Catching Up

Sunday, February 10, 2019

Don’t worry, we are fine! No problems. Four days ago it was warm, with a high of 81. Three days ago we were out walking when the cold front came through and unfortunately we were walking in T-shirts. We went from warm and humid to a cold north wind in a matter of minutes. Since the front came through we have had nothing but clouds and intermittent drizzle and rain. Oh well, we have had a great four days anyway.

Thursday morning we did some more hiking and biking. Thursday afternoon we drove out to Fulshear, TX to Dave and Linda’s house. They have a beautiful home in Weston Lakes. Sam and his wife Jade and their puppy had already arrived and we immediately began catching up on everyone’s busy lives. Sam is still working in software development and told some interesting things regarding some artificial intelligence that is currently in development that will be very helpful. Jade, a physician will be completing her residency here in Houston in June and she and Sam will be moving to San Diego. So glad we had some time to visit with them before the move. Jade has a three year fellowship in San Diego and then they hope to return to Texas to be closer to family. Fortunately, Sam works from home so they can live anywhere. Dave returned home after he finished his day at the office. We were surprised to find that, although Dave has retired at least twice, he and three associates are back developing another business in the oil industry. We celebrated Dave’s birthday that was actually Friday but Jade was on call and was scheduled to be at the hospital all evening. Linda made a great Mexican casserole and German Chocolate cake. Fun evening of visiting.

Friday we stayed in the park all day. We met some of our fellow campers and got to share the NOMADS story with three different couples who seem interested in joining. They all have this year pretty well scheduled with camp hosting or trips to Alaska but seem genuinely interested in joining so that they could schedule projects next year. Hopefully at least some of them will join. We also again got to watch eight deer walk through our camp site with no concerns about us being in their territory. Lots of fun to watch. Anne also had some business to handle and NOMADS writing to do. She did another interview with a potential member who will hopefully be a NOMADS member in the next few weeks.

Saturday morning was more hiking and a good deal more NOMADS work for Anne. After lunch we went back to Dave’s and Linda’s so we could spend time with Tiffany and Juan Pablo and their puppy.  They came up from Austin where they live.  It was great to see them again too! They are expecting their first child which is due in May. They are glad that the baby will be here before Sam and Jade have to move, although Tiffany wouldn’t mind if it was about a week late so she can be with her fourth graders for their testing week. Always the teacher. The six of us went to Anthonie’s, a wonderful new restaurant in Simonton, a few miles away for dinner. Everyone was very pleased with their food. Anne had grilled shrimp with grits that was awesome and Max really liked his pork chop, too. Actually three of us had the pork chop and everyone like that choice. Dave had a seafood stew which look great. JP had a hamburger that he and Tiffany said was really good. So a 12 thumbs up from our group. We went back to the house to finish off the birthday cake for dessert. We were sad when we had to say goodbye to everyone but do hope we will see them all again, sooner rather than later.

Today we decided to watch Lester Memorial’s service rather than find a church nearby. We miss our church family. They are such a good group. After early service, we headed into Houston to see Ross and Barb one last time. Today they wanted to treat us to something we had never done so we sent to an Asian restaurant, Kim Son, for Dim Sum. For those of you who have never had Dim Sum, you can watch a You Tube video. We had all sorts of food and apparently not everything you eat has to have a name.

We went to Ross and Barb’s home after lunch and spent some time visiting and enjoying their lovely home. Then, all too soon it was time for us to return to the park and begin packing up bikes and preparing for tomorrow’s travel day. It has truly be a wonderful two weeks of rest and relaxation and great family time. Hope we can stay in closer contact over the next few years. As Ross reminded Anne, we have to do it ourselves now rather than relying on our Mom’s to keep us up to date on everyone in the family. Hope you all had a good weekend and that we hear from you soon.