Mimi and I visit Burnet

Mimi and I made a trip to visit sister Diane and Richard in their new home in Burnet.  We swam in the pool, ate at local restaurants, met some neighbors, watched some gorgeous sunsets, and just enjoyed sitting out in the shade in very low humidity, dry air which seems cooler than the stuff here in Conroe.  Also there is a fairly nice breeze, and NO mosquitoes.

Looking out from front porch, Diane and dogs are in the circular front driveway, Lake Buchanan is in distance to the right, and Inks Lake on the left, lower down.

 Zoomed in view of Inks Lake from Diane's front porch.

 Watching sunset from front porch.

 Both evenings had spectacular sunsets, this is one of many pictures I took.

 Dinner out at Cafe 2300, very close to the house, with live music on Friday nights. 

Wine is free since they don't have a liquor license.

 After lunch at Marble Falls the next day.

Back patio at Diane's house.

 Sitting on back patio looking out to pool.

Standing in kitchen looking through living room and out back to patio and pool.

Since Diane works from home now, she has more time for cooking. Complicated recipes and wonderful results.  She made a key lime pie, but we couldn't eat it til she made the topping.  Cool Whip?  Oh, no, fresh, homemade whipped cream.  It was good, and no plastic oil flavor like you sometimes get with Cool Whip.

Here is my lot, I have two large trees towards the front, which will look very nice when trimmed.

View from my lot out to west, the picture doesn't show it well, 

but Lake Buchanan and Inks Lake are visible on the horizon.

 

More time with grandkids

John and Taylor came back to Conroe in July for another long weekend. The twins had a huge water slide set up, their birthday the year before had rained out the bounce house, so they got the water slide for July 4th party.

John comes down the slide.

 Jake and Claire slide down.

 William comes over with Baba Bill.

 Mimi gets to hold baby McKenzie while she naps.

Video shows how fast the kids were coming down the slide.  Taylor tried it a few times, but got her head banged and chose to abstain for the rest of the afternoon.  Smart girl.

 The next day there was more swimming and playing at JanMa's house.

Jason, Ashley and Taylor made a tall figure.  I was so busy taking pictures of them, I totally forgot about John, who was without his floaties, playing in the shallow end.  All of a sudden, Jason hears this faint "Help, help" from John, and down comes the tower and John gets rescued.

 Charlie dog was a house guest at this time, but he was uncomfortable with the small children around, so he spent a week at Bill's house while the kids were at my house and while I was in Dallas. After a week, Charlie forgot who I was and wouldn't leave with me.  So Amy and Rich and kids had to come pick him up from Bill's house.

 I went to Dallas to watch the kids for a few days while Ashley was on a gal pals outing and Jason was at work. I had a lot of fun, hope the kids did too.

Hula Hoops are still in style.

 John made a long track with a loop for his cars. He tried all the cars out and identified about 4 that could make the loop and the jump at the end. The rest slowed down too much to finish the loop.

 Taylor did some coloring...

 while John worked on his super-hero sticker city.

 Then there was a lot of monster truck crashes, line-ups, and just rolling around the floor.

John and Taylor got interested in taking pictures with my camera.

Here are some of their photos. Pretty good for first time photographers.

 All the grandkids got a beach vacation in Florida, but separately.  Jeremy and family drove to Destin for a week.  Here are Jake and Claire looking over the Mississippi River in Baton Rouge.

 Here they are splashing in the water on the beach in Destin.

Jason and family flew to Clearwater.  

Here are some pictures Ashley took of the kids on the beach.

I have so enjoyed being able to pick up the twins from their preschool. Their backpacks are as big as they are, but they are so proud to carry them. And they are always SO happy to see me when I come to pick them up.  Is the the after school swim time, or ice cream, or JanMa's iPad, or maybe just JanMa?