Amy and JR's Anniversary Dinner

In honor of Amy's and JR's third anniversary (notice how JR is holding up 3 fingers for 3 years) Susie took everyone out for a celebration dinner at a Texas Road House. We enjoyed a great meal and then splurged on the brownie sundae dessert of which we all shared. You can see from the pictures how Amy and JR enjoyed it. We reminisced some of the highlights of the last three years of their marriage and had some pretty good laughs. They are a very happy couple. Happy Anniversary, Amy and JR.

So happy!!!!!

Cheers!!!!

MMMmmmmm Goooooood!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Spoon licking good!!!!!!!!!!

Visiting With Cousins, Roy and Libby

When we come to San Antonio, we always are excited to be able to visit with my cousin, Roy. Bob enjoys going shooting with him so he usually contacts Roy as soon as we arrive. This time Roy said that Libby was home this weekend and invited us to come for a visit. That was a very nice treat because usually Libby is off working somewhere so it was fun to be able to visit with her too.

During our visit they treated us to some good nutritious snacks.

Before we left we agreed we should try to get the rest of Roy's family and Susie and her girls, and us together for a visit and maybe include the Carter relatives in Austin, Ft. Worth, and Mansfield. That would be fun. It's always great to get together with family.

Susie and I Digging Weeds

Last summer's drought in San Antonio essentially killed the grass in Susie's yard. The weeds are growing pretty well, but the grass isn't. As a first step in reviving her yard, we got out there and started digging out some of the weeds. Notice the green grass under the tree behind us. That's the only grass that survived. Our work has only just begun. We'll work on it again.


We dug out enough to fill 2 big garbage bags.

Visiting Cousins in Mansfield

How many times have I traveled through Ft. Worth on my way to San Antonio and have seen the exit to Mansfield. The answer is many times, and every time I did, I thought of all the Harrises and that I should visit some time. Well this year we did it. I always had fond memories of my Aunt Phyllis whom we lost in 1988. I never really got to know her kids very well so I thought it was about time. We had a very nice visit and got caught up on each others' lives. I think we all need to plan a Carter reunion, probably in Texas, sometime soon.

Here are Lori and Julie, Becky's two daughters.

Bob doing magic for Becky's grandkids. Becky is in the background.

Beth and Becky watching Bob entertain the grandkids with his magic. Doesn't Beth look like her mother?

Rod, Becky's husband, watching.

Bill is in the background. He has done some geneology for the Carter family so I got his email address so he and Rosemary can share information. Becky provided some nice snacks for everyone. It was so nice to get reacquainted.

Visit With Buddy and Heather

On Thursday, Feb. 18 as we were headed toward Ft. Worth to visit family, Susie called to give us a heads up about an airplane that had plowed into the IRS building in Austin. We hadn't gone through Austin yet so she suggested that we take a toll road that goes around Austin. Traffic in Austin is always bad so we suspected it would be especially bad with that tragic crash. It was good advice because we had no trouble going around Austin on the toll road, and it made the trip quite nice. It was interesting that there was an option on the toll road to take a picture of your car tag in order to bill you by mail. We took advantage of billing my mail so we'll get a bill sometime in the future. That was very convenient.

We went to Buddy and Heather's because they went to a company event in Denver. Gary and Rosemary drove from Flagstaff to take care of the kids, and they invited us to join them while they were there. It's always fun to visit the Hopkins family. The first day Gary and I went to pick up the kids at their school. They go to a pretty new school in their new neighborhood. Here is their school.




Here are pictures of Gary and grandson, Garrison. When we arrived, Garrison said, "I've missed you." Then he stood next to me and said, "I'm taller than you are." He is a lot taller, and if he's not taller than I am yet, he will be soon.

Here's Garrison with their new dog, Jay. It's amazing they have bonded since Garrison has been quite scared of dogs for a long time. Jay is a very good dog so that may have helped.

Of course Bob did his magic for the kids. They always love that.

When I asked the kids what they wanted to do Saturday, they said, "Roller skating." That was good since that's what we had thought we would do. Skating is one of Bob's favorite things to do. Here they are having fun at the skating rink. Going skating gave Gary and Rosemary a little time off which they appreciated.

This is Rachel.

Can you tell that this is Kimbo?

Here is Rachel skating and skating and skating. She is the skating queen.

After lengthy periods of skating Garrison also took time for games.

Rest time.

Kimbo and I traded socks so she had socks that covered her ankles to protect her from rubbing from the tongues of the skates. Cute socks, huh?

Saturday afternoon, Buddy and Heather returned with gifts for the kids. They were so happy to have Mom and Dad home.

Father and son hanging out.

After kids went to bed for the evening the adults got to play games, one of the favorite things that the Hopkins family enjoys doing. We played a game called "Up the River Down the River." It's a fun way to spend an evening.

Sunday we went to church. Afterwards the Hopkins family spent time together while Bob and I went to Mansfield to visit Becky, Beth, and Bill, my cousins from my mother's sister, Phyllis. I think we need to have a Carter reunion some time in the future. We had a very nice visit.

We left Monday morning to take a trip to Abilene to visit one of Bob's former principals in Iowa and his son who was also one of Bob's former students. They have a house that they built themselves, very rustic, and they have a kennel for breeding and training hunting dogs and for boarding animals. We had a nice visit, but I forgot to take any pictures. OOps.

We're Here in San Antonio, TX

We're here with my sister, Susie. Can you tell? We unpacked and got settled in.

Susie has a new job, and she had Thurs., Fri, and Sat. off. But she booked a gig for Bob to do some of his magic tricks at the school where she used to work. He had fun doing that while Susie and I stayed home, slept in, and played Wii. Life is great. Here are some pictures of Bob doing magic.

That evening we went to see the movie, "Lightning Thief." It was really good. I haven't read the books, but they must be good too.

Sun., Valentine's Day, Susie had to work at the public library, part of her new job. She's in charge of adult programing so she planned a chocolate event which included a chocolate fountain (I was in charge of that) and other treats like hugs and kisses (candy of course.) She also showed the video, "Love Story," and had everyone sign a valentine that put them in a drawing for prizes like boxes of candy and movie passes. The event was a great success. Here are some pictures.

Of course, Bob couldn't resist doing some magic while people were sitting around the library waiting for the drawings.

Monday was a holiday for Presidents' Day so we decided to go to the San Antonio Rodeo. We only went on the Rodeo Grounds which was like going to a county fair. It was dollar days so admission was a dollar, rides were a dollar (we didn't do any), hot dogs, pizza, pop, and popcorn were each a dollar so that made it more fun.

Here we are at one of the shows.

We joined the little kids and watched the Farmyard Follies which had petting zoo-like animals doing tricks. It was cute.

Then we did visit the petting zoo. Susie enjoyed petting the critters.

Then we went to the little piggy races. They were really cute, and the pigs had really cute names that resembled famous people or famous college teams.

In addition to the piggy races, there was a cute swimming pig. He dived in and swam across the tank. He went so fast I didn't get a picture.

There were also pigs after my own heart. Read and you'll understand.

Another show.

We couldn't resist getting our pictures taken with the Pillsbury Dough Boy.

At one of the exhibits there were longhorns, and since Susie is an alumus of Texas, we had to take these pictures, the animated and the real life.

We visited some exhibits and lots of vendors with all their "rodeo" ware. Bob tried to take this chicken, thinking Kathy might like it, but he couldn't budge it. Sorry, Kathy.

Here we are eating some of the free samples. Notice the carnival in the background.

Susie signed up for the newspaper and got this free T shirt.

Accidentally we came upon a rodeo event where 3 riders had to round up 3 steers and herd them into a cage area. We didn't know what was going on, but after observing, we figured out what they were doing. On a marquee, they would display a number which represented the number on the steers. There were 3 steers with the same number. Then the riders had to sort them out of the herd and herd them into the caged area. It was a timed event too. Some did a good job and some didn't. Here are some picutures.

Waiting on the side for their turn.

The herd at one end. Each steer had a number on it.

Riders sorting and herding the 3 steers that were designated for their turn.

Getting them into the caged area.

The man with the flag was there to signal that the 3 steers had been put into the caged area and to stop the time.

They did it, or they didn't do it. Here they are going off and making way for the next riders.

Here we are at the end of the day. We spent about 8 hours there. What fun we had! Now we have had the San Antonio Rodeo experience.