Our New Home, Lincoln and Halloween

While we were parked at the lake in Arcadia, our refrigerator went out.  So, we moved over to Lee's RV City for repairs.  While there Roger wandered around the lot, looking over the newer RV's.  (Pay attention, children, there''s a lesson here!) We fell in love with a 2007 Newmar Mountain Aire motor home, 4 years newer than ours at the time with many perks that we had contemplated upgrading to.  Long story short: our new home!

It has a nicer layout, two more slides, solar panels on top, and other features that really have added to the comfort and enjoyment of our home.

The church in Lincoln which we were instrumental in starting,  Christ's Place, is still going and growing and "God is adding daily." These are some of the artwork. Each Halloween a "Trunk n Treat" event is sponsored for the neighborhood and we had a ball here entertaining and feeding several hundred.  

Janet Smith here was quite entertaining all by herself!  Hope to do it again next year!

We were able to enjoy a reunion lunch at the Wind Chimes restaurant with Roger's original partners and their wives from Lincoln Family Medical Group. Dale is still there, while Frank and Alves have been fulltime missionaries in Bangladesh. Circumstances rarely allow us to all be in the same place. So, we're always grateful for the opportunity.

Linda, another good friend in Lincoln, invited Meg to Ruby and Cordelia's Fine Tea Room for "high tea."  They had a wonderful time there and Roger's already added it to his list for next year. (Hey, guys like tea, too!)

We spent the rest of our time in Lincoln with friends and family: lunch with Carol, some gourmet meals from our budding chef nephew Brandon, Thanksgiving dinner at Shanna's, and, of course, Husker football with about 85,000 of our closest friends!  The Sea of Red beckons us back every fall.  A Husker game in this stadium should be on your bucket list; there's nothing quite like it!  Next year: the B1G 10!

Trip to Andrea's with Grands

Following our family reunion in San Antonio, Stacey and Darren flew back to Florida, while we traveled north to Oklahoma City for a visit with the Ross clan. This fulfilled one of our longtime plans and dreams: that of traveling with Grand kids AND providing the venue for all the cousins to spend more time together and draw closer to each other as family.  Meg and Ryan squaring off with the marshmallow guns we brought along.

Ashley and Reagan "in the hunt"

At "Pops", the fun restaurant on Historic Route 66.  If you can't find your favorite soft drink, it's probably not available anywhere!

We thought this picture on a bottle of pop sure looked like Ash! 

Ryan turned 7 while we were here and we celebrated at her choice: the local Japanese restaurant! 

Guess what her favorite part of the meal was!!

Happy Birthday, Ryan!

Wiley Post, who was killed in the same crash that took Will Rogers, is buried here.  We were looking for geocaches in the cemetery and one is associated with this grave.  One of the most exciting aspects of the game is how it leads you to learn unanticipated new information when you're visiting new locations. Try it sometime.  (You can click on the side of this blog for more info.) 

And it's great for a grandparent-grandchild activity!

 We always stay at Arcadia's Central State Park, which has a nice swimming lake.

We had a wonderful time together, a pleasant extension of the "reunion" we never really wanted to end!

The Bruce Reunion 2010-Viva San Antonio!

We arrived in San Antonio in time for the Great American Rubber Ducky Race on the San Antonio River. We picked ours and cheered them on... (Our ducks lost.)The rest of the families arrived on Friday and we ate dinner together at the Little Red Barn, a well-known local restaurant. The entire next day, Sunday was spent at Sea World ...what a great time! The walrus show may have been everyone's favorite.

We took several long strolls together along the River Walk, giving us all time to just chat and renew our relationships.                Trivia question: what are the two most visited tourist sites in Texas? (Answers at the end)

A river boat ride on the San Antonio River was a must!

One day we had breakfast at the Guenther House, one of the city's best secrets, then took the Trolley all over town.  The trollies are part of the bus system and a great way to sightsee on the cheap!

We went shopping at the Mercado (Mexican market.)

We ate in the Tower of the Americas Observation deck.

Meg and her "Daddy Carl"

          One evening in the hotel was spent just sharing stories and performing fun stuff for each other: songs, dances, poetry.  Meg's Father, Carl, 98 years old and a WWII veteran, led us all in the Pledge of Allegiance.

At the Snake Farm

The day at the San Antonio Zoo , ranked in the top three nationally, was loads of fun for everyone. The lorikeet exhibit was the biggest hit of all!

Well, did you get the answers to the trivia question?  The two most visited tourist attractions in Texas are in this order: the Alamo and the River Walk.  

We made the Wyndham LaCascada Hotel our home for the week.  This was the night view from the roof.  Bruce Reunion 2010 was a wonderful success thanks to everyone who was here.

It has been said that every Texan has two hometowns: his own and San Antonio!  Be sure and visit. And if you need a guide or ideas, just let us know.    Y'all come!

Summer Travels and "The King and I"

Before leaving Durant we, of course, had to search for a few geocaches. In a local park were these horse sculptures:

Now, where could that cache be?

Hmmm? You don't suppose?

Then on to a local cemetery:

There it is!!

On the way home we spent one lovely night in Round Rock, Texas with our good friends Jim and Barb. They were married the same summer that we were. Great supper and visit!!

The Austin Scottish Country Dancing Alliance held its Second Midsummer Ball in June and we were there. Live music, a beautiful hall and beautiful dancers! We're already planning on next year's!

Lydia reached her 9th birthday in July and we celebrated at her house; here she is on her new bike

This called for a sleep-over at Nana's. She stayed for three days and went to a lovely vacation Bible school at a local church in Canyon Lake.

A travelin' lifestyle gives us the opportunity to see old friends as well as make new ones.

Bob Hahn, a lifelong friend of Roger's, is pastor of First United Methodist Church in Lockhart, Texas, along with his wife Lois. We look forward to every visit with them that we can manage. They fixed a great lunch for us on the first day of our trip to Florida and Stacey's.

That evening and the next morning we spent with Nili and Joel Kerich, two dear friends from our Kenya days. Nili was one of my nurses in our hospital and Joel was a nursing student. They have been married for many years and have settled in east Texas. We found each other again through FaceBook.

Our Daughter Stacey has a beautiful voice and is a consummate actress. Each of the past four years has seen her starring in the summer musical of the Citrus County Arts Playhouse: Marian (Music Man), Maria (Sound of Music), Sarah Brown (Guys and Dolls), and this year, Anna in "The King and I." It was fantastic seeing her this time. She and the King, Dennis Love, brought the house down more than once!! The audience never realized that she did the entire show with a fractured left arm which she had broken just before opening night! "The show must go on!"

Our granddaughter Ashley was one of the many children of the king; she's in the red long dress to the right of Anna; she performed her role perfectly.

Our birthdays came while we were at Stacey's and we surprised Meg with her own cake...can you tell?

After the show closed we began our trip to Texas and this time with a little extra: we brought the whole Griffis Family along! Darren was able to work the entire time because we planned to stay in RV parks with Wi-Fi connections. We left Hernando on a Friday night and travelled on the weekend. On Sunday we were in Pensacola and ate a fun meal in nearby Foley, Alabama
at Lambert's Cafe, the "Home of the Throwed Roll."

I took this video with my iPhone.

We spent two lovely days in New Orleans Jackson Square Saint Louis Cathedral Is that Ashley? Touring the above-ground cemeteries of New Orleans. Soon we'll be in San Antonio for our Family Reunion.