Kentucky Christmas 2008

For at least the 30th year in a row we went to visit Helen's family in Mount Washington, KY for Christmas. Here are some photos we took while there. The big hit for Xmas this year was the WII video game our niece Sarah got from Santa. We all took the fitness test with some surprising results. Helen's mom and dad scored much below their ages and beat several of their children's scores.

Jackson's Pre-School Christmas Show

Our Grandson was in his first Christmas show Tuesday night. He didn't have a starring role, but we thought he was the star of the show. Here is a video I took. Jackson is one of the kids sitting on the steps and playing bells. He has on a white shirt & brown sweater (the arrow to start the video is pointing right at him).

Thanksgiving 2008

We hosted the Eustace family thanksgiving get together. Here is a link to some pictures of the day.

Thanksgiving2008

Jackson's 3rd Birthday

Jackson had his party at a park in Coppell last Saturday. Here is a link to the pictures we took.

Jackson's 3rd b-day

We met with Helen's family in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee last weekend and all of us stayed in a large 3 story log cabin. The weather was good and everyone had a good time. Here are some pictures from the trip.

Smokey Mountains 2008

Juliana Kate Clark

Yesterday, September 10, 2008 our grand daughter was born. She is our second grand child. It was a huge event for us and we took a lot of pictures.

Take a look at the slide show.

Memorial Day Weekend in Port Aransas, TX

Our friends Charlie & Beth and Helen and I have anniversaries a day a part, so we usually take a short trip together to celebrate. This year we went to Port Aransas and stayed in a luxury condo that fronts the Harbor & Marina. We had a great time eating, relaxing, and looking around.

Here is a slideshow of our trip.

My Internet Radio Station

Family Campout

Most of our family met at Cleburne State Park for our annual campout. Helen and I had Jacks and have not yet upgraded from tent camping, so we just went down for the day rather than trying to sleep in a tent with Jacks. He had a great time and got to try new things as well as play with some of his cousins. Here is a slide show of the pics we took.

Jackson & Addie play

We had our grandson Jacks with us last weekend and our old friends Charlie and Beth came over with their grandaughter Addie. We taught the kids how to play ring around the rosie, but Jacks seemed to have a different style from the others.

Our last Parent's weekend

Kyle has been a Sig Tau for the 5 years he has been at SFA. Each spring the fraternity has a weekend where they host the parents at the house and we all bring gifts to donate for the fundraiser auction. At the auction, the parents bid on the gifts and usually pay way more than they are worth, but it is all for a good cause. As freshman parents we did not have a clue as to what kind of gift to donate that will bring in the money, so our gifts didn't bring much. Last year we hit it big time with a poster sized framed picture of the frat house that Helen took in 2006. It sold for $400. I custom made a washer board game with the Sig Tau letters and it also sold for $400. This year we just brought another of the framed pictures and it sold for the same $400. We had a nice time at the event and as has been the case every year, the weather was perfect. Nacogdoches, Texas is the oldest town in Texas and is a garden spot. Anything you plant there grows with out much care, so it is really pretty.

After the auction, we went to the house Kyle is sharing with 2 roomates. It is a block from campus and backs a park. They have a bi level deck and really enjoy the place. We cooked hamburgers and a new friend of ours named Monte came over with the cuban cigars he bought at the auction. He gave me one and it was the best smoke I ever had. Later we all went to a nearby hotel and sat around the patio/pool area and listened to a singer/songwriter perform his Texas Country style music. It was a great way to relax and spend the evening.

On Sunday we met Kyle and some other parents and friends and had lunch at the restaurant Kyle just started working at. It is one of the few quality restaurants in town and serves all kinds of foods. We all had different things and everything was good.

All in all it was our best weekend yet and we think we will miss getting to go every year.

I have posted a video and some slide pictures of the weekend below.

Auction of our Donation to Sig Tau

Parents Weekend at the Sig Tau House

Last night's storm

A big storm front came through our area last night. At first, it looked like the worst part was going to go north of us after it had done substantial hail damage in the Aledo & Weatherford area. However, a strong cell developed as it came across Mansfield and here is a video of what it looked like from our back patio. The thing lasted less than 1/2 hour but dumped 2.5" of rain and plenty of marble & pea sized hail. The hail piled up like snow or sleet and is still on the ground in parts of our yard as of 2:30 pm this afternoon.

Hail Storm in Mansfield

Tiff's birthday

Tiffany and Brian had her 30th birthday party at their house last Saturday evening. There were about 30 some odd adults and several small children and babies. Parma's Italian restaurant in Lewisville catered the party and everyone thought their food was good. When Tiff started opening presents, Jackson decided he wanted to open the big box. When he saw it was a leaf blower, he insisted it had to be opened and put together. He really likes to look at anything mechanical.

Tiffany's 30th birthday video 2

Tiffany's 30th Birthday video

Tiffany's 30th Birthday party slide show

Thomas the Train

Wild Mallard Ducks

Saturday March 29th, 2008

Helen went to Grapevine this morning and road the "Thomas the Train" train with our grandson Jackson and his Mom. While she was gone, our neighbor called and told me to look outside because 2 wild mallard ducks were walking from their house to ours. We have no nearby ponds, so they must have stopped over in one of the many swimming pools in our neighborhood. They leisurely walked across our yard, then crossed the street to another yard.

egg hunt

Jackson's Easter Egg Hunt

Jackson spent the night with us on Friday & Saturday. We had an easter egg hunt in our backyard on Saturday afternoon. He was only interested in picking up the blue colored eggs and we had to direct him to the candy and other colored eggs. When he found a book about tractors, the egg hunt was over. All he wanted to do was have one of us read him the book. We also went to a local garden center to buy some flowers and he ran all over that place. I could hardly keep up with him. Here are some of the videos.

Lying to Myself

This is the another song Kyle & Chris wrote. He says they have written 4, but 2 of them are "Rowdy Bar" type songs that he did not want to play for us.

Kyle performing songs he co-wrote

Kyle was home back in February and was talking about some songs he co-wrote with his buddy Chris Benz. I thought a couple of them were pretty good, so I asked him to play while I recorded them.