What Happened with us in 2002....

Summer has passed, fall is nearly gone. How can the time go by so quicky? We are busy with our computer work, making Christmas gifts, and are now facilitating a Growing Kids God's Way class. We did manage to get up on the Monument and Grand Mesa a time or two and to Denver a few times this summer. Don will be teaching at Colorado Christian University again in February so we will be staying up north this winter. Maybe next winter we can head south again......

We just got home from a trip to Oregon for our granddughter's (Heather) wedding. The wedding was lovely, of course! But - it sure is hard to believe she is old enough to get married!! We had a wonderful trip and visit and even had time for some sightseeing. We took 4 days and went over to the coast for my "beach fix"! Cindy flew out from Missouri to be there for the wedding and create the wedding cake. She did a fantastic job on the cake! We did take a day in between baking and decorating the cake to take her to the coast for a day. Then, we had to drop her off at the airport in Portland on our way home, so we took the road through the Columbia River Gorge where we saw several wonderful waterfalls. We were gone about 3 weeks, so have lots of weeds to pull!

It's "Springtime in the Rockies"! Our spring flowers are all in bloom and the grass is getting green. Well....we thought we had found a motor home, but it didn't work out so back to searching for something we like and can afford.

Pam & Tracy enjoyed Spring Break in Port Aransas and are ready to go back next year!

We certainly enjoyed our month in Port Aransas and decided that at least 2 months there would be nice! Oh well, maybe next time.........

Pam & Tracy caught our enthusiasm about the area and they decided to spend spring break there! It will be interesting to hear what they think.

The first part of February, Bev's sister & husband joined us for a week on the beach. We had a good time sightseeing, beachcombing, shopping and eating out. One sunny day, while Bev & Diana walked the beach, Don & Roy had a good time flying a kite. The beach there certainly is a good place for it!

We left Port Aransas on February 12 and moved down to Mission TX where we stayed with Missionary friends and did some computer work for them. We were there for 10 days and took one day to go down to Nuevo Progresso Mexico to do some shopping. Another day was spent down at Bentsen State Park birdwatching - we are anxious to get our motor home so we can park there for a couple of weeks!

From Mission, we wandered on home thru Laredo TX (Just because we had never been there), Del Rio TX, El Paso, then on to Gallup NM and up thru Cortez and Moab, coming home the "back way" to avoid going over the mountains and having to fight snowy roads.

The class Don is teaching this term at Colorado Christian University started February 28, so we had to be home for that. So, now we are about caught up with things we didn't do while gone but still have lots of work to do on the databases and have started searching for a motor home. It sure would be nice to have it for our trip to Oregon in June!!

This morning was foggy and a cold front was expected around noon with colder weather and strong winds so we decided to go to Corpus Christi and visit the USS Lexington. She earned her famous nickname "The Blue Ghost", because of her non-camouflaged blue color scheme and because she was repeatedly, and incorrectly, reported sunk by the Japanese propagandist, Tokyo Rose. After decommissioning in 1991, and since October of 1992, she has served as "USS Lexington Museum on the Bay".

The tour took us up and down numerous flights of steep, narrow stairways and through a maze of narrow companionways, so it was quite a strenuous trip. We got quite a work-out! We were very impressed with the massiveness of the ship and all its components.

About noon the cold front predicted had arrived and the temperature dropped about 20°! Visiting the flight deck was quite a feat! At least it blew all the fog away! The 70°'s were nice, but it we would prefer to have some sunshine instead of the fog. It is supposed to warm back up in a day or so!

Well, that time went by quickly! I am still getting used to the idea that it is January and it is past the middle of the month already!!

We spent a couple of weeks at Christmas with Cindy and Ed and family in St Peters MO. Pam, Tracy and Jonathon joined us for Christmas and then headed to TX to see his brother and family. We had a good visit with Cindy and family and also had a chance to visit with several good friends while there. From there, we went to southeastern KS and spent New Years with Don's brother and wife before heading to Longview TX for 10 days. Our time there was busy; working 8 hours a day at Missionary TECH Team HQ on the database we are designing for them. Some things do work better on site! They kindly provided us with a wonderful place to stay and we enjoyed our time and the fellowship with everyone while there!

From there, we headed on south for a month at Port Aransas TX and the BEACH!!!We have rented an apartment not far from the beach and are enjoying walking the beach and sea shell hunting and birdwatching whenever we get the chance. We have also really enjoyed eating out and getting some fresh seafood a few days a week. We have had a couple of cool, foggy days which we spent getting some things done at "home" and have even done some database work. The first few days we were here were wonderful - warm and sunny - and it is supposed to be back in the upper 70's in a day or so. A wonderful way to spend January!!! We do miss our RV, though and will be glad when we can get a motor home!