Select Page
Corpus Christi

Corpus Christi

by | Jan 12, 2025 | Blog

This week started out very quiet and ended with a trip into Corpus Christi.

The weather this week was…ahem…not great. However, it was still better than in most of the country, so I’ll try not to complain too much. The wind was constant and gusting over 40 mph. It was cold and rainy. It wasn’t exactly what we were expecting. But, since Nathan was still clawing his way back from the land of the sick, it was ok to stay inside and stay warm. We enjoyed talking to various family members by phone and on FaceTime. We also made some good progress in our planning for future travels this year.

By the end of the week, Nathan was feeling a lot better, so we planned an outing. We drove into downtown Corpus Christi to check it out. The USS Lexington is a World War II era aircraft carrier that is anchored in Corpus Christi and they have created an excellent museum on board. We spent the afternoon checking out the displays, wandering through the maze-like passageways below deck, and watching their movie presentation. It was really good. We walked along the water, checking out the marina and the beach. Then we tracked down some yummy sushi for dinner and attended a comedy show in a tiny comedy club at a pizza joint. The comedy was ok, but there was a magician/comedian that was quiet good. We had fun learning a bit more about the history of this place that we just happened to land in.

The weather today was much improved and we loved getting out for a brisk beach walk. We would love to do a Q & A next week, so comment below with your burning questions!

Have a great week!

To the North!

To the North!

by | May 16, 2025 |

Here are some highlights from the first half of our Scandinavian cruise. We sailed from Southampton and had stops in Denmark, Germany, and Sweden. We also had an unexpected change of plans.

To Madrid

To Madrid

by | May 11, 2025 |

This week we finished off our Spanish tour in Madrid, then set out for the north.

Spanish Steps

Spanish Steps

by | May 4, 2025 |

We’ve had an exciting week driving and walking around in Spain. We started off with a few days of hiking in the Pyrenees, then we spent time in Basque country and Galicia. We’ve had lots of adventures, so this is a longer post.

A New Year! A New Place!

A New Year! A New Place!

by | Jan 5, 2025 | Blog

Hello and Happy New Year! I hope you are all well!

I promised a more detailed update of our last few weeks, so here it is…

Napoleon, Detroit, and a trip across Ohio

We holed up in the tiny town of Napoleon, Ohio for a few days. Our AirBnB was in the old Armory that now serves as an event space. The apartment we stayed in was full of funky antiques and fancy furnishings. It was a cold week, so we mostly hung out there, but we did take a daytrip to Detroit. Even though we didn’t do a lot of wandering around, we did thoroughly enjoy our tour of the Motown Museum and a tasty Detroit-style pizza. We left there, excited to pick up lots of groceries in Columbus and make our way to Marietta.

A Whirlwind in Waverly, Marietta, and Parkersburg

We rented a wild old Victorian house in downtown Marietta, OH for a week and filled it with food, fun, and some of our favorite people. The house was built in 1860 and we took to calling it the “crazy house” because of all the nutty little antiques, collections, and knick knacks all over the place. It was a fun location for the festivities.

Last year, we were in Germany for Christmas, so we were pretty excited to spend some festive time with family. Lauren’s family lives about a 30-minute drive from Marietta. Alex’s family drove from Missouri to meet us. We were also lucky to have Nathan’s stepmom, Margaret, my sister, Jana, and our niece India fly in from Utah. The six grandkids didn’t waste any time becoming best buddies. They played outside in Lauren’s yard and had a blast hiking in the woods, riding bikes, and having a ride in the ATV trailer care of Uncle Bo. We had an early Christmas, piling presents upon all our loves. The kids loved playing with their new Lego sets and marble runs.

Lots of chocolate and candy canes were consumed and some tasty homemade hot cocoa. We cooked up a storm, with burrito bowls, BBQ, and pizza keeping the troops full. Lauren made sure that we had the family-favorite gingerbread cookies and we made a Swiss Carrot Cake for Nathan’s birthday celebration. We got to attend church in the Marietta ward for a sneak peak of the Primary children’s Christmas songs. We were graciously hosted by our neice Sarah and her husband Luke for Sunday dinner and shenanigans. We also enjoyed seeing our nephew Nathan and his wife Amelia, since they are living in Athens, Ohio now.

We loved our walk along the Ohio River with the kids on their bikes and we enjoyed playing at the Discovery World children’s museum in Parkersburg and had the place virtually to ourselves for hours. The kids played in the ball factory and had so much fun building their own rockets and cars. We also took a special trip up the Ohio River on the sternwheeler “Valley Gem” with Alex’s family. It was a lunch and activity cruise based on “A Charlie Brown Christmas” and was pretty cute. We even managed to squeeze in a visit to our favorite dentist! The worst part about the week was that we were missing El and Adia and that it all ended much too quickly.

Back to Missouri

We returned to Missouri with Alex’s family and we were there for Christmas. We made some tasty Ramen for Christmas Eve dinner, cinnamon rolls for breakfast, and delicious salmon with veggies for our Christmas dinner. We loved watching the boys open their gifts and try to eat as much candy as they possibly could.

We spent the rest of  that week helping Alex with some home repairs and hanging out with the kids. We took the boys on a really fun bike ride along the Meramec River and lunch one day. We were able to stick around to babysit while Alex and Hanna went out on a date for their anniversary.

Off to Texas

We left Missouri on our anniversary (31!) and made a detour to Kansas City to stop at Q39 for our favorite BBQ. We spent that night in Oklahoma City after a spectacular sunset and then drove on to Dallas the next morning. We stopped for tacos and a walk around Deep Ellum before ending up in Austin. This was our second visit to the city and we enjoyed wandering around town and sitting by the Colorado River. New Year’s Eve was fun at the Saxon Pub with dinner and music. We must be getting old, because we were not interested in staying out until midnight. 🙂

On January 1st, we drove down the very quiet highways to Corpus Christi, which is where you find us now. We learned our lesson in Chicago and looked for somewhere warm to spend a few weeks instead of freezing our you-know-whats off. We do like winter, but having a break is also nice, especially since we have had a pretty steady stream of illness in the last few months and Nathan is still fighting off a pretty good cold as I write this. Taking things at a slower pace and having some sunshine and warm weather will probably help a lot.

We wish you all the very best for this new year! May you have some adventures and find many reasons to celebrate and smile! We love you all!

To the North!

To the North!

by | May 16, 2025 |

Here are some highlights from the first half of our Scandinavian cruise. We sailed from Southampton and had stops in Denmark, Germany, and Sweden. We also had an unexpected change of plans.

To Madrid

To Madrid

by | May 11, 2025 |

This week we finished off our Spanish tour in Madrid, then set out for the north.

Spanish Steps

Spanish Steps

by | May 4, 2025 |

We’ve had an exciting week driving and walking around in Spain. We started off with a few days of hiking in the Pyrenees, then we spent time in Basque country and Galicia. We’ve had lots of adventures, so this is a longer post.

A Quick Update

A Quick Update

by | Dec 29, 2024 | Blog

Hi! It’s been a few weeks since I checked in. And this message will be a short one. We have really enjoyed the last couple of weeks with the grandkids and all the family shenanigans. I’ll fill in the details next week. Today is our 31st wedding anniversary and we are on the move again. We stopped at our favorite BBQ place for lunch and we are snowbirding instead of snowboarding. We are bound for Corpus Christi, TX via Austin. It should be a pleasant place to park ourselves for a few weeks. Have a good one!

To the North!

To the North!

by | May 16, 2025 |

Here are some highlights from the first half of our Scandinavian cruise. We sailed from Southampton and had stops in Denmark, Germany, and Sweden. We also had an unexpected change of plans.

To Madrid

To Madrid

by | May 11, 2025 |

This week we finished off our Spanish tour in Madrid, then set out for the north.

Spanish Steps

Spanish Steps

by | May 4, 2025 |

We’ve had an exciting week driving and walking around in Spain. We started off with a few days of hiking in the Pyrenees, then we spent time in Basque country and Galicia. We’ve had lots of adventures, so this is a longer post.

Chicago, part 2

Chicago, part 2

by | Dec 8, 2024 | Blog

We had a great week in Chicago! This will be a quick installment and then we will probably be off the radar for a bit. This coming week we will be in a small town: Napoleon, Ohio. We are on our way to Marietta to meet up with our two oldest kids, their families, and other various family members for an early Christmas celebration.

This week we had a blast doing daily outings. We went back to the House of Blues, which is a great place for some live music and a tasty bite. We went twice to the Den Theater. We saw a one-man show called “Charles Dickens Begrudgingly Performs ‘A Christmas Carol’ Again” and we also saw two Colombian comedians. Both were fun. We spent hours at the Griffin Museum of Science and Industry and we especially enjoyed the special exhibit about tech in the James Bond films. We ate tacos, more Mexican food, & Egyptian food. We attempted to have Raclette (ooey gooey cheese on a piece of bread) at the Christmas Market, but the line was laughably long, so we skipped it. We also did a day trip to Milwaukee. We wandered around town, ate bratwursts, and bought a lot of cheese. What more do you do in Wisconsin?

It’s been a great week and we enjoyed it a lot. We really can’t wait to get all six grandkids together for the first time. Have a good one!

To the North!

To the North!

by | May 16, 2025 |

Here are some highlights from the first half of our Scandinavian cruise. We sailed from Southampton and had stops in Denmark, Germany, and Sweden. We also had an unexpected change of plans.

To Madrid

To Madrid

by | May 11, 2025 |

This week we finished off our Spanish tour in Madrid, then set out for the north.

Spanish Steps

Spanish Steps

by | May 4, 2025 |

We’ve had an exciting week driving and walking around in Spain. We started off with a few days of hiking in the Pyrenees, then we spent time in Basque country and Galicia. We’ve had lots of adventures, so this is a longer post.

Where are We?

Where are We?

by | Dec 1, 2024 | Blog

Thanks to those who submitted a guess for our latest destination (Martha and Emily). I had to laugh at your guesses, since it seems that you think we are smart and that we would go somewhere warm like New Orleans or Florida. NOPE!

We are in Chicago! And we are freezing! Ha!

We like it here, but the weather turned cold just before we left St. Louis, so we really aren’t used to winter conditions yet. But we are bundling up and getting out for a bit of fun every day. We have done a few fun things already. We went to stand-up comedy at The Second City. We went to Chinatown on Thanksgiving, had sushi, and wandered around the market. We had dinner and enjoyed the live music (Tom Holland, guitar) at House of Blues. We did a (very cold) Architecture Boat Tour on the Chicago River and it was excellent. We’ll be here for another week, so more fun to come!

Have a great week and stay warm!

To the North!

To the North!

by | May 16, 2025 |

Here are some highlights from the first half of our Scandinavian cruise. We sailed from Southampton and had stops in Denmark, Germany, and Sweden. We also had an unexpected change of plans.

To Madrid

To Madrid

by | May 11, 2025 |

This week we finished off our Spanish tour in Madrid, then set out for the north.

Spanish Steps

Spanish Steps

by | May 4, 2025 |

We’ve had an exciting week driving and walking around in Spain. We started off with a few days of hiking in the Pyrenees, then we spent time in Basque country and Galicia. We’ve had lots of adventures, so this is a longer post.