Happy Holidays
Debbie and I have had a great year in 2010. I have tried to capture the highlights in this year's letter.
Best of Wishes to you and your family -
Here goes with Debbie's first post:
MARCH 2010
I've never posted on a blog so here goes.....We thought we would post our training for the Pittsburgh Marathon, May 1st. So far we completed 8 miles yesterday. It was a beautiful morning and finished with sore feet!
This week started out good, keeping on track with training,. Walked Monday and Tuesday, 3 miles!! Tuesday was moving day for Nicole and Tommy. Their new apartment is close to her work and us.
Went to the Car Show on Sat - It was nice to review all makes and models in one visit. I liked the Dodge Journey, but Leo liked the Honda CRV. See more cars at View My Gallery link
3/17/2010
Where did the weekend go..... Walked Saturday morning and the Bradford Pear Trees are starting to bloom and smelled so good. It was a beautiful morning.
Then headed south to Dallas Market Hall to meet Beth and Maida at the Annual Quilt show. We walked and talked and bought all kinds of stuff. Found some great bargains. Quilts were beautiful.
Friday March 19th, was a beautiful day, headed south to visit our friends Pam and Dennis Ard in Fredericksburg, Tx. They have been traveling from Atlanta to Texas for a month. Leo and I can't wait to join the fun. On our way down we stopped at the Koffee Kup in Hico, Texas (of course) and picked up a Coconut Cream Pie. Delicious! Since the blue bonnetts weren't quite up yet, we decided to take the Peach tree trails Saturday morning.
We headed on over to the Willow City Loop and found a few blue bonnetts and cows!
Leo is collecting seed........???
Monday, April 26, 2010
This weekend the weather was perfect, breezy, cool and sunny! Great day to work in the yard.
When Uncle Jim visited in early April, he helped me thin out the pole beans and the new transplants are growing strong.
The rest of the garden is growing too. Lettuce, tomatoes, radishes, parsley, basil, peppers, cucumbers and zzucchini!
clematis are blooming.
Rod and G-Gay came down last weekend. The rain held off while we had a great time hunting blue bonnets in Ennis, Texas and joined in the fun at the Ennis Blue Bonnet festival
While Rod and G-Gay were here, we had a small celebration, cake and ice cream, for Nicole and Tommy Eggar!! They were married 4-14-2010.
The weekend of 4-8 to 4-12 Aunt Debbie and Uncle Jim, Charlie and Beth came down to join us with the Blue Bonnet paparazzis. No blue bonnet could hide from this group!!! Enjoyed a rental home on LBJ Lake in Horseshoe Bay, Texas. We took a side trip to Colorado State Park and hiked to Gorman Falls, beautiful. If you visit Texas, make sure you check these falls out.
We had a great Lake House! 5 bedrooms 4 full baths, large kitchen!
Next we head to Pittsburgh to visit Jessica and participate in a half marathon.
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Pittsburgh in May!!
Pittsburgh in May was absolutely wonderful. Arrived Friday afternoon and experienced a Pittsburgh sandwich for lunch - Very good! - Went back to the airport and picked up Alison, who flew in from Boston. Jess took us all to a Beer-indipity restaurant with 16 beers on tap and over 400 bottles in the beer library, called Bock Town Bar and Grill, it was a fun time.
Saturday we picked up our Marathon packets, shirts and bib numbers.
Then headed out to Falling Waters http://www.fallingwater.org/ A house that was built by Frank Lloyd Wright for the Kaufman family in 1939 over a water fall - Yes the water is flowing through the house.
It was very educational about the life and times of FLW plus the area and the prominint citizens of Pittsburgh. The final cost to build was $155,000
Once back in town, Jessica took us to another interesting restaurant - The Church Brew Works -
This was a old church turned into a restaurant. Great food and atmosphere. You can see the stain glass windows are still intact and the seats are the original pews.
The next morning was race day. 16,000 signed up and we heard only 11,000 turned out for the actual race.
Alison and Leo checking out the course, scoping out an exit plan in case of severe thunderstorms....Alison is not worried....:0) Lots of people - Took us 10 minutes to get to the starting line after the horn went off. All these people were ahead of us and the actual starting line was under that bridge, way in the background....
Rained the whole walk - The finish line was totally rearranged due to a bomb scare! Someone left their lunch at the finish line in a microwave and someone else thought it was suspicious and called the Pittsburgh Bomb Squad. Yes, this little activity totally messed up everything, but we made our way through the crowd and received our medal.
The next thing we remember is eating crepes and waffles at Pamela's, great breakfast place. Decorated in the 1950s.
We all headed home after that.
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I forgot to add our Girls Weekend pics to the March blog, so I'll add them here.
Aunt Debbie, Jane and Millie (Uncle Jim too) hosted a great weekend in Kansas City, a total of 14 in attendance. We took a tour of the Toy Museum and had lunch at The Nelson Atkins Museum in the Rozzelle Court Restaurant. Very Cool!
After lunch we enjoyed an afternoon of crafting. Made cards and then played games.
Conrad kept us entertained too ....
Didn't know a toothbrush holder could keep them so happy!
Check out all the pictures at -
http://picasaweb.google.com/dkneuner60/Pittsburgh?feat=directlink
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Where did May go?
Can't believe we are half way through June 2010. Wanted to update the blog before we took off for Pebble Beach, to rub elbows with pro golfers.
The garden is only producing radishes and basil. Tomato plants look great, but no tomatoes. Everything I'm reading is telling me i might be watering them too much. The worms had a feast on the lettuce!
Memorial Day weekend was a Blast!! Kim and Val from St. Louis drive down for a visit and Carol came up from Houston. Jessica was very busy in May buying a new House! yes she took the plunge. We are very excited for her. She was in Redlands the week before Memorial day finalizing repairs and buying new appliances. This is Jessica's house and yes, there are Lemons in those trees
Washer and dryer -
Her house is on a lovely Cul-de-sac,
Saturday Night we celebrated Nicole and Tommy's wedding.
Baby Annie Jane is poking out alittle!! :o))
Sunday was the Big BBQ. Kim and Carol cleaned the patio. Leo started BBQing and Kim cranking Ice Cream. Everything was so delicious and I can still taste the ribs, yummmmmmmmm
The Sutherlands came over and celebrated. And Tommy's parents were able to come. We had a great time, and good conversation.
JUNE 2010
We had always talked about working a major GOLF event, we finally made that decision last Spring 2009 – When Debbie’s brother Ed, asked us if we would want to volunteer at the US OPEN located at Pebble Beach. YES !! So began a series of communications with the USGA and planning discussions with ED & Kathy about lodging transportation etc…. ANYWAY JUNE has finally come and we started our trip – here is what happened on the ‘HARRIS –NEUNER’ CALIFORNIA ‘OPEN’ ADVENTURE.
Saturday - June 12, 2010
We all arrived in San Jose with plenty of time to spare before heading to Vallejo where we had reserved a PEO B&B for all of us. We did what any land-locked visitor would do – head for San Francisco , Fisherman’s Wharf and the Golden Gate Bridge.
After the GG Bridge visit with its awesome ocean and bay views back to the city on the Hill, we made our way back down to the wharf area. It seemed like everyone in the city took to the parks and water this afternoon. Street merchants and musical groups were out in full regalia.
We finally ended up at PIER 39 to see and hear the SEALS sun themselves in the late afternoon sun.
We eventually had dinner at a local fish-eatery and then onto Vallejo north of San Francisco.
Our host for the evening, PEO sister Anne Arms, lives at the opening of the Mare Island causeway at San Pablo Bay. Next to the California Maritime Academy this was a most picturesque place to stay…Our host was most gracious, with food and fellowship everything was excellent!!
And there was a golf course on Mare Island which we had to explore before heading out to NAPA to see David and Richard.
Sunday – June 13, 2010Ed, Kathy and Debbie were up early for a morning walk. They made their way to the college and took several pictures.
After a great breakfast, we headed to NAPA Valley and to David and Richard’s place in Yountville.
Before we caught up with David, we stopped at the Yountville Museum. The museum housed the local history and artifacts of the early beginnings of NAPA and YOUNTVILLE and the land grants or RANCHOS.
In another area of the museum they had a QUILT show which we all found very interesting
Cousin Millie met us at David’s; we all did a lot of catching up with one another. We had a very enjoyable visit, David and Richard are the perfects hosts.
We left David’s and headed south to Pacific Grove to find our condo, where we planned to stay for the next week. After way too much Sunday afternoon all headed in our same direction, throw a fender-bender in the mix and we got a lot of time to view the country side as we headed to the Monterey Bay area and our condo - Deer Haven Inn . We didn’t have much time before bed, since we figured we would have to up and out the door by 4:00-ish [that’s in the morning].
Monday – June 14, 2010
For the Golf Tournament we all had assignments, Leo –>Admissions; Ed –> 19th Hole Marshall - Floats to where marshalling needs to be; Kathy –> Volunteer Hospitality Tent; Debbie –> Corporate Hospitality Tent. We all had our volunteer ‘work clothes’, polo shirts, vests, heavy jacket and hats and visors. We were all ready and just staying 5 miles for the Pebble Beach Golf Club….
The day started early, for Kathy and I, our pickup location was 20 miles north of the golf course, however we were staying only 5 miles north, we were to be at the course at 5am. Ed and Debbie started 1-2 hours after us, so Ed was the ‘cabbie’ in the morning…we all agreed we needed a better plan to get to the golf course, although the transportation provided was free for the volunteers.
After our shifts ended for the day, we all met at one of the concession tents to have lunch and then caught a bus back to the drop off area.
One of the lures, for our reservation at the Deer Haven Inn, was its close proximity, not only to the golf course, but also to the ocean and the State Beach area named ASILOMAR STATE BEACH . During the week Asilomar became an extension of our living areas when not site seeing and not at the golf course. It was a beautiful area, with miles of walks along the beach and views of water crashing over the rocks….
Tuesday – June 15, 2010
Tuesday was a DAY OFF for all of us – we had asked for similar schedules so that we could do some sight-seeing on our free time. So we headed south on Highway 1 to CARMEL and to Big Sur.
We stopped for lunch at an unforgettable location. Lunch at Sierra Mar was an experience for all of us. The location was built out over the cliffs, which allowed you to feel you were over the ocean for lunch…
SIERRA MAR
Wednesday – June 16, 2010
Wednesday was a work day for all of us. The temperatures each morning was very cool high 30’s low 40’s with a good breeze off the ocean. So every work day we would layer on the clothes and as the sun and the temps rose we would shed the jackets…etc. Every afternoon was beautiful.
Once we decided to go we would find our BUS back to the parking area.
Thursday – June 17, 2010
Thursday was another 'vacation day' so today we headed north to Santa Cruz and its beaches and boardwalk. Traffic was horrendous into the Monterey area for the 1st day of the golf tournament.
Santa Cruz is a very cool place for kids and families even at an early hour in the morning. We saw several training classes for the kids – water awareness and safety programs on the beach, along with the die-hard sand volleyball-ers… takes one back to an earlier time.
After our walk around Santa Cruz, we sought out the Nisene Marks State Park .
Uncle Ed provided the editorial:
Home of the California Redwoods, a smaller state park just 6 miles east of Santa Cruz. The park has some private homes on it and 40 miles of walking trails. The ‘advocate’ tree is the oldest tree in the park well over 100 years old and wider than you can imagine reaching up into the sky.
We took the 1.5 mile ‘Old Growth Trail’ to see the advocate tree – Debbie photo’d the trees the flowers the clover-on-steroids and the wild raspberries. Somewhere along the way the trail posts lost the trail markers , somehow we turned the 1.5 mile return trip into a 2-3 mile emotionally charged hike through the woods. All’s well that ends well…Obama was still president and it was still 2010 when we emerged from being lost in the wilderness among California’s magnificent Redwoods…
See for yourself - NISENE MARKS STATE PARK
Back in Monterey we had dinner at the FISHWIFE’s restaurant. Excellent seafood.
We drove to Asilomar on way home, and caught a lot of wildlife across from the beach.
Friday – June 18, 2010
No work today [no cameras either] but we all got up and went to the course. The field of golfers had not been whittled down as yet – so there were two groups of golfers teeing off on 1 and 10 hole at 7:00 am and 12:30 pm , so there would be golfers everywhere…..
We arrived about 9:15am and the plan was to walk the course, and follow whichever golfer caught our fancy. We started on the 18th hole – sat in the stands for several groups, moved on to the 17th hole and then to its tee box which is shared with the Nbr 4 tee, causing one hellacious convergence of people and kids and golfing paraphernalia…….
We sat at Nbr 7 – par 3 along the ocean and watched Woods, Els and Westwood - Phil Mickelson, Ricky Barnes, Scott Langely, Jeff Ogilvey, Aaron Baddeley, Ryan Moore, Vijay Sing, Dustin Johnson, Zack Johnson, Davis Love III, Tom Watson, Rory McIlroy, Rocco Mediate, Kenny Perry, David Duvall, Tom Lehman, Ben Curtis, Sergio Garzia, Steve Stricker, Paul Casey, Bob Estes, Brendan de Jonge, Brian Davis, and Stuart Appleby – to name a few.
It is just a beautiful place to play golf
Saturday – June 19, 2010
We all had late afternoon shifts at the country club. Almost like a regular workday - arggg - except that the scenery and the people were most special.
Sunday – June 20, 2010
We all had early morning shifts, Debbie was extended a couple hours because a few volunteers didn’t show on the Final day ! Even in the corporate tent ! Once Debbie was free she and I beat feet back to our condo and watched the final holes from our living room – Ed and Kathy hung out on the 18th green and watched all the groups finish the day all the way to Graem McDowell - the Brit who won the tournament.
Debbie and I had dinner at a local Italian restaurant – VITOs – and met a couple who lives in Pebble Beach. They were avoiding the crowds as well and have volunteered in the past at the ATT PRO-AM tournament also held at Pebble Beach.
Monday – June 21, 2010
We had to pack our bags and depart with a lot of great memories of golf, surf and turf…I am sure we will be back.
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September 2010
After a rather quiet July and August, we took off again to Sedona, AZ for a week of golf and relaxation. First we met up with sister Cheryl and her husband John for a hike on the Chapel Hill Trail. It was just a day outing, they were vacationing in Scottsdale and came up to Sedona for the day.
Ed and Kathy joined us for part of the week. We visited some local golf clubs and were surrounded by just marvelous scenery …Golf in the morning – pool and snooze in the afternoon, something we could get used to….
We took a day trip to the old mining town turned Arts Retreat – JEROME – to take in the sights and do some shopping…its is always fun…
After Sedona, we came back to family excitement – Nicole & Tommy was ever so close to having their first baby – Annie Jane. She was born on September 14th and was 6lbs 6oz and 17 inches long. She was and still is the most beautiful baby ever born…. don’t we sound like grandparents ??
Before September was out, we made a quick trip up to Lake Ozark in Missouri to see our old friends, The Golfers….Steve and Sue - Eric and Dottie – Bob and Nancy – we had a lot of catching up to do, more golf balls to lose and several bottle of beer to empty and grandparent stories to share, it was agreat trip.
October 2010
In October we celebrated Leo’s Birthday.
Jess came in town along with sisters Kim, from St.Louis, and Carol, from Houston. The birthday celebration was a great chance to spend time with special great niece Annie….
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| Jess and Annie |
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| Carol and Annie |
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| Kim and Annie |
November 2010
As usual we travelled to St. Louis for Thanksgiving. But not as usual, we took Nicole and Annie with us. (Tommy, who is managing a Hobby Lobby here in North Texas and was unable to make the trip because of the retail excitement around Black Friday).
Annie did pretty good on the trip, once Grandpa realized that he can’t hurry little ones, when it comes to eating time, burping time, changing time and sleeping time. At Ed and Kathy's house there were plenty of food, treats, eats, family members and fellowship. Everyone got to meet Annie.
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| Annie and Great Grand Aunt Debbie |
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| Annie and Special Aunt Jess |
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| Annie and Great Uncle Ed |
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| Annie and Great Uncle Val |
December 2010
Christmas promises to be very exciting this year. Obviously, it will be Annie Jane’s 1st Christmas, Jess will be in from California and Ed and Kathy will be here in McKinney to celebrate the Holiday as well. Charlie and Beth will come up from Arlington to celebrate during the weekend and I am sure Ed and I will squeeze some golf in somewhere.
May the Lord Bless everyone this Holiday Season, keep everyone safe as they travel and instill in us a love for our neighbor.
Debbie and Leo
1 comment:
sounds like you all had a wonderful year!! :D
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