Mom's 96th Birthday - Mom Meets Her Latest Great Grandchild

It has been a busy 10 days.  My oldest brother Jim arrived along with wife Carol from San Antonio.  They stayed at Patti's, but we all had two dinners, along with a lunch at Leatherby’s Family Creamery, and, of course, Mom's Birthday Party on Saturday. 

 

 

After lunch, we all enjoyed some of their fine Ice Cream.  Mom is eating a Banana Split, and guess what....she ate it all.  That is Jim and Carol in the picture with her.

 

 Here is Otis Boaz, six months old, nearly 20 pounds.  What a cute boy!

 

Here is mom, my son Michael, and Addie in the distance between them.  Addie is going to be 4 in about 3 months.  She is small for her age, but she is as smart as any 3-4 year old can be.  She is a bit of a free spirit, and not into getting her picture taken much right now.  I have a bunch of pictures of this day...but I forgot to get one with Great Grandma holding Otis...but Mom sure enjoyed the visit.  Too bad that Anna was unable to be there.

Here is the Birthday Girl.  She wanted an Apple Pie with Ice Cream, and that is exactly what she got.  That huge Apple Pie is from Sam's Club, and it was delicious!  

 

 Here are mom's kids, less Bob who did not make it.  From left to right, with order of birth in parenthesis:   Dave (4), Roger (3), Patti (5), Jim (1) and Sandy (6).  Also in attendance was Carol (Jim's wife), Arny (Sandy's husband), Rochelle (Roger's wife) and Marcia (my wife).  We all had a great time...especially Mom.  Monday Jim and Carol headed back to Texas, and I went by to see Mom.  She had a good memory of her Birthday Week.  She remembered that Bob was not there without any hints.  She remembered Otis and Addie, but forgot Michael's name until I said it.  She remembered her Ice Cream at Leatherby's, her Pie and Ice Cream for her Birthday, and had a clear memory of much of the week.  That won't last...but at least she has the memories for a little while.

 

 

Blowing Through Texas

Above is Skruffy in April 2012.  The wind was blowing so hard that day, as it does many days in Texas west of San Antonio.  Below is today, almost the same spot as three years ago.

A MUCH nicer day to be driving.  Traffic, outside of San Antonio, has been fairly light.  Three years ago I could hardly keep the big-rig on the road, this year it is not an issue.  Little Skruffy has no problem posing for my pictures, be it in a tree, on top of a car which is in a big redwood tree, or along a ledge wall in places like Yosemite or Glacier National Parks.   Let’s hope he isn’t snatched up by a big Grizzly while posing in Alaska!

    

This part of Texas is not all flat, but it does get a little bit, how would one say it politely…..well, it is Texas, so why be polite!  (Little bit of the Arkansas ‘fan’ in me since Arkansas and Texas were heated rivals when I first moved to Arkansas.)

It is nice seeing a Carl’s Jr. again, this one attached to a Love’s truck stop.  Yep, that’s what we had for dinner.   For breakfast we enjoyed a nice meal at Cracker Barrel with Jim and Carol….should have taken my camera inside, but just didn’t think about it. Thanks for breakfast you two!  Next time we will try to stay longer, but after all, this is Texas, hard for an Arkansas boy to stay very long inside Texas country.

   

An approaching front made for a nice pre-sunset sky, out here just west of Fort Stockton.

So far we have a rest area to ourselves….but I doubt it will stay that way very long.  Today was our shortest travel day, and my leg is feeling much better.  Between Bio-Freeze and Salonpas spray, along with elevating it the best I can while I drive and especially when I am not driving…of course, tomorrow could be an entirely different story.

That’s Bubba up on the driver’s chair waiting for Skruffy to finish her food.  This, even though we have two food bowls now, exactly the same.  After the picture I got him down and he took over this bowl and she sat there and waited.  Sometimes you just have to wonder what is going through their minds.