HAPPY NEW YEAR TO OUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS!

December 31

We wish all our family and friends a HEALTHY, SAFE, and HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y'all back real soon. Have a great day!

DREAMIN' OF A WHITE CHRISTMAS

Thursday, December 27 – Between flight cancellations, furnace issues and no Internet, this blog is a bit outdated. But better late than never.

The family all arrived in Canton, Ohio, for the Weaver gathering to celebrate Christmas together. Marsha – believe it or not – hustled to have the entire family and a couple friends over to the house for Christmas Eve. What a great time!

Yep, we had a white Christmas.

After stuffing ourselves on wonderful hors d'oeuvre prepared by the “wonderful Weaver women,” we enjoyed reminiscing, chatting, and even sat the table up for some friendly poker. We are pretty cheap poker players but really enjoyed ourselves around the table. Grandpa cleaned house taking home much of the “loot..”

Carrie, big winner, grandpa, Kelly

We had a great Christmas Eve and finally ended the festivities early Christmas morning. We decided we better get to bed so Santa could make his stop and not pass us by.

Christmas morning was great with the family exchanging gifts. Once again, it was decided Marsha spends toooooo much on Christmas. The Weaver girls also got into the Christmas spirit showering us with tooooo many presents. Of course, we decided to cut back next year.

When we get back in the spring, we will be making wine again.

Dave, Kelly's boyfriend, is easy to buy for. He loves very dark pretzels.

By noon, the family was gathering at our house again for the traditional Christmas celebration and dinner. Marsha a prepared a huge and delicious ham dinner. Everyone brought items to add to the buffet table. Italian Wedding soup, homemade bread, pumpkin pie, green beans, rigatoni, and, of course, Christmas cookies helped fill everyone up. We also had the annual family gift exchange and enjoyed watching the younger kids open their gifts.

We kids bought dad a new TV for his kitchen. Boy was he surprised!

The color of the day was red.

The Wadsworth Clan

With a SEVERE WINTER WEATHER WARNING for up to a foot of snow for Wednesday, Paul and Carrie changed their airplane flights for early in the day hoping to flea Ohio before snow covers the roads and runways and everything is shut down. Poor Marsha decided it best to remain behind and clean up after the Christmas parties. We did help take down the tree, fold up tables and chairs, and clean up the dished before heading to bed.

Early December 26, Paul and Carrie headed to the airports. Paul flew out of Akron/Canton, and Carrie flew from Cleveland. Paul had only a 20 minute delay, but Carrie's flight was canceled due to no crew…really…forcing her to find a standby flight. Since she flew direct, she beat Paul to Houston. Paul had a layover in Atlanta. Of course, Paul had to change planes in Atlanta due to a malfunction.....jeesh!

Oh yeah, Carrie's luggage was lost with all her new Christmas gifts tucked inside. Luckily the airlines found it and delivered it to her house later in the day.

Marsha in Ohio during the snow storm.

The next morning.

After landing, Paul hurried over to Carrie's place to pick up Bella. One of Carrie's roommates stayed in town for the holidays and had volunteered to watch Bella. She was sooooo happy to see Paul and was sure happy to get back to her home in the 5^th wheel.

Well, as you might expect, Marsha's flight for December 27 was canceled. She is stuck in Ohio until Saturday, December 29. Hopefully, things will get back to normal and she will escape the grasp of Old Man Winter in time to return to Houston before Paul heads out to Mission, Texas. He would sure hate to have to leave without her!

So, be sure to check back and see if Paul will be basking in the sun alone in South Texas, or if Marsha returned in time to catch the trip south.

Here is wishing all of our family and friends a very Happy New Year.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y'all back real soon. Have a great day.

 

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM THE WEAVERS

Monday, December 24

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y'all back real soon. Have a great day!

A BIT ON THE CHILLY SIDE HERE IN CANTON, OHIO

Saturday, December 22 – It has been a few weeks since we last posted. Marsha says she has been way too busy to do anything but shop, bake, shop, clean, shop, visit, shop.

When she flew back to Ohio, she had a wonderful trip with beautiful skies.

Marsha didn't have enough baking time when in Houston. She had to bake more cookies at the house in Ohio. This time Kelly volunteered to help ice the cookies.

Here are a few of the baskets Marsha will be giving for Christmas gifts. These are going to the gals she worked with at our Church.

Paul and Carrie arrived this week. It has been nonstop shopping…again…visiting, and having a great time.

This morning we woke to this…

It is 61 in Houston; 29 here in Canton, Ohio. But it looks like Santa will now be able to make his deliveries.

That is all for now. Just wanted to let everyone know we are alive and well.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y'all back real soon. Have a great day!

TAKING A STROLL INTO HOUSTON'S PAST

December 11, 2011 – The Heritage Society is located in Sam Houston Park. Here in the middle of the downtown skyscrapers are ten of the city's oldest structures dating back to 1823. There is a wonderful museum, and if interested, one can stay for a candle-light tour at night. We didn't take the tour this visit, but plan to return and take the day tour.

The setting around the historic area is lovely.

There is a statue in honor of the late John Bowden Connally, Jr. Mr. Connally was an influential American politician, serving as the 39th governor of Texas, Secretary of the Navy under President John F. Kennedy, and as Secretary of the Treasury under President Richard M. Nixon. While he was Governor in 1963, Connally was a passenger in the car in which President Kennedy was assassinated and was seriously wounded during the shooting.

We took a walk around the area to see all the buildings. We were able to look into some windows, but no photos were permitted. Here are just a few of the buildings.

The Old Place
The 1823 Old Place is an example of early Texas frontier architecture. Not sure we would have survived in those days.

Pillot House
The 1868 Pillot House was continuously occupied by the Pillot family until they gifted the structure to The Heritage Society in 1965. This was Marsha's favorite. Notice that the house was not guarded by lions but by dogs.

St. John Church
The 1891 St. John Church was built by German farmers for their Evangelical Lutheran congregation. What a contrast to the city buildings.

Staiti House
This house was built in 1905 for oil pioneer, Henry T. Staiti. The 17-room house included the latest features, electricity and had professional landscaping.

All of the buildings have been moved from their original spot. Marsha is looking forward to a tour the next time we are in Houston.

Marsha flies back to Ohio tomorrow. Carrie will fly in on the 18th and Paul the 19th. This is the first time Paul will be in Canton for Christmas since 2008. Marsha and the girls have some big plans for the next two weeks.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y'all back real soon. Have a great day!

LIGHT THE HEIGHTS

Saturday, December 8 – WOW! What a display of Christmas lights. Our daughter, Carrie, recommended to us the 25th Anniversary of the Lights in the Heights event here in Houston. The Heights is a downtown neighborhood on the northwest side of Houston. This is a neighborhood Christmas festival.

The snowmen are even bigger in Texas.

The lighting takes place on two streets each about 8 blocks long. We did see several other parallel streets also joining in on the festivities. Just about every house is decorated to the “nines.” It's "try to outdo the Jones" time. Thousands of lights, bands, Christmas carolers, Santa Claus, manger scenes, bell ringers, etc. You name it; it's on display.

If this works for the Guyre's, we are doing it next year.

One of our favorites.

See Santa back there.

Thousands pack the streets taking in the festivities. Hundreds of families with their kids, teens, young adults, and plenty of us older folks too!

Many of the homes have private parties with groups of friends enjoying the beautiful 80 degree weather on porches and patios. An outdoor event like this couldn't take place in many parts of the United States. I know it would pour down rain or snow and be bitterly cold if they tried to do something on this scale in Northeast Ohio.

These kids were so cute with this bear.

We arrived to the area just as things were beginning about 6 p.m. Crowds were already descending on the area, so we zipped in the first place parking spot we saw. It turned out to be a perfect parking spot, only about two blocks from the holiday lights.

Thousands of  luminaries line Bayland Avenue and Highland Street from Houston Avenue to Studewood.

We walked up and down the streets enjoying the lights, listening to some great music and, of course, people watching. People never seem to disappoint us for a source of entertainment.

Early on, only a dozen or so musicians performed on porches. Today, over seventy entertainment groups volunteer their time and talent for this event.

Several houses had bell ringers. They were wonderful.

Several children's choirs entertained the crowds.

The celebrating officially ends at 9 p.m., and we are sure the partying goes on long after that deadline. By 8:00, we had completed the two street loop and were ready to head home.

You just never know how Santa is going to arrive.

True Houston Texans' fans live in this house.

It was a great night and more lights then we've ever seen. The Houston skyline was pretty impressive as we sped down I-45 on the way home. What a beautiful city.

What the season is all about.

This photo is for Judy of Travels with Emma.

The end.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y'all back real soon. Have a great day!

 

DOWNTOWN HOUSTON

Thursday, December 6 –  We walked around downtown Houston Tuesday. We began at City Hall where we picked-up a tourist map and some suggestions at the Visitor's Center. This is a very nice visitor's center in the heart of downtown. The ladies working there are extremely friendly and helpful.

Sam Houston overseeing the running of the Visitor's Center.

They have just about anything you will find in Houston.

From there we headed to the Underground. A mere 20-feet below downtown Houston is a maze 7.5-mile-long tunnel system for 150,000-employee workforce. There are doctors' offices, banking, shopping, post office, salons, tons of eating establishments, etc. Anyone can access the network via street-level stairs, escalators, office-building elevators or head to Wells Fargo Plaza, which offers direct street-to-tunnel access. It is entirely air-conditioned which is pretty nice for a city that can see 100+ temperatures and high humidity.

It is so clean everywhere.

We then headed down Main Street to the Chase Tower.

Here you can take a free express elevator up to the 60^th floor observation deck. That elevator flew! We enjoyed a marvelous view of the city and the maze of the famous (or is that infamous) Houston highway system.

This view is only half of the freeway roads. This does not include I-45 and all its feeder roads.

We then walked to Discovery Green, home of many outdoor activities in Houston. It borders the Convention Center, The Toyota Center, home of the Houston Rockets NBA basketball team, and some exclusive downtown living centers like One Park Place where apartment style homes sell in the million dollar range.

There is a beautiful pond in the middle of the Green.

With temperatures in the high 70s and low 80s, this ice skating rink isn't getting much use…yet.

Can you guess which is One Park Place? Yep the tall one with the peaks. An amazing place.

From there we walked to the Houston Pavilion, one of the many, many nightlife sections of Houston.

The 24,886 sq. ft. Lucky Strike Lanes and Lounge, aka bowling alley, is one of a kind. Lucky Strike Lanes features 14 state-of-the-art lanes including a Luxe Premium Suite complete with four private lanes, a separate bar, and a 20′ x 12′ HD projection screen perfect for exclusive parties and events.You enjoy bowling from a living room style lounge area....no plastic chairs here!

Luxe Premium Suite

We then walked back toward our starting point.

Houston has a free bus service in the downtown area. The bus covers most of the downtown area. Since we wanted to see the city "up close and personal," we opted to walked the 100s of miles…just seemed like 100s. All kidding aside, Houston is a very easy, clean city to get in a nice walk.

 

We then scurried back to the truck managing to get out of town BEFORE the famous rush hour began....whew!

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y'all back real soon. Have a great day!