Texas Rangers winter carnival in Frisco

We decided to make the long trek to Canada, I mean Frisco, Saturday morning for the Texas Rangers winter carnival at the Dr Pepper Ballpark. The stadium is home to the Frisco RoughRiders, the Rangers' AA minor league affiliate. Jo-Jo had received an invitation to go, so Gee, Jo-Jo, Dondi, Jordan and I loaded up the Camry and headed up there. It was a full day.

The RoughRiders were there selling season tickets to their games, which the Collin County families were snapping up. For us, though, we came just to see the ballpark and get a baseball signed by several Rangers players: Ian Kinsler, Wes Littleton, Travis Metcalf, Kevin Millwood, Jarrod Saltalamacchia and former Ranger catcher and now front office vice president Jim Sundberg.

All of the six players were friendly and signed autographs for about two hours. The RoughRiders and the Rangers had a pretty good traffic flow through the suite where the autographs were happening.

After we got the autographs, we walked around the stadium (an absolutely gorgeous minor league ballpark), then walked on the field, through the dugout and into the locker room. Jordan got to meet Deuce, the Riders' mascot, and Rangers Captain, the Rangers' mascot. He wasn't sure what to make of a person walking around with a horse's head. :)

From there, Jordan was ready to have some more fun. We made a return trip to the Wiggly Play Center in Frisco. Jordan started cheering and yelling, "oh boy, oh boy, oh boy!" real loud when we pulled into the parking lot. (What's most surprising is, he's been there once, and the Wiggly Play Center is located in a standard suburban strip shopping center, so (other than the non-descript sign), there was nothing too exciting about the outside).

This trip wasn't as much fun as the first time we took him last summer. There were a lot of older kids in there who apparently had no adult supervision and overran a lot of the younger kids in there. And the Wiggly Play Center staff was just lazy (both at the front door and at the concession stand there were more than three employees doing nothing, and wouldn't stop doing nothing to help us out -- by helping us out, I mean, "take our money"). Jordan had fun, which was what was important, but we'll find somewhere a whole lot closer and more attentive for our next winter outing.

No trip to Frisco is complete without a stop at the Ikea store, and since Jo-Jo and Gee had never seen it before, we stopped in for a couple of hours. We were ready to buy stuff, but so were about 25,000 other people, so we decided we didn't need $2 shelves and $2.50 knives so much. :)

The drive to and from Frisco is a bear because the 121 Toll Road is a giant parking lot through Plano, The Colony and Frisco (thanks for that, BTW, TxDOT and Gov. Perry), but we made it home in about 90 minutes.

All and all a lot of fun! We do have a few pictures we'll post later.

Jordan's first trip to the movie theater

We took Jordan to his very first movie today: The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything from the Veggie Tales. It was pretty good.

We went to the AMC theater at The Parks at Arlington for the 10 a.m. showing. (We figured if Jordan acted like a 2-year-old, we'd be at the early show with all the other kids. Boy were we right!). When we arrived at The Parks mall, Dondi made her way to the Chick-fil-A in the food court (free tip: AMC at The Parks does allow you to bring in drinks you buy from food court vendors) for some iced tea for the two of us and lemonade for Jordan. We then walked around the empty mall for a few minutes, then headed into the movie theater.

Jordan was overwhelmed by the colors of the place, the plasma-screen concession stand signs and all the noise of the theater, but he was having fun. We had told him we were there to see Bob and Larry (his name for Veggie Tales, named after the tomato and cucumber, for those who haven't been blessed with the Veggie Tales craze). Every time a preview started, Jordan would go, "Bob and Larry?" When the opening credits started, Jordan screamed out to a theater with at least 150 people, "BOB AND LARRY!" He was pretty thrilled.

Jordan sat completely still for the first half hour or so. Of course, we did bribe him with a hot dog and some popcorn (I'm glad they do home equity loans at the concession stands now, that makes it so much easier to pay for a hot dog and popcorn). He started getting tired and wanted to move a lot. Fortunately, there was some room on our row for him to walk; then he wanted to walk up and down the stairs of the theater. Finally, he was ready to go, so we missed the last half hour of the movie, although I'm pretty sure there was a happy ending.

We'll Netflix it when it comes out on DVD to see how it ends. :)

Christmas 2007

Well, it was another eventful Christmas season for Jordan and the rest of the Hayhursts. Here is the run-down of our activties.

* Saturday, Dec. 21 was the Jordan-Kimsey shindig. There we do a Scrooge exchange with favorite DVDs. Dondi and I got Shrek the Third and The Holiday. (I bet you can guess who got which). Uncle Jim also got a copy of Shrek the Third, and you could tell he was very excited to receive it. :)

Jordan made out like a bandit, as well, receiving a set of blocks, a keyboard and all kinds of things that make more noise. Thanks for all of that, by the way.

Special appearances were made by Michelle's new (and we do mean new) baby boy Ayden and by Kelly and Jay's new pug Annabelle. Jordan was terrified at first of Annabelle (who at five weeks old is smaller than Jordan's shoes), but eventually was OK with petting her. Jordan also was pretty impressed with Ayden.

* Saturday, Dec. 22 was Christmas with the Jordans. We arrived and ate a huge breakfast with the whole gang. Then, it was time for presents. Jordan got a Little Tykes drum set, a toy kitchen set (he loves to cook) and some musical bath toys. We got to pick out a new TV. So, Saturday evening, we went to our local Costco and bought it. It only took an hour of looking to decide on what we wanted and "needed." :)





























* Monday, Dec. 24 was Christmas with the Hayhursts. We met up with Pa-pa, Gma and Aunt Cris for our church's 5 p.m. Christmas Eve Carols and Lord's Supper service. Jordan got to go to big church, and loved the singing. His eyes were fixed on the screens at the front of the worship center looking at the pretty backgrounds and the words to the music. We sang Jingle Bells, Deck the Halls, Frosty the Snowman and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer during the first part of the service, followed by some baptisms and then some more traditional church Christmas music. Jordan wasn't sure what to make of all the people being dunked, but he liked clapping when each one was baptized.

The service lasted right at 60 minutes, which was good, because Jordan's attention span wouldn't have made it much longer. As the juice cups were being passed during the Lord's Supper, Jordan got a little perturbed that he couldn't have a drink, too.

We headed to Gma and Pa-pa's house for some sandwiches then opened some Christmas gifts.

Jordan really got into it. He received some Thomas the Tank Engine books, a Blue's Room DVD, some Tonka cars and a Radio-Flyer tricycle, among some others. Jordan had a lot of fun with opening all of his gifts.



* Christmas morning started about 7:30 with Gma, Pa-pa, Gee, Jo-Jo and Aunt Cris stopping by to see what Santa had brought Jordan. Santa ate the sugar cookies and drank the skim milk we left out for him. He also left him a train set, a bunch of books, three DVDs and Aunt Cris brought a floor puzzel of Thomas the Tank Engine. Jordan didn't know what to play with first!

























































All and all, Jordan had a very fun (yet busy) Christmas season! Tomorrow is back to school for Jordan and to work for Dondi and me (luckily, just two days til our weekends start on Friday!).

We hope everyone has had a very Merry Christmas and has a safe and Happy New Year.

Want to know what we're having?

Another boy!

We visited with the specialist at today's doctor's appointment, as well as met with the genetic counselor (who we waited an hour for). We declined all the different blood tests and the amniocentesis. We figure the results don't change anything, and really, the results aren't all that conclusive (my favorite was the cystic fibrosis test, which the American Academy of OB/GYNs recommends, but they acknowledge it is not a conclusive test).

So, after another 45 minutes of waiting (not that I was counting), we were taken back to the exam room for some super-duper, viper double doppler, megacharged, four on the floor, superscan sonogram that showed amazing detail of our son's feet, arms, head, heart, you get the picture.

We're pretty surprised we found out today the baby's gender, since it normally doesn't happen til somewhere between weeks 20 and 25 (we're at week 15). The detail of this sonogram made it possible to see this early.

Dondi is feeling well. The baby, now about 5 ounces, is developing well and was moving a lot during the sonogram.

Merry Christmas!

A cold December update

It's a damp, windy and cold 41 degrees today, so what better chance to catch you up on what's been happening around the Hayhurst household:

* Jordan's asthma has been acting up again, so we're back to doing regular breathing treatments. For those of you not in the DFW area, you may not realize it is entirely possible to wear sandals, shorts and T-shirts on Saturday, and then need your heavy coat and gloves on Sunday. (That was last weekend, by the way). So, thanks to crazy North Texas weather, Jordan's allergies and asthma are giving him fits. Here's Jordan doing his breathing treatment.















Dondi has to pretend like this is a microphone that she and Jordan can sing into. Bear (in Jordan's lap) also has to take part in the breathing treatment.

* Jordan's day care center had a demonstration of its music class Thursday evening. Along with Dondi and me, Grandma, Grandpa, Gee and Jo-Jo all came to see it. Jordan had fun as the instructor sang some Christmas songs.















* Saturday, Dec. 8 was the Parade of Lights in downtown Arlington (bet you didn't know Arlington had a downtown, did you?). We went with Gee, Jo-Jo, D and M and staked out a spot at the corner of West and Main and watched the parade come by. All the floats, trucks and trailers had lights decked out all around them. The paper said that 12,000 people came downtown for the parade and it was one of the longest - 80 some odd participants -- in the parade's history. Jordan got a light-sabre during the parade. A couple of pictures here:

























That same night, we celebrated Gee's birthday with pizza and presents at their house.

* I (Roy) finished my accounting class at Tarrant County College with almost no help from Dondi (which was the goal; she did offer to help). Got an "A" on my final, and an "A" overall for the class. For that, I was thrilled.

* Last night was Dondi's company's Christmas Party, at Austin Ranch in Grapevine. Food was fantastic, and the entertainment (casino night) was a lot of fun. It was also great to get to put faces with the names Dondi talks about all the time.

* Dondi's next doctor's appointment is this Wednesday. This one is with some kind of specialist (he worked with Dondi during the last two weeks before Jordan was born, too, and she tells me he is a good doctor). This pregnancy is considered high risk due to the issues Dondi experienced leading up to Jordan's birth. So, we'll see if the good doctor earns his copay Wednesday or not. We'll let you know later.

According to the nice people at BabyCenter.com, Dondi is about 14 weeks along and is officially in her second trimester. The baby is about the size of a lemon. Here is the interesting tidbit about this week's development:

This week's big developments: Your baby can now squint, frown, grimace, pee, and possibly suck his thumb! Thanks to brain impulses, his facial muscles are getting a workout as his tiny features form one expression after another.

We'll post about Wednesday's appointment sometime Wednesday night or Thursday morning.

Over the Red River and through the woods...

Jordan's third Thanksgiving was a lot of fun, and it was characteristically busy. Lunch with the Jordan bunch on Thursday, dinner with the Hayhursts Thursday night, and then Oklahoma Friday and Saturday.

Thursday, we started the day at Aunt Deona's house. There, we enjoyed a lot of Thanksgiving favorites: turkey, ham, stuffing, desserts -- everything. We watched some football, played some Bingo and had a good time.

We had a few hours before dinner with my parents Thursday evening, so Dondi went home to rest and Jordan and I went to my parents to watch the Cowboys and Jets play. While we were there, we saw some big snow flurries falling. It's been too warm for it to stick, but it was pretty to look at. Later, we went and got Dondi, then returned to Mom and Dad's for turkey, stuffing, rolls, and all the fixings. We were too stuffed for dessert, but leftover dessert is good, too!

Friday morning, Grampy (who Jordan now calls Gee (hard g, not a soft g)) and Grammie D (who Jordan calls Jo-Jo) took Dondi and Jordan to Oklahoma. I had to work for a few hours, so I drove up Friday afternoon. We all met at the farm and had a good visit with everybody.

It started snowing on the farm, so Dondi and I decided to head into Stillwater for the night (Jodan stayed with Gee, Jo-Jo and Grandma Cross on the farm). As we headed north, the snow really picked up. While the roads were mostly clear (just a couple of patches of ice), there was a lot of snow on the roofs of cars and in grassy areas. The news Saturday morning said we had about 3 inches of snow in Stillwater. Some of the kids staying at the hotel even built a snowman that was about 3 1/2-4 feet tall.

Here are some pictures from the snow:

Boo-Boo Bed

Jordan loves Thomas the Tank Engine. Absolutely loves it. Except, when he refers to Thomas, he calls him "Boo-Boo," which we're pretty sure is Jordan-speak for "Choo-choo." So, when it came time to move Jordan to a toddler bed, we had an easy selection to do for it.

The crib Jordan has used these last 21 months converts into a toddler bed, so we did that in about half an hour this morning. We added the Thomas sheets, and voila, Jordan's first "big boy" bed.

Here are the pictures of the bed. We'll try to get some pictures of him in the bed and post them here.

100th Post

Well, it took almost 3 years, but we've hit the 100th posts for TheHayhursts.com.

What's the latest? Not just a whole lot, actually. I just got back from the annual International Conference of the Public Relations Society of America in Philadelphia. More than 4,000 public relations professionals worldwide networked and learned best practices from industry leaders. It was a great time.

While in Philadelphia, I did make it (after hours) to Independence Hall, Benjamin Franklin's grave and the Liberty Bell. Since it was after hours, I didn't get a chance to tour inside the buildings or past the gate of the cemetery, but was able to see the exterior. Some pictures:

And baby makes four

It's official: Jordan's going to be a big brother. Dondi is due June 10, 2008. We went to the doctor's office on Thursday morning and got to see the heartbeat. (And it does appear there is just one heartbeat!).

According to the experts at BabyCenter.com, Jordan's little brother or sister has an oversized head, and dark spots on its head where the eyes and ears will be.

We're pretty excited, as you can expect. And, we'll keep everyone up-to-date with doctor's appointments, sonograms, etc., via the blog.

Our State Fair is a Great State Fair

Friday was Jordan's first trip to the Great State Fair of Texas
in Dallas. Jordan seemed to have a good time, though he was definitely ready to go at the end of the day. While we were watching the US Marine Corps Drum and Bugle Corps play, Jordan asked to be put in his stroller, and then said, "Bye, bye."

So, we were done.

We met up with Grandma and Grandpa (who also chose Oct. 5 to go) and ate lunch (yep, corn dogs were required fare at the fair). We visited the Children's Medical Center petting zoo, visited the food exhibit (lots of delicious native Texan food), then (Dad's favorite), the auto show.

At the petting zoo, we bought food for Jordan to feed the animals with. What was funny to watch was Jordan getting real brave to feed the animals, right up until they came up to him then he jumped back, laughed because he scared himself, but then kept his hands well on his side of the fence. Too fun.

Here are some pics from the day:














(Yeah, we saw the OU trailer and truck, too, but, really, who cares?)















Jordan was convinced every animal he saw: goats, kangaroos, pigs, emus; were all cows.














Hey! This goat is eating my food!














Wow, you're kinda tall.














The rest of the Longhorn 18-wheeler. The OU one was around there somewhere.

Terrible Two's

It's official: we have a two-year old.

Jordan crossed the magic point a week ago, and we celebrated on Saturday with a Blue's Clues-themed party at our house. Dondi decorated the backyard with images of Blue characters, Tickety, Sidetable Drawer, Magenta and Mr. Salt and Mrs. Pepper.

Jordan had a ton of fun. We had five kids ranging from 2 to 5 in our backyard (thankfully, the weather was gorgeous), plus lots of adults.

Here are some pictures from Jordan's second birthday. Enjoy!

The Wiggles!

Jordan attended his first concert today at Nokia Theatre at Grand Prairie. The Racing to the Rainbow Tour by The Wiggles was very well done, and Nokia is a perfect venue for their show.

Grandpa and Grandma got tickets for us all to go: Jordan, Dad, Mom and Aunt Cristina. Grandma and Grandpa graciously got to the theatre early to pick up our tickets from Will Call. We arrived about 30 minutes before the concert started and took our seats on the Southwest Airlines Flight Deck row. We had a great view of the stage, and sound quality was great. Jordan, who had been sick earlier in the day, started running a really low grade fever during the concert, so didn't jump and dance and sing with the Wiggles, but he did have a smile on his face most of the concert, and seemed to love every minute of it. It was really funny to see him realize the images on the giant video screens flanking the stage was really happening right in front of him on the stage!

Thanks to Grandpa and Grandma for the awesome tickets and the great fun tonight!

Galveston

We made a trip to Galveston again this year for a short getaway. Thanks again to Grammie D for organizing everything for us. It was a blast!

This year's forecast called for rain the entire time we were in Galveston, but fortunately, it didn't turn out to be that bad, so we were able to get plenty of beach and pool time. We ate lots of good seafood, rode the Galveston Island-Bolivar Peninsula ferry; we went to Moody Gardens for both the rainforest pyramid and the aquarium. All and all it was a great time, like last year.

Rather than a blow-by-blow account of this year, we thought we'd let the pictures tell the story...















Jordan has his first experience touching a starfish at the Moody Gardens aquairium.





















Jordan took very literally the call to "follow me" on the floor of the aquarium.
















More than a million gallons of saltwater. Thousands of species of plantlife and fish. Jordan found every bench in the place more interesting.
















Jordan imitated a wooly mammoth with straws at dinner at Casey's in Galveston. (He did this all on his own, with no prompting from any of us!).





















Jordan was mezmerized by the blue macaws on display.

We're back in Texas (and not a moment too soon)

Jordan poses in front of the Texas welcome center on I-35 near Gainesville this afternoon.

We made a trip to see Dondi's grandmother in Oklahoma this weekend, and had a pretty good (yet wet) time there.

We (Dondi, Jordan, Grammie D and me) packed up the Camry and headed to Oklahoma Friday morning. There was some bad weather in Oklahoma and North Texas on Friday, but we managed to miss most of it, though it rained a few times. Getting out of Fort Worth (traffic) and then getting out of Texas (bad accident at the Red River) made the trip take a lot longer than normal (7 hours on the drive up).

Going to Grandma's is a bit of fun: you turn off a two-lane state highway onto a gravel road, follow that a mile and half or so, and then drive down a dirt driveway, through a creek bottom and then to the house. The only problem this time is that is has rained a lot in Oklahoma (as here in North Texas) in June and July, so the gravel road was muddy, and the creek (usually dry) was flowing. So, we got to see Dad's driving skills in the muck and mud. Not bad, if I do say so myself. You can see how the front of the car looks below:















Saturday was a fun day. Uncle Charlie came out and grilled hamburgers, hot dogs and hot links. The food was good, and a lot of fun was had by all.

Sunday we packed up and left. We also got to experience first-hand Oklahoma's record-high gas prices. The latest reason excuse the oil companies are giving for the prices is a flooded refinery, but you'll have to pardon my skepticism. :-)

What we paid today at Love's in Guthrie:















I wouldn't call it price gouging. I'd just call it, um, well, yeah, I'd call it price gouging. We paid $2.759 a gallon when we got home tonight.

It was a pretty uneventful trip home. Lunch in Moore, and a couple of stops along the way. Jordan was quite happy to see Chloe, and be sleeping again in his own bed.

And, the week starts again, tomorrow morning!

Some more pics from the trip:

Trying video

I finally got around to starting to learn about You Tube this weekend, meaning I am perhaps the last person in North America (under the age of 40) to do so.

This video below (if I do this right) was shot last June 25 in Galveston.



Edit: it works! If you can't see the You Tube player above, it's most likely because your security settings prohibit it. Sorry, can't help you there. :-)

Happy 4th of July

Greetings!

This year's fourth of July followed pretty much the same pattern as last year's, with a couple of exceptions.

We started the 4th's festivities at the Light Up the Lake event Tuesday night. Grampy, Grammie D., Aunt Deona and Monica all joined us. The party was a combination community-wide 4th of July celebration (with about a dozen boats decorated with lights and fireworks) and commemoration of the 50th anniversary of Lake Arlington. I'm told if I can't say anything nice about something, just don't say anything at all. But, I will say that someone at the event did mention this was poorly done, and I didn't disagree with him at all.

So, once that was over, we got home late. Jordan didn't go to bed until well after 10 p.m. At 7 a.m., we all got up and headed to downtown Arlington to watch the 4th of July parade with Grandma and Grandpa. Jordan wasn't interested in much of anything (other than running up and down West Street), so we left after less than an hour. We did get to enjoy the bands from Lamar, Juan Seguin and Arlington high schools, though, and all were excellent. Maybe one year, we'll get to hear all six high school bands. Arlington can't throw much of a lake party, but they can and do throw an excellent parade.

After the parade, we went and got cleaned up. Lunch was at Mimi's apartment complex, where we had hot dogs, sausage, potato salad, pasta salad, cakes and pies, and some other stuff I'm sure I've forgotten. It was all excellent.

Wednesday afternoon, we capped off the day at Aunt Deona's house with some swimming. Jordan did not enjoy that at all! Which, he'll have to get over; swim lessons started this week.

Thursday, I've taken the day off from work to go with Dondi to see the Star Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination exhibit at the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History. We're looking forward to that.

All and all, it was a good 4th, if for no other reason than it didn't rain for the first time in 40 days or 40 nights. :-)

First baseball game

Jordan got his first taste of Texas Rangers baseball last night. In other words, the Rangers lost. (If you're going to be a Rangers fan, losing is part of the package deal).

BTW, if Ron Washington and Jon Daniels both aren't looking for new jobs by the All-Star break, then a certain owner clearly isn't interested in fielding a winning game. But I digress.

Dondi is busy studying for the audit portion of the CPA exam (Tuesday morning in Waco), so Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Cristina and I went to watch the Rangers take on (and by "take on," I mean get their brains beat out by) the Boston Red Sox.

Earlier Saturday was a busy day (full of rain), and unfortunately, we couldn't get Jordan to take his nap. As Dondi, Jordan and I drove over to the game, Jordan dozed off. We met Aunt Cristina, Grandma and Grandpa in a parking lot near the Ballpark, and Jordan stayed asleep. We walked the few hundred yards to the Rawlings All-American Grille for dinner. The restaurant sits above right field at the Rangers Ballpark in Arlington. Jordan slept all through dinner. He woke up just as we paid the bill (and boy, was he unhappy about being awake).

I walked Dondi back to the car so she could head back to study some more, and then returned to the park. I stopped by and bought Jordan a hot dog and juice box. He gobbled the hot dog down and drank the juice quickly, and wanted more, so Grandpa went and bought another hot dog and juice box. Jordan ate another half of a hot dog and drank most of the second juice box.

Jordan spent most of the game running around a picnic area behind section 139 (we were seated in section 39). He had a blast, and cheered whenever the crowd did (it was hard to tell whether the Rangers or the Red Sox had more fans there, so Jordan cheered with both teams).

Jordan was tuckered out, so we left in the top of the 7th inning, just as it started raining again. Jordan was home by 9, and fast asleep by 10 p.m. He had a blast. Thanks to Grandma for the tickets!

Final score Saturday night was 7-4 in favor of Beantown. After the game, Boston was 33-15, atop the American League East; Texas was 18-31, and is 12 games out in last place in the AL West.

Happy Mother's Day!

Today wrapped up a fun Mother's Day weekend of activities....

* Friday, Grandma and Grandpa watched Jordan before and after Mother's Day Out. After Mom and Dad came home from work, they, with Jordan, headed to Rosa's Cafe in Hurst to meet Jay, Kelly and Brittany for dinner. Then, we headed home and Jordan went to sleep.

* Saturday morning, Grampy and Grammie D. came by the house and took Jordan to their house for the day. Mom went and ran some errands, and Dad stayed while the exterminator made the annual trek to Kill. Bugs. Dead. Or something like that. Saturday afternoon, Dad and Grandpa did some Mother's Day shopping.

* Saturday evening, we gathered with Grandma, Grandpa and Aunt Cristina at Saltgrass Steak House in South Arlington for Mother's Day dinner. We went back to Grandma and Grandpa's house for gifts for Grandma, and Jordan watched Blue's Clues.

* Sunday morning, we decided to be heathens and skipped church (again). Dad picked up kolaches and sausage rolls for breakfast and we hung out at home. Jordan got Mom a handmade card he made at school, as well as a gift certificate for a massage at Shelton's Salon & Day Spa. Mom was thrilled with both.

* Sunday lunch, we met with Grampy and Grammie D. at Mimi's apartment complex. They had a fun program with a ton of delicious food: your choice of salads, choice of salmon or grilled ham, asaparagus, potatoes and lemon pie. It was delicious. We also gave Grammie D and Mimi their Mother's Day gifts.

* Sunday evening is now all about laundry and getting ready to work for the week. Should be a ton of work. Over the next few weeks, posting will be sporadic (as if it isn't already). Dondi will take the first part of her CPA exam on Tuesday, May 29. Roy will be traveling to a convention in San Antonio in June (it includes a weekend down there, so Dondi will be joining him down there for the weekend, and a chance to see Dusty and Kim). All three of us will make a trip to Oklahoma in June, as well, followed by the 4th of July at home, and finally, a trip to Galveston in late July. So, if the posts seem more infrequent than usual, well, now you know why. :-)

By popular demand

Getting one's picture taken in the bluebonnets is an annual ritual in Texas. Our state flower only blooms for about three weeks in the spring, so it's a special treat.

We thought Jordan would enjoy the experience. Turns out, we were wrong.