(Click each photo for a larger view)
Greetings again from
Houston
where the Christmas holiday spirit is well underway! We hope your year
has been as good as ours (hopefully even better than ours).
First, to catch up on events of 2006, Becky surprised Paul with a birthday trip
to Branson to see the Andy Williams Christmas show. We’ve been trying to
see Williams for a while, but he was always on hiatus when we visited Branson.
It was a memorable show, and we even got to see snow on the ground for the first
time in a while.
Angela finished up 2006 by taking a
whirlwind trip to
London
and
Paris
with a friend from school. While in
England
, they visited
Warwick
Castle
, Stratford-upon-Avon (Shakespeare’s hometown), and
Oxford
, but they spent most of their time in
London
. Some
London
activities included climbing atop St. Paul’s Cathedral, dining on Tex-Mex at
the former Texas Embassy, and visiting Westminster Abbey, but the highlight was
seeing Wicked on London’s West End featuring the Tony award winning original
Broadway star. They also took a day trip to
Paris
and saw all the typical tourist sites. Click
here to view Angela's web site which has many more pictures.
Paul had a year of ups and one big down. The year started with Paul
“training” with his boss who participated in the MS-150 bike ride from
Houston
to
Austin
. (Paul was too late to sign up for the MS-150). But it still meant
several weekends of 40-70 mile bike rides resulting in 1200 bicycle miles by
July 
31st. But on August 1st, Paul took a tumble from the bike on the way
to work and ended up with a broken collar bone. He had to work from home
for four weeks and bike riding was out of the question. The doctor gave
strenuous bike riding a green light in November, but so far there have been no
two-wheel trips to the office and less than 200 miles have been ridden since
August. The bone is not expected to fully heal until spring of 2008.
Becky, meanwhile, got a new bike in January and was accompanying Paul on shorter
rides of 10 miles or so during cooler weekends. Her top distance has been 20
miles (Angela’s top distance is 35 miles). Becky still works at
West
Houston
Medical
Center
. In addition to nursing duties in post-partum and the nursery, she works
part time in the Employee Health Office where she works with new hire health
screening, giving immunizations, and doing paperwork relating to on-the-job
injuries. It’s a job that has “real people working hours,” so she
gets to clock out before sundown!
Becky continues to get more adept at woodworking. She made a kitchen
cabinet for her mother and some rolling wooden rattles for nieces Briana and
Corissa Pressel. She spent a couple weeks in November at her mother’s
house installing the cabinet, and with the help of brothers Randy and Tony,
redoing one of the house’s bathrooms.
Danny and Crystal remain busy at their house. Danny spent most of the year
delivering for Pizza Hut, but recent car troubles have him working in the
kitchen instead. We think he misses the driving! Danny also helped
out at our house during August and September when Paul was unable to mow the
lawn.
Crystal
has started a pet care service and is working to build business. They
also adopted two new dogs: Cerbie is a pointer and Brigit is a mini Dachshund.
Click here for more photos of Danny and Crystal.
Angela’s
on the verge of becoming a veterinarian with graduation on May 8th. She
has already signed a one year contract with
Acres
North
Veterinary
Hospital
in
Lubbock
, where she worked during undergrad. Meanwhile she is busy with clinical
rotations at Texas A&M University. Angela got a new Australian Shepherd
this year named Cheno (left) , and he turned one-year-old on December 11th.
Click here for a couple more Angela photos
In April we took a “driving with the camper” trip to
Florida
. We visited with Paul’s niece Sharon and her husband Mike in St.
Petersburg, Paul’s brother Robert and his wife Jean in Cape Coral, and
Becky’s Aunt Lillian
Bowser
in
Ft.
Lauderdale
(where Becky’s mother was also visiting). We camped at
Pensacola
Beach
and
Key West
, became addicted to key lime pie, and saw several lighthouses along the Gulf
and
Atlantic
coasts. In
Key West
, we dined at Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville Café and saw several six-toed
cats at Ernest Hemingway’s house. Click
here for more photos of our 2007 vacations.
Paul enjoys seeing off-beat attractions and was pleasantly surprised during our
October trip to
Kerrville
,
Texas
. We found a field that had a 3/4 scale replica of Stonehenge as well as a
couple of “
Easter Island
” heads. Now there is no point in taking an expensive overseas trip to
see these attractions!
We also traveled to
Lubbock
in August to attend a memorial service for Paul’s cousin Becky Larson, who
passed away unexpectedly. In spite of the sorrow, it was nice getting
reacquainted with members of the Larson family.
Finally, Paul flew to
Dayton
at the conclusion of Becky’s two week trip there to join her for two
Thanksgiving dinners. The first, at her mother’s house, was attended by 31
people, including all of Becky’s brothers and sisters, their families, and 6
great-grandchildren. The second, at Paul’s mother’s, was attended by
Paul’s brother Robert, Jean, Patrick, Jean’s father, and Mom’s neighbors.
There was also a pair of wiffle ball games, and Paul won both! Click
here for photos of the Thanksgiving Feasts! (You'll need to scroll down on
the page.)
And what would a Van House year be without some sort of baseball connection?
We attended games in
St. Petersburg
(Tampa Bay Devil Rays) and
Miami
(Florida Marlins). There were numerous games in
Houston
, and we were there when Craig Biggio smacked hit number 3000 (Left) and the final hit
of his career, number 3060.
It’s been a busy year and we look forward to hearing
about yours!
