Christmas Week

On Christmas day, we went to Richard & Mary Helen's house. Mom always makes her famous turkey & dressing, which we stuff ourselves on. After lunch, Pop reads the Christmas Visitor story and we sing Christmas carols until the kids get anxious to open presents. This year, Lucy & Mary passed out the gifts. We opened lots of wonderful gifts and enjoyed visiting with one another. (No pics......it was hard to be so joyful while we all miss Rich.)

The day after Christmas........the girls & family are home.....

Travis, Sara & Elizabeth went to the Austin airport and picked up Kate & her friend, Nick Rossi (yes, her boyfriend and literally, the boy next door). Since Santa had come the night before, Elizabeth spotted her gift first. Grandpa John was watching Elizabeth play with her new toy. At our Christmas, we open presents by age...and Elizabeth got to go first. Well, her 1st present lasted quite awhile since she liked playing with the wrapping paper.....so we made a few changes in the rules....and the rest of us opened our gifts while Elizabeth was busy with hers. It was so much fun to watch Elizabeth.

At night, Kate's friends, Audra & Nikki, came over so they could visit with Kate and exchange gifts. Each year we put together a Christmas puzzle. The girls got in the act and by 12:30 that night it was complete.

Christmas Already?

We start our Christmas holiday with the Jahns Christmas held the 2nd Sunday in December at Barclay Community Center. While I didn't take a lot of pictures, I did get one with Elizabeth and her Great-Grandpa Schigut.

Our next Christmas is the Andel-Alford Christmas. For the last few years, it's been at our house. Keith, Teresa & kids go to the children's mass, which in kids are involved and then we eat supper. After the dishes are done (or at least the tables are cleaned off), we open presents. In order for everyone to see what each of us gets, we open our presents by age. While it does take a little longer to open presents, it is nice to see the look on everyone's faces.....and I love to watch the kids open their presents.....and our parents as well!

1st Picture: Keith, Teresa, Dustin, Courtney & Rachel

2nd Picture: Don & Mom (Norma) Alford

3rd Picture: Dad (Kenneth) & Judy Andel

Happy Birthday Pop!

Yes....it's Sunday, December 7th.....we're at Clem Mikeska's BBQ......and it Richard Schigut's Birthday!
We had lunch & then went to the house to have pie.....of course!

Clem came by & visited with Mom & Dad. Matthew & Mary Helen

Mary, Lucy & Mike Monica, Lacy & Jacob

We all had a wonderful time and wished Pop many, many more birthdays!

Home Again, Home Again.....Jig-a-dee-dee

Tuesday.....We started our day a little on the slow side. John installed the last dimmer switch while Jana & I visited and drank our Starbucks coffee (John went to get our coffee.....wasn't he sweet!) We packed our bags and then went to the mall......(Jana, next time we'll have to go mall shopping first and for a much longer period of time). So many shops and so little time, but we did make time for lunch.....one has to eat you know......oh, did I mention we went to The Cheesecake Factory for lunch? It was WONDERFUL and of course, Jana & I shared a piece of cheesecake.....to be honest, Jana took like 2 bites; I was the little piggy. While Jana & I shopped, John would talk to anyone he thought would be interesting. While we did a lot of activities on our trip, it was somehow relaxing. We will go back to visit because we couldn't do everything we had hoped to do. (Jana, can you start our To-Do list for our next visit?) Thanks to everyone who kept up with us on our trip.

Now, back to our regularly scheduled busy life......Happy Holidays.....

What Happened to Tuesday?

Don't look twice.....the posting time is correct. We just got home from our wonderful trip to San Diego. We had a slight delay in Arizona, but our plane was fine. I asked John if he was glad to be home and he said "No, I like being a bum and touring around San Diego with Jana.".....truthfully, so do I; ah, but home we are. Jana, thank you for a wonderful time....you truly made Thanksgiving special. Love to all.....

Is it Monday already?

First an update from Sunday evening......Last night (after we got up from our nap) we ate at the Old Town Mexican Cafe. It was good....just different from our local Mexican food.

Now for Monday.......Jana went to work this morning while John & I stayed home. We had a quiet morning.....listened to the news (Yeah.....Gates gets to stay in charge), John fixed a dimmer switch (just one more to go) and I washed/dried a load of clothes. Our first stop today was the hardware store......we needed to get our last dimmer switch. Then we ate at a burger joint called "In-N-Out"....it was good, fast, and cheap...the cheapest meal we've eaten yet! Jana took us on a quick tour of the first fort in CA named Mission San Diego. We then drove to La Mesa where we went to a few quilt and specialty shops. Next we drove to the marina and took a South tour from the Hornblower Harbor Cruise. We saw the USS Midway, Coronado Bay Bridge, Navy Seals Training Base, as well as many ship.....it was all very interesting.



The first picture is of a Navy boat going to sea to conduct practice drills. The second picture is of a Naval Hospital Ship. Next is the Coronado Bridge and the last picture is of the Bob Hope Memorial (We saw it the day we arrived but I didn't get a picture of it until today.) For supper, we ate at Mary Helen's favorite restaurant, The Fish Market.

Sunday......Our Day of Rest?

Jana took us to mass on the University of San Diego. They have a beautiful church, The Immaculata.

After church, we toured the Founder's Chapel (across the street). We picked up donuts & coffee for breakfast, ate in Balboa park, and then off to more sightseeing....We started in Balboa Park where we boarded the Old Town Trolley Tour.




















(Picture of the California Tower & Tower of the Americas.)

We stopped in Old Town, Coronado Ferry Landing & then Hotel del Coronado. At each of these stops, we got off the trolley and looked/shopped around.



While at Coronado Ferry Landing, we ate lunch at Village Pizzeria and tried the St. Louis Toasted Ravioli.










At Hotel del Coronado, we walked thru the hotel and shops, then walked on the beach.......brrr, the sand was cold. Once we got back to the condo, we did our Sunday duty (took a nap).