2015 Year in Review

What a year of extremes it has been! It seems like there were long bouts of boring times, but then again as I look back there was plenty of action and adventure… and injuries! Ivy broke her arm, while I cut my hand pretty severely on some barnacles in the Bay. There was also the adventure with Jose who showed up on my doorstep in August with mysterious pain in his side, which I realized (and confirmed later the next morning at 5 a.m.) was as a kidney stone blockage.

There was also lots of travel including 2 trips to Central America, a couple of visits to Dallas, 1 trip to Austin, 2 trips to San Antonio, and numerous trips to Galveston. We fed horses at the Houston Police Horse stables, went to a Children’s Festival, visited Kemah Boardwalk with grandma, visited the Museums, rode an elevator to the top of a skyscraper, and lots lots more. It was a busy year!

Year in Rewind part 1

Year in Rewind part 2

• Horse Feeding – We discover you can go feed the Police horses carrots and apples.
• Rodeo Houston – George and Loann from South Dakota come to visit.
• Spring Break – Mom comes to visit and we do Galveston and Kemah Boardwalk
• Fifi gets diabetes! – She begins losing weight quickly, but we realize that isn’t a good thing. Sure enough, she is sick.
• Ivy and I go to Comicpalooza – And we end up the news! Abc13 was there asking people if they had difficulty parking or getting downtown.
• Floods and the roof falls in! – While sitting in the living room, suddenly a chunk of ceiling falls on to the couch.
• Mission Trip to Belize – A men-only trip to Belize to do construction work and 2 days at a Boy’s Camp. What an awesome week! It was hard work and exhausting, but very rewarding. We ended the week with a float on inner-tubes through a cave. Awesome!!
• Ivy & I go to Dallas – We attend a wedding and then an afternoon at the Perot Museum.
• Ivy breaks her arm! – She thinks she is spider-woman and climbs the door frame, but falls face-first to the ground and breaks her fall (and her arm) as she hits the floor.
• Ivy joins the Girl Scouts!
• A night in the hospital with Jose – at 1 a.m. Jose comes asking for help for unbearable pain. I suspect it is a kidney stone. Sure enough! By 5 a.m. the doctor confirms and says it is too big to pass so he must be moved to another hospital for its removal.
• Mission trip to El Salvador – 6 days digging a water well in a little village. Hard work, but what an awesome week! Lots of rain.
• Ivy catches her very first fish!
• Thanksgiving Day fun at the Pleasure Pier in Galveston – After stuffing ourselves with food made by Jane and Holly, all the guys (me, Jose, Ray, and Braden) and 1 girl (Ivy), and we had a fun afternoon riding stuff on the Pier.
• Jane decides to buy a new house! – The process begins…
• Ivy has her first Girl Scout Camp
• Christmas in Arkansas – we hang out with the relatives in Arkansas, watch the new Star Wars movie on Christmas Day, and then stop in Dallas and visit the cousins (Aunt Toni and Nabil) –
• Six Flags in San Antonio – Ray, Jose, and 4 of our kiddos head to Six Flags for a day of (cold) fun. Ivy rides her very first roller-coaster! We also visit the Alamo.
• Back to San Antonio – Holly, Ivy and I head back to SA and stay at the same hotel (thanks BhP Billiton for that awesome $500 gift card!) and we enjoy lunch at the Tower of the Americas.