Happy Fourth of July!

We spent the day first watching a parade and then grilling the heck out of a whole lot of food, before heading off to watch fireworks later that evening.



































Dave, the grill master, grilled cheese bratworsts, corn on the cob, BBQ steak kabobs, teriyaki chicken kabobs and regular Angus hot dogs. Other yummy food included deviled eggs, potato salad, fresh fruit, and dessert (of course!)





Sam keeping an eye on the cheese bratworsts!





The kabobs ready to be cooked!

How Cool is This!?!?!

Every month, in the spirit of getting to know one's co-workers, names are drawn from a hat and someone is selected as 'employee of the month'. That person is given about a month's notice and has that time to answer various questions about themselves (like what is your favorite food, favorite color, favorite movie, etc., who is your best friend, what is your most memorable moment, where would you most like to live, how many countries have you visited, and so on). Pictures are also requested - which can be from any aspect of your life.

Well, July is "my" month. Here's what the board looks like. And instead of using one picture, as has been done for the last number of months, I have TWO pictures posted. Which is okay cuz each one definitely speaks to a particular time in my life...

Late Father's Day Present

Sam & I put our heads together and decided that, since Dave has been wanting to grill for eons but hasn't had any grilling tools, we would pony up the $$$ to get him a decent set.

We found a 20-piece set with more "stuff" than he'll probably ever need, but that's what we gave him. Boy was he surprised. And tickled pink. He'll break in the new tools this weekend when we bar-b-que for the 4th.

Relaxing

Any thoughts on Dave being the one to like pedicures more than me!?!?!?



From there, Dave, Sam & I went to Joe's Crab Shack (like father, like son).



Sam got his own bucket - - 2 crabs, sausages, clams and shrimp. And he ate the WHOLE bucket!



Dave & I again shared a crab bucket.



Dave is much better than I at cracking shells, so he does all the cracking and I do most of the eating :=)

Homemade Spaghetti

Fresh fettucini noodles, Paul Neuman roasted garlic sauce combined with Dave's secret recipe, sausages, meatballs, and garlic bread topped off with real parmesean cheese. Yum. And yum. It sure is nice to eat like a king and not have to lift a finger (when Dave's in the kitchen, I'm better off just staying out).

Sam enjoying his food!



My plate.

Man, is it hot!

With temperatures in the 100's (and heat indices at close to 105 - at least the humidity is low!), what better place to be than the pool. Dave & Sam (who is down visiting again from Colorado) have been getting in the pool almost every evening after work. It sure is nice having a pool at the apartment :=)

Father's Day

It has been a LONG time since I celebrated Father's Day, so I had a lot of fun making a big deal out of it for Dave. One, well two, of the highlights of the day was hearing from both of his kids (neither of which had to be reminded!).

The other highlight was taking him out for lunch. I'd been trying for a week to figure out what he wanted to do special for Father's Day - have me fix him a favorite meal or go out to eat at a favorite restaurant. Yesterday, he finally decided on the latter. His restaurant of choice - Joe's Crab Shack.

We get to the restaurant today and the wait staff was already hyper in only ways that Joe's Crab Shack staff can be (the wait staff are primarily high school and college age). Once we're seated, we already know what we want to eat/what we're going to share - - overly crab stuffed, stuffed mushrooms to start with. Then, we order a bucket/pail of three different types of crab: king, snow & dungeness; which definitely was plenty to share. All I can say is yum, yum, yum. For dessert, we finished off with splitting a Sea Turtle Sundae, i.e., chocolate cake covered by vanilla ice cream with caramel topping.

One delicious meal...Happy Father's Day, Dave!!!

Ben E. Keith's Company-Wide ROADEO

A couple months ago, Dave & I went over to Ft. Worth to be a part of a truck ROADEO (where various sizes of trucks have to drive through an obstacle course and are scored). While we attended the Dallas-Ft. Worth location, ROADEOs were also going on at the company's locations in San Antonio, Little Rock, AR, Amarillo, TX, and Albuquerque, NM. The top two performers in each category, from each location, then are invited to participate in the company-wide ROADEO. This year, that was held here in the Metroplex.

The weather stayed pretty decent - mid-90's with wind. Bleachers had also been set up which were under big tents, so that helped too.





This guy was hired to just make things out of balloons - hats, animals, objects, etc.



Here's the hat he made for me.



I couldn't resist getting a picture of Dave when he put it on.



This is called a "pup" trailer because it's only 28' long.



"Semi" trailers are 41' long.

June Wedding

Any thoughts on an outdoor wedding in mid-June in Texas? How about temps of mid-90s with a heat index of 105 (i.e., what it actually feels like) due to humidity?

Welcome, well to my world (and, by default, Dave's) today. The daughter of a friend got married late afternoon/early evening. The wedding was outside with the reception inside. The wedding programs were printed on wooden fans! There was also iced bottled water available sitting in coolers just outside the doors where the reception was being held.

Music was provided by this 4-piece orchestra.



Here is my friend Pat, mother of the bride.



The ring bearer and flower girl.



Stefanie.





Craig & Stefanie after the 10-minute ceremony.









The cakes.





For place settings, there were different framed pictures of Craig & Stefanie at each table.

Racing Season Has Begun!

This plane was flown in from New Mexico. They came in first, with a speed of around 200 mph.







The local t.v. station sent out a reporter to cover the race. Here I am getting a picture of HER taking pictures!

Coloring

Elisa & Sydney stopped in to work tonight. Elisa, of course, is already ten shades darker than me - - bummer :=(

Sydney got busy coloring with some coloring books. Nothing like a child's perspective to make one appreciate the simple things :=)

Memorial Day Picnic

I'd been planning elements of a picnic for a while, but it was Dave's idea to use our deep fryer to tried a new fried chicken recipe...



The chicken turned out really good but we both decided that next time a thinner cut would be better.



Our picnic basket full of fried chicken, deviled eggs, fruit salad, bottled water, plastic cups, cloth napkins, etc.





This park was only about 3 miles away from the apartment. It was in the midst of a good-sized subdivision and golf course, albeit the park itself was not too big.





Other than a couple neighborhood kids who played on the playground for a little while, and an old woman walking her dog, we didn't see a single soul the entire time we were at the park. Next time we'll come prepared to grill :=)

Granbury

Dave & I had lunch and did sightseeing in a quaint little town near Pecan Plantation. Granbury has a town square (1 block down each side) with lots of little shops and restaurants.



We decided to eat at a soda fountain (a la 50's era) restaurant. The food was yummy and the furnishings fun to look at at. There was even a working jukebox!





Some of the original buildings...

Planes, Trains (well, not really) and Automobiles...

The twice-yearly gathering of 99s down in the south occurred yesterday in Granbury (about 2 hours southwest of where we live). Pecan Plantation is just that - - a plantation with TONS of pecan trees. It has become a very trendy, expensive, large sub-division with houses with sit right next to a runway, a golf course, or an equestrian area (depending on one's prediliction!).

The 99s' chapter down in that area played host to our meeting. Of course, it was themed around aviation. They theme within the theme was military women pilots. Special speakers included Betty Jo Reed, who flew bombers and the like during World War II (she is now in her mid-80's), and Samantha Weeks, a Thunderbirds demonstraton pilot [a little trivia here: Samantha is only the second woman EVER to be on the Thunderbirds team; the Blue Angels - the Navy's demonstration team - have yet to have a woman pilot].

Betty Jo is seated; Samantha is the dark-haired gal to the right (she carries the rank of USAF Major); and the red-haired gal on the left has been accepted to start the USAF Academy this fall.



After having the requisite business meeting yesterday, tours of various homes in Pecan Plantation occurred. Let me tell you...it was like going on a Street of Dreams or Parade of Homes tour (i.e. paying money to go see brand new homes going on the market that look like they're straight out of "Architectural Digest" and where you go to get decorating ideas!).

I think the fountains were some of my favorites...













Isn't this the coolest sink you've ever seen!?!?! There is no "bowl". At the edge of the slab near the faucet, there is a gap where the water runs down.



What do you think of this statue? It's very impressive in person.



The view from the outside deck - which runs the length of the house.



This was handmade by one of the women who were our hostesses.



This plane is used in aerobatic competition - which the husband does for fun (he's retired military).



This is the plane they use on a regular basis - a Mooney that flies at roughly 200 mph - and which they use to go places.







I LOVED the ducks...I need to get myself a pair :=)

A Second Wedding Shower

Following the truck ROADEO this morning, Dave & I attended a lunch and wedding shower thrown by my pilot friends from The 99s. The tea/lunch room is inside a huge antique store in Plano. Instead of bringing out rolls, chips & salsa, etc. as a precursor to ordering, the Veranda Tea Garden brought out warm, fresh cinnamon rolls - - totally addictive :=)

Dave had a big bowl of homemade chicken noodle soup. I had fresh fruit (that was really fresh!), chicken salad, and spinach salad with a house dressing. For dessert, we had "chocolate oblivion"!







I got too busy talking and eating to take more pictures, so will post other pics when I get them from one of the gals.