I totally forgot to post this earlier (when it happened) but Aunt Murrel came to visit Texas, and the family spent a weekend at Evan and Shadel’s house…
It was a really fun day. Evan cooked some goooood food and we all had a great time.
I took some pictures to preserve the moment.
Yesterday, Christine and I flew into Houston around 3:30, though our flight should have landed about 30 minutes earlier. The weather in Houston was pretty bad, so we just flew in circles for a while. The flight was great though, and the plane was only about half full. I finally got the chance to read my first Fast Company issue cover to cover. There were some great articles in that one.
Anyways, after we got our bags, we headed to the Avis bus. The driver dropped us off at the Avis Preferred counter, and we were given a free upgrage, so we chose to rent a Mitsubishi Diamante – fully loaded. Great car, and great service. Need some Avis coupons? Here are some that I use a lot.
We called Debbie on our way to her house, and she said that she and Sherrie didn’t need any help with the flowers, so we should just head on over to the hotel, so we did. Evan, Reese, and Jason ‘Zippy’ Zwahr were already there, so while Christine took a bath, I went up to the boy’s rooms to say hi. We went and bought a 12 pack of beer, and drank a little of it before heading to the rehersal.
The rehersal started at 7:00pm, and everyone was there on time, except for the maid of honor. She flew in from Atlanta, and couldn’t find the place, so we went a head without here. She eventually made it later, and we caught her up.
At 8:00, we all headed towards Katy to eat at the Cafe Red Onion. Mom and Debbie did a great job picking this place for the rehersal dinner. Talk about good food, and a great bar… wow! Michael (Christine’s older brother) was able to make it to the dinner, and it was great to see him.
We also got to see Bussy Fox and Kari, Reese’s little cousin. She’s now 16, and beautiful. I still remember her being 4 years old, and telling me that one day she’d marry me. Kari’s now running track in high-school and is looking forward to heading to college.
Mrs. Payton and Mi-ma Payton were there, and Maxine and ‘Cap’ Hillboldt were there. Great seeing them again too. We got to catch up on everyone and find out how things are going. It was really great to see them all.
The family was also there, and Shadel’s family was a lot of fun. The girls in the wedding all got a special desert, called a bride’s maid’s cake, that had little charms in it for them. Each charm meant something, and Christine pulled the one out that said your wishes will come true. (I hope she’s wishing for money).
Did I say how good the food was? If you get a chance to eat at a Red Onion in Houston sometime, do it. Order the Seafood Enchiladas, and you won’t be sorry.
Afterwards, the boys all headed out for a little ‘guy’ entertainment. I went to bed at 5am. It was a blast hanging out with Evan and his friends.
The wedding starts in a couple of hours, so I’m going to take a nap now.
Last weekend, Christine and I made the trip up to Oklahoma City on Friday. We left Fort Worth at about 5:00 (maybe a little later) and braved the terrible weather coming down from the north. We drove, fairly uninterupted (a first for the Engler Family) to OKC, and arrived somewhere between 9:30 and 10:30. We drove around the city a little bit (because the navigator “knew where we were going”) and pulled into the Waterford Marriot (the only 4 star hotel in OKC).
We parked the car under the carport, and walked inside. After a few minutes of figuring out what room we were in (we were sharing a suite with Michael, Christine’s brother, which wasn’t clear to the desk staff), we took the elevator up to the room and sat down for a few minutes. Michael offered us a beer or two and some cold pizza. We talked for a bit, and an hour later, I was outside again, getting our bags… It must have been 20 degrees outside by this point. When we originally parked the car, it had a little water on it from the drive, but when I got back outside, it was covered in ice.
Michael helped Christine and I get everything upstairs, and I parked the car. The trip to OKC was over and we were safe. (An hour or so later, Steven, Christine’s younger brother, called to say that he and Jenny had pulled off the road somewhere and were spending the night… the weather was just too bad).
On Saturday morning, we all woke up to a true winter morning. Mary called us at about 7:30 (too early for a relaxing weekend 😉 ) and told us that Grandmother’s party was cancelled due to the bad weather. We were sad, but tired, so we went back to sleep after a cup of coffee.
Somewhere between noon and 2:00, we went to Bellini’s Restaurant across the street for lunch. We had pasta, fish, and a sandwich. It was very good, and I’d recommend it to anyone looking for a fun place to eat lunch when the roads are iced over.
The entire Daron (Grandmother’s surname) family arrived at the hotel somewhere between 2 and 3 and we split the better part of the afternoon between a couple of suites on the 5th floor enjoying each other’s company. We met a lot of people we didn’t know and caught up with a lot that we did know. Grandmother sure does have a lot of classy friends and family members… I won’t go through them all in this story, but they are of all sorts, from New York to California, Texas to Oregon, and all parts in between. Each person is unique and none of them are boring. We hope to visit with a lot more of our family in the future.
Christine gave Grandmother a “memory book” that has been constructed in our home from all of Grandmother’s friends and family sending in their “memorys” of Grandmother or Granddaddy. It was a lot of work for Christine and Mary, but the book turned out wonderful and Grandmother will have something to read whenever she feels lonely (which is probably going to never happen, but nonetheless the book is beautiful). It’s a handbound book with inserts that Grandmother can add to whenever she likes.
Michael and I split the family party and headed down to the bar with Tom, Christine’s cousin from California, to play pool. Tom treated us all to drinks for a good 4-5 hours, so we really got great a pool, and only spilt a few beers on the floor.
Around 8 or 9 the rest of the clan joined us for dinner at Murphy’s Chop House, which was over-priced, but worth it for the conversation. All of Christine’s family members have some form of higher education and thus really enjoy discussing topics that most of us don’t really get into… The discussion centered around abortion, the death penalty, the economy and a few other topics at my end of the table… and after two or three bottles of wine… it was quite lively. No one was injured, and I think that everyone went home without an insult being delivered. It was a great dinner.
We stayed up until about 2am that night, sitting in the bar talking to more family. Grandmother’s 84 year old sister, Maxine, stayed downstairs with us, just as lively as the rest of us, and her two daughters from the New York area were a lot of fun.
On Sunday morning we attended a service at the First Baptist Church of Oklahoma City, a beautiful church in Downtown, and the same church that Grandmother has attended for 50 some odd years I think. The windows on one side of the church were blow out during the Oklahoma City bombing, but they replaced them right away with almost exact replicas from Italy. The highlight of the service was a bell-choir piece that was composed for Grandmother. It was a medley of her favorite songs. It was lovely.
After church, we traveled over to the National Cowboy museum for a buffet lunch with the family, prior to our drive home. Lunch was fantastic, if the conversation was slightly toned down from the night before…
We had an uneventful drive home, but a great weekend. Grandmother’s 90th birthday party was a success.
Monday, February 18th, is Mary’s Birthday, so we invited the entire Kamp family over to our house in Forth Worth to visit for the day, and to celebrate Mary’s Birthday. They all arrived around 3:00, and dinner was to be had at 4:00. Christine got up this morning at 6:00 am to cook a large pot roast with apples and apple gravy, and the house was cleaned up by the time they arrived… and dinner was almost ready.
After a couple of bottles of wine, a wonderful dinner, and a lot of catching up (we haven’t seen Steven or Jenny, and Michael in a while) we all decided it was time to sing the birthday girl a song, so we gathered around Mary to sing her “Happy Birthday”. Christine made Mary a double decker Red Velvet cake with Cream-cheese icing. She decorated the top of the cake with a red rose and cake crumbs. It was delicious, and the Birthday girl “got over” on the number of candles I think…
After cake, our wonderful neighbors, the Bullocks, came over so that we could also celebrate Tommy’s 1st birthday, which was last week. While they were here, we asked them to take a family picture of us, so that we could preserve the moment. We all gathered on the stairs, even Wesley and Patton, and Karen snapped this photo of us. You can see where the Kamp’s get their wonderful looks. Aren’t we marvelous?
Friends and family on a Sunday afternoon… who could ask for more?
This past weekend was one that I will cherish forever in my memories of both my Grandmother and my mom. We spent it in Oklahoma City. There were two reasons for the trip, I had to give Grandmother her Christmas present and we had to finalize some of the arrangements for her 90th birthday party…
Shortly after we arrived I brought in Grandmother’s Christmas gift. It is a cross stitch that I had been working on for three years (since living in Kentucky). I didn’t have it complete for Christmas so I packaged up a card telling her that I would bring her gift to her at the end of January. The cross stitch is a floral scene with the music and words for the hymn “Nearer My God To Thee” stiched over the flowers. She loved it!!! She had mom and I rearrange the pictures in her entry way so that it can be seen as soon as you enter her house. (I will post pictures as soon as I figure out how.)
Then we went to Friday night dinner with Grandmother’s friends at Jonny’s hamburger joint. I was told many times how sweet Grandmother is… this I already know. That night we watched the Opening Ceremony for the 2002 Winter Olymics.
On Saturday we ran several errands and got a great deal accomplished for her 90th birthday party. While we were out she bought herself jewelry and a hand bag to wear for her party. Once we were home she got them out as we watched the Olympics so that she could see her “new and pretty things.” She reminded me of a teenager excited about her new purchases.
On Sunday we went to Sunday School and Church, ate lunch at a nearby cafeteria, and drove by the OKC bombing memorial. It was a sweet and somber end to a perfect weekend. As we were dirving back to DFW, mom thanked me for coming stating that I don’t get many free weekends to do what I want to do. Honestly, I can not think of any better way to spend the weekend than with my triple generation buddies!!!
hi, i am the mother of this computer wizard. he has always been a little all knowing. but he has done well with this type of ego. he is boy wonder. hope he keeps up the articles. i hope he remembers to keep the kooks in the kook file. love the survey, call moms whenever you can……….
– love j.r.’s mom.
p.s. his mom is terrible at this computer stuff!