Dallas Stampede

Saturday, November 8th.

The Supper Club girls had fun for 24 hours.

I met up with Heather, Laura, and Becky at Amber's house. Amber was very sweet for driving us into Dallas.

We started with lunch at Jake's in Dallas. They specialize in burgers. Then we headed to the W hotel. It is located across the street from the American Airlines Center. Laura and Becky headed to the Spa for manis and pedis, while Amber was relaxed with a massage. Janay, Heather, and I walked around the Stampede Marketplace to shop and took some pictures of the scenery from the hotel. I got a great shot of the horse trailers outside the hotel. Bobbi arrived around 5. We headed back to our rooms and got ready for the rodeo.

This was a professional rodeo. Check out the website. http://www.texasstampede.org/

I have seen the rodeo at the Fort Worth Stockyards, but this is NOTHING like that. These guys (and gals) were definately professionals. There was bareback and saddle bronc riding, bull riding, steer wrestling, team roping, tie-down roping, barrel racing, muttin bustin', and a monkey that rides a sheep herding dog. Yes, a MONKEY!!! Please check out that site, even if it is just to see the monkey. :-)

After the rodeo events, the concert began....Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert. I never heard of them, but I did like them and there were a few songs I would like to download from iTunes.

We were in a suite on the Platnum level at the stadium and we had food and drink galore. LOL

We hung out in the box and had a great time. These ladies are great fun and the sweetest to hang out with. We had a nice mix with the 7 of us. Laura, Becky, Janay, and I are married. Bobbi, Heather, and Amber are not. I am the oldest of the group. :-(

Breakfast on Sunday was at Bread Winners. That was an awesome place. The food was great and the building was cool. It as an old house, actually it looked like two old houses put together.

http://www.jakesburgers.net/ - Jake's Burgers
http://www.starwoodhotels.com/whotels/property/overview/index.html?propertyID=1521 -W Hotel
http://www.breadwinnerscafe.com/locations_up.htm - Bread Winners

October Vacation

As you can see in my previous post, Mike and I went to South Carolina to visit our friends Barbara and Jack. I finished the front and back of a quilt and a gift for my folks (I can't say what, since they may see this post). LOL. :-)

We found out that the Hard Rock Park has closed and filed for bankruptcy. The saddest part of all that...it was only open for one season. It never had a chance. We bought the commemorative park guide that showed how the park came about and what type of changes occured during construction. From what I read on line, the park tickets were only supposed to cost about $50, but they charged over $100. They were supposed to have bands booked into the holiday season and now they have canceled them. It is really a bummer. The park was awesome and I would have loved to have gone back.

http://www.hardrockpark.com/index.cfm

Mike read 3 Patterson books while we were there and took many well needed naps. He and Sugar went for pretty many walks too. Sugar enjoyed the naps mostly.

Elaine's Quilt (in a week)

We finally had our vacation after very long projects, for both of us. We decided to have a relaxing vacation with our dear friends, Barbara and Jack in South Carolina.

I decided to take my sewing machine and a bunch of Hawaiian remnants that I bought in Hawaii last year. We set up a plan and B told me that we would have it finished by the end of the week. My words...what are you smokin'?

Low and behold...I finished it. Here is the front, back, and the tag.

The front is a bunch of remnants...and yes, there is a pattern.

The back is a bunch of remnats too, but they are all the same pattern.

The label is the name of the quilt, the occasion, and the creation date.

Koch's in Texas 2008

Mike's Mom and Dad drove down from PA and arrived September 19th. They stayed until September 29th. Unfortunately, I was out of town for 4 of the days they were here.

We went to a Rangers Baseball game on the 20th. That was our Father's Day gift to Rich. A little late, but that is okay. We were able to get Rich's birthday, Fran's birthday, and their anniversary in during this time too.

Mike and I still had to work while they were in town, so they would go out and about on their own or hung out at the house with Sugar and their dog, Baxter.

We did eat out, but Fran cooked some of the nights. She also made her famous broccoli salad. YUMMY!! One of the places we went to eat was Boi Na Braza. It is a Brazilian steak house. The guys walk around with skewers of meat and slice off pieces right at the table. It is definitely an experience.

We took the train ride from Grapevine to Fort Worth. We saw the cattle drive while we were down there. They had more cattle this time. I noticed one of them this time. The black and white Longhorn. He was kinda small, but his coloring was cool.

Montreal, Canada

Skyline from the 36th floor of the hotel. This is just one of MANY pictures of the skyline.






Ann, Michael, Elaine, and J. at the dinner on the last night of the conference.





September 21st to 24th, I was in Montreal at the Epicor conference with two folks from our IT department, Ann and J. We currently use one of the products by Epicor at GameStop and we were there to learn more about their other products and see if we could learn more about the current product. I have to admit, the sessions were not that useful, but the networking was great. I met a lot of nice people and I did learn a few things. So, I would say it was a successful trip.

Vegas Baby...

Well, actually, I was in Vegas for work. I went for our annual Store Conference. It was held at the Mandalay Bay. I was there September 6th to the 10th. Bobbi and I were sent to inform our store personnel of ways to decrease loss. We had fun when we had time to ourselves, but it was a lot of work and it was a LOT of walking. The Mandalay Bay is HUGE. They even have an extra wing that is called THEHotel. Yes, that is the correct spelling and it looks like that on the sign. It was very ritzy. After our meetings, we hung out with Josh and Chuck. I got to see a lot of folks from the EB side, which was a nice treat for me.



GameStop Nascar, Joey Logano




Josh and Chuck...acting like they are working. :-)





Elaine with a Lego Batman and Robin.





Bobbi and Elaine all dressed up to go to dinner at a French restaurant with the rest of the Accounting department.

Cleaver's in Texas '08

Elaine's folks were in town August 21st to 27th.

Since I was in the middle of a project, I was unable to take vacation, but I was able to work half days. I would get home around noon and then we would head out and tour around. Since it was still REALLY hot here, we did not get to do some of the stuff Mary wanted to do...like the zoo or the train ride. We had temperatures close to 100 and a few days over 100. Even with 'dry' heat, it is still really hot.

We ate out a lot. We ate at a couple of places that we went to last year, but we managed to try some new places this time. Of course we had to take them to our favorite places. Dad got to go to Shepler's and get some new shirts. We went to Ripley's Believe It or Not & Wax Museum. They did get in the pool one day, but they said it was too hot. LOL.

They were very glad to see Sugar and of course Sugar was REAL happy to see them.

WELCOME CHASE!!!

It has been awhile since I have updated everyone. And I am sorry about that. So, I am going to try to do it tonight.

First off, I wanted to mention that our niece, Jennifer, had a baby. On June 9th, at 1:20 p.m. His name is Chase Philip. 7 pounds, 6 ounces, and 21 inches long. He has a lot of dark hair, just like his Mom.

We are the very proud Great Uncle and Great Aunt!!

Sad day...

I love you Aunt Elsie!!!

The last of our June vacation

From Coatesville, we headed down to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina to see Barbara and Jack.
We surprised them by showing up the night before they were expecting us. Apparently, our emails never made it letting them know we were showing up early. :-) No worries though, they were ready for us.

During our stay, we went to Broadway on the beach to Tony Roma's for some really good ribs. B and I went to the outlet mall and shopped around. The new Hard Rock Park opened up and we hung out there for a day. It was a lot of fun.

This is the Led Zeppelin Roller Coaster..













This is one of the entry ways into the area for the Led Zeppelin Roller Coaster.













This is a 'bounce house' in the British Invasion area. Mike noticed the buildings look like faces. Pretty cool, huh?






Just had to take a picture of this place.... :-)

Visiting West Chester, continued

And the rest of the crew.....Martha, Jung, Melodie, Donna, Bob, and Ruth

Visiting West Chester

We went to see the West Chester office to catch up with the rest of the folks left from EB. There are only a handful at this office.

Some of the furniture looks VERY familiar.

Mark in his office.

Dawn in her office.

Raul in his cube.

Next stop of vacation, continued

We stayed at Tim & Gwen's for a few days and during that time, we visited friends and drove around to take in the old neighborhood.
We were hunting down some chew toys for Sugar that we can not find in Texas, so we went to the Acme in Exton. Low and behold, Mr. Dave was working. (imagine that!!) He hasn't changed much and I am glad. It was good to see him.



Melanie and Corey had a gathering at their house and we were the guests of honors. Mary, Sue, Dave, Kim, Jamie, and Bob came out to see us.







Of course, anytime food is around and Mary...she creates her wonderful Dream Torte. I was so excited when Melanie brought it out to the table. I threatened to just take the whole thing for myself. Thank you Mary!!!







And here is Kai hamming it up for the camera. This is his "I am really cute" pose. I can not get over how much he looks like Melanie and yet he looks like Corey. He is definitely their kid.

Next stop on our vacation

After we left the campground, we went to Coatesville and stayed with Mike's brother and his family. Tim and Gwen's daughter, Allie, turned 2 on June 2nd and here she is with the 'popper' that Uncle Mike and Aunt Elaine bought.



She also got a Mr. Potato Head, but the adults were having fun with that before she had a chance to. Here is my Dad with his 'creation'. :-) It came in a carrying case with about 30 pieces. My Dad kept saying that the Mr. Potato Head they had as kids was a real potato!!




Here she is playing with Jen. Uncle Phil was keeping her entertained and had her laughing. I love this picture. She was the center of attention the whole day. She really cleaned up with the gifts too. Such a sweetie.

Second part of vacation

When we left Tim and Bonnie's, we headed over to Pennsylvania and stopped at Thousand Trails RV park in Hershey. Mike's Mom and Dad were camping there. We then found out that his Aunt Marge and Uncle Burt were there too. We stayed there a couple of nights. Yes, in the RV. Mike, Sugar, and me...stayed on the sofa.






During our stay we went to the AACA Museum in Hershey. (Antique Automobile Club of America Museum). That was cool. I love old cars. The place is 3-stories. The main floor had the cars. They ranged from a 1895 Chicago Benton Harbor to a 1989 Mercury Grand Marquis. They change them out and this exhibit was 'fins'. There were some really beautiful cars. The bottom floor had buses and milk trucks. There is a restaurant downstairs, not one to eat at, it is historical. Everything in it is from the original and it is set up exactly like the original. Even the bus from the Forest Gump movie was there. The top floor had some motorcycles. Check out their website. http://www.aacamuseum.org

I did not see any Tucker's, but they are supposed to be one coming in the fall. I will see one of those cars before I die. I think that is one of the neatest cars ever made. Do you know what a Tucker is? Check out this Tucker website. http://www.tuckerclub.org


We also went to the Wilbur Chocolate Museum in Lititz. Of course, we bought chocolate. :-) They make the chocolate upstairs and and you can watch them make some of the candies. There is a museum of old molds that they used and lots of different candies to buy. The place smelled so good. Check out their website. http://www.wilburbuds.com


We went to Hollywood Casino at Penn National Race Course in Grantville (near Hershey). I gambled a little bit. Lost some money, then found a machine that I liked and won back my loss. I like that. Basically, I had fun for free. I like the slot machines. Anything with animation is what I like best, go figure. :-)

First part of vacation

Finally, an update. LOL

Our trip started with us spending a night in Kentucky. Then we headed to our first destination, Ohio, to see our friends Tim and Bonnie. Their daughter, Courtney is now 16. Oh my, I remember her when she was 6!! She has grown to be a very pretty young woman and is still a sweetheart. No wonder her parents are proud. Here she is with her 'friend'.



Patches is relaxing on the sofa. She is allowed, she is an old girl and deserves the greatest comforts. She and Sugar got along well. Sugar made sure she stayed out of Patches way and allowed her to 'relax' where ever she wanted.




We hung out at their house and since it was over the Memorial Day weekend, they had a cookout at their place and had friends over. We played card games and ate and drank. Tim is a bona fide bartender now and has me hooked on Chunky Monkeys. I don't remember what is in them. I had to many to remember. LOL Of course we went to Wal-Mart, Bonnie works there.



We went into Circleville and ate at the Bob Evans. We stopped at the Lindsey's Bakery, they are known for the worlds largest pumpkin pie. Of course, we HAD TO get some pumpkin donuts. This is the water tower in Circleville. It is really cool.

Check out this site. http://www.pumpkinshow.com/

Vacation at last

We finally took our last two weeks of vacation and spent it on a driving trip. We left Texas May 24th, stayed overnight in Kentucky and found our way to Tim and Bonnie's in Ohio. We stayed there until Tuesday morning and then headed over to Hershey, PA. We stayed with Mike's parents in their RV until Friday morning. Then we headed to Coatesville and spent the next 5 days staying at his brother's house and visiting friends and family. We left Tuesday morning and drove to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. There we stayed with Barbara and Jack until Saturday morning, then headed home to Texas. We arrived home June 8th at 3:30 A.M. We drove straight thru from SC. It was nice to sleep in our big bed with the air conditioning on full blast. :-)

Eli Stone - Thursday Night TV

Ok. I love the Eli Stone show, but for goodness sakes....turn down the back ground music!!!!

Tonights episode would have been so much better if I wouldn't have had to concentrate on what the characters were saying because the music was so loud. There were times where the conversation was in a low tone, due to the fact that they are lawyers and trying to be secretive, and I literally could not hear the conversation.

You know the reason we watch TV is to watch the program, NOT hear the orchestra or whatever song they are trying to push.

This is NOT the first time this has happened. There have been movies that were the same way. Doesn't someone watch these before they put them out to the public?

3:12 A.M. Surprise

We JUMPED out of bed at 3:12 this morning to hear what sounded like rocks hitting the house. To find hail streaming down and lightning and massive winds then a down pour. It all happened within 5 minutes. The local siren sounded and remained on for about 5 minutes. The size of the hail looked like marbles, but according to all the news reports it was baseball size. I did not see baseball sized hail. If I had, I would have attempted to get pictures, but there was no way I was going outside or even opening a door. It was very creepy and a bit intimidating. Plus, I was more interested in trying to get back to sleep. Sugar wasn't sure what to make of it, since we didn't let her out. So, she just got back into bed.

I haven't been outside yet to see what the damage is, but I am hoping for none. :-)

So now, we have experienced our first hail storm. Didn't really like it.

HAPPY EASTER

FROM

MIKE, ELAINE,

AND SUGAR!!