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Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Honolulu

Hi everyone,
We arrived safely in Hawaii. The flight went really well. The plane from Houston to Honolulu was only about half full. It made for a nice flight. No crowded plane with tons of people.

Got to the room and decided to take a few pictures from the window. The view was gorgeous. Syd and I left New Braunfels at 6:30 am and we all arrived in Honolulu at the hotel around 11 hours later. That's about all we did for the rest of the day. Just too tired to do much more than look around the hotel grounds and eat some dinner.




 
The second day in Honolulu we went to the Queen's palace. This place was unbelievable. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take picures of the inside of the palace. So, I have none to show you. We even had to wear booties over our shoes when we entered into the palace. The docent kept making jokes that she was the bootie expert. Everthing inside the building is original and has been fully restored. They are trying to maintain the woodwork and keep things from deteriorating. The floors, walls, stairs and staircases are all made of exotic wood. It's designed typically Victorian and very ornate. It is absolutely beautiful. Words can not begin to describe the details.


We also went to Waikiki beach that day. There was a surfing contest that day, so, we weren't able to really explore the whole beach much. It's a really long beach and it was raining that morning. Opted, instead to people watch and have a shaved ice. Also walked along and checked out The Royal Hawaiian Hotel. Tthis is one of the first resorts built at Waikiki. Many famous people have stayed there. So, it has lots of old Hollywood glamour and charm. 
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Forgot to flip it.
These were everywhere.  No less than 3 at the Royal Hawaiian.

Waikiki with Diamondhead in the background.
More to come soon, the internet connection is acting up and i can't post much more.

Friday, August 20, 2010

A Day in the Park

So. it's getting to be the last days of summer. Daniel, Tiffany and I decided to take the kids to the park . It was something to do and cheap. After all, there were 10 of us altogether. I have really been wanting to take some pictures of all 7 grandkids on playground equipment. Many years back ( I won't say how many), Kelli and I, had taken our children to MacArther Park. She took this awesome picture of all of them lined up on monkey bars. I wanted to recreate a similar picture, of my grandkids. Daniel and Tiffany help set the kids up and try to get them to smile or at least cooperate for the pics. All in all, we got it done and I think they turned out pretty well.

After a picnic lunch, we all walked down to the river to feed the ducks. Kiddos always like feeding the ducks. We saw all kinds of ordinary ducks, as well as, the really in bred, mutant kind. There were geese, swans, and this really sort of cute thing that Daniel called a water rat. Looks sorta of like a beaver or otter with out a flat tail. this thing was about 2 feet long. All the kids were in awe of it, until it climbed out of the water and looked like it just might come after you. Time to leave. On to the train.

Kids had a great time playing on the play ground, taking pics, feeding ducks, and riding the train. we ended the day with a trip to McDonald's and some ice cream. It was a nice way to spend one of the last days of summer.










The biggest kid of them all!

Thursday, August 12, 2010

Bathroom remodel

As many of my friends and family already know, Syd and I (mostly Syd ) are in the middle of a major house remodeling. Partly due to the age of the house and partly due to the recent flood. Here are some of the pictures of the bathroom as it nears completion. I forgot to edit one of them. So, you'll just have to look at it sideways.

Also, David and Crystal will be having a garage sale, this coming Sat. morning. Anyone who is interested, please go by their house. They would love to see you. Don't forget to bring your pocketbook!

Their address is 456 Roadrunner Ave. It is in the Whispering Valley subdivision off of Klein Rd. Which is off of 725.



Didn't he do such a great job! I am really happy how it is all turning out. Stay posted. As a room gets done, I'll post the pics.

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

I'll try this again!

Well, so yesterday, may daughter says to me- "Mom, one blog in a year? Really? You can do this." She knows that I was hesitant to start this and to learn another form of communication. But, as she would say to me, " get with the program ". So I decided that I would. She knows way more than I do about this stuff. I'm sure she will be sick of me asking her tons of questions. But, that's what she gets for nudging me into this. With her help and explanations, here I go.

I am going to try and commit to this thing, regular entries. I also, want to be able to share my upcoming trip to Hawaii, as well as events that are happening. Kim's blog was so impressive, that I an going to totally copy her.

We are making lots of progress on the bathroom renovations. Almost done! The floors are the only thing left in that room. Sydney has done a beautiful job. I love it!

Thanks to the recent flood, we are coming right along with the rest of the house. All three bedrooms are finished. We still need to take up and re-lay the living room and hallway floor. Replace the baseboards in the living room, hallways, and kitchen. The laundry area still needs to be painted, cabinets refinished and some sheetrock replaced. Not necessarily in that order. But, the light is at the end of the tunnel. It should all be over with in another month or two.

I'll post some photos as soon as I get them loaded.