OK, I lied

I know I promised to post again when we got home from Texas, but obviously that never happened.

After Texas, we did drive home, and stayed there for a few days. Then the 800 mile drive to Albion for Christmas, including a drive from to Lisa and Jon's in the middle of the visit, then the drive back home with Grandma in tow.

Two nights and a day at home - just enough time to wash the cold-weather clothes and re-pack the suitcases with spring and summer stuff - then another 800 mile drive to FL.

Now we're here and we've had a lovely New Year's Eve. Off to the beach for firworks, then back for homemade vegetable soup for supper. Then we watched football till about 11. Just when we were ready to pronounce the New Year officially here so we could toddle off to bed, an amazing show came on. All three of us actually stayed awake for another whole hour or more so we could watch an idiot in Las Vegas drive his truck up an almost vertical ramp and turn it in a 360 back flip in the air ... then crash to the ground sideways and hard! Ruined the truck, but he wasn't hurt, just bummed out. (Last year he had apparently tried the same trick, but crashed - really, really hard - in his final practice run and almost killed himself. After four months in the hospital and/or a body cast, he decided he had to try again.)

Then, that fool was followed another, bigger idiot who drove his motorcycle up another almost vertical ramp ... 50 feet high ... and jump it to the top of the Las Vegas version of the Arc d' Triomph (sp?) which is 96 feet high. He landed on the roof, turned around, and drove off the edge, falling with his cycle about 50 feet onto a ramp which led him back to the ground. He, too, hit pretty hard, but not sideways, so he landed upright. Cut his thumb severely in the process, and probably broke his hand, but he lived (which outcome had been in doubt, which is why we kept watching, of course!)

Then a toast to the new year (with a small wineglass of cranberry juice), a few notes on our noisemaker tooters, a short version of "Auld Lang Syne" and then, finally, off to bed. Grandma is a great sport!

We had planned to have 11 people over for the fireworks and dinner, but each of the couples had some excuse (up to an including a small stroke by our friend Harlan, so he was in the hospital) so it was just the three of us. Worked out just fine.

Today, football on tv all day long!

Happy New Year to all!