The Granddudes Summer Visit

Last week, Preston and Triston were here for their annual summer fun stay. Some of the things we did were:

1. Played Tiger Woods Golf on X-box;
2. Sang Christmas songs with a sing-a-long CD while pretending it was autumn;
3. I taught them to play 500 Rummy. Actually, it was more like 159 Rummy. Preston picked it up but Triston is not quite old enough yet;
4. They played Hungry Hungry Hippo. I hate that noisy game but eventually gave in and let them play it. We will be buying some quiet games real soon--maybe Parcheesi, Sorry, Chutes and Ladders--those oldie but goody games.
5. We drew, painted, stamped and stenciled; and
6. Went to the Museum of Nature and Science in Dallas.

Preston's painting on canvas.
He used dimensional paint for
the dots on the sun and
he loved that stuff.

Triston's painted, stamped, and
stenciled artwork on canvas.

Preston painted a cool and funky shoe.

And these abstracts on which he
further demonstrates his love of
dimensional paint with more dots!

Triston wanted to paint a house
and with a little help from Mimi,
he was successful.

Oh boy, annoying Hungy Hungry Hippo!

In the next day or so, I'll post pictures from the Museum of Nature and Science. We had planned to go swimming at Linda and David's the day after the museum but their trip was cut short because George ended up in the hospital. He's fine now! The kids were somewhat disappointed because they had been looking forward to swimming all week so we promised we'd take them swimming real soon.

Stay tuned...
D~~~~

My Last Post

For those of you who receive these posts by email, I accidentally published the last one before I was finished with it. To see the completed version with captions on the pictures, etc., go directly to the blog by clicking here.

Trip to Indiana (also known as the McDonald's World Tour)

The Friday morning before last (the 10th), George advised me that he wasn't going to have to work on Saturday like he originally thought. We had been thinking about maybe going to Indiana the following weekend, and he commented that he'd probably miss two days of overtime if we did. I noted, "We could go to Indiana right now," and we decided to go for it.

We had been wanting to go see George's Mom for awhile, and going today also meant that we'd get to stop at Koodie-Hoo's (Sue & Randy's bar & grill) tomorrow. Koodie-Hoo's was celebrating their 10th anniversary.

We did some laundry, packed, and hit the road around 3:00 Friday afternoon. We drove until 10:30 and stopped in Forrest City, Arkansas to spend the night. We got back on the road around 9:00 the next morning. We ran into a couple of heavy downpours but the rest of the drive was quite pleasant!

When traveling, we seem to stop at McDonald's quite often but we dubbed this trip our McDonald's World Tour. In the process, I discovered that their hot vanilla coffee with a shot of cream and a few shots of Splenda is quite wonderful! I'll be having more of those when we resume the tour.

Crossing the Wabash

We're only a few miles away!
Anybody got 50 cents?

We're just outside of Mt. Vernon

We arrived about 2:45 and
went straight to Koodie-Hoo's.

Mom and Don were there.
They drove up the day before.

The mayor presented them with a
plaque earlier in the day. This picture
of Sue holding the plaque was taken
in front of a poster board that Sue
created for the special occassion.
It holds memorabilia and
photos from the last 10 years.

George and Mom

Jeanne and me

We stayed at Koodie-Hoo's a few hours and had a good time. Then, we when to Mom's house.

Mom Keller

And Jim came by

On Saturday, George
whacked off some shrubs
that Mom wanted removed.

They were all gone in no time!

On Sunday morning, we bundled
them up for the trash pile

Late Sunday afternoon, we went to
Sue & Randy's for a cook out.

Lexus with her pretty smile!

Cutie Aaliyah

Us girls with Mom

It cracked me up that when George

was trying to take the picture above,
Stacie mischeviously stuck her head
in the background of this one.
She's funny.

But my favorite picture of the entire trip is the one below of Jeanne and Sue taken at Koodie-Hoo's.

It looks like Jeanne's up to
something ornery and there's no
telling what Sue's thinking!
Maybe, "She's at it again!"

With smiles,
D~~~~

Geo's Birthday Present

For George's birthday, he decided to do something that he's wanted to do for a long, long time so he did!

We're almost there.

In the tunnel

Do you know where we are?

You got it!

He's always wanted to drive a
NASCAR and this was the day!

We parked by the garage.

The cars inside

and more

Helmets waiting for heads next to pit row

First there was a driver's meeting.
The guy conducting it was quite entertaining!

Next it was time to get a driver's suit...

and try it on

Ten cars raced at a time and
George was in the second group.
Each has an instructor in the car.

The red four wheeler pushes the car out.
He then pops the clutch to start it.
George got to go first!

Boogety, boogety, boogety,
let's go racin' George!

Laps 1 ~ 4

Laps 5 ~ 8

Laps 9 ~ 11

He was only suppose to get 10 laps
but the instructor gave him another one.
He passed five cars too!

Coming down pit row after the race

...and about to stop

It was one hot sucker that day too!

I asked him to show me on his
face what he thought of the drive.
I think this says it all!

His magazine shot!

He got a video of the drive too!
Of course, he wants to do it
again only more laps next time.
~~~~~

On Friday, we decided to make a spur of the moment trip to Indiana to see George's Mom and to go to Koodie-Hoo's 10th Anniversary (Sue & Randy's Grill and Bar). We got back last night. I'll post pictures soon.

Until then, have a smilin' time!
D~~~~

Thank You Michael Jackson

I am heartbroken by Michael Jackson's passing. It was way too soon! Listening to his music and dancing to it over the years has provided me with wonderful memories and more than a plethora of fun. Oh yes, "Those were the days my friend, we thought they'd never end...". Who sang that?

My good friend Karen was my partner in crime when it came to being a Michael Jackson fan. In addition to watching his videos, she and I played the Thriller album repeatedly, and spent countless hours singing and dancing with joy to his tunes! When the American Music Awards came on in 1984, we were glued to the TV, and ecstatic to see him win eight well-deserved awards.

Karen, dancing, back in the day.

Back about that same time, I recall a party that I had at my house. As the night wore on, I noticed people weren't dancing anymore, and it looked like they might be winding down so I headed straight for Michael Jackson. The moment the first beat permeated the room, everyone jumped up and started dancing!

When the song ended, I played tunes by other artists but every time it appeared that the party was slowing, I'd play Beat it or Billie Jean. I got the same reaction every time so I repeated the process--Michael Jackson, other artists, Michael Jackson, other artists, and so on! It's funny when I think about it now because Michael's music got me four or five encores out of that party and it lasted well into the night.

My very best Michael Jackson memory, however, is his 1984 Victory tour. He was coming to Texas Stadium and the ticket distribution was only to be done by mail. Naturally, Karen and I planned to go! Our husbands were not big Michael Jackson fans and even made fun of us at times. Nevertheless, they thought they might get a kick out of watching us (or so they said) and they wanted to go too.

We sent off for our tickets, timing our check to arrive at the very moment they went on sale, and it paid off. We got 3rd row floor seats! We were a little to the left of center stage, and so close that it was almost like being on stage. It would have been impossible to miss a thing! In fact, when Michael threw his hat out into the audience during Billy Jean, the girl behind Karen caught it.

Karen sent me the YouTube link below of that hat tossing moment from that very concert! The quality, of course, is not like it would be today but it's still neat! Well, it's neat to me anyway, and I thought some of you might like it too. Click here to see the clip.

Watching Michael dance was completely spellbinding. He moved with precision and perfection, and of course, his signature move, the Moonwalk, was cool, smooth, and a blast to see in person!

Michael's brothers performed with him too which was fun but a surprise guest was on hand that would definitely kick the show up another notch. Just before Beat it, Michael introduced Eddie Van Halen. The stadium went wild! Eddie played guitar for Beat it, and of course, it was the awesome highlight of the show!

Karen sent me a link of that clip too. Click here to see it. In the middle of Beat it when Michael is yelling "Eddie! Eddie! Eddie!", it reminds me of just how much he clearly loved entertaining! The concert was fantastic to say the least! Way above and beyond my expectations. We all had a fabulous time!

As the world says good bye to Michael today, I say thank you Michael for the memories, music, and exceptionally good times! You are gone but your music lives on. It has always made me smile, and made me wanna dance, and it will continue to do so. You are loved by millions around the world, and I am one of them! God Bless you.

Dancing & Smiling in honor of Michael Jackson
D~~~~