Christmas Eve at the beach!

We are in Houston for the holidays.  Alyssa is now 36 weeks pregnant and couldn't travel to Amarillo so we ventured down here.  We includes me, Sandy, our dog, Doogie, my mother and her dog, Deeogee.  It is a long drive - 12 hours which isn't much fun with two dogs.  While we stopped for lunch at Whataburger, Deeogee had to go poop and unfortunately, we weren't there to let him out.  What a mess he made in the car!  We were close to Walmart and got some great stuff to clean the seat and floorboard and some Febreze to kill the smell.  It certainly added "excitement" to an otherwise long boring drive!

This is the 2nd Christmas we have been in Houston.  Three years ago we decided to make a Christmas Eve tradition of going to Galveston to the beach.  Two big things were different this year.  Number 1 is that Ashley and Kalum are in Denton with his parents so this is our first Christmas without Ashley.  Number 2 is the devastation that Hurricane Ike left.  Last time we went to Stewart Beach - it is closed this year.  But we just went down the seawall further south and walked down to the beach.  We just missed high tide because the water was up to the seawall in most locations.  The dogs had a blast running and playing.  Doogie enjoyed wading in the water but Deeogee preferred to stay close to Mom.  Here are some pictures to enjoy.

Tomorrow we are having ham, green beans, sweet potatoes, dressing, brocolli rice casserole, etc. for lunch.  We all agreed to cut back on the gift giving but will open packages after lunch. I think the baby probably has more gifts than anyone else!  Sure will miss Ashley and Kalum but they will be back here Saturday evening and we can spend some time with them before we head home.  

Have a very merry and blessed Christmas day at your house!

Hobbies - part 2

I had to convince myself that reading random blogs could be considered a hobby but I checked the definition of hobby in the dictionary - "an activity done regularly in one's leisure time for pleasure." My family says that I am blogstalking - maybe so but I enjoy reading what's going in with some people I know and some that I don't know personally. I started reading a blog or two when Ashley pointed me to one of her friend's blog to read an interesting story. Then I read another blog linked from that one and so on until I regularly read a number of blogs and am disappointed when there are no new posts.

Alyssa started blogging to share their pictures of the launch of STS-123. One of their friends, Bob, was on board and carried a small flag bearing the names and thumbprints of all of the students in her kindergarten classroom. Now we can all keep up with her pregnancy on the blog which helps this mother who is far away from her pregnant daughter!

Here's a short run down on the other blogs listed under Friends and Family. Abby always has fun pictures and stories of her adorable children, E and B. Janna teaches at the same school Alyssa taught when she was here and has two precious children who are going to grow up to be Aggies I'm sure - right, Dominic? I also regularly read blogs of some of Ashley's high school friends. Sarah Sue was like another daughter for several years - I'm sure that she and Ashley were attached at the hip! Others from the RHS class of 2001 are Mandy, Ashley I and Ashley B. When Jennifer (who is the daughter of a very good friend and I "helped" raise) had Sawyer I helped her set up a blog to keep her family up to date with pictures and stories. Luke and Cassie were also "kids" I came to know through church and cross country. Other friends from church that I follow include Michelle (who has a daughter named Alyssa!) and Jordan (who has wonderful stories of her children - Phoebe is absolutely adorable!). One of MY friends with a blog is Diane. Diane and Jay just returned last night from China with their newly adopted daughter, Lilly. It has been so much fun keeping up with them the past two weeks. Of course, they are fun to read about all the time because they are a family of Aggies - whoop!

Somehow along the way, I ran into other blogs that really captured my attention and I have linked to them also.

I don't know that I would have written about my blog reading hobby but one of my favorite blogs is having a contest and who doesn't want to enter a contest! MckMama writes on her blog about her four children under age 4. Yes, that's correct she has four children and the oldest is not quite 4. She and her husband, Prince Charming, recently celebrated their 5th wedding anniversary. MckMama is a very entertaining writer and a fabulous photographer. She frequently posts photos of her absolutely beautiful (and charming) children - Big Mac, MckNugget, Small Fry and the newest addition, MckMuffin. Of course, these aren't their real life names but that's the names MckMama uses for them on the blog.

I became addicted to MckMama's blog this summer. She was pregnant with MckMuffin (whose real name is Stellan) and was told at 24 weeks that Stellan would not survive. He was diagnosed in the womb with heart failure - supraventricular tachycardia, hydrops, and intermittent advanced secondary heart block. Prince Charming and MckMama gave their unborn son to God and the prayers started to save this baby's life. The number of blog readers and others who prayed for Stellan was amazing. Stellan was born HEALTHY with no heart problems on October 29 and continues to be their little miracle. It is a truly amazing story of faith in God!

Nate and Trish have an amazing story as well! Trish has cystic fibrosis and had to have a lung transplant last year. Just before she started therapy to prepare for a transplant, they found out she was pregnant. Against lots of odds, they continued the pregnancy and Gwynth was born at 24.5 weeks gestation. Again a plethora of prayers was lifted to God and Gwynth grew and survived and is a blessing to everyone. Trish got a new pair of lungs in April and has been able to be a really great mom to Gwynth. Recently she suffered a setback with some cancer in her lungs and had to have chemo but things seem to be looking up for this family. Again their faith in God has pulled them through the tough times. Nate is an energetic guy who does a great job at writing such interesting posts. He is also an amateur photographer and posts wonderful pictures of Trish and Gwynth.

One of the recent additions to my daily blog read is Gitz. Wow, she is absolutely amazing and a real inspiration for me. She suffers from ankylosing spondylitis and is confined to her home due to complications from this crippling disease. Her faith in God keeps her REALLY living every day to the fullest of her abilities although she is in constant pain. Also she has a Maltese named Riley. Well I think my family members are Maltese addicted. My sister started out with Darby who died at an early age and then got Darcy who she bred to produce my Doogie. She kept another pup named Dexter. Alyssa got a tiny Maltese named Daisy who died a few years ago but was adorable. Then my mother needed a pet and we found Deeogee in College Station. (Notice all the "D" names?) My friend, Ramona, wanted a dog and got a Maltese she named Riley. Now Gitz's Riley looks and acts just like Mother's Deeogee.

Another amazing story of faith is Angie who carried a child who they knew would not survive. Hmmm - it's becoming apparent now that I love reading stories about babies - which probably stems from my excitement at becoming a grandmother!! Suzanne has quads and what fun it is to read about them. An added bonus is that her hubby is an Aggie and they love dressing the babies in Aggie clothes. One + One = Four is the story of twins who were born in August. Kelly and Amanda are both expecting babies about the same time as Alyssa.

I think one of the reasons I really love this hobby is that I know I couldn't keep up with it

Hobbies

I love reading blogs and feel bad because I don't ever have anything to post. So I decided to start posting about some of my hobbies. One thing I enjoy doing but don't do a lot is origami. Recently I helped hostess a bridal shower for one of Ashley's high school friends, Brock and his bride, Natalya. I volunteered to do invitations but someone had taken that task so I volunteered to do the corsages. I had made some corsages with origami flowers before and decided to do that again. So here are my latest creations!

The lovely bride and groom at the shower - Natalya and Brock

Natalya and Brock's mother, Karla

Little Blossom

Just in case any one is still wondering. I REALLY LOVE the retired life! I love being able to do what I want to do when I want to do. I went shopping one day last week and found some Halloween costumes for babies on sale. Not knowing what baby Dillon will be, I couldn't buy one for him/her so I bought one for Sloan. I kept her today and took some pictures of her in the costume. Isn't she the cutest little blossom you have ever seen?

Now lest you think I would slight my own grandbaby, I had already bought him/her something earlier in my shopping spree. I know we'll have some pictures to post of baby Dillon next fall in this outfit!

Blog Makeover

Woo-Hoo! I finally got the blog makeover I've been after for several weeks. I created the background with my digital scrapbooking supplies in Photoshop Elements a couple of weeks ago but I could not get it to load correctly. I finally figured out what I was doing wrong and got my new background. Then this evening I created the header. I still need to do some tweeking of some things but I am excited I got this far.

Weekend at Glen Eyrie

Last weekend we went to a marriage getaway with about 20 other couples from our church at Glen Eyrie Castle near Colorado Springs. It is an awesome place to visit and we really enjoyed the getaway. Glen Eyrie began as the estate of General William Jackson Palmer, founder of several railroads and the city of Colorado Springs. You can read more of the history here.

When we arrived on Friday afternoon, it was rainy and a little chilly. But Saturday was an absolutely gorgeous day.
As we walked to breakfast that morning, we saw some turkeys.


Glen Eyrie is located very close to the Garden of the Gods so there are several rock formations on the property.

We didn't stay in the Castle but in the Big Horn Lodge. This is the parking lot for the Big Horn Lodge. I forgot to get a picture of the lodge!

This bench was just outside the window of our room.

Saturday morning before lunch Sandy and I hiked up to Dawson's grave. We didn't have a clue about who Dawson was but understood it to be a short hike with a great view. We even saw Pike's Peak.

Granny Practice

I got to keep Sloan today. Her grandmother had to go out of town and I am the backup babysitter. We had a great day. Sloan is a really good baby. She eats, then plays, then sleeps. She is so happy and loves for you to talk to her.

Ahhhh - Retirement!

Very exciting news in the life of the HamFam --we are going to be grandparents in January! Woo - hoo! Check out Alyssa and Lichar's blog (link below and to the right) to see some pictures of our grandbaby. They do not plan on finding out the sex of the baby and have given it a temporary Dutch name - Dingetje. Needless to say we are all very excited but those of you who know me well know that I am REALLY excited to be a granny! I had to wait until Alyssa posted on her blog before I did on mine!

Sandy started back to work August 1 and I experienced what "real" retirement was! For me that was the signal summer is over and a new school year is about to begin. I enjoy the days at home even though there is MUCH to do around the house. I can do things without being pressured by time restrictions. Doogie seems to enjoy having me home all day as well - he sleeps pretty much the entire day. He does have to wake up to "protect" me from noises that he barks at.

One of the bonuses of retirement is that I was able to go to Houston and spend time with the girls! (And Lichar and Kalum!) My mother, her dog (Deeogee) and I left Monday, August 11 for Houston. It was a very long 12 hour trip and we were so glad to get out of the car for a few hours when we got there. The main purpose of our trip was to help Alyssa get her classroom ready for the new school year. (She teaches kindergarten at Westwood Elementary in Friendswood ISD.) So Tuesday morning we were off to school to begin our work. Alyssa had a list of things for us to do. Mom and I moved bulletin boards from one location to another and decorated a big board in the hall, cleaned out cabinets and drawers, reorganized Alyssa's teacher desk area (she got rid of the desk and is using a small table for her computer and work area), organized student books as well as big books, etc.

We finally got our tasks completed this Monday and came home yesterday (Tuesday.) We did have time in the evenings to watch the Olympics and visit with Ashley, Kalum and Lichar. I also got to spend some time spoiling Ali who is the 8 month old daughter of Alyssa and Lichar's good friends, Kira and Andrew. They are temporarily living with Alyssa and Lichar until they move to California at the end of the month.

We did work in some shopping time as well. Ashley, Kalum, Mom and I went to Old Navy and then Baybrook Mall on Saturday. Since it was tax free weekend, the mall was CRAZY and we didn't spend much time there. Alyssa and I spent some time shopping for material for the baby's room - no luck though. One thing I really wanted to do while I was there was spend an unlimited time in Fry's - an electronics store. I got to do that Sunday afternoon. Kalum and Lichar went along because they love Fry's as much as I do. I was able to walk up and down every aisle in the computer/office half of the store. The other half is music/movies/
appliances/television and maybe I'll get to walk that side another time. I didn't even buy a thing but was able to browse through the computer software/books/accessories - it was great!

It was so much fun to spend time with my girls and their husbands - we did miss Sandy though. Hopefully he can go next time and we can all spend time together.

Here are a few pictures of things we did in Alyssa's classroom.

Finally Finished the Alaska Cruise Posting!

We've been home a month now from our Alaskan cruise and I finally finished posting all our pictures! So if you've only seen through the fishing pictures, the rest are now posted. If you'll scroll down past the post from Colorado, you'll find the start of the cruise pictures. I tried to show as much of the beautiful scenery as I could by posting pictures in slide shows. Hopefully, you will enjoy viewing them!

Beautiful Colorado

We are in Salida, Colorado for a few days. We've been coming to Salida every year since 2002. This is where Ashley worked for Wilderness Trek. When we got our trailer two years ago, we started staying at the campground just down the hill from Trek home base. We absolutely love it here. There are some great people who come here every summer.

Here's some pictures of the view out our trailer window.

About 8:00 a.m. the first morning we were here, there was a bear in the campground. He disappeared across the field and into the woods in the photo below.

We have been going for a walk every evening so here are some pictures from tonight's walk. Notice the deer in the middle of the first picture.

This house is for sale - interested?



You can see the RV campground through the trees on the right.

A little closer to the campground - our trailer is exactly in the middle here.

Does anyone know what this flower/weed is?

A closer view of the woods the bear disappeared into.

This is the stream next to the campground.

Home sweet home for a few days!

Way Up North - to Alaska!!!!!

We just returned from an Alaskan cruise and it was FANTASTIC! I have promised everyone I'd post pictures here and share some of our adventures. So here goes!

We flew to Seattle on Friday, June 13 and spent Saturday exploring Pike Place Market and the Space Needle. We stayed in downtown Seattle and were within walking distance (almost a mile) from Pike Place Market.

I've heard so much about the Pike Place Fish Market and their philosophy (Be There, Play, Make Their Day and Chose Your Attitude) and was really looking forward to visiting it. But hardly anyone was buying fish so we didn't get to see much action.
You can refresh the page to see the slide show if you miss it the first time.

We walked around the waterfront and ate the famous clam chowder at Ivars and then hopped on the free trolley to the Space Needle.

The view from the Space Needle was AWESOME! I really wasn't bothered by the height which surprised me. We spent about 2 hours just enjoying the view. While we were up there, three cruise ships pulled out. It really got me even more excited about cruising and I had to send a photo on my iPhone to several people telling them we would be on that ship the next day.

More pictures from the top of the Space Needle!
You can refresh the page to see the slide show if you miss it the first time.

Seattle was great but we were ready to CRUISE!

It only took us slightly more than an hour to catch a taxi from our hotel to Terminal 30, check in our luggage, go through the registration process, walk the LONG gangway up to the ship and find our room. Of course, the entire time I was tapping Sandy on the shoulder and saying "We are really going on a cruise - on that ship!" I was so very excited!

It didn't seem to bother him too much. He decided he needed a cap and got a hug as well!

We finally made it to our stateroom-B645!

First thing Sandy did was check out the bed.

I'd been told that there was not much of a closet or storage space
but that was not the case for us.

We had a balcony stateroom which we enjoyed very much!


We spent the next hour exploring the ship and trying to find our way around.


The Holland American Line ship "parked" behind us took off first and then it was our turn!




As we were pulling out Mt. Rainer appeared through the clouds - it was AWESOME!


Breakfast on Monday morning -buffet from the Horizon Court.
We ate breakfast there every morning and enjoyed the view.

More exploration - yes, it was pretty cool out there.


Formal dinner Monday evening - food was delicious!

Tuesday morning we docked in Ketchikan, Alaska about 6:30 a.m.
You can refresh the page to see the slide show if you miss it the first time.

We had to be on the dock ready to go on our "Exclusive Alaska Fishing & Wilderness Dining" excursion at 6:40 a.m. - UGH! We met up with our guide, Alonso, (who is a graduate of Texas A&M) and two fishing partners, Marty and his 6 year old son, Everett from Florida. Alonso got us outfitted in rainproof overalls, jacket, boots and heavy socks. I got a beani and boy, was I ever glad that I did - it was cold on that water. We got into a Lund boat and took off the exact same way that our ship had just come in.

Alonso found a spot where he thought there might be some fish and gave us our rods and reels. He put a large ball weight on it since we would be fishing at 350 or so feet of water. He instructed us to let the line out and jig off the bottom. I caught the first fish - a cod! I thought I would never get it reeled in because we were fishing so deep. Alonso held him so I could take a picture.

Marty caught a rockfish and then Sandy caught a cod - bigger than mine. : - (

I caught a rockfish then. Boy, are they ugly fish! Because they live so deep, when you reel them to the top the pressure causes their eyes to bulge out and their stomach to pop out their mouth. Disgusting, huh?

The exciting part of the trip came when Sandy hooked a fairly large halibut. I thought reeling in my small fish was hard - halibuts are fighters and this one gave Sandy a run for his money. As he got the fish close to the top, Alonso warned him not to get the fish's head out of water because it would go balistic. He instructed Sandy to bring the fish up to the side of the boat close to Alonso and he would hook him. Well, he did hook him, yanked him into the boat and then started beating the fish's head to kill him. He was correct about the fish going ballistic when he came out of the water. I was glad that I was standing way up front and that fish was way back in the boat. I didn't get a good picture of Alonso killing him because Everett got in the way. We were all so excited about catching this big fish. We didn't weigh it and when Sandy tells its weight he tends to exaggerate so I'll leave that alone for now! ; - )

Here are some pictures snapped randomly as we fished. I was absolutely freezing to death and didn't want to fish the entire time. It was cloudy and misted or rained on us off and on. I was really ready to get to the wilderness campsite and stand next to the campfire and drink hot chocolate - even if it was June 17!

You can refresh the page to see the slide show if you miss it the first time.

The best part of the day was going to the campsite and eating a shore lunch of the fish we had just caught. There were several excursions out fishing and they came in to the campsite at different times. We were the last ones in. The guides cleaned the fish on the shore and brought them up to the cook in the kitchen. The campsite consisted of two campfires with benches to sit on, a kitchen area and even a private restroom with its own door! I stood by the fire and drank hot chocolate until I thawed out some and then wandered around a little to take pictures.

You can refresh the page to see the slide show if you miss it the first time.

I'm not sure of what was in the soup they cooked the fish in - I know there were potatoes, tomatoes and some other veggies. I'm still looking for the recipe. Alonso said it was posted on the Internet but I forgot where. We also had sourdough bread. We had some cod, some rockfish and some halibut in each of our bowls but I couldn't tell the difference.It was delicious!

On the way back, Alonso told us some things about Ketchikan and the area. There are no roads to Ketchikan - you have to fly in or come by ship. I don't remember exactly how he came to live there but I do know he likes it. He looked for wildlife and did find an bald eagle perched on a marker buoy. He threw a fish carcass out and we sat and waited for the eagle to come get it. But the eagle wouldn't budge until we left. Alonso also knew where a pair of bald eagles were nesting but you could barely see the head of one of them sticking out if you used binoculars.

It was a great day of fishing and we really enjoyed it. We did have about two hours to shop but Sandy was really afraid we'd miss the ship so we only tarried about an hour. We both bought us nice, warm fleece lined coats with hoods even though we had warm jackets with us. As you will see from other pictures, we made GOOD use of the new jackets. These pictures are taken from the back of the boat. At the top you will see the Skywalker's Lounge. Later in the cruise, we found it was a spectacular place too view scenery during the day when the bar was closed!

As we left Ketchikan around 4:00 that afternoon the sun came out and the scenery was even more gorgeous.

You can refresh the page to see the slide show if you miss it the first time.

There was a naturalist aboard our ship who gave lots of interesting information over the PA system as we were leaving ports. The afternoon we left Ketchikan he said there was a possibility of seeing some whales later on that evening. Sure enough we did see some whales although I didn't get very good pictures.
You can refresh the page to see the slide show if you miss it the first time.

The next morning at 5:30 a.m. the ship entered Tracy Arm cruising toward Sawyer Glacier. Right at the entrance to Tracy Arm there are strong tidal currents and often whales are found here eating. Sandy did see one from our balcony but I was still in bed so no pictures. As we cruised up the arm, we were amazed to see blue ice. I was up and dressed so I began to take pictures and took way too many. Here are a few:
You can refresh the page to see the slide show if you miss it the first time.

When a river cuts through rock and makes a valley, it is V shape. When a glacier cuts through, it forms a ball shaped valley as shown here.

As we got closer to the glaciers, there was more and more ice in the water.
You can refresh the page to see the slide show if you miss it the first time.

Finally we were able to see one of the glaciers. After the boat went beyond the little island, it turned slowly around and we could then see the second glacier from our side of the ship.

There was many, many waterfalls and the scenery was amazing. The water was very calm since we were off the ocean and it was so peaceful. We really enjoyed our balcony but especially this morning because it was so wonderful to sit there and just enjoy God's beautiful handiwork. Later that afternoon we docked in Juneau, the capital of Alaska!

We had picked a whale watching excursion followed by a trip to Mendenhall Glacier. For the whale watching we were on a large catamaran that held about 100 people. It was really cold and we were on the top deck which was enclosed but not heated. We saw quite a few whales and I did get some pretty good pictures. We were on a boat much larger than the one you see in the pictures.
You can refresh the page to see the slide show if you miss it the first time.

By the time we got to Mendenhall Glacier (via bus), it was raining and still cold so it wasn't a very enjoyable trip. It was foggy and you really couldn't see the glacier very good.
You can refresh the page to see the slide show if you miss it the first time.

We had just a little bit of time to visit the famous Red Dog Saloon. It is supposed to be the original saloon. Under the bear's head on the wall is a gun that is said to have been left there by Wyatt Erp.


On Thursday in Skagway, Alaska we chose to take a ride on the scenic White Pass & Yukon Railroad with a bus tour on into the Yukon Territory. The WP&YR climbs nearly 3000 feet in 20 miles and features steep grades, cliff hanging turns, two tunnels, and numerous bridges and trestles. The scenery was awesome! I actually got out on the platform to take most of these pictures even though I hate heights! Here's a link to some history about the WP&YR -
http://www.wpyr.com/history/index.html

When we arrived in Fraser, British Columbia, the Canadian border patrol came on board and checked all passports. Then we got off and boarded our bus for the Yukon territory. We had an awesome young bus driver who kept us entertained with lots of great information about the area and the railroad. We first drove next to a 40 mile long lake. There was snow at the top of the pass!

All of the sudden there was a desert! The sign says - "Affectionately known as the smallest desert in the world, this area was originally covered by a large glacial lake. As the glaciers retreated causing lower water levels, sandy lake bottom material was left behind. Strong prevailing winds from Lake Bennett have constantly worked this sand, making it difficult for vegetation to become established. Species of plants that have survived include lodgepole pine and kinnikinnick." It was amazing - it was cold and we were standing in a desert!

The driver had told us that he had a surprise for us and not all of the bus tours got to see this surprise. It was a beautiful emerald green lake. These pictures do not do justice to the beautiful colors in this lake. It was awesome!

We stopped for lunch at the Caribou Crossing Trading Post near Carcross. We had barbecue chicken and fixings with homemade donuts for dessert. YUM! This is also the home of the Museum of Yukon Natural History. I can't remember the entire story but a world famous taxidermist either owned this place or just lived here and these are all his creations.

Sandy found a pickup like the one he learned to drive on -

and I found us a retirement home!

Then it was back on the bus to Alaska and down the scenic highway to Skagway! Again we stopped for photo opportunities.

We crossed over Captain William Moore Bridge which is a cantilever bridge than is anchored only one one end. It crosses a fault line and there are several earthquakes a day in this region yet the bridge remains intact. It was very interesting!

That evening as we sailed from Skagway back into the main part of the ocean, the sun came out and the scenery was incredible!

At the back of the ship was the Skywalkers Lounge. It was the highest accessible point on the ship and during the day it was a great place to sit and have a super view without freezing. We took these pictures from there.

Friday and Saturday the ship headed south to Victoria, British Columbi which was the last stop. We did not book an excursion but just wandered around looking at things.

Hope you enjoyed viewing some of our cruise pictures. I took over 500 pictures but I didn't post all of them! ; - )