Special Events: Our Horses • House Addition • Mustangs 2008/09 • Mustangs 2007/08 • Mustangs 2006/07 • Summer Vacation 2011 • Family Traditions

Its that time of year again where the school year is coming to a close and we have to recognize the different accomplishments for the year - this time its the sports aspect. Charlie played in only 1 sport this year; Basketball. This was the first year the team made it back to the playoffs in some time so it was special. Coach Brown did a good job pulling the group together and getting them to play as a team - Hoping this will carry over to next year and be just as competitive...

We traveled south down to Weslaco in the Rio Grande Valley to help celebrate Danny's birthday at their house. Danny and Nellie are now engaged and will be married next March. The party was held at the park that Nellie and Danny live in and family came in for the event as well as local family and friends from the park. It was a very nice party that Nellie put on for Danny, they even has a Mariachi Band show up and play music - they were really good. We continued to socialize until the sun went down and then a smaller group met up for dinner at a local Italian restaurant - Cortino's which is always good. Next morning we met with Nellie and Danny and the immediate family for breakfast in Weslaco before heading for home. It was a good weekend trip. Happy Birthday Danny!

Seems like its become a tradition now that kids when they become seniors will have some personal photo shoots to outline their personality and important things they want to celebrate or recognize before ending their high school days. I think its a cool way to sum up this point in their life given this is an important milestone to remember. Maddie's going to be going to A&M Commerce up in Greenville, TX so she's showing off that aspect of her next ambitions. Looks like a good set of photos to remember this point in time. Good luck Maddie!

Charlie and his friends all met up for pre-Prom pictures in Athens at the Arboretum. Charlie was going to the Prom with Kiley and Mack and his date, and another friend and his date. Not sure where they got the car for the background but I like the color. Everyone looked pretty spiffy in their duds and from all reports, they had a good time. Time marches on...

So we planned to have some of the kids over for Easter after events at their house in the morning. Everyone showed up around lunch time and we started the festivities. the Easter Buny had baskets for the little ones and we BBQ'd some pulled pork and hot dogs for lunch. We also snuck in a late family recognition of my birthday (ie. the Nasa cake). Things got set up for the backyard egg hunt and the competition was on. Tex, Mia, Remi all looking for eggs furiously. Autumn brought a friend with her who had a son so we had a new member to the troup today. Once all the eggs were found, we got out the confetti eggs and the kids got to smash them on each other and the parents - its messy but they sure do like to do this. Even the dogs got some eggs on them. It was a good Easter celebration with everyone.

This month Rick has been working with Violet to learn to ride her bike. The training wheels came off and things got serious :-). She picked it up pretty quick from what I've been told and we got to see her actually ride it while on Face Time - Congratulations Violet on this important milestone! Just remember, when you fall off the bike you just need to get back on and keep peddling!

Rick's work requires him to travel to clients sometimes and this month he made a trip to Chicago to meet up with a co-worker and visit a client. As part of the trip, he and his co-worker took in a Chicago White Sox game on the South Side. I believe its still known as Cominsky Park and has pin wheels on the top of the scoreboard. Its cool to be able to see things like this when on a business trip. I hope to go there one day - its on my bucket list to visit and see a game at each of the MLB stadiums.

Mia decided to play T-Ball this year and she is going to play on the Yankees. We made a trip over to watch one of her games. She's one of the younger kids and is still learning the basics. She can throw and hit, and knows how to field for the most part. Its interesting to notice the difference between boys and girls at this age. You can tell by how they handle themselves in the field. She seems to enjoy playing and does pretty well - I think she has enough coordination that she could hit from someone pitching to her but they make them use a T - wish they didn't, starts bad habits I think.

So, we unexpededly found that our AC drain got plugged up and caused a water leak which destroyed part of the ceiling in the spare bedroom. Nice. insulation and wet dry wall was everywhere and soaked ans stained the carpeting as well. We called out a AC guy and they fixed/converted the drain to a safety switch that will kill the AC if the water level reaches a specific point. this should help going forward. We got an estimate on the repair work and worked with a local contractor for the repair work. Hoping to get it done by next month - Melody wants some upgrades so this is now a project more than just a repair job.

Jalen continues to grow and is continously changing. He's going through the thinning hair process this month it seems. Haley made it down for Easter so he got to spend time with Papi and Memaw which is nice, and we went over and stopped in to say hi one evening. Jalen and Charlie have an interesting relationship - they seem to like to stare at each other. I hope they converse at some point :-)

We made our way up to another soccer game for Violet. The Dolphins continue to play well and be competative. Violet really seems to like soccer and is pretty good at it. She occasionally scores and gets along with her team mates well. Rick continues to coach which he seems to like and he does well with the kids.

April is really the start of spring and things start growing. We got off to a good start in April with many blooms and planting additiional things to get some color going. As usual, we made our annual spring visit to Hand Nursery and Lowes and Home Depot to pick out new flowers. Miracle Grow is your friend and I use it religiously. I've found that i get more blooms and foliage on the plants when I do use it, usually once a week. Enjoy the color, hoping the humming birds and butterflies do! We also ended up getting a new waterfall fountain at Calloway's and put it on the back porch. Our other fountain finally gave out and was leaking so it went bye bye. This new waterfall fountain has a really noce sound to it.

This is Maddie's senior year so of course, she's going to the Prom. She and her escort (I will need to get his name) took some good photos together, I'm assuming they had a good time at the event as well.

Today we traveled over to Fot Worth and picked up Mia and headed for the zoo. Wanted to see the new Elephant enclosure that has opened since we were here last time - Elephant Springs. They have a new baby elephant on display now too (Brazos I think?). We made our way around and saw many animals - unfortunately the Ghiraffes weren't eating so we couldn't feed them but we got to see them. There was a new baby ghiraffe as well - very young. And some sort of large vulture bird in the ghiraffe area - hadn't seen these birds before that I recall. We rode the train, the merry-go-round, and spent time in the Texas Farm animal area which was fun for Mia. We then got some tatoos, and then finished things up with the gorillas and the flamingos. We then went back to Kalyn's house just in time to get some hail. Crazy weather this time of year in Texas. It was a fun day all around.

There was an Art Show being put on in Athens at the Arboretum and Charlie entered one of his paintings from the sessions that we did with Mr. Vic at Hobby Lobby. There were several different art types on display, which reminded me of the State Fair and all the different art projects they show there. Charlie's paining ended up getting a blue ribbon which was nice. I really liked some of the quilt work that was on display there - really nice patterns.

Jalen is now 2 months old and so much has happened to him so far. He was born, his parents got married, and he got to meet most of his extended family over the past week or so. He's a real cutie and it was fun to get to spend some time with him at the recent wedding. Looking forward to watching him grow!

Ken was asked to be the photographer for Haley and Tank's wedding and as usual, he did a fabulous job. These are the official photos from the event that were given to Haley and Tank.

Well the day has arrived. We got up early and headed over to the venue to finish off setting up the wedding ceremony area with chairs and decorations, finish off any last prep needed in the reception hall, and then everyone hustled to get ready for ceremony. We went back to the hotel and got cleaned up and dressed, and then headed back again. Ken spent the day around the venue taking pictures of everything, he was the official photographer. Festivities got started on time and Haley looked beautiful. All the flower girls were in their glory with sun glasses and such. The ceremony was simple and straight forward - George was the officiator and did a great job.

Once the ceremony was complete, guests headed for the reception hall and the wedding party took additional pictures. The we all gathered in the reception hall for food and fun. There was a DJ playing all kinds of music, and all the families got out there and had a good time. All in all, it was a very special day - Best wishes for a long life together Haley and Tank!

On Sunday Charlie and I went into Dallas to visit the Perot Museum and in particular, to the the Pixar animation exhibit that's been on display. Charlie may have an interest in computer animation or something after High School so we thought this may be a good thing to check out. The Pixar exhibit was really good, and this being our first time to the museum, I found the other sections to be pretty interesting as well. A Good Dinosaur display and the science sections was pretty cool as well. The also have a Hunt family display which had some KC Chiefs and Dallas FC memorabilia on display. All in all, it was a good adventure.