Snow!

We’ve had several “snow events” (shout out George Carlin!) in Texas this year, but they were nothing compared to what Maryland got.  I took a few (hundred) pictures while we were there in December, but lucky for you I will only post about a dozen. 

Move, Part II

Finally ready to pack up Rich’s house in Westminster.  But it was also Snowpocalypse 2009 (not to be confused with Snowpocalypse 2010 where Rich was snowed in all alone with about 5-6 feet of snow and no food…)

The wind was so fierce you can see it blowing the snow off the evergreens in this picture.

The intention was to pack up on Friday and leave Saturday morning.

 

Which did not happen.  It started to snow Friday night and by the time we woke up on Saturday it was a winter wonderland.  There was no way to get the truck out of the driveway with that much snow, so we had to wait until Sunday to see if we could make our escape.

Sunday morning was clear and beautiful.

 

And Lana got right to work clearing the front walkway looking very fashionable.

 

Truck was packed and ready to go…

But the biggest challenge was still getting the truck out of the driveway, which

 

is

 

pretty

long.

But Rich finally got the truck out and then did some creative maneuvering with the cars and the cats.  Here you can barely see the car at the end of the driveway.

A few miles from the house we saw a bunch of college students having a good time on a huge snow-covered hill.

 

And, after hitting the Safeway, we were officially on our way.

 

There was some beautiful scenery…

 

I especially like all the little towns on the back roads on the East Cost.  We went through a few on the 2-hour trip to get to the highway.

 

Hello, fuzzy West Virginia. 

The short drive through West Virginia was probably the most harrowing because the roads were pure snow.  They hadn’t plowed these particular roads at all so it was a little dicey.

I got lazy with the pictures after this (I know you’re sad about that). 

We headed into Tennessee and spent the night in Knoxville.  Trevor and I have some friends that had moved to Knoxville a few months previous, so we were lucky enough to stop by their house for a really quick visit the next morning before starting off again.  We made it through Tennessee, Arkansas and the eastern part of Texas before arriving late that night (about 1:00-ish if I remember). 

It was a long drive, but at least Trevor and I got to ride in the Subaru with Motley (the cat), who is sooo laid back – she just chilled in the back seat the whole way.  Rich & Lana had to ride in the Penske with Jay and Bob who were freaking out and needed to be drugged to calm them down.  Good times!

Rich has to make this trip one more time when his house sells.  He left some of his furniture in the house so it was staged for showings.  Speaking of, anyone looking for a house on 28 acres in western Maryland?  (LOL at the ostrich eggs pic – WTF?)

Rich & Lana move to Texas

In December, Trevor and I flew out to Maryland to help Rich & Lana pack up and move to the great state of Texas!  We had to cover 3 different locations on 3 different days.  First, we had to pack up some of my grandparent's stuff that was in their house in Baltimore.  My grandfather bought their house in 1953 and they lived there until last October when they moved in with my mom & dad down in Dallas.  So we went by their house (which my aunt & uncle now live in) to get their bedroom furniture, clothing and some other personal stuff.  So, Day 1...Baltimore:

Injury on Day 1.

Location number 1 complete!

Next onto Rich & Lana's apartment in Harrisburg, PA.

Boxes…

Paintings…

Pizza.

Lana's brother Max and his girlfriend Shannon were a huge help.

And they are so cute.

Rich is trying to be cute, too.

Finally empty!

Time to celebrate!

Next stop: Westminster, MD.

School Christmas Program

Told you I was catching up!

Every year Noah’s school has a Christmas program for each class – from little babies all the way up through Kindergarten and the after-school program.  Although this was Noah’s 3rd program, it was the first time he actually participated.  In previous years he would practice his songs at school so diligently and then stand up on the stage and look around like WTF and OMG.  Not this year!

His class on stage…

SINGING!  He knew the words and everything!

Hand motions…

and even playing the air flute!

At the end of the night they try to get ALL of the kids up on stage together.  That goes as well as you would expect.

My mother tried to get video, but she wasn’t paying attention and was pushing the stop button every time she wanted to record, and the record button when she wanted to stop.  So we have some good video of the floor and assorted audience members.  I won’t post it here, as much as I know you want to see it.

Nonagenarian

Not a word I use often, but appropriate since this blog is about my grandparents, who are now both in their 90s!  Pretty amazing.  We gathered at my parents house in late November and again in early December (yes, I’m trying to catch up) to celebrate with dinner and cake. 

Singing Happy Birthday to Mee-Maw

Noah is trying to get her to blow out the candles, but unfortunately, she has no clue what’s going on (damn Alzheimer’s)…

So he finally elects to do it himself.  She’s okay with that. 

Mmmm…cake.

Poppie’s birthday was next

He loves coconut…and so do I, so this cake was sooo yummy

I think he’s now the official candle extinguisher

 Happy 90th Birthday to Anne Wallace

Happy 93rd Birthday to Roy Wallace