This is at Ripley's Believe it or Not. Finn kind of likes Colleen!

Here we are at the Alamo.

I went to Austin, TX and visited with Amanda, Colleen, and Finn. We fed the ducks, drove to San Antonio on Saturday and went to the Alamo, Ripley's Believe or Not, and the Riverwalk. Finn is now 8 and is such a nice, intelligent boy. I loved spending time with all of them.

The Real Columbia All- Stars

Brock is number 31.

Ashley

Scott in the back, Ty in the front.

Just got back from Columbia where I saw the grandkids and Nicole and Travis. Brock played very well in the All-Star game! The tournament started Friday eve. and lasted until after 1pm Sunday. I had to catch a plane so I missed the last quarter, but Nicole texted me and they won the game and got a trophy.

Panama Canal Christmas

Paul and I returned from our 15 day cruise and I'm barely being back to normal. We had a great time and met friends from Canada that we now correspond with. Now what awaits us is Tax season. Oh I love Tax time-hee hee. Actually it makes it possible to go play the rest of the year. For the next 3 months I signed up for classes at Dixie for the semi-retired or retired people. My friend Lucille takes classes and so she and I have gone to two already. They have a variety for just $40 for 2 semesters. There aren't any tests, but there are books to read if you want to take the Favorite Book class. They just read The Nine by Toobin about the Supreme Court. I listened to the discussion and will read the book for Feb. called, Cutting For Stone by Abraham Verghese. I am also taking a Journey of the Hero class-- it makes you look within yourself and find the hero within. There are a miriad of classes, geology, hiking, photography, languages, computer classes, tax management and estate planning; pretty much anything you want. They are generally once a week. So you can pick and choose.

Sister Trip to Vegas

Having sisters and only sisters is a beautiful experience. I am lucky to have the two best sisters in the world. I'm almost 59 and didn't really get to know them as adults until I was in my 20's and 30's. We have 6 years between us in age and I, being in the middle, get to look ahead to what it might be like in 6 more years and I look behind and remember what it was like 6 years ago. We share joys, sadnesses, and how to deal with life better. We buoy each other up, knowing that in a day or two we will go our seperate ways, have more experiences and learn more until the next year.

Just got back from 2 trips to Missouri/Kansas. I got to see Nicole with her family and was also able to reconnect with my old college roomate, Jackie Springer. It has been an interesting month and a half. I've had a couple of close death experiences which always makes it exciting. One was on Mother's Day when I hit a cement median on the freeway on my side of the car which did extensive damage-$8000.00 to be exact. The roof crumpled, the side was smashed and I was fine. The next happened a couple of days ago in Minnesota at the airport while waiting for a shuttle bus. I hadn't planned on having to stay over enroute to Vegas but because of fun air experiences I had to. I was waiting with about 23 others when the van I had been waiting for rammed into the side of the airport injuring 4 of the 23 that were waiting. One was badly hurt, the others got away with a few problems. I had this silly green blanket that I put on a man thinking that might help-you know "a woobie." Then we finally got to the motel and there were tornadoes all over the place.

The good news I got to reconnect with people, have the opportunity for some more time on this earth, see the grandkids and get a new car.

Grand Canyon with Rick, Deanna,and Paul

Fourth of July weekend has brought Paul and me to his cabin in Island Park, Idaho. We have fished and played tourist the past few days. Last night we watched the fireworks from West Yellowstone and saw a "parade" at Yellowstone's Lake Lodge. The parade was a hoot. I'll put a couple of pics.