Houston - Fall 2018

We have had a fun time here with the girls!

It poured all day on Halloween but cleared in the evening for the trick or treaters. Emily was the "Queen of Hearts" and Samantha and her friend were fruit - a strawberry and a pineapple! Kariss and Samantha look so much alike that their teachers get them mixed up! Samantha is the strawberry! Emily made her own "tutu" and Samantha did a great job doing her make-up! I'm the one on the right not the one in the middle!!!

Emily celebrated her 10th birthday - November 5th - with her friends on Friday night and we had a family celebration on Monday. She made her own birthday cake - from scratch! - with fondant frosting for Friday - quite the little baker - and we had decadent cupcakes on Monday.

Roger and I played golf at the country club that Kyle and Heather joined  - they are into tennis now. A really nice course but it was so hot and humid I gave up on the 14th hole! Hard to believe the clubhouse, the golf course and all the homes surrounding it were flooded during Hurricane Harvey. Many of the homes are still vacant or being renovated.

Willow Fork Country Club

Typical of the houses that were flooded during Hurricane Harvey

The Houston Junior League sponsors the "Nutcracker Market" every November - their big money maker for charity. It is a huge extravaganza of vendors! Not "arts and crafts" but great, unusual items ranging from furniture and home decor to clothing to jewelry to edibles to Christmas decorations. They also serve all sorts of food for lunch. The longest lines are at the beer/wine/Bloody Mary stations scattered around the venue! It is held in the huge    and Thursday, opening day, was packed! We spent forever in stop and go traffic just to get in to the parking lot where they have bicycle rickshaws to take you to the main entrance. One vendor was so popular that there were over 100 women waiting in line to pay! We put our stuff back and had lunch! The funniest thing is the women groups that "tailgate" in the parking lot! They wear crazy Christmas headbands or special T-shirts to identify them as part of the group and they set up tent like covers near their cars. They bring tables and chairs, food and drinks and spend the whole day shopping, eating and drinking! They rival the men at the football games!

Samantha ran her first cross country race against two other middle schools and came in 5th place overall for the girls! Ribbon time! So proud of her!

Emily's swim meet was on Saturday and Sunday against two other teams, The teams are so big it becomes a huge event. She does so well in a sport where there is so much competition. She is so independent - knows her swim times, heats, lanes - and is so self confident - she climbs up on the blocks, sets and dives in!!

We arrived in San Antonio yesterday afternoon. The weekly potluck was last night so we got to see all our friends that spend the winter here. The weather is sunny but cold and windy - no golf this week!

Texas 2018

As much as we love our new home in Michigan, when the weather turned cold we were more than ready to head south! A dead alternator in the motor home delayed us a bit but we were thankful it happened as we were leaving the house and not somewhere on the road!
We stopped in Springfield, IL to tour President Lincoln's museum - a great place to visit! - and then turned southward toward Houston. 27 degrees to 82 degrees!
Samantha is in a play at her middle school tonight and then Halloween tomorrow - a fun time to spend with the girls. So glad both girls are doing well after broken bones last year at this time!
Emily has a swim meet this week-end and Samantha has a cross country meet next week so we get to "sports watch" while we are here.
Roger is going back to work - barn money! - so we are moving to San Antonio soon and will spend the winter there. It will be nice to be near family and old friends for awhile.
Love being back in HEB and Bill Miller iced tea land!!!

Garland Golf Resort

Our couples golf league went up to Garland Golf Resort in Lewiston, MI for three days of golf last week. 18 of us - had a great time! Golf, food, fun and friendship!

Most of the group at Devils Lake Golf Course

Brian, Barb and Roger - gorgeous views on all three courses!

This little Par 3 kicked our butts!

Boldrey Cousins Reunion

We invited all of Roger's cousins, from his mother's side of the family, to our new home for a reunion the end of August. We haven't got all the pictures yet but, this is one of Duane, Bill and Roger with Virginia and Sharon on their father's old tractor - they gave it to the brothers to restore. The guys did a great job!

Niagra Falls 2018

Roger and I took Samantha and Emily on a "mini vacation" to Niagra Falls while they were visiting us in Michigan. Perfect weather and a great time exploring the US and Canadian sides of the falls.

Riding the Maiden of the Mist

Eating lunch in Canada

See the rainbow?

The girls went fishing in the river by our house - big catches!

Helping Grandpa grade the driveway

Checking out the new calves at Weir farms with Olive

Ice cream lunch after soccer/golf with Aunt Judy and Tima!

Samantha caught a big one fishing with Aunt Judy!

Always fun spending time with them - they are such a joy! I took them home Wednesday and it is awful quiet around here now!!

Family Vacation - Parker, CO

A few more of Judy's pictures from our fun family vacation!

Our favorite hangout area - the playground is beyond the umbrella tables

Coors Brewery tour - some of us were in another group

Charlotte and Caroline

We don't get to see Joel and Rachel and their cute daughters often enough 

The whole family


We were all teasing Joel about his mustache, so we bought a package of stick ons and we all showed up with one on  Family Feud night! He shaved his the next day!

    

Family Vacation 2018

We have been working on the house and yard since we returned to Michigan in April so we were really ready for our Eddy Family Vacation in Colorado. The 3 day drive there was pretty boring - corn, corn and more corn! But, the Colorado scenery made up for it!

We were all disappointed that Kyle, Rachel and Avery and Kirt and Nicole couldn't join us but the rest of us had a fun reunion at a great house in Parker. It was called the Grand Estate and that it is! Ten thousand square feet, 8 bedrooms, 6 full baths, a pool with an outdoor kitchen and dishwasher, a playground for the kids with a bathroom, a fenced in sand volleyball court, a hot tub, a full bar, a pool table, 2 kitchens, 2 laundry rooms and plenty of comfortable lounging areas. Wouldn't want to live there but it was a great place for us all to hang out together for a week. Almost needed our walkie-talkies to communicate!

We hiked, toured the Coors Brewery, splashed in the pool, played sand volleyball and a lot of cards. Some of us went to see "Sister Act" at the local theater on Sunday afternoon and it was a cute. There was a perfect playground for the little ones and Samantha and Emily were super sitters taking Charlotte and Caroline to swing and have fun in the playhouse frequently. Our teams did a great job of meal planning so we ate and drank like royalty! Team A - Roger, Heather, and Marilou won the Eddy Olympics -primarily because of their answers for Family Feud and their Euchre skills!

Carlos and Megan flew home to Austin early Saturday morning and Joel, Rachel and the girls left shortly thereafter to drive back to Dallas. Kyle, Heather and girls had a late flight from Denver to Houston so they went zip lining during the day.

Since us "retirees" didn't have to return to work we went up to Rocky Mountain National Park for 4 nights. The town of Estes Park, the gateway to Rocky Mountain NP, was a lot more crowded than we anticipated and because we kept missing the signs we "enjoyed" the traffic jam on main street 3 times!!

We drove the Trail Road, via the Old Fall Road, up to the Alpine Visitor Center at 12,000 feet.on Sunday. We saw a large herd of elk and beautiful vistas everywhere we looked! Us old folks are limited by the altitude, our age and our arthritic joints so many of the hiking trails were not good options but we did hike to Copeland Falls on Monday and Alberta Falls on Tuesday. Unfortunately, like many of our national parks, this park is busy and congested and necessitates riding the shuttle buses to key areas. Mel and Ray saw a moose right outside their bedroom window - he almost tripped on a tent stake at the site across the road!

All good things must end so we are on our way home now. The scenic route out of the park through the canyons was breathtaking! Good-bye mountains, good-bye waterfalls, good-bye elk - hello corn!!

More pictures to follow!

Fun With Friends

 We had a lovely brunch with dear friends, Kay and Dale, at Southern Exposure, on Mother's Day.
Despite the cold weather we had a great day!

These ladies braved the cool, rainy weather (at 4:00am!) to celebrate the Royal Wedding of Harry and Meghan as we gathered for a champagne breakfast and watched the celebration!

Mel,Marty,me,Barb,Cindy,Barb,Kay and Kim

Mel, wearing her wedding hat - last worn 38 years ago!

Kay and Kim in their pj's and fascinators!

Barb and Judy

Kim, Cindy and Barb - Cindy won the Royal Wedding Bingo game!