Garage Sale

We helped Emily clean out and pare down for her upcoming move to NYC.
It was an awfully hot day and thankfully it was a very successful event for Em.

Seeing the interesting people and interacting with the ones I wanted to was a diversion for me. One lady bought a chest of drawers and had no way to get it home! She took the drawers separately and came back for the chest......no go- it wouldn't fit into her car trunk or empty back seat- after much confusion and difficulty communicating ( Spanish only ) she returned with a neighbor and a p/u truck and with much fanfare and Adioses took the deal home.

A pretty 17 year old girl, a neighbor's daughter, was TALL for a kid and she bought a pair of in-line skates.She put 'em on and tried to skate round the area. With her God given height and the increase of 3 or 4 inches of skate wheels she looked like an Amazon. Her ability on the wheels was questionable and we were insisting she wear the provided knee and elbow pads. It was funny too because her little sister, who was 4 years younger and equally lanky, was miffed 'cos she wanted the skates - size 9 - and they only fit her older sister.

A skinny guy came by on his bike. He was fully rigged out in bike attire and looked like Lance, only in his 70s.
He bought a small food scale to weigh his dog's food and poop, honest! He didn't want his dog to get fat.

We had a lot of really nice people and it was a blast but we were glad when the 4 hours was over at 12 noon and we could take down all the signs. People were still trickling in at 1215 as I was removing the signs.

Here's a pic of Emily on Saturday afternoon right after we ended the sale. She is working on Evelyn's quilt.




And one with Mommy pretending to be helping interpret the quilt pattern whilst she is really just veneering her nails :-)

While they're Hot

I downloaded a lot of pics and vids yesterday from the Pflugerville experience..
Some are in the post below this one and a couple of pics that pertained to the Mentzer Pool trip in the post below that one. Sneaky of me to add to the old posts but I wanted to see if anyone was paying attention!
Here are a whole lot of other shots......
Anna looking at a James Herriott book that was a gift from Auntie Stephanie to Colin.
Nana reading to the kids
Grandad can read too!
Boggled by computer games
This is an attention control device
Nana is good at reading stories
So we keep getting her to do it
Colin in mask, Nana doesn't have a mask on!
Anna in mask
Nana force feeding salad to Anna
So Anna sticks out her tongue
Look Ma, no cavities
My tongue is bigger than yours
Oh yeah, well look at this
Anna in composed state finally

Phrom Pflugerville

Tuesday already. Yesterday Anna and Colin went to gymnastics class and came home still full of energy. Here's a couple of videos of them dancing.




Everything is going well here in P'ville. Nana does an incredible job with the kids. It really is good to have the opportunity to get to have them on out own so they get to know us better.

The exciting news of the day is that Bev's boss and her 'part time' job will allow her to take a real vacation this year. Despite the demands of several construction projects on going in October, we will be off on a Princess cruise on the 19th. Princess has great food. All the kitchen and wait staff are Italiano.........whooooo!

The cruise is from Los Angeles to ...Los Angeles with stops in Hilo, Kauai, Lahaina, Oahu and Kona in the Hawaiian Islands and then a 'pit' stop, pardon the pun, in Ensenada Mexico. Oh, by the way, it is 15 nights.........8 at sea lazing about doing nowt.
Can't wait. In the meantime I am contemplating a quickie visit to UK if the floods ever stop.

Tomorrow Anth and Jenn will be home. Bev leaves for ELP Thursday morning and I'll drive to Houston. We'll be there only a short while because we are going to Dallas on Friday to help Em with garage sale madness on Saturday and to visit with old friends in Dallas Saturday night.

To paraphrase Porky Pig, "That's all Pholks"

Me and Colin

I am trying to give Nana a small break...she is at dancing class with Anna.
Colin and I, or 'me and Grandad' as he says, are playing at home. He just asked me if he could play on the computer. No, 'cos you've already had 1/2 hour this morning.
But, The Championship is on and he and I will sneak an hour of golf watching while we have no interruptions from the girls.........
Colin likes golf! He knows who Sergio is and recognizes traps and greens.
(Later)
We had whole wheat pancakes for brekkie and we are preparing to go to the pool next.
Colin and me will have to record the Championship so we can see its conclusion upon our return.
(Later)
We spent more than 2 hours at the pool.





Beautiful sunny day and it was not crowded until just before we left. It really is a nice place to go. We went down the big slide at least 20 times. Nachos were in order when we got home. Then I watched Sergio lose the tournament while Nana and the kids watched a movie. Colin had lost interest in Sergio.

Kielbasa sausage and potato salad for dinner tonight. With roasted eggplant and frijoles on the side. H E B had some nice white corn today so we all had 1/2 ear........Anna couldn't eat it on the cob 'cos her teeth are loose.
Everyone agreed that the potato salad was delicious.

Tomorrow is our third to last day of taking care of the Martin kids......aawwhhh
I'm sure the kittens will miss us, they will have to find someone else to terrorize.

Pflugerville sitters

We are up in Austin watching Anna and Colin while Jenn and Anth vacation in Ciao-zumel Mexico.
Its great news that I remembered to bring my camera so I can document this week. Unhappily, I FORGOT the USB cable to allow me to download to the computer. The Martin's do not have a device for me to use so you all will just have to wait.
Anna and Col are doing great. They amaze me that they don't pine for their parents at all. We had meatballs and spaghetti tonight- a favorite.
The new kittens are full of viva and Patchie, so far, hasn't been too upset with them. They eat her food so we have to be sure she gets to it first.

More tomorrow.

River Oaks, Houston hotspot......

Several nice pictures of Tom, Taylor, Graham and Paige. This may be an overload for some of you. Others, however will no doubt be thrilled at the developments.......
Anyway, you will have to excuse my naffness, the humidity is getting to me.

Here's Taylor doing homework on her laptop.

Here Graham gives me a "What now Grandad? look.



Paigie shows how she likes nan bread.



Graham too!










And another of PK ( She's actually singing.....)








Graham Brooks Walker







A group shot





A group shot by Steph






Several more of Tom and Taylor



Is she pretty or what?

Visitors

We have had more company in the past month than we had in the last three years in El Paso. The latest to come are Tom and Taylor, Bev's brother and our niece.
Here's a picture of beautiful Taylor with gorgeous Evelyn.



Last week end Sudie and Dulce were here and Eric Muirhead and his family came to see them.

Bev took this pic showing the two Erics, Elliot, Susan, Dulce and Sudie.

Heh, heh he......

Impromptu Dinner

Nana is in Waco rescuing her Mom and Aunt Sudie. She will bring them to Houston tomorrow to see Evelyn and the rest of us.


While she was away,
I had dinner with Paige, Graham and Evelyn. ( Steph too )

A Different Tactic

When I became a citizen of the U.S. I took this test.
It was oral.
Here's the test, just as I remember it.....

Click here..


I scored 95%. I missed #13 'cos I misread the question.


Let me know how you do.......

Happy Birthday..........

<




July 4th and we had a great time. We went to the club and swam, went on rides and got faces painted.

We were the first ones there because the rain was threatening. So for a while we had the whole pool and attractions to ourselves.



Then we cleaned up......
>



And went to dinner.......




(just look at this appetizer I had!)






Here's Graham at the head of the table conversing with Nana.....

And here's Paige allowing Grandad to dote on her....




I got some videos of the kids on the rides and stuff, if anyone's interested..

Monday

Did a spot of painting today finishing off one of the new windows we had put in last week. Watched a bit of mostly rained out Wimbledon. Went to the gym and burned off more than 500 calories, then had lamb chops from Costco for dinner and lovely new potatoes to go with (minted and buttered) And Rainier cherries for dessert. ( put back all the 500 and a few more.)

I have a few vids ........one a very nice one of PK and her mommy singing 'where is pointer'
The others are of Evie sleeping.