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!