Around home in Florissant
I always hated Jan and Feb in St. Louis! Cold, snowy, icy, dreary. The
snow is pretty for about a day, then it's dirty and dreary again.
Pepsi sure liked it, though.
It was also a lot of work plowing our driveway!
Perhaps changing from Catholic school to public school wasn't such a good idea---at least for Angie now in 8th grade. She's having trouble in PE (8 tardies), suspension for "fighting", grades suffering and not doing her homework. At least she's excelling in music and they have a great jazz band.
Tim also has taken up music again. He got an electric guitar with xmas and birthday money. We told him we'll pay him back if he's interesed enough to take lessons. So he's taking lessons and doing really well. He even played Happy Birthday to my Mom over the phone---which she later mentioned meat a lot to her.
Tim and I are also taking a racketball clinic. We're the only 2 in the clinic, but that doesn't surprise me since the office knew nothing about it when we registered.
Angie went skiing with the SSJJ youths from 11pm-6am. Sounds like she did well.
The new Y volleyball season started up again in Jan. and we're playing as a family. Even Pete and Mary Kuntz are playing with us.
I'm still reffing one day a week to keep the Y membership.
Tim injured his knee playing basketball. We took him to the ER and told he had a strained knee. 3 weeks later, he was still hobbling so I took him to Dr. Sheridan (bone Dr.). He immediately noticed swelling and popping and suggested surgery. So on Fri, 2-24 he had surgery. At least his condritis dessecans looked good according to Dr. Sheridan, but about 1/2 of his cartilage in the one knee was removed.
REport cards are in and Tim got straight A's again and made the National Honor Society. He plans to take 4 honors classes next year, including French IV. AFter a couple years of slacking off, he's working hard again. He was also nominated for a special math and science summer school 4 week honors class at UMSL. He didn't want to do it, but applied anyway---didn't get chosen as one of the 52 in the state but was picked as an alternate.
National HOnor Society awards ceremony.
Now Angie's slacking off. HOpefully that will change soon. Maybe it's just that she's become boy crazy. She did try out for the jazz band and made it. She was chosen to go to a band festival during school in May.
This Spring I also gave the kids the choice of having their bedroom floors refinished or recarpeted. They chose carpeting and picked out new carpeting that was installed in March.
April---Tim takes his driving test for the 3rd time and now has a drivers license. Now he's gone all the time.
April 25--my best bowling day ever! Started out slow with a 137, then got 236 and 207. But I was just subbing, so didn't win anything even though I have high game and series for the league.
May 10---finally got our family room floors professionally refinished.
ANgie's been dating Chris for a couple months now. She's also done some caddying for extra money
Tim and his friends seem to really enjoy school and the teachers really like them. They're constantly pranking each other and even involve the teachers. They're a smart bunch of kids with creative, but good, minds.
June---another jaz concert with Angie having a couple solos. Although she played one of them with her brush and reed holder in the bell of her sax and forgot it was there. The conductor kept pointing at the sax but she didn't know what he was pointing at until he reached in and grabbed her brush. Then she remembered and shook the reed holder out---in the middle of the song. Thought it would have been a great video for "Funniest Home Videos"!
Funny side note---Angie's history teacher told her she was "creatively strange" in a positive way.
Now that summer is here, I let the kids dye the hair.
Tim even let his curls go natural!
Grades are in and Angie really picked them up. Maybe all my harrassing her is paying off! She even did very well in the standardized tests.
Ken --- got a new company car---an all white 4 door Ford Taurus.
Angie's playing softball for a new summer team and doing great. Originally the coaches step-daughter was going to be catcher, but after 3 innings, Angie has been catcher. She's been hitting really well after the first 4 at bats, too, becoming 2nd highest on the team. The coach made an interesting comment to her at one game---"You look like you're ready to hit the F___out of anything that comes anywhere near you!" He's always so quiet that surprised me.
June---Father's Day--- we went to Casa Gallardo with the Fischer's for the buffet lunch. Don mentioned that he thought Angie was being rather ridiculous when she had said she didn't want to play select VB because she wanted her weekends back, but now he really understands. Jenny's team has played a lot of tournies this year. She even broke a finger last week.
6-28 Took Tim to an orthodontist consult for his overbite. I didn't realize how big his overbite was until he asked why Angie got braces and he didn't and he stuck his tongue out at me through his clenched teeth. The Dr. actually recommended surgery.
6-29 got a 2nd phone line that Angie's helping to pay for. Tim calls it Chris's private line. Angie and Chris's relationship is still going strong.
At NAM one day while Tim was hanging out with Erin, NIcole, and Tom, Mrs. Gettemeier asked Tim what happened to Angie's hair. He told her a story about being in an accident,to which she said, "are you lying to me, Hon". Then Mary said something about Nicole's car to which Tim said, "are you lying to me, Hon?" He said it went right over her head, but Father was standing there snnickering. Tim's not nearly the quiet kid he was. He's become quite the comedian.
7- 9 Scout camp!!!! Yeah. Angie even rode with Chris's folks to visit him at a different scout camp on Thurs.
7---- while the guys were camping I had the living room /dining room floors refinished.
7--- getting ready for the Oregon trip and next year's school year, Angie got her physical. The Dr. said she has a functional heart murmur (like I do).
Angie has also started working at BJ's Bar and Grill and restaurant. Tim's been working for Steimel doing yard work.
Oregon
Usually when we're in Oregon, we spend a couple nights around the Lincoln City area---nice beaches, variety of restaurants and shopping, closest to Dallas. But this year we took a trip up the coast.
Hugs point on the north shore of Oregon. Before the highway was built, the beach was the only way to travel along this stretch of coast.
Heading down to the beach from the parking lot.
Some of the caves along the beach
North of the parking area at low tide you can walk along the original
stagecoach road, still harboring the wheel ruts carved into the rock.
Pioneers traveling around this headland had to hug the point carefully,
even at low tide. I can't imagine taking a stagecoach along here!
Located between Austin Point to the south and Hug Point to the north, is a seasonal waterfall, caves carved into
sandstone cliffs and tide pools that are accessible during low tide.
the kids couldn't resist wading in the COLD Oregon surf.
the typical coastal forests---loved walking through it for views of the ocean or to get to the beach.
The couple times we headed North along the Oregon coast, we spent the night in Seaside. It has a great boardwalk and beach.
and this particular time there was a huge sand volleyball tournie going on. I couldn't resist but to go down and find some people to warm up with. I was big into volleyball up until I was about 60 years old.
Seaside is close to one of the iconic photography sites of the Oregon coast---Cannon Beach. Didn't get the greatest picture this time, but it was still neat.
We've also seen some amazing sunsets along the Oregon coast. This one wasn't the greatest, but the foreground was pretty cool.
Off the from hwy 101 is a scenic 40 mile loop---3 Capes Loop. One of the reasons we don't head up 101 that often is because the highway heads a bit inland and we don't get the beautiful coastal views from the highway like you do if you head South from Lincoln City. But we took the loop to check out the "scenic views". I'll have to admit, they're pretty scenic!!!
Another stopping point on the North shore is Fort Clatsop. It was the encampment of the Lewis and Clark Expedition
in the Oregon Country near the mouth of the Columbia River during the
winter of 1805-1806. Now it's a Lewis and Clark National Historic Park.
Rangers in costume lead demonstrations and tell stories. We were acting like bears while the ranger demonstrated how they protected themselves with their rifles. It was a fun demonstration.
A short walk from the encampment had old historic hollowed out log canoes.
Back on the road we marveled at the farm critters we'd pass----llamas, alpacas, and even a camel or 2!
On the Northernmost point of the Oregon Coast is is the oldest American settlement west of the Rocky Mountains and the oldest city in the state of Oregon---Astoria. It's also where the Columbia River meets the ocean. Many ships have sunk here! But the fishing is pretty good.
The city is served by the deepwater Port of Astoria.
Angie had always wanted to go surfing, so one of the days back in Seaside, she finally got to. We found a surf shop and asked if they give lessons.
At first the guy was busy, but I guess having an excuse to go surfing brought him to his senses.
We asked Tim if he wanted to do it, but he declined. Here they're scoping out the surf conditions.
student and teacher
surfer girl
After some lessons on how to pop up on the board and such,
they headed in.
I don't remember how much the lesson cost, but I think they were out there for a couple hours.
Took awhile for her to "catch a wave" and stay up, but they kept at it until she did.
I hope this was an experience she'll remember fondly.
Sort of wish I had tried it back in the day!
Tim even seemed to enjoy wandering the beach watching Angie and her instructor.
Another day during our Oregon vacation, we took a day trip to Lincoln City with David and Jane and family. Jane's parents were there, too, for one of their grandkids' wedding (our nieces wedding) and went with us. Being summer, Cletus didn't bring any warm clothes other then his suit, so he made quite the impression on the beach.
This was right before the rains hit---with authority.
Back in Dallas, Nora got married. I thought it interesting how Dad and his brother ended up in the same jackets and ties.
our niece ,Nora, and Kevin Parnell getting married.
and another bar b q at mom and dad's
Carolyn and Tom at Mom and Dads bar b q.
Tom by the truck he use to drive across country. David even drove with him as a partner for a little while, but David didn't like being away from home that much.
This was also the year that we went up to Eastern Oregon to go white water rafting. First and only time we've done that. It was far enough away that we had to spend the night somewhere, so we rented the huts that the railroad workers used way back when the railroad was being built. Ken and I took one cabin, the kids got the other one.
Checking out the Dechutes River that we rafted the next day.
We ended up in a group of Japanese tourists
so we had a raft to ourselves with our guide.
heading out
they had photographers taking photos at a couple of the rapids. I couldn't resist buying the photos.
Ken almost falling out. Instead he landed on top of me.
This was an area of the river called "elevators" where we stopped our
rafts and jumped in the water and rode the "elevators" back down. It
was fun and terrifying at the same time. Ken likes to say we tried to
drown him here.
Tim jumping in the elevators. The river would such you down, then bring you up for a couple seconds, then back down, and back up, ... . Then when you heard people on the shore yelling, "Swim!", you swam hard to the shore to keep from being washed down through the next rapids. Probably not the safest thing for a rafting group to encourage.
We survived! It really was a fun excursion!
On the way back to Dallas, we checked out Mt. Hood. This is one of the buildings there with a gift shop and cafe.
Loved seeing the snow there even in the summer.
We even did a couple nights camping trip near Salem---Elkhorn Park.
I'm not a fan of camping, but I do love beautiful scenery.
The kids even borrowed Uncle Davids 2 person raft and tried to raft the river there. They just ended up punching a hole in the raft.
setting up the tent.
beautiful area. I think I'd appreciate camping a little more now in a place like this---although it got mighty cold at night!
rafting farther up the river --- before they put a hole in the raft.
Angie's CYC softball team that year. Another good, fun team. I even airbrushed the shirts for them.
Beginning of a new school year. And Homecoming dance. Tim ready to go.
one of the few times he didn't sport the curly doo
Angie is now in high school, too---and ready for her first homecoming dance.
and marching band
Once we got back from Oregon, Tim decided he wanted the jaw surgery to correct his bite. So he had to have some pre-surgery stuff done---like having his wisdom teeth removed---all in preparation for jaw surgery next summer.
Then they did put braces on for more pre-surgery stuff
In the mean time, Angie was showing off her newly straightened perfect teeth with another glamour shots shoot. I always took advantage of that to take some pictures myself, too.
Such a gorgeous girl
wish my hair looked like this now.
9-5 1st day of school for Tim the Junior and Angie the Freshman.
Tim's still running around with some of the NAM school mates. We even went to the the MD telethon carnival at Crestwood mall with Erin, Donnie, Shannon, Angie and Chris. It didn't start until 10:30pm, so afterwards I went to Denny's with them at 1:30am. They were hilarious in a good way. The guys and Angie were repeating commercial jingles non-stop. Had Chris and myself laughing.
9-18 annoying car troubles. Was going to go look at cars to replace the unreliable wagon when the Cutlass wouldn't start. So Ken and I got into another argument about money. I'm tired of repairs not being done---car and house. I recently noticed water marks in Angie's room from the roof leaking. He brought up the floors just being done---which I used my reffing money for! So I decided to get another job to do more repairs. So started working for the Ferguson-Florissant school district lunchroom program. Yep, I'm a lunch lady. Only 3-3.5 hours a day and $5.50/hour, but it adds up. Subbing at first, but someone is always looking for a sub. It's rather surprising how differently each place works. I also started up reffing again, too (so did Tim).
Tim's started working at BJ Bar and Grill along with Angie.
around 9-25--- Angie ended up in the ER with a bad headache and high fever. They dx it as a virus and told her to take ibuprofen. A couple days later her fever was higher and she still had the headache to took her to the pediatrician she had years ago (since our family Dr. couldn't see her). He dx her with bacterial sinus infection. Took a couple more days for meds to work, but soon it was like she was never sick.
Oct 2nd --- Chris went to church with us then had his Mom pick him and Angie up for a birthday surprise for Angie. His Mom showed up with a square dance outfit on and Chris said surprise, we're going square dancing. It was a charade---she dropped them off at NW Plaza where he took her on a $100 shopping spree.
Oct. 3--- on to another birthday. She wanted a Scooby Doo cake
and a felix cake
She wanted an electric guitar for her birthday. I was always eager to give them any musical instruments they wanted! They both even took some guitar lessons. Tim still plays the guitar and keyboard. They both grew to be avid music connoisseurs---lots of musical instruments, concerts, cds, even records. I don't feel that I really was---give me sports! But my Dad sure spent a lot of time with his music---back then it was converting music to reel to reel tapes. Later it was taking it from tapes and putting them on cassettes, then cds.
Still celebrating Halloween---not trick or treating, but they always found parties to go to. This time she wanted to go as Wilma and Chris as Fred, so I made their cute costume.
I even painted our windows for a change.
Tim went to his party as a werewolf, I think.
Tim getting another award --- another Honor Society induction? or awards ceremony? We also recently signed a letter of intend to send him to France with the school exchange program for 2 weeks next Spring for $1624.
He was the kind of student teachers really liked---usually had his homework done, seemed to get A's without studying. He was able to keep things secret---like the time he ran across the school roof and into a class window and the teacher covered for him---or when he and friends sent an inflatable doll up a flag pole. He was in the click of kids that were the top 10% scholastically, even though I hardly ever saw him doing any homework. Angie did quite well, too, but I saw how hard she worked at it---and her friends weren't all highly liked by the teachers.
Tim and his best buddy, James Knowles (Major of Ferguson during all the riots in 2014---and re-elected after that!)
Angie undoubtedly talking to Chris? Or was she discussing the big band competition she was in one weekend. I had our first teacher/parent conferrence for her in high school---they all like her, but "oh, how different she is then Tim. If he talked 300 words all year, that was a lot. Angie said that the first day." And "Angie won't let anyone mess with her." (Which is probably why she was suspended twice last year!) Even the band teacher wanted to know why she wasn't trying out for the jazz band but she doesn't want to.
Doesn't seem to matter what hair style Angie's going with at the time, it all looks great on her! This is by far the shortest it's been since she was a baby.
so cute.
11-3--- Ken got his wisdom teeth extracted.
11-4---I went to lunch with Peggy (Chris's Mom). I've enjoyed her conversations, but I was surprised to hear she's a manic-depressive and that her older son, Matt, is on medications. Ken and I even went to their church Halloween party and had a good time.
Next week Tim got the spacers for his braces.
11-9--- new dishwasher! $350. Last one was bought in 1984
I'm working full time at McCluer North lunch room now and developed lots of pains---back shoulder blade that burns really badly and upper left chest that makes it hard to breathe. Who knew being a lunch lady was so demanding!?
11-20--- finally got the new roof ($3500)
12--- my solo trip to Oregon. Got mom up several times, painted their windows with a xmas scene, cooked a few meals, and went to the casino with David and Jane about midnight one night. Carolyn flew home with me. We had a good visit. Shopped a lot and Ken even took us to the Bevo Mill one day. We also went to The Nutcracker Ballet at the Fox one night. Was supposed to have a fancy work dinner with Ken and concert of Angie's, but we had a snow storm and they were rescheduled for later this month.
Ken ended up being really sick for 2 weeks, even taking 4 days off work (something he never does). Said he didn't feel bad, just had no energy.
12-21--- just back from a week in Oregon and a week here with Carolyn visiting, so I was off work. Now to work 1 day and be off for Christmas break.
Side note---ANgie has been a vegetarian now for about 7 months.
How about that pup---wearing some christmas paper. He was the perfect dog---playful, self reliant, stoic, pretty. Lived 16 years.
12-25---a little sparce xmas this year with paying the rest of Tim's France trip off and getting the new roof. But the kids didn't mind. I even "splurged" and got Ken a gold tie tack. But while Carolyn was here he saw one at K-mart that he wanted. I told him I got him one for xmas and he said he wanted the other one anyway. So all these years he doesn't have one and finally got one the same time I got him one!
Setting up our Christmas photo
1995 Christmas! Those truly were the good-ol'-days!
Spent the rest of the year sick, myself, with a bacterial sinus infection! But did get to go to the xmas dinner with Ken to Al's---a very elite restaurant. I got a new York strip steak and cracked peppercorn. It was delicious. Also got Italian friend potatoes and appetizers and salad. Dessert was a Tumbleweed! I even got to try fresh tuna steak for the first time---it was very good! I'm not usually a fan of seafood.
12-31--- Ken sick in bed again (still).
and some glamour shots ANgie and I had taken right after she got her braces off.
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