Happy Birthday Dear Paw Paw

We celebrated Dad's 80th birthday at Red Lobster last Friday night. Beth took this picture with her iPhone and what a good smile! We all enjoyed the cheese biscuits (they are so good) and Dad ate a plate full of fried shrimp. He brought all the cards that he had received and Matt remarked that he really got a lot of cards! Our server Daniel recruited the other servers to sing the birthday song and they sang "Happy Birthday dear Paw Paw", etc. It was pretty funny and made Dad laugh. Happy Birthday Dad and many more!

Tyler Azalea 10k

Yesterday Beth and Matt competed in the Tyler Azalea 10k. Yes, another athletic event. It was a perfect morning for running: 55 and cloudy. There were lots of people there. So many in fact that I never connected with them before the race. The course went through Tyler's Azalea District: "mile after mile of azaleas, dogwood trees and spring flowers that you have to see to believe." That's from the brochure. Anyway here we go!

Do you see them? Well neither do I. Oh well. The guy in the yellow t-shirt finished either 1st or 2nd in just under 30 minutes. The start was a little crazy. Like I said there were lots of people there.

Matt finished 3rd in his age group - woohoo! I can tell that Greg was very proud of him.

Beth finished 2nd in her age group - another woohoo!

There were snacks for the runners after the race. Beth told me not to take a picture of her with her mouth full, but she's just so cute. I'm sorry Beth.

The winning couple! Apparently there was an awards ceremony which I missed and they both got medals. And yes - Matt has cut off all of his hair - he said he's tired of paying for haircuts.

The azaleas really are beautiful right now.

Spring Break Rules

Did you know that there are Spring Break Rules? Here are a few examples: eat what you want, sleep when you want, stay up as late as you want, and read lots of books. When I first started teaching, I ignored the rules and spent my spring break spring cleaning, doing yard work and other silly things like painting rooms or doing laundry. But then I decided on a few rules such as the above. I have added another: visit your teacher daughter and make her take you all over the Metroplex doing different things. First we stopped at Grapevine Mills Mall for a little healthy lunch.

We weren't going to shop, but as we were walking out the door, there was Banana Republic and J. Crew, so Sarah tried this on but didn't like it. I thought she looked adorable.

I bought flip-flops at J. Crew for Beth, Sarah and myself. But really this is considered survival footwear in Texas so I had to do it.

Our goal was to go to The Kimbell Art Museum in Ft. Worth to see an exhibit of early Christian art. Beth and Matt had seen it the previous weekend and gave it a good recommendation, so off we went! Sarah was such a good driver and we made good time. The exhibit was amazing. We weren't supposed to take pictures, but I didn't realize that until I snapped this one. One of the docents let me know! The art is on loan from the Vatican, Louvre, Metropolitan Museum of Art to name a few.

We moved on to the permanent exhibit: everything from Picasso to Rubens. Pretty fascinating. (It was ok to take pictures.)

Sarah said this guy was "fierce". I think she's been watching too much Project Runway.

There were also lots of antiquities.

I see the resemblance - don't you? No jokes about antiquities, ancient, old, etc.

Later we ate what we wanted, slept late, watched TV and went for a walk. Truthfully when I got home I did some laundry. Oh well. Sarah thank you - I had so much fun with you and Tyson.

The Birthday Boy

Matt was 28 on Tuesday so we went out to eat Mexican food - of course! And by the way, he only spilled a little salsa on his white shirt. Beth and Matt went to Southlake (his hometown) last weekend and his mother made him two cakes. What a girl. He ran in a sprint triathlon that weekend and did well. Happy Birthday Matt!!!

No She Didn't!

Well yes, she did! Beth ran in the Texas Half Marathon February 10th. Matt ran with her to cheer her on. We expect these kind of things from Matt, but honestly I was a little surprised when Beth told me she was going to compete. The race was at White Rock Lake in Dallas and she finished in 2 hours and 4 minutes. I'm so proud of both of them. What's next?

Woohoo!

I guess that if Greg can shovel dirt, pick up trash around the lake, and take a walk through the neighborhood he's officially better! I know that it's been at least a year since he went walking just for fun.

He still has a slight limp, but it is slowly going away. He finished the physical therapy last Friday and now does the exercises the therapist recommended every day. It's so good to see him up and around.

Besides - you never know when your friends the ducks will come see you if you go outside.

Winter Wonderland - Tyler Style

It snowed in Tyler last Friday - for about 5 minutes in the morning and then 5 more minutes in the afternoon. In-between it was rain/sleet/rain. I think you can see the awesome accumulation of the white stuff on the patio chairs - if you look closely. I was doing some "power shopping" with Beth in Target at the time and made her walk to the front of the store with me so I could see it. Since I'm from South Texas, I didn't really experience snow until Greg and I went skiing at Red River when I was 26. Anyway it's always a treat.