The River Walk in San Antonio

While in San Antonio, we also took time to visited the Paseo del Rio better known as the River Walk. The River Walk is in the shadows of the Alamo. We dined at one of the bistros at the water front, Cafe' McDonald's. Jon and the kids took a tour boat, not quite a gondola, never the less, an entertaining half hour tour of the cities beautiful sites. No dogs allowed on the waters, Padme' had enough temptation at lunch with the mallards floating by! It's remarkable to think this tourist spot began as drainage canals to keep the city from flooding in the 1920's.

The Alamo

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To take a spur of the moment trip with the kids these days no longer involves just pjs, clothes, and an ice chest. We are past the stroller days but now it involves MP3 players, Nintendo DS, DVD players, GPS, laptop etc. My van is a glow during night travel!

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The kids seemed to enjoy our visit. They were surprised at all the visitors speaking foreign languages who had come to take in this piece of history.

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We took Padme' with us. It was amazing how many people wanted us to stop so they could get their picture taken with her. If we had charged $1 for every person that wanted to take a photo of Padme', it would have covered our gasoline expense!

Remember the Alamo

What would a blog be without some reference to John Wayne? Well since I'm married to Jon and my Dad is Wayne, it was only a matter of time. And besides that Grandaddy's CB handle was Alamo, for those of you born after the 70's, that's like his avitar.

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On Tuesday we are going to Ft. Worth's Casa Manana to watch a live performance of the Alamo. In history we are in Middle Egypt, that is a loooonnnggg way from the events at the Alamo.

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To catch the kids up quickly, so the play would have meaning for them I pulled out some books and we watched John Wayne's movie the Alamo. In it's day this was a monumental movie because it was one of the very few that John Wayne's character died.

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When Jon came home from work he said, "Why don't we drive to San Antonio and take them to see the Alamo!" So here we are, five of us in a hotel room, plus Padme' just outside of Austin, on our way to San Antonio.

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We took Frankie to see the Alamo when she was six but that has been 18 years ago. You gotta' love home schooling. I think next time I'll tell Jon that we are studying the statehood of Hawaii!

Bible Bowl

This is our Bible Bowl class! There is nothing better than watching these babies eyes light up when they understand scripture! Jon and I have taught Bible Bowl since Frankie was in 4th grade in 1995! Every year I am convinced we have the best group of kids ever and this year is no exception. Our class is 3rd thru 6th grade and they are a wonderful group of kids.

Sweet Tooth

More than one of us at our house has a sweet tooth. Today I was sitting in the living room reading a book and looked over and saw Padme' with the Blue Bell carton. She apparently did not appreciate us not sharing with her, so she retrieved it from the trash can to finish it off! I grabbed my camera, took some shots and never disturbed her. The photo below was taken immediately afterwards. I feel the same way when I finish off a bowl of Blue Bell Chocolate Covered Strawberries, too.

Greet the Troops

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Today we went to DFW airport and greeted troops as they returned from Iraq. There were 180 soldiers that came in from various military branches. Some soldiers were just passing thru Dallas on their way to a connecting flight. They had flown from Iraq to Germany then to Dallas. It was very moving to see the soldiers coming home to see babies for the first time. A teenage son there to greet his mom that he hadn't seen in 8 months, wearing a shirt that read, "My Mom wears combat boots!" The three kids made signs to hold up. Caleb shook hands with the soldiers and said, "Thank you for your sacrifice." and "Thank you for my freedom." Abigail clapped and said welcome home. Frankie grinned and held her sign. Very emotional!

I crack myself up!

This morning, Jon had a dentist appointment and then was off to work. He surprised me by coming back home after his appointment, before heading to work. The kids were writing their creative writting stories, so I took advantage of the down time and did my exercises. Jon walked in while I was exercising and watching Perry Mason! Jon picked up the exercise DVD on the floor next to me and said my workout would probablly improve if I watched it instead of Perry. Hmm, obviously he's forgotten all the fitness videos Raymond Burr made. . . let's see there's Pilates with Perry; Crunches in the Courtroom; Sweatin' with Old People . . .

National's Bible Bowl Practice

Practice for Bible Bowl's National competition has begun! Jon taught the class last week for me, so today was my first practice with the group. This year our 'award winning' team of Blake, Caleb, Richard & Sam are competing again. Not to be left out Abigail, Baylor, Ryan & Andrew will also compete! We compete at Abilene Christian University in the spring. I coach the two National teams at 4:00 then at 6:30 I coach twelve 3rd-6th grade teams. Four hours in the book of John, whew, and look how happy they still look! I love watching their enthusiasm and they push me to learn so much!

Home Depot Day

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The first Saturday of the month means it's Home Depot Day! This is a wonderful wood working class they hold for children. We attend about 10 classes per year. Today the younger kids built bookends shaped like football helmets. Abigail has gotten in the habit of giving a fake smile when I snap photos. The photo on top with Caleb and Abigail together is a real Abigail smile. I told them both to say, 'My bookends look better!' . . . hmmm, a little healthy sibling rivalry!

Happy NewYear!

The kids tried so hard to make it until midnight last night, but they one by one they fell asleep. This morning each of them was surprised to find out they had fallen asleep.


At breakfast this morning we toasted the new year with chocolate milk (Nesquick no sugar added), over a bowl of Apple Jacks (actually the Whole Foods equivalent). Each family member told their resolutions. Abigail - to go to the park more often in 2009. Caleb - to be a better brother and control his temper. Frankie - to become a better cook. Jon's involved finances and mine involved more reading.

We wish each of you a happy and blessed 2009!