Halloween in Hollister

Since we live in a 55 and over only residential neighborhood, our celebrations of Halloween are pretty quiet. The big deal this year was 50 cent corn dogs at Sonic. Here Allison and Nancy display the supper fare.



Mine are awaiting me; I also treated with Strawberry Shakes, all around!

The sun had gone down, but enough light to see our decorations in front.



Texas just went up 34-7, so, it is another very good day! ;-)

Halloween in Austin

Got these photos of Kaylee and Alex last Friday when they had a neighborhood party. Not the best photos, but any of them are cute. Kaylee was a princess last year, and this is the same outfit - but she likes it. Assume we'll see the new one over the weekend.


Alex makes a good pirate... on the move all the time... hard to get a clear shot! ;-)



Nice day in Hollister, expecting more rain on Thursday - but no snow!!

It was a very good day! ;-)

Allison's Hair Cut and more

The big news was around here has been that Allison got a really nice new haircut!


Actually I got mine cut yesterday, as well, and Mom gets hers tomorrow.

We both got back into our Animal Crossing and Harvest Moon games... even with our colds...
We each watched our DVR recordings. I started on Defying Gravity and watched last week's FlashForward...

It was a very good day! ;-)

Autumn in Hollister

We returned back to Hollister as the colors of autumn are waning, but still very nice. I didn't get sunshine as I took these, but you can still the idea of how neat it is.

The hill to the south of us (and past Allison's house, as well):



Here is part of our complex fall decoration:



I think I want to plant a Red Maple, like these, in our front yard, likely next spring.



It was a very good day! ;-)
Cowboys must have won - OH, they did!!

Home from Austin

Took the Interstate Highways all the way back to Springfield, then home. ELEVEN HOURS! Through Waco, Ft. Worth, OK city, Tulsa, Joplin... Had a great visit. Nice to be home.

It was a very good day! ;-)

Kids on the "mountain" at the Farm

The hay pile for the scarecrows was quite attractive to all the kids around... they saw a 'mountain' and a 'slide' all in one.



Kaylee would actually slide the three or feet down, all by herself!

The goats were fun... Alex and Kaylee both spent quite a bit of time there.


Kaylee liked the flowers, and her frozen strawberry treat, as well.


It was a very good day! ;-)

More from Monday Farm Visit

Here is the farm we visited, NW of Marble Falls, Sweet Berry Farm:


Serious work went into the Scarecrow project - he now sits in front of the house.


Painting the little pumpkins was fun for both kids:



Fun day, as I said.

It was another very good day! ;-)

Alex Homework

Sunday afternoon, Annette worked with Alex on his kindergarten homework. Even though Monday was an off day at school, homework still needed to be done on Sunday, to be turned in on Tuesday, this week. He got good grades on it, today.


Arrion got home by 8 p.m. this evening, from Prague, Czech Republic... has been up for 24 hours, but seems great. In very good spirits after a great trip!

It was a very good day! ;-)

Sweet Berry Farm

Spent a couple of fun hours today out at Sweet Berry Farm, north west of Marble Falls, with the grandkids and Larry and Annette. Have lots of photos... this is a good one to start with!



Alex would not move... he wanted to block me, not be a "side accessory" to the photo! Such is life! A great trip.

It was another great day! ;-)

Seasonal Decorations in Austin

Took this photo the first day we arrived, but seemed important today, to get it posted. Nice seasonal decorations!


It was another very good day! ;-)

Kaylee "fake" birthday activities

On Saturday, Annette had a "birthday" party Kaylee while she and Larry are here (real 2nd birthday is November 8). Alex insisted on calling it a "fake" birthday.

Whatever, we all enjoyed the cupcakes:


Kaylee liked the doll and stroller, that she will be playing with upstairs.


It was a very good day! ;-)

Kaylee likes yogurt...

Busy days in Austin with Alex and Kaylee. Few moments to do much but be involved with them... that if fine, of course, what we are here for. They never seem to stop moving. Here is best of my Kaylee shots, so far. She was finishing off her meal with some yogurt... Feeding herself, of course!

It was a great day! ;-)

Off to Austin...

Went through Little Rock (by it on west bypass, actually) and west on I-30 this time.

Stopped at nice rest area before got to Texarkana and had lunch.


Overnight at Tyler, on into Austin on Thursday.

It was a very good day! ;-)

We have more to learn...

I put his link on Facebook, but I also want to put it here:
http://blog.beliefnet.com/intentchopra/2009/10/what-we-dont-know-is-thrilling.html

This is for those who may still think "they know everything."
One of my favorites is, of course, "the more you know, the more you find out you don't know" - or something to that affect. (or effect?)

I thought this summed up very well mankind's (at least the smart ones) thinking about ourselves, at the moment.

What do you think?

Tomorrow, we leave for Austin (get there early Thursday afternoon) for a week and a half or so with the grandkids; Annette and Larry are there, now; Arrion will be back mid-next week.

It is a very good day! ;-)

Silver Dollar City Day

We went out to Silver Dollar City today, while the Crafts Festival was still in full swing.

Wore sweat shirts - very comfortable - about 4 hours!

It was a very good day! - The Yankees won their first playoff game! ;-)

Will Rogers on "growing old"

Ronnie Page, a columnist in the Branson Daily Independent, p. 2, Sunday, Octobere 4, 2009, listed the following observations from Will Rogers. Good stuff!
1. Eventually you will reach a point when you stop lying about your age and begin bragging about it.
2. The older we get, the fewer things seem worth standing in line for.
3. Some people try to turn back their odometers. Not me, I want people to know why I look this way. I've traveled a long way and some of the roads weren't paved.
4. When you're dissatisfied and would like to go back to your youth, think of algebra.
5. You know you're getting old when everything either dries up or leaks.
6. I don't know how I got over the hill without getting to the top.
7. One of the many things no one tells you about aging is that it is such a nice change from being young.
8. One must wait until evening to see how splendid the day has been.
9. Being young is beautiful, but being old is comfortable.
10. Long ago when men cursed and beat the ground with sticks, it was called witchcraft. Today, it's called golf.
Bonus: If you don't learn to laugh at trouble, you won't have anything to laugh at when you are old.

All true, I will testify! Though I might wish to think otherwise, I'm pretty sure I've already been to the top, and heading the other way.... ;-)

Though the day isn't over, it has been a great day, so far! ;-)

Former Dogpatch USA

As we drove down Arkansas Highway 7, south of Harrison recently, we saw the remains of old Dogpatch USA. It was a very popular Theme Park in the 70s and 80s, perhaps. Haven't done my research very well. These are September images.

Nancy took these three photos - first of the sign on the road; then two into the area of the "park":






Wouldn't you love to go exploring in there? Wouldn't this make a great setting for a mystery novel? I wonder who owns it, and what will become of it. Always something more to learn!

Today was another very good day! ;-)