The LeTourneau Sidetrip

On our way to Texas, we stopped in at

LeTourneau University, our alma mater.

Above you see Jon and Sylvia in front of the new Belcher Chapel.

Pretty nice!

We went over to the new Engineering center and visited with some friends (disguised as old professors). Above you see us with Dr. Bill Graff, a crazy man with crazy ties (lots of them), but he loves the Lord and he loves his students. He has been a great encouragement over the years.

Sorry we didn't get to see you, Mom Graff!

Dr. Paul Leiffer, now Chairman of the Department of Engineering, was one of our Electrical Engineering professors (as was Dr. Graff). We did some grading for both Dr. Graff and Dr. Leiffer while we were students at LeTourneau.
Ah, ye old Bell Tower.
I remember climbing thy scaffolding to the pinnacle just before ye were completed.
Oh' the good old days.
Now a university icon, the Bell Tower was added to the campus mall (the greenbelt corridor down which this picture was taken) in the early 1990's.
Dr. Graff fabulously presented each of our children with some crazy shaped balloons, which they loved. Here I sit with Syndi in the car as we left Longview, Texas, heart-shaped balloon beside.
It was good to visit the campus! It had been a few years. Aunt Lorrie was able to see a school she'd heard much about over the years. (Apparently it was much different than she had anticipated.)
Above is another picture of the new Belcher Center, where the Longview Symphony now holds its performances.

Thanksgiving Sleepy Candids

We made our trip to Texas by minivan, and we made a stop at a Holiday Inn Express both coming and going. Hotels stays always provide for some fun pictures. Above you see Syndi, Junior and Stephen spread across a king-size bed on our return stay.
Julia ran across the room and tackled Syndi on the bed!

The she looked up..."Oh...uh...Hi, Dad. We're just playing."

An early morning family gathering to look out the hotel window.
Construction going on next door is always a big draw.
Even at Keith & Val's the kids snuggled.
SyndiLu and StevieBoy...aren't they cute?

Thanksgiving 2007

Thanksgiving Dinner 2007

Pictured clockwise around the table starting with the nearest man: Uncle Keith, Aunt Lorrie (Keith's sister), Stephen, Sylvia, Jon, Junior, Syndi, Aunt Val (Keith's wife), and taking the picture was our cousin, Christopher.

For the 18th time in 19 years, Jon has celebrated Thanksgiving at Keith & Val's (which would mean the 14th time in 15 years for Sylvia). Julia was on the Gymini in the next room as we ate dinner, in case you wonder where she was. Next year she should be able to sit up and eat with us at the table. Then again, next year we'll probably need another table to fit us all.
More to come on the trip, including...
Some Sleepy Candids
A LeTourneau Visit
The Hockey Game
At the Park
Down by the Creek
Around the House
...all from our Texas trip!

Go Fish

Well, it's that time again.

Time to post some cute pictures of Jules!
Here you see her cuddled up in Junior's arms.

Julia loves her big brother.
With that dark hair and those dark eyes,
everyone says she looks like Jon.
Well she certainly does look adorable.

We've gotten into the groove of playing games at lunch or dinner.
This particular picture had us playing Go Fish. Julia seemed to enjoy it as much as Syndi and Junior did.
Look at her study those cards!
And when the game was over...
She wanted to go fishing again. Looks like she caught a shark.
C'mon...admit it. She's cute!
But alas, fishing is tiresome work.
And all princesses must get their beauty sleep.

Racquetball 101

Sylvia and Jon enjoyed a rare date night this week. Monday night we dropped our 4 kids off at Olga's. With her 4 kids, there were 8 kids running about. OK, two are babies who can't even crawl yet,

so 6 run-arounders.

Sylvia and Jon went to the YMCA.
There we played a few friendly games of racquetball. It was fun, but boy was it a workout! We both paid the price on Tuesday morning.
No...we paid dearly all day Tuesday. And I suspect Wednesday has more pain in store. We haven't played racquetball since before Junior was born, so it's been over four-and-a-half years! But it was fun. And I suspect Olga got as much of a workout as we did, keeping track of 8 kids. On Tuesday, our chiropractor said to get back on the horse and ride, so we need child care for our 4 kids again in 2 weeks so we can head to the Y again. Any takers?