The Weather Man Said What???

We all get aggravated at the non-existent weather forecast.  Local weathermen seem to be the worst at predicting what is happening or going to happen.  Seems like they should just open a window and look out to give a more accurate forecast. 

Recently one of Houston's local weathermen gave a forecast where he stated...

"Houston and the surrounding area may or may not get rain today."

What...did I hear that correctly?   Makes no sense to me but I guess he covered his bases.

Celebrating 30 a Little Early

***WARNING***

This will be a very long and photo filled post.

Craig and I went on a 7 day Royal Caribbean cruise to celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary.  We went a month early since our Granddaughter Chloe is due in May.

We flew in to San Juan, Puerto Rico on Friday before our cruise.  We had been there before but just at the airport so it was nice to get to see the city.

We stayed in the area known as Old San Juan.  It was very clean and we enjoyed walking around looking at the old fort and beautiful bronze fountain.  It had a plaque explaining what all the different statues represented but my high school spanish is a little rusty so I understood very little of what I tried to read.  (I guess I should probably brush up on my spanish sometime.)

We walked along the pier on Old San Juan and found one of Craig's favorite "hangouts"...Senior Frog's.   Just kidding we didn't even go in.

I like the way the frog is peeking out over the top of the building.

Saturday morning we had breakfast at the local Subway sandwich shop.  It was quite the adventure.  A homeless lady asked Craig to buy her breakfast but the Subway employees said it would cause problems because she would always come back and pester the patrons.  He felt bad until this lady just "went off", yelling at the Subway employees  and screaming in spanish but slipping a few english words in..."Yankee go home".  Everyone in the place was laughing at her and she finally left when the police were called.

When we arrived on board, I was surprised with a bottle of champagne, bouquet of flowers and vanilla bean cupcakes.  Craig had arranged for them to be waiting. 

Our first stop was Curacao.  It is a Dutch island just of the coast off Venezuela.  The colors of paints they use are really unique and beautiful.  The island is also very friendly.

Our excursion was a dune buggy ride through the streets to an old fort and to a beach.

Here we are with one of the towers of the old fort in the background. (We want to point out how "proud" our kids are of us for wearing fanny packs.)

After the ride we walked around the plaza.

We came across this 3-D mural in one of the alleys.  If you followed the mural you came to a lovely little bistro.

Next stop was Aruba.  The island is also a Dutch island with unique architecture and bright colors although not as bright as Curacao.

We took a sail from the dock past beautiful white sand beaches and the clearest water you can imagine.  We had an hour to swim and enjoy the beach before sailing back to the dock.  We spent the rest of the day walking around the town.

Our third stop was Dominica. (pronounced dom e ni ka)

The island is a British island centered around a dormant volcano.  The greenery and mountains were beautiful.  It was however the least favorite of our stops as far as hospitality.

Craig and I chose to do a river innertub ride for our shore excursion.  As you can see we were required to wear "safety" gear; crash helmets, life jackets and also carry a paddle.  Not too sure the need for any of the equipment since the water was no more than 3 feet deep in most places but they do make a certain fashion statement.

As we had our lazy float we discovered why you need a helmet...falling mangos.  Craig had a little chuckle when one fell about a foot from him and made a big splash.

There were a few rapids to speed things up.

Final stop was St. Thomas which is a US Virgin Island.  We have been to this island before and loved it.  This time we arrived during Carnival which means everything in the city was closed for the celebration.  The big celebration had been the night before so we didn't get to see the party. 

Our excursion on St. Thomas was a power-cat ride to St. John for snorkeling and swimming.  We saw a dog fish.

A parrot fish.

And a sting ray.  The dark spots on the bottom are sea urchin.  There were hundreds of sea urchin but you don't want to touch them.  They are the oceans equivelant of a porcupine.

After our excursion we decided to walk to town just to see if we could find anything open.  Retail shops were closed but we did find Coconuts sports bar, if you could call it a  sports bar.  It had a bar with about 6 stools, 4 tables, 2 tvs and a Texas Tech flag.  Craig and I split a hamburger for lunch and it was delicious.

On our first day of the cruise we met a couple who we had seen at the motel in San Juan.  Norman and Jeri Scott are originally from the Carolina's and have a home in Jackson Hole Wyoming.  Right now they live in Barbados due to Norman's job assignment.  We all went to the Mystery Dinner Theater on the ship and we enjoyed meeting them each evening for a little visiting and a strawberry daiquiri.

That is a recap of our trip; loved every minute of the trip but it is nice to be home.

Baby Shower #1

Last weekend Kimberly's good friends Stephanie and Katie hosted a baby shower in honor of Kimberly and Chloe.

It was a beautiful shower with lots of games and wonderful food.  Everyone had a blast.

Mom to be

Stephanie showing her domestic skills.

Katie and Kim doing their best "Pillsbury dough boy".

Kimberly and me. 

Don't have any idea what Chloe is going to call me.  Craig will be called Pop, Mark's Mom is Nana, Mark's Dad is Doc but I can't decide. 

I'm open to suggestions.

I'm thinking either MeMaw, GanD, GranD or D-da.

Shhhh!!!

This is a big secret...

I've been it keeping for days...

Don't tell Kimberly!

This past weekend......

(drum roll)

Craig and I enjoyed our first dip in the pool!!!

It's still a little chilly, 77 degrees, but on the really warm days the water feels gooood.

No pictures will be posted due to the glare of pastey white skin.

Tropical Landscape

When Hurricane Ike destroyed our pine tree, which we didn't want in the first place, we wanted to replace it with a palm tree.  We love a breeze gently blows the frawns.  There is something calming about their sway.

We finally found the perfect tree; a Queen Ann Palm.

Thursday morning 3 men delivered and planted the palm. I was really surprised there were only 3 men. The tree is huge and very heavy. I kept asking if more men were coming to help. The foreman laughed and said " No just the 3 of us". I really expected a disaster but to my surprise it went off without a hitch.

Tree delivery

Off the trailer and into the hole

Lifting the tree

Straightening the tree

In order to give the front of the house a more tropical "feel" we also bought a 3 trunked Pigmy Date Palm.  It brings a more uniform appearance to the landscaping.

Craig loves his tree

Thanks to an extremely cold winter (the coldest in 20 years) many of our plants froze so we also added several ferns and other flowering plants which I have no idea what they are called but they're pretty.

The finished product

Hopefully we will not have such an extreme winter this year so we won't have to replace so many plants.

Craig is content

Sailing, Brunch and Hoola-hoops

Not much has been happening in my little corner of the world except tax prep, estate work and trimming/removing dead plants that didn't survive our "coldest winter in 20 years".

We did get out last weekend.

Craig and I went for our half day mentor sail in Galveston Bay.  We had completed our keelboat class in November and have been waiting for warm weather to take our mentor sail.  It was a beautiful day on the water.

On Sunday, the Davis', Craig and I went to The Last Concert Cafe for brunch.  It's a little hole in the wall in downtown Houston.  On Sunday's they have a brunch menu and a "jam session" with local musicians.  Interesting thing is the front door is always locked so you knock to get in.   

Laurie was told about the cafe by a friend of hers who described it as "someplace I think you will like because a bunch of hippies hang out there".   With a description like that who wouldn't want to try it.

We really had a great time.  We all tried to hoola-hoop.  Albert was the funniest.  He had never hoola-hooped before but finally got the hang of it.

The food was good and the music was great. We are definately going back.

A Visit to the Big Tree

A few weeks ago, Craig and I along with our good friends Albert and Laurie went on a short weekend trip to Rockport.  We thought we would get out of town for a few days to enjoy some sun and warm weather.  No warm weather was to be found.  A strong cold front blew through so instead we enjoyed tollerated cold and wind but still had a great time.

Along the way we went on a short side trip to The Big Tree.  The signs pointing the way actually said "Big Tree".

We saw tons of shrimp boats in harbor.  The weather was so bad with the wind and cold the shrimpers were not out nor were there any sailboats.

We did venture to Port Aransas for the afternoon and drove along the beach.  Laurie and I got out and chased the seagulls just to stretch our legs but most of the time was spent driving around sightseeing and visiting a few little shops.

One interesting thing that happened while we were gone was a Blue Moon (I think that is what it was called).  The moon was suppossedly 10% brighter than a regular moon.  It was beautiful.  You could see the lines and craters with the binaculars.  It was so big you felt like you could reach out and touch it. 

Information plaque at the Big Tree

To read-click on the photo to enlarge

and pardon the bird poop...it is a plaque under a tree after all.

Laurie and Albert

Craig and me

Shrimp boat fleet

Forest and Bubba inspecting a shrimp boat

Blue Moon