Sunday, June 14, 2009

Seeing Good Friends

This morning we dropped Bob off at the airport and then went to Green Acres Baptist with E for the 9:45 service. We heard a great sermon about how to storm-proof your life and then went for delicious bar-b-que for lunch.

We packed up and drove to Lufkin where we visited Jim for a while. Then it off to Sid and Deb's where we're spending the night.



Sid grilled a wonderful supper of pork chops, peppers, and vegetables. The marinated salad added so much to the meal.

We enjoyed visiting, hearing stories from Sid and watching CWS.

Saturday, June 13, 2009

Family Reunion

This morning E and I went to the Farmer's Market and saw some wonderful produce, but all I needed was some ripe tomatoes to take to the family reunion today. E already had some noonday onions and some slaw that I was able to take as well.

The reunion was not as well attended as in the past but it was still good to see those who were there.
When we left the reunion, we stopped by the Tyler airport and picked up Bob who came for a visit before he had to go to work in Houston on Monday. we visited, ate a delicious supper, and visited some more!

Friday, June 12, 2009

Continuing Down the Road...

This morning we had breakfast in the hotel before we "hit" the road. Somewhere in LA we were in a long, slow line because of road work.

After we ate lunch in Marshall at the "flying W", we went to Marshall Pottery. It was a real disappointment...not much there.


As we made our way on to Tyler, we ran into another road construction slow down.

After we got to E's house, we had some delicious blueberry cobbler that she had made. The ice cream on top was a nice addition. We visited and then went to Traditions for a wonderful cafeteria meal. It is a place that is a "tradition" every time we are here! Mike had chicken fried steak, Ellen had fish and I had a vegetable plate.




On The Road Again...

We left yesterday on I75 to I59 to I20. Along the way, we stopped in Birmingham to see a dear friend who had had open heart surgery. (He is doing fine.) We drove and listened to a Tony Hillerman book on CD, took a nap at a rest stop, drove and listened some more and stopped for the night.

It has already gotten hot in this part of the south...crepe myrtles are blooming!




The nice sunset from our room...in spite of the manufacturing facility.



Monday, June 8, 2009

Our Last Day

After breakfast at the hotel, it was time to start our journey home. This was the fountain in front of our hotel.

We drove to Charlottesville and went to the visitor's center for Monticello. We didn't have have time to tour the house but enjoyed the movie and seeing things about Jefferson's life and accomplishments.

We were in the car most of the rest of the day except for the usual stops...gas, food and bathroom, and we tried to combine them when we could!

It was a great trip...Rheagan is thinking that she'll repeat the 3rd grade so she can take another trip!

Another Day in History

We began this morning by going to church at the Bruton Parish Church. It began as an Anglican Church and is now an Episcopalian Church. We sat in the balcony, which was up a circular staircase that had small spaces for your feet. This morning's service was high church with the choir singing long songs in Latin. Before it was over, 1 1/2 hours later, we had taken the Eucharist at the kneeling rail with real wine...a first for Rheagan.

Then we went to the brickmaker and Rheagan got go help by "treading" the clay. Very enlightning and fun!

We continued our walk down the Duke of Gloucester street and went inside many buildings, learned about many things and saw many people in historic costumes.

We went back to the Bruton Parish Church so Rheagn could see the tombstone of one of her relatives many generations removed, Orlando Jones. He was the first pastor of this church and the maker is in the middle front of the church.
Mike was pleasantly surprised to see the donor for this project.

After going to William and Mary, we had supper and then took another lantern tour, this time we concentrated on trades and how a person chose a trade and was trained.

Our evening was finished by getting in the pool!

Sunday, June 7, 2009

Going Back in Time

On Saturday, June 6, 2009, we began our adventure in Colonial Williamsburg.

After an orientation movie, we rode the bus from the visitor's center to the historic area.

The Governor's Palace was the first of many buildings that we went into.

There is so much to see and do and I think that we filled our day to the brim with characters in costume, exhibits of how life was lived in the 1770's and how the colonists came to the realization that they were being taxed to death (Think we are coming to the same realization with the government we have now) and that led to rebellion and the Revolutionary War.

We did an art activity at the museum and also enjoyed seeing several of the exhibits.


In the evening we took a tour entitled "Ghosts Among Us" and got to hear 3 very interesting ghost stories.