That House at the Back of the Neighborhood

We have so many Halloween decorations now since we've been doing the Haunted Train that we decided to decorate our yard for a change. Parents of the smaller kids were probably not too happy with us. We did have a few run back down the sidewalk without ringing the bell.



That's Tom in the white mask in the window. That really scared a few little kids . Even some of the older ones weren't sure if he was real or not.
Sadly, being in the back of the neighborhood on a pretty lame street where the majority don't participate in Halloween or Christmas, our handiwork went unnoticed and unappreciated. We had fun listening to the screams of the few that did come by though. I took a short video, I'll post it when I can. Now it's time to put the ghosts and gobblins up for another year.

The People of Carnival

You know how there is the website where pictures of people that shop at Walmart are posted? Well, I recently went on a cruise with some friends and thought I would share a few of the "people" we ran across. Some need no explanation...


Here we have our resident "stripper." The guy facing the camera did NOT like to dance with his clothes on. Fortunately for us, security got to him after he repeatedly removed his shirt.

And here is our token "bachelor" enjoying his bachelor party with his mates. You always knew who they were thanks to their stylin' sailor caps. He was easy to spot due to the Hello Kitty backpack he was forced to wear. Pretty rowdy crew. Oh, btw.... the girl he has his hands on is NOT, i repeat NOT his fiance. And let's just say that his hands weren't the only thing all over her. Love the look his probably best man is throwing our way. Our intent in taking this picture was to find out his name and post it on facebook. Yeah, that marriage is gonna last...


Don't know what to say about these two...other than "oh, my eyes!!!!" Really love the headband dude.











Gumby???? Apparently the costume traveled with a party of 5 couples. Each guy took a turn in wearing it. Hmmm..... Some gumby's were a little rowdier than others.







Not pictured is the 75 year old woman who liked to pole dance. She was pretty good too. And our ever friendly transgenders. We tried to get fashion and makeup hints from them one evening. I'm sure I'm leaving someone out. I'll end it with our new favorite drink. The tiramisu martini. Truly a work of art. If you ever travel on the Carnival Triumph, be sure and stop by the wine and martini bar and have Zoran make you one. All in all a fun weekend.


Thought I rotated it. Oh well. It's late. You get the picure.

And So It Begins...

A conversation I had with Regan walking to the bus stop on Thursday:

Me: Regan, did Maddy outgrow that shirt? I swear I just bought it for her.
Regan: No.
Me: Did she give it to you because she doesn't want it anymore?
Regan: No, it was in her closet.
Me: ???
Regan: Don't worry, I'll put it back in her closet before she gets home. I just wanted something "new" to wear.

Still Burning

Yes, Texas is still burning. And there's no rain in sight. Is it horrible to wish that Maria would head our way? They brought in the Big Guns today to help. Bastrop is about 30% contained, Magnolia is off and on 60%. Heard earlier that the fire crossed into Harris county, but don't see anything in the news about it. Still a large smoke plume from the north directly over us. Very hazy and smoky...

Pretty cool video to watch of the DC9 dropping fire retardant. Hope it helps.

http://www.khou.com/, click on the videos of the day.

Texas Burning...

Had a little trouble getting home this weekend. Bastrop is on fire and Hwy 21 runs right through the middle of it. due to the 30mph winds yesterday and today over 25,000 acres have burned and over 300 houses destroyed. We took the LONG way home and skirted the western and northern edge of the fires. The pics don't do the size of this thing justice. It's huge. Left the haze of that one and ran into the haze of a fire in Waller, which is to our NW. Not sure of the status of that one, but there were also fires in the Woodlands and one just to our east. May sleep with one eye open for awhile. We need some RAIN!!!!

Heidleberg 2011

Just returned from what has ended up being our annual trip to Heidleberg Lodges on the Comal River. Lots of jumping off of rocks, and out of trees and an all around good time doing a whole lot of "nothing." The highlight of the trip was when Maddy and Colby went down the river with Carter and Michael crawfish hunting and came back with a 12" bass that they accidentally woke up and it literally jumped into their boat. No crawfish though...

First Day of School 2011

The bus stop pickup keeps getting smaller and smaller....

Hmm... do we see a theme here?

Looks like someone's a little proud of their muscles!!! As she should be.

TAGS

Event 17A Girls 10 & Under 50 LC Meter Breaststroke

Name Age Team Seed Time

1 Schnibben, Mikayla K 10 CFSC-GU 40.26

2 Fields, Karsten E 10 TWST-GU 41.12

3 Powers, Kylie A 10 HSC-GU 41.58

4 Chinnis, Lauren E 10 LAC-NT 42.12

5 Shi, Vivian G 10 LAC-NT 42.21

6 Murphy, Halie 10 EPAP-BD 43.37

7 Newell, Sophie P 10 DADS-GU 43.51

8 Buchman, Sydney H 9 RICE-GU 43.51

9 Kutz, Sarah H 10 NTRO-ST 43.62

10 Morris, Megan L 10 LAC-NT 43.63

11 Bartley, Katelyn M 10 SASA-ST 43.68

12 Sims, Kaitlynn S 10 MAC-GU 43.87

13 Witteveld, Mikaela V 10 TWST-GU 44.27

14 Mackey, Madeline A 10 MARC-GU 44.50

15 Luo, Karley 10 MTRO-NT 44.52

16 Newton, Regan E 10 PACK-GU 44.74

17 Maher, Sofia N 10 NTN-NT 44.81

18 Praczko, Tamara 9 SWAT-GU 44.83

19 See, Zhi-Syuen 9 DADS-GU 44.92

20 Marvin, Payton C 10 NTRO-ST 44.93

21 Burch, Alyssa C 10 AAAA-ST 45.06

22 Lee, Madeline X 10 FA-NT 45.07

23 Wilson, Whitney E 10 ROCC-GU 45.08

24 Giles, Allie M 10 MAC-GU 45.18

25 Baker, Aubrey L 10 FA-NT 45.20

26 Jozwiak, Lauren A 10 WETT-BD 45.24

27 Perley, Portia L 10 NTRO-ST 45.26

28 Sullivan, Ilona D 10 CPS-ST 45.31

29 Oberoi, Shalom 9 FCST-GU 45.33

30 Cook, Julia 10 AGS-GU 45.49

31 Ridley, Meagan N 10 AQUA-GU 45.49

32 Vincent, Clarissa A 10 DADS-GU 45.49

This is the psych sheet from this weekends TAGS (Texas Age Group Swimming) swim meet. The time cuts are set so that only about 24-30 can make it. Best in the state. Look who is at number 16!

Kerrville 2011

A few pictures from this years Kerrville trip. Can't believe how big they are getting! As usual it was a mad dash between swim meets for the trip.

Summer League

We are off to a good start for summer league swimming. 2 meets down, 4 records broken.

44.74

6 hours of practice a week... one goal... a TAGS cut in 50 breast. Regan woke up on Saturday morning for her meet and asked if coach Kimberlee would be there that day. I didn't know. I asked her why. Because I want her to be there to watch me get TAGS. She was over a second and a half away from a TAGS cut. Not an easy task at this level. But she was confident.

Race time came, she was in the second heat, behind swimmers with TAGS seed times. She looked good. But they weren't posting times so I couldn't tell what she swam. So I zoomed my lens on Coach Kimberlee across the pool after the race...











I think this picture says it all... Guess we'll be makin' the trip to the State Meet this summer...

Great End to Short Course Season

23 hours at the pool for about 15 minutes of swim time. But worth it based on the amount of hardware around their necks. They amazingly continued to drop time in all of their events. Short course (25yard pools) is now over and the girls will be training in the long course (50meter) pools after spring break and are looking forward to attending the Texas A&M swim camp right after school is out. Summer league is right around the corner. It'll be hard for Regan to go back to swimming 25 meter events. They've both really excelled at the longer events this year.

Perfect Texas Friday

Not to rub it in or anything, but today is one of those perfect weather days. Not a cloud in the sky and a fabulous 70 ish degrees. And a Friday to boot! Makes it a perfect evening for margaritas on the patio of our fave Mexican restaurant. These are a few pics from our recent trip to Kemah. Obviously still reveling in the Packers superbowl win.