Feburary & March update - because I'm that far behind

It was once again time for the AWANA derby. We no longer have children in AWANA but hubby loves to play with cars so he had Jacob purchase a kit then designed his race car using ideas from the BSA pinewood derby book which he had purchased at their store months ago. How long has he been planning this?
He told Maryn what he imagined and she painted it. Here's a new career opportunity for her:

Maryn Chilson, world famous pinewood derby car artist! :-)






See the car waiting for its turn at the derby. Notice the name listed beside it? Jacob volunteers in AWANA so he could participate in the race. Stan reminded him that race car drivers usually do not own the cars they drive. Made Jacob feel professional.
I suggested that Stan start working in AWANA so he could race his own car next year.

Speaking of BSA, Caleb participated in a crossover ceremony recently.
In the ceremony, one by one the Cub Scout Webelos have certain parts of their uniform removed by their scout master (or den leader - what are they called?) then they and their parents "cross over" a bridge to the Boy Scout side where the troop members (including Caleb in this photo) attach BSA uniform pieces in the empty spots.

Caleb received the horsemanship and Tenderfoot badges. He's also earned Citizenship of the Nation, Citizenship of the World & Physical Fitness - all Eagle Scout requirements.

Notice how tall Caleb is compared to the rest of his troop pictured. He's the oldest so I expect they will catch up eventually.


Looking very serious, Caleb participated in his first flag ceremony. He had to concentrate to keep his steps short enough to stay with the other boys as they marched from the back of the elementary school auditorium.







Less than a month ago, I checked online to find Spring Break for my two college guys. I was shocked to see that it began March 9.
Don't know why I was so surprised since that is similar to what we experienced in San Antonio - my wedding was planned for the weekend between the two area spring breaks - but around here SB is usually closer to Easter.
Oh, wait - I was thinking of the school schedule, not the college schedule!

As I contemplated our upcoming summer schedule, I realized that in August it would be 2 years since we visited the Alamo City folks then asked Stan if we might possibly go???
He had me do a quick feasibility study and a few phone calls later we discovered that YES, we could do it!

A side story:
I mentioned to my friend Sharon that we were planning a trip to TX & not looking forward to driving the 10 mpg no A/C Beast since Mini is still incapacitated then she offered the use of their Astro in trade for BB. WOW! She said Astro'd been needing a check-up so they'd have that done prior to our trek. She called it providential when the mechanic discovered potentially disastrous engine seizing damage that he was able to rectify prior to its occurrence. Yea!! God's so great about blessing us when we're blessing others - isn't He?

So we headed to TX on March 6 about 7a.m., 7 of Astro's 8 seatbelts were filled.
That's all my crew plus Maryn ready for the San Antonio experience.
We were thankful to have all the licensed drivers so we could go straight through. Maryn & I didn't drive. I was in charge of PRAYING. :-)
Andrew drove through Houston on the way to SA

Mom C planned a big family meal for Sunday. All her kids were present & most of the grandkids too.
Sigh.
I did not get a photo of all the siblings together.
bummer.

Here everyone is filling their plates. Prior to the meal, we joked about eating those yummy leftovers all week but there were no leftovers to be had. I had to be on the ball just to get firsts.

On Monday we loaded up cousin Susie & hit the city as tourists.

The Japanese Tea Gardens were first on my list of places to visit. It's been "restored" complete with water & koi so you can look forward to my upcoming photos.

We walked from the Sunken Gardens past the excellent SA Zoo. When we lived here we had a family pass so visited pretty often.

To Brackenridge Park. Stan was disappointed that cars are no longer allowed to drive through the water. He led our crew over the stepping stones.
My clumsy self took the bridge!

This park playscape used to be part of the zoo.
I wanted to come here to take pictures. With its various levels, ladders, stairs & poles; the kids love it for playing tag.

For my guys, a visit to SA means an opportunity to find SA Spurs & TX Longhorn paraphernalia - specifically T shirts.

On Tuesday we visited the Alamo

and the riverwalk which was a good thing because it rained the rest of the week > they have had no significant rainfall in months & then we who are also needing rain come visit. IRONY!

But it gave Stan time to sharpen some knives for his momma & the boys did a little yardwork (dodging raindrops) for their pawpaw.

It gave the cousins time to bond over Mexican train dominoes.
"I'll play there!"
"Nononononononononono"
"You do NOT want to play on the community train."
"Leave it, leave it, leave it, leave it!"
"You did NOT just play that."
"You FAIL!"

We headed home around 11am Saturday with rain from SA to Pensacola (Jacob drove through Houston in the rain - I've done that before!) and arrived home around 8am Sunday morning and unloaded the van just in time to head for church.

Oh wait.
Everyone was asleep.