but we seem to finally have knocked out the virus that has been giving him fits (not to mention the ear infection he got).

* Jordan got his second haircut on Jan. 27. Dad and Grandpa took him to the little kids barbershop, and he did about as badly as last time.

* Dondi has been busy with an Ethics Class - a prerequisite to taking the CPA exam. It's been three weekends in a row of almost 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. classes for her at Mountain View College. Super Bowl Sunday is the last class for that, so she'll be able to focus on her studying for the CPA after this.

* What have I been up to you, you ask? Well, work. And laundry. And, well, that's about it. It's been keeping me quite busy.

Not much else to post. February should calm down a little bit before we gear back up for a trip to San Antonio in March, and then start the Spring birthday season. If we don't post before we're back from San Antonio, Happy Valentine's Day and Happy President's Day!

Some recent pictures

Here's Jordan standing next to the tower of presents Santa left on Christmas morning.














Here's Jordan surveying his gifts at Grammie D's and Grampy's on Saturday, Dec. 23.













Jordan got his first haircut Dec. 16. You can read about the haircut, and you'll understand this is the "before" shot. :-)


















Here is Jordan and Aunt Cristina watching one of the gorillas at the Fort Worth Zoo.













Our friends, John and Christine Engler, found a fun tradition to photograph your kid in one of dad's favorite T-shirts each year on the kid's birthday. The idea is that you'll see how big the little one grows between 1 and 18, relative to dad's T-shirt. Though John and Christine probably won't appreciate the shirt I chose (hook 'em horns!), thanks for the idea. :-)

Merry Christmas!

We're recovering from a very busy Christmas weekend, and impromptu trip to Oklahoma. More on that in a moment, but first, these messages (pictures will come later in the week, hopefully).

* Friday, Dec. 22 was the Jordan-Kimsey Christmas get-together at Grammie's and Grampy's. There, the adults had a "Scrooge exchange" with DVDs. We ended up withThe Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and Mr. & Mrs. Smith. Jordan got several new toys, including a camouflage hunting cap with the University of Texas Longhorns logo on the front.

* Saturday, we went back to Grammie D's and Grampy's to do Christmas with them, and Aunt Deona and Monica. It was a ton of fun, and Jordan picked up a lot of new toys. Jordan never got the hang of opening the gifts, but he had fun. Saturday night, he stayed with Grammie D and Grampy while Dondi and I went to the Christmas Eve service at Fellowship Church in Grapevine. Let's just say, it wasn't your typical Christmas Eve eve service, but we enjoyed it. While we were driving there, we decided to go to Oklahoma and surprise Dondi's grandmother in Perkins for Christmas. Saturday night, we made hotel reservations and made plans to leave Monday around lunch time.

* Sunday morning we got up and went to our church's 10:50 a.m. candlelight service with Grandma, Grandpa and Aunt Cristina. Then, we went to the new Chicken Red's restaurant in Mansfield for dinner, then to their house to open gifts with them. We had a great time with them.

* Monday morning, Santa came! He left Jordan a bunch of good gifts (thanks again Grampy and Grandpa for putting together the one we didn't think needed any assembly), and everyone came by to wish us a Merry Christmas. Dondi fixed a delicious breakfast, and we all had a great time.

Monday afternoon, we packed up and headed north to Oklahoma. The weather was great (if you didn't mind a 40 mph headwind most of the way north), but traveling on Christmas can be a bit of a problem. We decided north of town we wanted lunch. Dondi and I had eaten at a Denny's in Gainesville several years ago that was pretty good, so we decided that would work. Except Denny's in Gainesville is no longer in business (at least not along I-35). So, we continued north into Oklahoma and stopped at a Denny's in Ardmore. Which closed 30 minutes before we got there. We finally ate lunch about 3 p.m. at an IHOP in Ardmore (note to self: pack a lunch when traveling on Christmas Day). We arrived at Grandma's around 6:30, and she seemed happy to see us.

Jordan spent the night out at the farm with Grandma Cross, Grammie and Grampy, and Dondi and I made our way into Stillwater to our hotel, where we slept uninterrupted for 9 hours. It was great!

Tuesday, we got to see about 25 of Dondi's family members (a small gathering) and had a great lunch. Jordan started getting sleepy about 3 p.m., so we packed up and headed back to Texas. We ate dinner at the Denim's restaurant in Marietta, Oklahoma, then made the rest of the trip home.

A good time was had by all, and we really enjoyed seeing everybody this Christmas!

Jordan's Weekends of Firsts

Sorry for the long delay between posts, but this has been a hectic month!

This weekend marked a couple of firsts for Jordan:

* Jordan got his first haircut Saturday morning. We went to a local kiddie salon for the haircut, and he seemed happy when we first went in. He got to sit in a chair that was shaped like a race car. We buckled him in, and he happily played with the steering wheel. The stylist went to put his cape on, and he took the first two snips of his hair pretty calmly. Then, the frustration came out and he fought, screamed, kicked and cried for the remainder of the haircut. It looks pretty good, despite his antics! He slept really well Saturday mid-day while we ran the last few errands!

* Sunday after church, the three of us went to the Fort Worth Zoo with Grandma, Grandpa and Aunt Cristina. It was a lot of fun (and a great day to go -- I mean, really, 78 degrees in December?!). We first went through the World of Primates, and Jordan watched gorillas, chimpanzees and other animals. Then, we meandered through the Asian Falls exhibit, watching elephants, rhinos and more. We ate lunch there, and then continued through the big cats, which Jordan slept through, and then made our way to the Texas Wild! section, and let Jordan run around for a while. We were all to exhausted to take in the exhibit there, so that'll be the first place we head when we head back to the zoo next year.

Christmas weekend is next weekend (hope everyone has finished their Christmas shopping -- and is ready for Santa Claus!). We'll post pictures from Jordan's second Christmas next week!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Well, here we are at the close of Jordan's second Thanksgiving weekend. I didn't do a pictoral display of this year's festivities, but here's the rundown of the week:

* The Mother's Day Out program Jordan attends daily had a Thanksgiving feast on both Monday and Tuesday, so Jordan got to enjoy early Thanksgiving dinners. The school was closed Wednesday, so he stayed at home with Aunt Cristina. They watched Over the Hedge and he seemed to have a good time with her.

* Thursday morning we headed to Grammie D's and Grampy's house for dinners with Dondi's side of the family. We ate lunch around noon and enjoyed the usual fixings. Jordan had a blast and tried to be in the middle of everything. Finally, he had all the fun he could stand and took a nap as some of us watched the Detroit Lions-Miami Dolphins game. Couldn't tell you a thing about the game, but it was on. :-) About 3 p.m., we moved on to our next Thanksgiving feast.

* Our next meal was at Grandma and Grandpa's. By then, the Dallas Cowboys-Tampa Bay game was on. Again, couldn't tell you what happened (I'm sure Tampa Bay feels the same way). Delicious dinner, but Jordan had all the fun he could handle, and we had to cut the evening short.

* Friday morning, we were supposed to make the trip to Oklahoma for a family reunion, but Jordan woke up with a fever. We decided we weren't going to travel with him not feeling well, so we canceled our trip. We watched the second half of the UT-Texas A&M game. That's 90 minutes of my life I'll never get back.... We also put the Christmas tree up and got some decorations going in the house.

* Friday night was kind of scary for a little bit. Jordan woke up with a 102 degree fever (according to our themometer which normally runs a degree or two low) about 9 p.m. So, we headed off to the Cook Children's Medical Center Urgent Care Center where Jordan's fever immediately broke as we talked with the nurse. We spent about 20 minutes total in the exam room, both waiting, and visiting with the doctor and nurse, and Jordan (up well past his bedtime and feeling lousy), screamed the entire time. Cook's staff was outstanding, though and we were out of there in no time at all.

* Saturday morning, Jordan woke up and was ready to play. So, we let him. And we met Kelly, Jay, AJ and Brittany for lunch at Double Dave's Pizza in Hurst. Then, we came home and did some more decorating.

* Sunday we skipped church and did some stuff around the house (exciting stuff like laundry). We met Grandma, Grandpa and Aunt Cristina for lunch at Don Pablo's, then headed home to rest. Sunday afternoon was a trip to Costco, where we started some Christmas shopping.

And, now, here it is Sunday night, and we're getting ready to get back in the swing of things with work and school next week. Just to remind you, there are now only 28 more shopping days until Christmas....

First Fall Festival

Wednesday night was "Trunk or Treat" at the church that sponsors Jordan's Mother's Day Out program, so we dressed him up in his 101 Dalmations costume and headed up there. The games had older kids in mind, but Jordan seemed to have a good time.


Mom and Jordan participate in a cake walk

Busy lives

We've been a busy bunch the last few weeks. Jordan is in a wonderful Mother's Day Out program at a local church. We've launched a new 30-something married adult Sunday school class at our church in South Arlington, and life just keeps trucking. So, without further ado, here's what's up:

* Jordan attended his very first football game was Oct. 6, as the Arlington High School Colts (Dad's alma mater) took on the Martin High School Warriors (Mom's alma mater). The game was at UTA's Maverick Stadium. It was a great night and Jordan had a blast. And, oh yes, AHS defeated the Martin Warriors 34-14.

Pictures from that night:

















Jordan enjoys some popcorn at the football game.


















Jordan hangs out with Grandma. Dad laughs at something Jordan's doing.

















Jordan as we're ready to depart the stadium at half time (after the fantastic Warrior Band performed its half time routine).

* Jordan also enjoyed a second football game Oct. 20 as Arlington High took on Arlington Bowie. That game wasn't as much fun. It was windy, cold, and well, the Colts didn't do so hot.

* Dondi's cousin A.J., on the other hand, was nominated to be in the homecoming court at a Tarrant County high school. He had the loudest cheering section on hand at the Birdville ISD stadium. :-)

* Dondi's good friend Holly married Manuel on Oct. 21. We had dinner with our friends Julie Harris, Julie and Lance VonHollen, who all live here in D-FW near us, and Kim Smith and her fiancee Dusty made the trip up from San Antonio for the wedding, and after-wedding dinner. While it was good to see everybody (and congrats to Holly), the highlight (for me) was that Holly - a huge Star Wars buff - brought in two Storm Troopers to usher at the wedding. Real storm troopers. OK, people dressed up as storm troopers, but the effect was still the same....


















From left, Storm Trooper #1, Lance, Roy, Dusty, Storm Trooper #2. Seriously, how cool is that?

















Oh yeah, the ladies, Julie, Dondi, Holly, Julie and Kim.... They didn't pose with the storm troopers....

Coming up? Jordan's first Halloween to dress up (we'll post the pictures of him in his 101 Dalmations costume after the different Fall Festivals we'll get to), and then in November, we'll probably be traveling to Oklahoma for Thanksgiving. Then it's Christmas time, and Santa's second visit to Jordan. It should be a busy, but fun, end of the year. I'll keep you posted as time allows.

Happy Birthday Jordan!

Jordan is officially 1 year old today, but we celebrated his birthday with a big party Wednesday night at our house. Grandma, Grandpa, Grammie D, Grampy, Cristina, Deona and Monica all came over to celebrate.

We started by opening gifts. Dad loaded all the gifts up in Jordan's new wagon and brought them into the living room. Jordan was thrilled, jumping up and down and clapping. He immediately crawled over and started touching all the wrapped boxes and gifts.

After we opened the gifts, it was to the kitchen to have some birthday cake. Jordan was really tentative smashing his birthday cake, but he seemed to enjoy it. After the cake, Jordan went outside with his new wagon and we walked around the cul-de-sac with it. He had a blast.

Here are some pictures from Wednesday night:

















Jordan opens a Fisher Price dump truck gift.

















Jordan sitting in the wagon (which comes with seat backs, seat belts and 4 cup holders).

















Jordan's just not quite sure what to do with this birthday cake thing.

















The "before" shot with Jordan's cake (on the left) and the adult cake on the right. (Tastes great, thanks Albertson's).

Jordan is a lot of fun, as you can imagine at the age of 1. It's amazing to read back through the blog entries and see how far we've come in one year.

Is it already September?

One year ago, Dondi was starting bed rest thanks to high blood pressure and other problems. Jordan was only 11 days a way.

What a difference a year makes!

Jordan continues to grow, and is learning to feed himself a lot of different foods. Spaghetti, chicken and tacos are favorites of his, as you might be able to tell from these pictures.





He's a lot of fun with the spaghetti, as you can see!

Lots to tell, but no time to tell it, but we wanted everyone to know we had not dropped off the face of the earth.

And, while we enjoy the life we have, let's not forget five years ago Monday, our nation suffered one of the worst disasters in our history at the hands of Islamist terrorists. Whatever your politics on the response to 9/11, let us never forget.




















No matter how hard we try words can simply cannot express the horror, the shock and the revulsion we all feel over what took place in this nation Tuesday morning. September 11 will go down in history as a day to remember. -- Evangelist Billy Graham

It's God's responsibility to forgive Bin Laden.... It's our responsibility to arrange the meeting!" Ascribed to U.S. Marines

Where the wind comes sweeping down the plains....

We are back from a short trip to Dondi's Grandma's in Oklahoma. It was a whirlwind trip that Jordan enjoyed, except for the 11-hour roundtrip drive in the car seat.

We left early Friday morning and headed north. Our first stop was at the Cracker Barrel in Denton. After a mid-morning breakfast, we made a stop at the Denton Bridal Co. Dondi bought her wedding dress there and now she is helping plan a trip for our friend (and soon-to-be bride) Kim to do some wedding dress shopping there this fall.

We decided we should be able to truck it most of the way to Grandma's with no more stops. Boy, were we wrong. North of Ardmore, Jordan got fussy, so we pulled over so Dondi could sit in the back with him. Then, it was a stop a few miles later for a diaper explosion. We got into Guthrie, Okla., pretty uneventfully after that and checked into our hotel. We then headed east toward Perkins and Grandma's farmhouse.

Bobbi, Charlie, Cindy and Skylar were all there, along with Grandma. Skylar is one day older than Jordan, so it was good to let the two of them play for a while. Bobbi fixed a delicious dinner for all of us. Friday night, we headed back to the hotel to rest, but Jordan wasn't interested in sleeping. So, we loaded him up to drive around until he fell asleep. In case you're wondering, the Dakotas are quite beautiful this time of year.

Saturday morning we got up and swam at the hotel, which Jordan enjoyed immensely. Then it was back out to the farm for a huge lunch. Huge, by which I mean a lot of food, and huge, by which I mean, a lot of people. I lost count somewhere around 40 people. I think Jordan enjoyed the attention, even if it meant sharing the stage with Eliza, Skylar, Drew, Tatum and Tony.

Saturday afternoon we headed back to DFW, again delusional that we'd have an easy drive. Dinner was at McDonald's in Moore, then a stop in Purcell to change a diaper, followed by Jordan screaming from Pauls Valley to the Red River (not kidding about that). We made another stop in Gainesville, and then made it the rest of the way home. Jordan either went to sleep somewhere near Valley View, Texas, or I went deaf there. Not sure which. :-)

It was great to see everyone in Oklahoma. They're thinking of making the last weekend in July an annual event, since it seems to work with a majority of schedules. We're planning a trip back north sometime later this year.

Are there pictures, you ask? Of course. We'll post those in the coming days.

July 4th

Jordan's first Independence Day started early as we headed out to the largest 4th of July parade in Texas. We had a great time watching the bands, the firetrucks and police cars rolling through.

We did miss the Arlington High School band, but the Martin High School band was OK. Not as good, but just OK. :-)

Here are some shots from the parade, from our perch at the corner of West and Abram streets.

Jordan watching as the parade starts (perched on Grandpa).


The Arlington Police Department Color Guard, escorted by motorcycle officers.

Elvis isn't dead. He and some look-a-likes ride motorcycles in parades now.

Dad takes a picture of Mom taking a picture of Jordan.

We left the parade midway through to return home, clean up and head over to Mimi's apartment complex for lunch and a patriotic celebration. The country duo they brought in did a fantastic job, and the food (St. Louis ribs, cole slaw, corn on the cob, beans, rolls and cherry cobbler) was fantastic. Jordan had a blast. Some pictures from today:

The view from above the dining room at Fox Run.

Jordan uses his spoon as a drumstick to keep rhythmn to the music.

Since Jordan is a bit sensitive to noise, we're going to pass on the fireworks this year and try those another time. Today also ends Dad's vacation, so he'll be back at work bright and early (6:45) tomorrow morning. Time to get back to "normal."

A milestone

Jordan pulled himself up to a stand tonight in his crib (he won't go to sleep, unfortunately). That was one milestone. The second was it became necessary to take down his mobile (since by standing, he can now reach it, and that's just not safe). His University of Texas teddy bear mobile has helped soothe him to sleep every night for the last eight months. I'm going to miss winding it up every night as we put him to bed....

Galveston

We're just back from Galveston Island and a nice four-day respite from life here at home. Thanks to Grammie D for organizing the trip! We had a blast.

Though we didn't plan on it, all three sets of families (Deona and Monica, Grampy and Grammie, and Jordan, Dondi and I) left at about the same time. We met up about 11:30 a.m. at Sam's Restaurant in Fairfield, Texas, for lunch. It was delicious. Picture Cracker Barrel with a buffet and whole loaves of bread.

We arrived in Galveston about 3 p.m. and settled into the condos. Grammie, Grampy, Deona and Monica headed to Randall's supermarket to stock up on breakfast and lunch supplies, and Dondi and I attempted to get Jordan to take a nap. Attempted being the key word. He was wired, and was not happy after spending 6 hours in his car seat.

That evening, we headed to a local restaurant for shrimp and catfish. It was delicious. We traveled down to the west end of the island near our condos and walked along the beach. It was too dark to get out and splash and play, though.

Sunday morning Dondi and I headed to Wal-Mart. While driving to Galveston, I hit a pothole or some road debris and tore a hole in the side of the front right tire. So, since I couldn't find a Discount Tire Store or NTB on the island itself, I had to go to Wal-Mart to purchase two tires (supposedly, it was a better deal than just one tire). Dondi had also forgotten her swimsuit, so she had to buy one while we were there.

Sunday afternoon, we headed down to the condo complex pool where we swam some. Jordan got a little cranky, so Dondi and I swam for about an hour while Grammie took him to their condo for a nap.

We ate at Casey's Seafood Cafe, which shares its kitchen with the more famous Gaido's Restaurant (Casey's is a little cheaper and lot less formal than Gaido's), where we ate yet more shrimp and catfish. Jordan tried some cole slaw, some shrimp and some catfish and seemed to like it all.









Jordan really liked the dessert at Casey's. :-)


After dinner, Jordan had his first trip to the beach across the street from the restaurant. He had a blast. I wish I could post the QuickTime video of him playing that first time, but alas, Blogger doesn't offer that feature, so you'll have to settle for jpegs.










The three of us on the beach, just before we put Jordan down in the surf.










Jordan splashing in the surf.









Jordan still having so much fun.

Monday morning, we rose bright and early (for us, at least) to hit the beach a little after 8 a.m.
Jordan tired pretty quickly, so he took a nap on Grampy while the rest of us jumped in the surf, built a sandcastle or whatever else hit our fancy. About 9:30 or so, Jordan woke up and played for an hour in the surf. After that, it was back to the condo to clean up and eat lunch.

Monday night we ate dinner at Fisherman's Wharf on the north end of the island. We went for a run through the historic Strand shopping area then, too. A run, you ask? Why yes, we were swarmed with thousands of mosquitoes. At last count, I had about 20 bites on my legs. Jordan escaped with about 3 bites. Dondi has about 15 or 20, too. So, if you're heading to Galveston soon, our advice is to pack a lot of Off!

Tuesday was much the same, we ate dinner at a local sports bar called The Spot, which was OK. It was a lot like Fuddruckers, which isn't all bad.

We left Wednesday and had an uneventful drive home to the Metroplex.

Here are some more pics from our Galveston trip:

Jordan Starts Swimming Lessons

Jordan had a lot of fun with Grammie's pool (as you can see below), which is good because his swimming lessons started this evening at the YMCA. He had a blast, splashing in the pool. He wasn't too sure about blowing bubbles or kicking, just yet, but he'll get there by the end of next week.

We have a disposable 35 mm waterproof camera we're using, so once we use up the roll of film, we'll get the pictures developed and post some of the best ones (film, it's so 20th century)....

Jordan's First Trip to the Pool

Jordan had his first trip to Grammie D's pool. He wasn't too sure what to do initially, but he ended up having a blast!

Happy Belated Birthday Mom!

Dondi turned thirty-something-or-another on Monday, and we celebrated by eating lots and lots of cake. The cake -- from Cold Stone Creamery -- was a yellow cake with chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream. It was very good. Grampy, Grammie D, Aunt Deona and Monica, Grandma, Grandpa and Aunt Cristina all stopped by to say "Happy Birthday."

Here's Dondi and Jordan with the cake

Here's Jordan with his first taste of chocolate-chip cookie dough

Happy First Mother's Day, Mom! (Happy Graduation, Too!)

Sunday was a big day for Dondi, as she graduated from The University of Texas at Arlington with her Master's of Professional Accounting.

We started the morning with some yardwork. (Yes, we know we should have gone to church, but Jordan was going to have a busy day, and there's only so much we can drag him to without really paying for it). Dondi had been working on getting leaves off our backyard (yep, we still had leaves) all week. She finished up a big batch Sunday (we had 28 bags for our trash men this morning). I mowed the front and backyard, and almost had enough grass to bail hay in the backyard.

We got cleaned up after the yardwork (it looks great) and headed up to The Sanford House, a local bed and breakfast to have a Mother's Day/Graduation brunch. It was delicious! The food included made-to-order omelettes, turkey, ham, Greek salad, pasta salad, caesar salad, salmon, wild rice, chicken, veggies, fruit (delicious pineapple), peach cobbler, cookies, bread pudding and more. Grammie D, Grampy, Aunt Deona and Monica, Aunt Cristina, Grandma and Grandpa all came to the brunch. Some pics from after we ate...




























After brunch, we headed home to rest for a couple of hours. At 5:30, Grandma, Grandpa and Aunt Cristina came over. Grandma and Grandpa were watching Jordan. Cristina and I were going to watch Dondi graduate.

From the car ride over...















That's a self-portrait from inside the car at about I-20 and Bowen Road.

Grammie D, Grampy, Aunt Deona and Monica joined Cristina and me at Texas Hall to watch Dondi graduate. Graduation at UTA is disorganized chaos, but the degree was conferred nontheless, so now it's official: the student loans are due next year. :-)

Some pics...