Camp Bryarly

Most kids go to camp during the summer, but Gram Mellie and Grandpa Bob Camp can happen during any month and was held for Henry and Jake in May. We had a great time, and I think the boys did too. Henry and Grandpa Bob attended an activity at the library, we played at several children's parks around Victoria,(I must say they are quite nice), we went swimming, worked at our church festival, saw the movie "Monsters vs Aliens" in a newer and improved 3-D format. At least I saw some of it - Jake loves to climb stairs and so that is what he and I did! Thank goodness that we had the entire theatre to ourselves. Henry loved the show.

Henry especially enjoyed getting a first-hand tour of a working ranch by our friends, Virginia and Godfred "Junior" Burger, who live down the road for us. He loved seeing the newborn calves and rode all the way to the Guadalupe Rive in the truck with the guys. He liked watching the cows eat and follow each other home when it was evening. He could be a real cowboy!

Jake is a climber! He loves the stairs and all the steps around the house. He climbs into any open seat, no matter where it is. He would stand and smile at us and after a minute or two, sit back down.

Henry loves his "happy meals" and Jake loves vegetables! Henry is a champion jumper into the pool and is not afraid of anything. Once Jake got used to the pool, he enjoyed splashing in the water. Henry also had his first ice cream cone, or so he said.

For the first few evenings, the camp directors went to bed soon after the boys. We were tired. But after a few days, we got our second wind and even watched some of the "Jay Leno Show." All too soon, it was over and I no longer heard a small voice say, "Come sit on the couch with me," and "Gram Mellie, I love you."

Celebrating Family

During the last year we have celebrated milestone birthdays,the life of a favorite aunt,and a wedding. Great reasons for our family to come together as we have all our lives. First, last April we surprised brother, Tim, on his birthday. It was a gorgeous day and we relaxed at Tim and Bobbie's log home near Bellville. But we also celebrated cousins, John's and Cathy's birthdays a couple of months earlier with the same type of surprise. Then in the fall, we celebrated the life of our Aunt Judith and all the cousins came together again to remember her and all our family. We all came together again a few weeks later for the wedding of John and Cathy's son, Curtis.

Organizing and Catching Up

I have been thinking about how I will organize some of the things I want to post. We have continued working on the house and have cleared more of the land, so I want to show some of that. When we bought the house, we knew the house would need painting in the near future. So after two years, its number came up and had the house, guest house and pergola painted. The outside truly looks more like a Texas colonial hacienda.

During the past year we made trips to Minneapolis, St. Petersburg and Dallas. We still have tickets to North Carolina, but don't know when that trip will take place. We got to take care of Henry and Jake for a week and attended 60th birthday surprise parties for cousins, Cathy and John, and my brother, Tim.

We met our college friends in the Texas Hill Country in the fall, and then all four couples went on a Greek Island cruise and to Venice, Italy together in the spring.

So, instead of posting things chronologically, I think I will post according to topics. And the first topic will be . . .

Showcasing our home

While I concentrated on the inside of our home, Bob worked on restoring the 3.5 acres that were already cleared -- except for the brush that was growing along all the fence lines and surrounded all the 60+ oak trees. And then there were all the old logs, some rotten, that were left around the trees by the previous owners after Huricane Claudete hit the area July, 2003. Needless to say, many copperhead snakes called this area, "home" until Bob evicted them and sent them to their eternal reward in our dry creek. Finally, with the help of Johnny Bush and his bulldozer and a lot of calimine lotion and cornstarch for poison oak, Bob declared victory over the front acreage. It took several months of sweat and sore muscles, but our home no longer looked like nobody cared.

Transforming our hacienda into a comfortable home

For the last two years, we have been working on projects that would make our new home into the hacienda that we had envisioned when we first saw the house in March, 2006.

During the first year, I painted the entire upstairs rooms and five of the rooms downstairs. Because all the walls were made of cement block and were painted anticeptic white, the house felt and looked like a fortress. It certainly didn't reflect warmth and and the feeling of a home. I knew that I wanted the front rooms to be inviting as well as comfortable, like the rooms of a colonial Texas hacienda. That meant we had our work cut out for us!

When Matt and Jen came down, Jen and I went to Home Depot and bought our supplies. Jennifer textured the walls of the dining room and started the living room while I painted the study and started the dining room. Matt then took over and textured the rest of the living room and continued past the front door while Jen and I began painting the living room with the three colors I had selected. I finally finished texturing and painting the breakfast room and the kitchen at 3 a.m. on July 8, 2007, approximately one year after we had moved in. I was determined to be finished before the rain-delayed choir/Rusty Steins 4th of July celebration at our house set for that afternoon--approximately 10 hours after the final room had been transformed from cold white to warm hues of yellows and reds. It only took 160 pounds of joint compound and several gallons of paint!

Roasting marshmellows on the Fire Pit

Rob, Maureen, Megan and Paul Come for Christmas

Megan and Henry

Last Christmas was wonderful because not only did Matt, Jen and Henry join us, but we had a Christmas bonus when Rob and his family joined us. Our anticipation was high and we pulled out all stops in decorating. After Bob helped me decorate outside, including hanging garlands on the fence line all the way to the road, he asked me when I was going to stop. My answer was, "When I am finished."
We enjoyed lovely weather and Rob and Matt kept the flames in the firepit going day and night and were aptly dubbed "the pyro brothers!"
It was great having two grandkids with us. 10-year-old Megan was so much fun and she was very patient with her 2-year-old cousin, Henry, as he was fascinated with the I-Pup she received for Christmas. However, Henry loved playing for hours with his Thomas trains and traintrack and didn't bother Megan tooo much. Megan said that she loved our family tradition of hiding clues for one gift for each person. It was great fun following everyone as he or she figured out the clues.
Some highlights were Cynthia and Bill joining us on their way home from Dallas for dinner and an impromptu sing-a-long, Maureen helping me save some homemade bread when the bread machine was accidently unplugged, Jennifer making the pancakes for breakfast, and Paul and Henry quietly coming downstairs each morning and having bowls of Raisin Bran while most of us were still asleep.