Last Post of 2019

Per the usual, we will finish the year with Bode's school picture.

Quite a good-looking young man.  Next year at this time, he'll be a full-fledged teenager, which is quite terrifying because it seems like yesterday that Bode was in kindergarten and second-grade.

 

We had another wonderful year in 2019, but, and I've said this in many previous posts, it's hard not to when you have these people in your life.

As I said in a previous post, we were away for the last few days.  The dogs probably weren't walked as much as they would have liked, and they always get sooo excited when it's been awhile since their last excursion.

We have no major plans for New Year's Eve.  Bode has been pestering us about staying up until the stroke of midnight; we'll see if we can make it that far this year.  Perhaps we should try seeing that it's the end of a decade and the start of another. 

Hopefully we'll see all of you in 2020 (and we also hope this d*mn guest house will be built before 2021 :-) 

Orange Beach

We spent the last few days over in Orange Beach, Alabama, visiting with Jon and Meghan and their two boys, Elliot and Oscar.  Ashley and I spent some time one morning walking on the beach.

I then tried to give Ashley the paparazzi treatment; she was not amused.

Bode brought his Oculus system and introduced Jon to the VR-world.

 We all went putt-putting and Ashley, Bode, and I did some go-kart-racing (I didn't bring the camera so no pictures).  Bode does not like it when you bump him when you're racing; he quickly points out all the signs say bumping is prohibited.  To that I say, "What bumping?  It's just rubbin' and rubbin' is racin'."  We awoke Sunday to a beautiful sunny sky.

We decided to do some golfing.  I tried to get a movie of Jon, but sadly, something distracted me right before he hit.

Ashley was nice enough to film one of my shots; good to see the swing is still a thing of beauty :-)

Finally, here's a shot of Ashley--not her best drive, but certainly not her worst.

After one of Ashley's shots, I again gave her the paparazzi treatment, and she again was not amused.

We played nine holes and didn't set any records.  Still, it was nice to get out on the course.  When we got back to the condo, Meghan was in the parking lot with Brody (the dog).  I have him the paparazzi treatment as well :-)

While in Orange Beach, we also spent some time in the pool and, more importantly, the hot-tub.  We had some wonderful food (too much food) and enjoyed the three days there.  We returned home today in order to prepare for the big New Year's bash (probably something that will involve more eating).  Pleasant day to all.

Happy Christmas to All

We have spent the past few days in a food-coma.  Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were very wonderful days--didn't do a whole lot, but sometimes those are the most fun.  The night before, we were curled up in our warm living room.  Ashley was working a puzzle...

while Bode and the dogs were curled up on the couch.

We went to church and heard some lovely Christmas music.  We then settled in for the evening, remembering to put cookies and milk out for the big man.  Christmas arrived in all its splendor, complete with stocking stuffers for the dogs.  Both dogs really liked the pull toys, but Barkley seems to enjoy them the most (as does Bode).

 

We then spent the morning opening gifts and lounging.

You might remember that Joey was put on a diet a couple months ago.  We are happy to report he has lost over fifteen pounds and looks great (but he's still as lazy as ever).

Ashley made some crab-legs for the traditional Christmas dinner, and we also ate far too many cookies and candies (I think I'll have to follow Joey down the diet past come the New Year...)  I'm happy to report that after hours of hard work, we all finished the 1,000-piece puzzle!

I suppose at some point we'll have to emerge from our holiday slumber...maybe tomorrow :-)