Here's to Friends for Life!

Here's to you, and here's to me,,,,,,,

It feels wonderful to be back in Texarkana.........even if it is just for a couple of weeks.  It's always fun being with family, seeing who we might run into, and having mini-reunions,  A HUGE thx to Lisa S for arranging one with our SAU friends for life!

"home"

Shady Pines RV Park has some color going on off up on here

Gustopher

LouLou (gotta start counting to 3 for our pix, David)

11-26-15:  Headed home to Texarkana on Thanksgiving Day.  It was a full day of traveling from Wichita, a little rainy here and there, but we arrived safely.  After setting up we met Laura and Gus at Edith's place, then headed over to see Cranford, Kathey, and family.

I think even Rocky is mighty content to be back

Great to be back!

Rocky is ready for the MO game

11-27-15:  The only plans today are to sit in the camper, listen to the rain, enjoy Gus and Laura, and call the Hogs!  MO is our new post-Thanksgiving rival after years of it being LSU.  And we won! WPS!

the Sue's and me

11-30-15:  David and I met the kids at McAllister's today and ran into a few friends.  The girls above are Sue Briley and Sue Lambert -- CCC and Emmaus peeps!  Great to see these 2 crazy kids!

Anna & Doug Camponovo

12-1-15:  December already!  We'd planned on moving out to the lake after a couple of days at Shady Pines.  But with the monsoons, we decided to just stay put and relax here.  Today we went bed shopping for Edith and stopped in at Cracker Barrel for breakfast.  Halfway through my meal I heard "Becky?".  I guess I'm so used to being in towns where I don't know anyone, that I've quit looking around me.  Great to see Anna C who I used to work with!  Though we're connected on FB, it's prob been 10 or so years since we've seen each other.

Patti, Joy, and Kathey

This afternoon I got to help out with the Collins Bldg decorating for Christmas.  Tho, the tree in this pic is the only thing I helped with, it was great seeing Kathey, Patti, and Joy.

Hannah with her Jamberries

Jackson rockin' his scarf

Gus rockin his scarf, along with a glob of grease -- it wasn't this bad til I tried scrubbing it with goo

Rocky seems proud of his new collar

Finished up a few knitting and craft projects on these rainy days!  Ready for Christmas I think.

da goils 

12-5-15:  Been super excited about today.  Lisa organized a mini-reunion for our little SAU group.  It's been nearly 30 years since all of us have been together at the same time.  Life happens.
We picked right up where we left off and it felt GREAT to be together again.  Sistas for life.

L to R:  Lisa, me, Janet, Cookie, and Kathey

didn't realize til Lisa later showed us some old pix, but we actually have pix from college making these faces

let's get this party started!

5 of the 6 of us met for lunch at Olive Garden.  Bekki White ran late because she was dealing with a rat (not mouse) problem at her house in Little Rock.  Thx for giving us all the details, Lisa.  LOL. The rest of us are spread out between Texarkana, Magnolia, Forney, Trophy Club, and, let's see....where am I located?

Cookie, Kathy, and me ---- college roomies -- made a couple of stops on the way to Lisa's

our serial killer faces - we bad.

my Starbucks name

front row L to R: me, Kathy, Bekki, Lisa
back row: Janet and Cookie

the prettiest little doggie joined us

love these girls

Uncle Andy

a toast to these friendships

it all started with these ladies

So these are the friends who I would play Yahtzee with in college at mine and Cookie's apt.  We would wear visors so we'd look like card sharks.  Now as David and I travel and play cards, we carry on the visor tradition around the country!

trying out my new selfie stick

we didn't get around to the Yahtzee game yet, but we did wear the visors 

dang selfie stick -- not easy

Did ya know the selfie stick was invented TWICE??? The first time was in the early 1980's.  It wasn't successful (this pix weren't good), so it fizzled until a couple of decades later.

gonna get pix of all of us in the cowls/scarves I knitted for them -- takes us awhile to get rounded up, except for Lisa

here we go!

"cowl" girls

Had a great time catching up at Lisa's and Andy's lovely home.  We've managed to keep up with each other through each other and on FB.  But nothing takes the place of getting to see each other face to face. 

time to eat again, so we headed to Chili's

One final meal and lots more laughter!  We made vows to get together more often and pray for each other in the meantime. Janet was the first to start her trek back home after supper. The rest of us headed over to Kathy's and Cookie's hotel.

Lisa made sure we had Yahtzee for old time's sake

So at the hotel, 5 of us did our best to remember how to play Yahtzee.  Everyone except Bekki was pretty much lost, but we had a blast making up rules.  Bekki was the winner with Lisa coming in a close second.  Pretty sure I was last.  (I always did hate that game), I haven't stayed out this late in years!  What a fun day that just flew by.  Miss these girls already!

after church at Roadhouse with Cranford and Kathey

12-6-15:  Wonderful morning at church and a fun lunch with our besties, Cranford and Kathey.  We figured this would be our farewell lunch with them since we are scheduled to leave Saturday the 12th.
But we decided to try to squeeze in an evening of Panties if possible this week.

Laura Lee and me

All the college girls checked in this afternoon so we know all made it back home safely.  Thankful.
Had so much fun shopping this evening with my baby girl.  I just LOVE being in the same town with my kiddos.  So tonight when I got home and kinda melted down about leaving in a week, David and I decided to add another week to our stay. Yay!!

ohhhh... that's how ya do it!

I think I can do this

yep, I got it!

now we're having fun

hope my winter peeps are ready for this

 Gus. stop eating a sec

and another sec

ok, they're bored, but I'm just now able to smile while I take it

12-7-15:  David and I went to Cranford's and Kathey's to play Panties tonight.  I took my new selfie stick to practice a little more.  Cranford played with it and taught me how to use it.  Now I know how to push that button! Oh, and about the Panties?  Kathey and I let the guys win for a change.

Looking forward to the next couple of weeks in T-town.

Love to all!

Heroshi Ueda, Bad Bec, and Tusk

Farewell to the Flatland

Autumn Blaze Maple at Grandpa Mac's

Rocky loves his QT pumpkin spice lattes, too

It's been a wonderful 7 1/2 months in Kansas!  We've had fun, learned a lot, made new friends, and had some quality time with "old" friends and family.  We've felt the love!

kids craft time at GPNC

11-19-15:  I've so enjoyed my volunteer job at the Great Plains Nature Center this year.  My last opportunity there was helping with a Kids Craft session on Oaks and Acorns.  David was kinda concerned about me teaching these impressionable young midwesterners to say "acorn" the way we say it in the south. I think I was able to stay away from that word since I was simply assisting!

Rachel let the kids see one of the owls up close and personal

I believe he was listening to her intently -- he knew he was fixin to go on a road trip

coloring oaks and acorns

We had a wonderful group of pre-schoolers and some were great artists.  They all rec'd an "akern" with a happy face on it as they left.

our Asher is the cottonheaded fella on the front row, right

Tonight I drove over to Douglass for Asher's Thanksgiving program.  Sadly, David was too sick to join me.  I was able to join Justin, Brooke, Andrew, and all the other grandparents.  We got there too late to get a prime seat, so my performance pix aren't close ups.  But the show was a blast!

 their friend, Aislin's 1st grade group

Asher's 2nd grade group

got those McClintock dance moves

both grades together

Brooke, Andrew, Asher, and Justin

sweet little fam

Grammy and the A's

we missed you Grandpa!

the boys with their Papaw and Mammy

Asher showing Papaw our "hewoh" magic trick

Enjoyed the evening with our fave little family!

11-21-15:  Today is Edith's 96th!  She's an a amazing, forever young woman!  So happy she's a part of our family!

When I got out to walk Rocky this morning, there was a tiny bit of snow around the edges of the rv sites.  Wasn't expecting that just yet!

11-22-15:  One of the things David and I love about the prairie is that we see soooo many birds of prey!  Even in the city.  This morning I drove over to Derby to go to Walmart.  I saw a bald eagle on the way.  I pulled over and snapped a pic or 2, but since I only had my cell phone camera, it didn't show up.  When I parked at Walmart, 2 more were circling the store!  Couldn't get their pic either, but I really enjoyed watching all 3 of these beauties!  Eagle-spotting never gets old!

celebrated our server's upcoming delivery day

11-23-15:  Another thing that super cool up here is seeing the thousands of geese migrating through!  Lotta honking going on this morning and we see gaggles that go on as far as the eye can see!

One of our fave breakfast spots is Jimmie's Diner on Harry St.  We've gotten to know one of the servers since the first time we went in there with our Razorback shirts on.  She grew up in Fayetteville. We've all been anxiously awaiting her baby gender news.  I predicted a girl, and sure enough!

made her kinda emotional

We brought her a pink cocoon and some girly burp rags that I'd made for her.  She's so sweet!

she recently found out she's having a girl

gotta guess what it is, Rizzo

took her a minute, but she finally guessed it is a cocoon!

I showed her pix of how it works

she wore the burp rags!

I just love it when I get to meet a WWII vet

Her baby girl will be born before we get back to Wichita, so hopefully we'll see pix when we return.  On the way out the door, I stopped and thanked this WWII vet and a Korean vet that were having breakfast with a couple of their other buds.  The friends tried telling me he just bought the hat, that he really didn't do anything in WWII.  That sounded like something my friends would've said, so I didn't fall for it.

 photobomber behind Sondra

Visited Sondra, the birthday girl, and gave her one of my latest handmade "wreaths".  We love this lady and have so enjoyed volunteering for them at the rv park these past couple of years.  Hopefully, we'll get to do that again in the future.

Frank was framed!

David's dad's Maple tree is totally popping

Visited Mac today as well and said our "cya laters" to him. His Autumn Blaze Maple tree is looking mighty good this November!

Brooke treated us to homemade chicken/noodles before we left

11-24-15:  We wanted to get together with Justin and family to celebrate an early Christmas before we head out.  So Brooke cooked her famous chicken and noodles for us for supper. YUM!  Gotta get her recipe!

I think the boys loved my peanut butter pie

even Andrew with his sick tummy

Asher wanted the recipe

now he's asking me more specific details.......as if he's the one that'll be making it

Justin

Andrew got me hooked on Bop It!

then gave it to me as we were leaving!

early Christmas for the boys since we were heading south in a couple of days

I might've tied them too tightly

nope, they managed to get them opened

KEVA blocks from Exploration Place

Linda Sue told us about these

we thought Justin would like them, too!

and Grandpa

they're unique in that they are precision bldg blocks -- all the same size

Brooke studying the instructions

a quick family photo before leaving

love this group

Always hard to leave our Wichita family, but certainly looking forward to seeing our Texarkana peeps!

Love to all our Heartlanders!


Grandpa, Grammy, and Uncle Rocky

PS:  The pix below are what Justin woke up to the next morning.