Mema and Papa's Christmas 1971 just before we were married. We were at Papa's mother's apartment. The little girl in the corner is Papa's niece Kim, Uncle Dale's daughter.
Our favorite sign during the election. Turned out to be prophetic.
Penny getting ready to go to her cousins for a Halloween treasure hunt.
My son enjoying himself at Penny's treasure hunt.
A painting of the king salmon I caught during our Alaska cruise. It was painted by Scott's friend Brittany and given to us for the Christmas after our Alaska cruise.
Carlos and Carol's engagement
No description needed. Love them!
Our House at SWR (8 pictures)
The drive up to our house in Safari Waters Ranch (SWR) after it was first built.
The front view of our house. That was Mema's mother's van in the driveway, she lived with us.
A front-left view of the house and lake, before we had neighbors.
A view from the back porch looking at the deck I built.
A view of the deck from outside the master bedroom's door.
A view of the backyard from the deck. Mema and Papa built the shed. You can see our dock and pontoon boat.
A view of the back of the house from the dock.
A different view of the back of the house just left of the dock.
SWR Wildlife (8 pictures)
SWR's famous free roaming Zebras, also Martha's favorite
Bald eagle that resides in our community
Axis deer that roam the neighborhood
A group of white tail deer that are prevalent in the community
Male and female Pere David deer that also roam our neighborhood
A Pelican, Martha's favorite bird that passes through during the spring
The dark deer are Fallow deer, a handsome male and female
These are Blackbuck antelope. The male is quite impressive looking
2011 Drought (3 pictures)
I didn't get my boat out before the drought dry docked it.
Different angle that shows my dock. My dock extends 30' into the water. That shows how bad the drought was.
This is a shot of the dock across the lake from me. Normally you can only see the top of the dock but the supporting peers were very visible.
2010 Jail Break Run (12 pictures)
Our three beautiful daughters getting ready to participate in the 2010 Jail Break Run.
Our daughters and friends, all Jail Break Run participants.
Becky and Jennifer getting ready to go low into the mud. On your mark, get set...
Our daughter's friend leads the way.
Our daughter's friend through first, and them close behind.
All three made it through... yuk.
Yea Becky, so proud of herself.
Here comes Amy girl very happy with herself.
Jennifer Joan and her friend successful too. They're both experienced mud runners.
Becky's son Seth exhausted from watching his mom and aunts running through the obstacle course. You can see a little mud under his chin, such drama.
All were successful completing the 2010 Jail Break Run.
We're so proud of our daughters, sisters united in crushing the Jail Break obstacle course.
2010 Winter (16 pictures)
The scene during the day when it started snowing, a rare occasion in Texas.
Later in the day when it got going.
Our deck before going to bed that night.
Temperature when we got up the next morning.
The scene the next day.
Another scene in the trees.
Shot of some evergreens.
A cardinal really sticks out in the snow covered branches. Makes me feel like I'm back in Michigan.
The mailbox shown we had a few inches of snow.
The deck shows it even more how much it snowed. I know, it's not a lot compared to Michigan, but it's a lot for Texas.
The roof gives a good perspective of the snow fall..
A shot of our snow covered house. This is why I moved to Texas, this only happens maybe once a year if that.
Our driveway later in the day, melting already.
The snow is gone from the trees...
...and almost all gone from the mailbox. This is why I moved to Texas, snow one day and gone the next... Yehaw!
Someone in the neighborhood made good use of the snow while it lasted.
2010 Torrential Rain (7 pictures)
We were at Disney World with Julian and Hannah when we got a call from a neighbor asking where the the electrical shutoff was for our sprinkler pump...
...I asked why, he said we got 16" of rain and my pump, as you can see, was under water. It's normally about 15' from the water.
This is what we saw when we got home, yikes.
My boat and dock looked like they were in the middle of the lake. Fortunately I had installed a floating dock, which is 30' long.
A shot across the lake at a neighbor's dock, oh wait, his dock is completely underwater you're only looking at the roof.
A closer look at the dock across the lake.
The neighbor who called us took this picture of his yard. A canoe landed in his flowerbed... and he didn't own a boat.
2009 Alaska Cruise - Vancouver Canada (11 pictures)
We left for our cruise from Vancouver Canada. We stayed a couple of days before leaving based on our friends suggestion. This is a view from our hotel room. Vancouver was beautiful, a great find.
We did some site seeing. A view of downtown Vancouver from across a marina.
We visited the aquarium and saw these jellyfish.
We visited a native Alaskan cultural center. These are gorgeous totem poles, hand made on site.
One of many beautiful waterfalls visible from the road.
A walk through the cultural center. visiting various shops
The train we took to Whistler mountain, one of the skiing sites for the Olympics. Blackcomb was the other.
Getting aboard the gondola between Whistler and Blackcomb Mountains, very high and very scary... at least for me.
A view from the gondola, although scary, it was quite spectacular.
A look at the snow on top of Whistler mountain.
We took a tour to the Yukon. A picture of Mema, Papa and aunt Heather
2009 Alaska Cruise - Ship (10 pictures)
Time to depart on the cruise. A shot of our cruise ship, Royal Caribbean's Radiance of the Seas.
Dining with Aunt Heather and new friends. We took a 1 week cruise to Alaska and then another week on a train exploring the Alaskan interior.
Every night we went to bed we were treated to a new towel origami on our bed.
Our room. Aunt Heather slept on the top bunk.
Martha relaxing out on the balcony off our room.
A shot from the floor our room was located on.
A shot towards the elevators. These ships are massive.
One of several open dining areas where we ate most of the time.
One of the hot spas. It was always quiet here and a great place to relax and have a snack.
The theater where we saw a nightly show of some sort.
Nearing the end of the cruise they took us close in to see the Hubbard glacier.
More of the Hubbard glacier.
Pieces of the Hubbard glacier just floating in the ocean. Just a reminder of how climate change is affecting the world.
The blue color of the glacier is gorgeous. Thousands of years old and slowly melting into the ocean.
Another view of the Hubbard glacier, very majestic.
A shot of another cruise ship from our balcony also positioning to see the Hubbard glacier.
Large pieces of the glacier likely after a large section of the glacier calved off Hubbard glacier. You can still see the beautiful blue ice.
An interesting piece of the glacier that shows the various layers of earth imbedded during the movement of the glacier over hundreds of years.
A shot of land across from the glacier as we were moving on.
A floating piece of Hubbard glacier with a seal hitching a ride.
2009 Alaska Cruise - Ketchikan (10 pictures)
We stopped in Ketchikan during the cruise. Another beautiful city.
A picture of the our cruise ship during a boat tour of Ketchikan
We saw a deer swimming across the lake during a boat tour
More views along the Tongass Narrows channel.
This is yet another example of the beauty of Ketchikan along the Tongass Narrows channel.
A view of a mountain along the Tongass Narrows channel. This wasn't during the winter yet the mountain is covered in snow.
An eagle nest at the top of the tree along the Tongass Narrows. Eagle nests are huge and weigh hundreds of pounds.
A small island in the middle of the Tongass.
Beautiful waterfalls visible from the tour boat on the Tongass
One of many bald eagles we saw during our tour on the Tongass in Ketchikan
2009 Alaska Cruise - Icy Strait Point (10 pictures)
The Alaskan country side is beautiful as we cruse to Icy Straits
Coming into Icy Straits and the town of Hoonah
Our arrival to Hoonah packing company
We took a tour of Icy Straits. We came across a small waterfall within the foliage
The hillside rock formation was interesting
An eagles nest near the bottom to the tree
Back to town and a carving of an Alaskan grizzly bear
Native Alaskan Tlingit people
Leaving Icy Straits on our way to Juneau
Mountain views as we cruise to Juneau
2009 Alaska Cruise - Juneau (10 pictures)
Getting ready to make port in Juneau
Captured a part of the Juneau skyline, beautiful snow covered mountains
We took a whale watching tour, it was spectacular
A whale surfaced right next to the tour boat
A whale starting its dive. A whale's fluke is unique to each whale, kind of like our fingerprints
We saw these seals resting on a buoy
The vastness of Alaska is breathtaking and more so when you see a cabin literally in the middle of nowhere, no electricity, no plumbing
We visited the Mendenhall Glacier. It was sad to see how far it has receded (i.e. melted) if just the last 10 years as a result of climate change
A view of another glacier. It is a majestic sight to see
A closer look at a glacier. The blue color of ice thousands of years old is fascinating
2009 Alaska Cruise - Skagway (9 pictures)
Our next stop on the cruise was Skagway. Like most places in Alaska they are only accessible via plane or boat. We were told by our tour guide that most people have small planes like we have cars.
Like Hawaii, Alaska has hundreds of waterfalls that are just part of the scenery where ever you go
A mountainside with some mountain goats in the upper left, they are hard to see
My beautiful wife with beautiful scenery behind her
A rest stop with a gorgeous view
A historical little town in Skagway
We passed this lake during our tour and had to take a picture of the beautiful blue colors
We took a walk through downtown Skagway
This was an old train they used to clear snow of the train tracks
2009 Alaska Interior - Anchorage (17 pictures)
The size, beauty and serenity will take your breath away! Here it is superimposed over the lower 48 states... huge
We de embarked from our cruise in Anchorage and spent the day site seeing before boarding our train the next day. Martha saw these guys that reminded her of her heritage
This is a hanging plant found on the street lights, as you can see it is massive. Martha loved it.
The Anchorage visitors center where we checked out some places to see.
This was a fascinating place to visit.
A native Athabascan tribe being carved on site.
A skeleton of a whale.
An example of an Athabascan hut.
A demonstration of the athleticism of the Athabascan people.
A musical performance by members of the Athabascan tribe
A view of downtown Anchorage from our hotel room. We were there during the 6 months of daylight. Martha took this about 2:00 a.m.
Getting ready to board the train to begin our tour of the Alaskan interior.
The train car was awesome with its skylights and comfortable seats. Perfect for a several hour trip.
Mountains off in the distance.
Just spectacular views of the Alaskan mountains and countryside.
Beautiful forests of pines and gorgeous lakes.
We were lucky to see Mt. McKinley (now called Denali). Believe it or not, the top of the mountain is well above the layer of clouds.
= Pictures added in last 30 days.
