A New Year: January, 2022

Bob decided to drive to Santa Rosa 

to watch the sugar cane trucks unload....

We followed a truck from Santa Rosa because

he wanted to see where they were harvesting.

Thirty-five miles later, we found the field
where five harvesting machines, and at least eight grain carts
 and several semis  were working.

They unloaded "on the go" into the grain carts.

The yellow truck is a service truck. 

One of the harvesters had a flat tire,

so the truck came to change it in the field.

The carts unloaded into the semis

Unloading here into the carts....

Lots of machines and a busy day.

Bob is really hooked on the SpaceX project,

so he drove down to Boca Chica 

to check out the progress!

After Stefano's burned down last month, 

we decided to try their restaurant in Pharr,

(no, we didn't go too far, but to Pharr)

but we forgot to take a picture there--

it's more of a pizza shop, but other 

meals are available.

On the way back to La Feria, we spotted the grackles

and saw the panels for Bush's wall that didn't get built!

Sunday was pretty windy. When we went to Harlingen,

this wall was still standing. When we came back

to our park, it had blown over.  Ironically,

it is part of the wall around a concrete block factory!

 

 

 

December Holy and Holi-Days

 

Happy Holidays!

Jimmy brought some chemicals to store

in our heated shop/barn for the winter.

He helped us eat our last

Pizza Corner pizza

On the 15th, we went to Minnesota 

to help Claire celebrate her 13th birthday!

Of course, Grampa Bob had to make sure 

that she got her 13 bounces.

Family pic before we cut into

Ana's homemade ice-cream cake!

Later, Ana took us to the motel near the airport

because we were flying to Texas early

on the 16th.

RJ and Julia celebrate their winning decorations!

Doug and Sara's house at night.  Merry Christmas.

She said the neighborhood kids were the judges! :-)

Christmas Eve children's Mass at Assumption

Church in Harlingen.  Santa showed up,

prayed at the crèche for baby Jesus,

gave a short talk, and got blessed by Father Terry.

Tom and Trina's clan at Christmas

Jimmy and Kelly's Christmas photo

Doug and Sara's family on Christmas Day

Corey and Ana's girls on Christmas Day

Our Christmas gift from the grandkids. 

They sent an MP3 recording!

A sad ending to our favorite restaurant.

Stefano's burned down last week.

November Excitement

Deer season opened on November 5th.

Andrew shot this 5 X 5 buck.

Grampa Bob hasn't found one that big yet!

We met Trina and her girls at Ana's on Nov. 6th.

First, we celebrated Annika's 12th birthday

which was coming up on November 8th.

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Anni examines her gifts from her cousins.

In accordance with Bob's family tradition,

Anni got twelve birthday bounces.

Then Cecelia

and Lydia got ten "belated" bounces

since we weren't there on October 15th.

On November 7th, Claire made her First Communion.

Claire and Ana in matching outfits.

The "girls" after church on Sunday.

Back: Trina, Annika, Claire, Ariana, Ana

Front: Cecelia and Lydia

Trina's "selfie" with Ana

Bob and I actually slept in the Murphy bed in the barn 

where there is a kitchenette, two bathrooms, and a shower!

But we didn't have time to play all the games 

that are set up!

The kids, of course, love the trampoline upstairs.

Had 40 mph winds and a dusting of snow on Friday, the 12th

What a difference a day makes...3 inches on Saturday

On Sunday afternoon, Bob got out the "Bob"cat

and cleared out some snow.

Our newest "star" 

Andrew was confirmed on the 21st 

at St. Joseph's church in Killdeer.

That same day, Caiden's team in Cedar Rapids

won their tournament. Caiden is in the front row

second from the left.

On the way home from Killdeer,

Bob decided to check Jimmy's grain bin

near Dodge. (Yes, we got out)

This moon greeted us as we were

coming up the road to our farm.

November 22nd sunset

Sunrise on the 23rd

"Thanksmas"  in Grand Forks:

Back: Mark, Bob, Doug, Jerry, Jill, Steve, Andrea, Aaron, Wendy

Middle: Diane, Kathy, Anastasia

Front: Claire, Kendra, Logan, Maddie, Lydia, Cecelia

"Storm" is reclining in front of the kids!

Bob, Jerry, Steve, and Kathy are siblings. 

Doug (Jill) and Mark are Jerry and Wendy's sons.

Maddie, Kendra, and Logan are Mark's kids

Andrea (Aaron) is Kathy's daughter.

Anastasia is Bob and Diane's daughter.

Claire, Cecelia, and Lydia are Ana's girls.

Kathy, Wendy, Ana, and Steve reminiscing..

Doug, Bob, Jerry, Andrea, Aaron, and Jill

Kendra, Maddie, Lydia, and Cecelia

Mark and Logan at the pool

Logan gets flipped

Cecelia, Logan, Claire, Lydia, and Kendra

on the "devices" at the pool.

Ana's girls did a synchronized swimming routine for us.

Can you tell who's who by the legs?????

Lydia, Claire, and Cecelia

Before the movie "Encanto" in East Grand Forks

Santa and the girls at Cabella's in EGF

Reind"ears"

Minions with the minions in the theater hallway

Santa, Mrs. Claus and an elf

That's Uncle Jerry on the wall 

at the UND hockey arena.

Matthew shot his first deer

on the last day of hunting season!

Dinner at The Ranch in Devils Lake

for our 51st wedding anniversary on November 30th