Alexandria, VA at Christmas time 12-10

Rod had a Academy meeting in Alexandria at the beginning of December. I had heard how beautiful this little town is at this time of year, so I went along. I had the best time. The bear trees where all decorated with tiny white lights, all the lamp posts had garland wrapped around them and the weather was crisp and sun shiny every day. Perfect!

Walking along the quaint streets, I often stop and talk with the locals...fun! There was to be a Scottish parade on Saturday morning, then the boats are decorated for Christmas and parade down the Potomac River for all to see. How exciting! I caught a glimpse of the morning parade and have "never" seen so many men in skirts before, really! Sooo many different colored plaid skirts, with hairy legs and tattoos showing below it. Really funny : } I had to watch where I was going to keep from stumbling from starring : }

Later that night, right on the dock, we had dinner at this restaurant so we could watch the parade of decorated boats sail by.

Can you see the manger scene, followed by one of the Kings on his camel, then another King walking [3 different boats]

There's Santa and his sleigh and reindeer

So beautiful and colorful

We took the trolley back to the hotel afterwards.

I do a different self tour when I'm there. This one was to one of the oldest churches in Alexandria. It's where President Washington actually attended. Since then, "every" president has come at least once to visit except Clinton, Nixon and Obama. The white corner stones are the original stones!

The sanctuary. The 2 gold large plaques are the original ones placed in the church when it was built. One is The Our Father and the other is The Ten Commandments. Note where all those people are sitting!!

This is that box! Where the President and his family would sit every single Sunday. I sat in the spot where Eleanor Roosevelt sat..cool!

Each block of seats is bought by parishioners. It was their way of making sure enough money came into the church to make ends meet. So each family went into the same box each week. The Presidents block is the only one with 2 numbers on the entrance doors. As they had initially numbered each block, the president ended up with number 59 and that upset everyone because it was an odd number. Un-thought of back then! So they added number 60 to his block of seats and everyone was happy with the even number : }

There was no heat in the church back then, so people were allowed to bring small dogs to sit on their laps to keep them warm, hence "lap dogs" came into existence! This lasted until one dog was taken up to the altar with a lady who wanted to receive communion. The priest dropped the host accidently, the dog ate it and from that point on, dogs were band from church : } Love these tidbits of info!! : }

This is the original chandelier that hung back then. It still only holds candles for light.

These are the grounds outside the church. Just a small cemetery, but the dates on the head stones is what intrigued me. Some dated back to 1807!

One evening the Academy staff took all the executive committee out for dinner, or so we thought. We all boarded a bus and ended up at a golf range. They had reserved 10 tee off boxes for all of the drs. with private golf lessons. COOL!! It was so much fun. While the drs. were "trying" to swing a club, food and drinks were brought out. Great evening! : } This is Dr. David Kennedy. One of dad's very close friends, who also goes scuba diving with us.

Dad getting some private tips on his swing

And boy did those tips work!!

Thanksgiving in Chicago 11-10

Dad and I went to Chicago for Thanskgiving to celebrate it with Tara, Tim and our Emma Mae. We went Christmas shopping on the Million Dollar Mile and had lunch at Nordstroms. And just by chance, look who happened to be walking by....Santa! : }
Yes, even Flat Stanley got to go to lunch with us!

This was early in the morning and the streets were not even nearly filled with people as what they were by noon. That's Emma riding on her daddy's shoulders with dad walking next to him and Tara walking in front of dad. It was very cold!! We were on our way to the Disney Store : }

Beautiful downtown Chicago

I just can't seem to get these pics to rotate. Anyway, here we are on the "L train" going downtown. Fun experience!!

Sitting down for our Thanksgiving dinner in the dining room at Tara and Tim's new home in Lincoln Park, right outside Chicago. The food was fabulous!! Great job, T : }

Dad bringing out one of the craved turkey Tara prepared.

Ohhhh my little Emma Mae.....I love you!!

Dad carving the turkey Tara prepared. The long hallway leads out to the dining room and living room.

This is the dining room and I'm standing in the living room taking the pic

The living room that has a wonderful bay window.

Tara's kitchen. The door leads out to a closed in porch that is used for storage and Emma's toys

So as we stood on the platform waiting on the L train to take us to T&T's apartment, the Christmas train came by. It was totally decorated for Christmas and Santa was even riding on it. It brought smiles to "everyones' faces.

Texas Visit 11-10

So sorry for the long lapse of time not blogging since October! Truly I was traveling extensively and this just got placed at the bottom of my to-do list. But I'mmmmmmm back : }

I visited Round Rock in November and brought Flat Stanley with me. Actually Flat Stanley traveled everywhere with me this past Fall! I was asked if she could stay with me by my little friend in Edmond, OK, Olivia Peters. Olivia and her family use to live next door to us here in Omaha and moved about 3 years ago. I miss them terribly! Anyway, Alex, Tony and Ali thought it was fun to have Flat Stanley in pics with them : }

Mark is teaching Aliana how to drive the jeep. I tried down loading the video of her driving and it wouldn't attach. It was hysterical watching this little squirt driving around in circles in the back yard. She caught on rather quickly which makes me smile at the thought of her driving when she's 16!!

Mark gets a little crazy with energy after work when he's playing with the kids in the yard. Amy said something and he "grabbed" her and started running around with her on his shoulder. Of course, she was screaming her head off and the kids LOVED it. I, naturally, grabbed my camera! : }

Look at Ali's facial expression. She getting timed-out for doing something her momma didn't like. I can't even remember what it was, but her face was precious and I had to turn my head to keep from smiling. Ahhhhhhh!

I decided to make one of my pizza's for dinner and Ali had to help. I loved it! She did a great job helping me sprinkle the ingredients all over the top of the pizza.

Here we are in Pirate Park. The boys pretend all the trees are pirates that are trying to attack momma and me. So they go around hitting every single tree trunk with their swords [a large stick]. Great exercise for them : }

Amanda helping Alex learn to balance on his bike without training wheels. He finally got it and off he went smiling from ear to ear!

We went to lunch in downtown Round Rock after visiting the library. They all got their own books and were reading them as momma was ordering their lunch. They all have very good manners in restaurants!

Downtown Round Rock, TX

Library time at the computers

Ali playing with kids her own age

Amanda organized an outing to a local farm for all the home schooled kids in her neighborhood. 18 kids with their moms came and it was a gorgeous day.

Planting seeds to take home to grow.
Learning all about that huge mound of compost and how its used in the fields to enhance the growth of all the crops. Ali says, "Mom, have you ever seen such a big pile of chicken poop?" No, she didn't really say that, but the expression on her face makes it look like she could have : }

Checking out the irrigation system

Having our early morning coffee together as always I couldn't get this pic to rotate but had to place it here anyway. Tony is so cute and proud of his Thanksgiving poster. Our precious little Indian!

Growing up way too fast for her Noni!

Alex and Mom learning about the Solar System.