Bracken Range

Ah, back at the range! It took a couple tries, but we finally scored a spot at the crowded range. There must have been lots of guns wrapped up under the Christmas tree this year because this was one happening place. We tried to go the day before but the range was jam packed when we arrived half an hour after they opened. Today we arrived 15 minutes before they opened and were already the eleventh car in line at the gate. Fortunately we got two adjacent stalls. Above, Dad shoots Katie's gun (SIG 229 semi-automatic 40mm) and Katie shoots Dad's newest gun (Model 1911 .45 caliber semi-automatic pistol). It was musical guns for us that day.

My favorite is the 38 revolver (Smith & Weston 60 2-1/8" 357 magnum) just because it's easiest to shoot and feels best in my hand. It's not as fancy as the others but it suits me perfectly.

I tested my accuracy with the single-handed shots. Just about as inaccurate as the carefully supported two-handed shots. I have to say a year away from the shooting range did me no good.

Katie's six months away from the range didn't stop her. She was even getting compliments from the neighboring shooters, duly impressed with her shooting abilities and gun ownership.

And here we have the tell-all target from Dad's stall. Dad shot out a good chunk of the top two targets. The bottom right target shows my splatter of shots - not quite as tight a grouping as theirs. I must need more practice.

Wii

Mom won a Wii through school nearly a year ago (we've never been big on video games - can you tell?). Lisa's friend Carly hooked it up for us and pioneered the way. We made mii's for Mom and Dad and later a black gospel singer alter ego named Shaniqua for sister Lisa. Dad was quick to jump in and demonstrate some mad skills in both tennis and boxing.


He got right into it, far more than we expected. It was extraordinarily entertaining to watch his face contort with his swift, sharp movements. Intense!

I jumped in to test the boxing game. I knocked out my opponent in the second round. Yup, I'd say that's about right.

That's what I'm talkin' about! Now if only I could win a game of tennis...

Merry Christmas!

Aren't Christmas morning pictures the best? We're oh so lovely. We're sporting our matching 'Under the Mistletoe' pj's at ages 30, 28, and 20, oh yeah!!

The beloved 'Masked Beauty' artwork I found at the 'Keep Austin Bizarre' Christmas Bazaar. With 3D glasses, the artwork separates into different layers - beautiful!! I was super spoiled at Christmas this year - something about there being benefits to being close to home. There's nothing subliminal about my family's 'come home' mentality.

Lisa, mom, Katie, and I ham it up for the camera. We do this so rarely that it was a unique opportunity to capture the candid moment. Ya right.

Dad with the daughters.

Grandpa with the ladies - always the ladies' man.

Mom and Dad laugh at my insane prompting behind the camera.

Christmas Eve 2008

What a good looking family! Dad, Mom, Katie, me, and Lisa have a slew of Christmas traditions beginning with attending church on Christmas Eve. After church we come home to dinner already in the oven - always pasty (a northern recipe of pie crust stuffed with pork, steak, potatoes and carrots, eaten with ketchup) and seven layer salad, followed by trifle dessert (reminiscent of strawberry shortcake) later in the evening. After dinner, we do a driving tour of Christmas lights in fancy schmancy dec'd out neighborhoods. Then we read two Christmas stories - the story of Jesus' birth in the Bible and 'Twas the Night Before Christmas. Then we sing Christmas carols aided by retired Sun 'n Fun sing-along books provided by my Grandpa (and his winter-time retirement park). Those with more advanced vocal chords add some harmony to the mix (that would not be me).


Here's a family shot at home with Grandpa in the mix!

And the goofy sistas with Jack giving some lovin' to his much loved Aunt Katie.

Keep Austin Bizarre Christmas Bazaar

Austin's popular 'Keep Austin Weird' phrase designed to promote small businesses took a bit of a twist for the 'Keep Austin Bizarre' Christmas Bazaar. After a romp at Auditorium Shores dog park with Jack, I ventured across the street to the Palmer Events Center and took a stroll through some truly unique art.


It was at this bazaar where I encountered a new BFF, Darren Minke. He's an Austin artist that created an amazing 3D graphic art masterpiece entitled Masked Beauty (see Christmas blog entry for photo). I loved it and had to have it. I loved it so much I decided to buy it in triplicate, for each of the sisters. It reminded me of New Orleans, where Katie and I took Lisa for her 18th birthday during Mardi Gras. He went to his nearby house to produce a second version on the fly that evening, but the third version was a bit of an operation involving a slew of texts and a last minute rendezvous at the Armadillo where I sweet talked my way in without having to pay the entrance fee. What a girl will do for the perfect gift.

Jill's First Christmas Tree

Rick mentioned that what would make his day is to see his name in lights. Well, naturally I am in the business of making Rick's day. Dan and Dawnlyn helped me drape his name in white Christmas lights. Upon the grand reveal, Rick had the gall to ask if the lights blinked. I said "they sure do!" as I pulled the plug in and out of its outlet.

After work, I swung by Andrea's Christmas Cookies & Cocktails party, where I got to see a number of friends from URS and her new City of Austin coworkers. Then it was a mad dash to the home to pick up Jack before circling back north to Jill's house.

That night, I looked at a few more lights as Michelle, Cyndi, and I proceeded to decorate Jill's very first Christmas tree in her very own house.

Jack cheered us on as we decorated the tree.

Jill put the finishing touch on the tree with amplified crowd directions and tweaking instructions.


Look at that finished product! Cyndi, Jill & Zach, and me with Duke (Michelle's rescue dog)

After decorating the tree, we engaged in a riveting game of Pictionary. It was a close game but ultimately Jill and I conquered. Cyndi was not appreciative of Michelle's witty strategy to draw random pictures to confuse and throw off Jill and me during All Play - perhaps only because we somehow did guess the unlikely phrase 'Grey's Anatomy'.

Trail of Lights

The Trail of Lights is a continuous 1.25 mile long display of 41 lighted scenes and special features including Santa's House, Santa’s post box, a giant Yule Log, a crafts fair, food and beverage stands, a holiday train ride and two stages of entertainment. The display is set up in Zilker Park, just south of Town Lake (recently renamed Lady Bird Lake but I'm rejecting the new name), with the city line as its backdrop. The festival, originally known as Yule Fest, began in 1965 as a holiday gift from the Parks and Recreation Department to the citizens of Austin and its visitors. The first display, "The Twelve Days of Christmas", was initially set up in Zilker Park and still holds a prominent location on the Trail every year. The first festival lasted four days and consisted of a candlelight path, dance performances, a live nativity scene, and the Yule log. Through the years the festival continues to grow and long lasting traditions, such as the trail of lighted displays, a 5K run, the Zilker tree lighting, an Opening Night Parade sustain the holiday memories of thousands of families. In 1992, the festival was renamed the Trail of Lights.

The Trail of Lights is free, open to the public, and, as with many places in Austin, dog-friendly. I decided this would be Jack's and my evening activity. A couple FEMA friends, Dan and Dawnlyn, joined us in our venture. To avoid an imminent parking fiasco, we decided to hoof it to the park, a measley 3 miles in each direction from our downtown hotel. We encountered a number of other dogs on the trail along with countless strollers. We ever so slowly worked our way through a dense blanket of meandering gawkers. Dawnlyn lost her glasses en route and bought a neon blue light saber to help with the search on our return that evening. We failed to find them that evening, but amazingly she did retrieve them the next morning in broad daylight.

Here are a few of the many displays from the Trail of Lights (Rudolph above). Check out http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/tol/displays.htm if you'd like to see more pictures.

Land of Cartoons

This educational exhibit showed a rain storm followed by water flowing in the river, with a rainbow appearing when the sun came out. Pretty cool and crowd stopping.

Journey of the Kings

Candyland

Dilloville

Creative "ELF" names

Dan, me, and Jack (the flying dog) in the Holiday Memories cut out

In 1967 the Zilker Tree, the "World's Largest Man-made Tree", made its first appearance at the festival. The festival begins with the Zilker tree lighting, a 155 feet tall, 180 feet diameter lighted man-made tree consisting of 3,309 bulbs on 39 streamers strung from Austin's historical Moonlight Tower.

After surviving the masses at the Trail of Lights, we stopped for a cold beer and apps at Green Mesquite, which allows dogs on the patio, on our way back to the hotel.

Armadillo Christmas Bazaar

The next morning, dare I say afternoon, Kory and I took Jack to Town Lake for a good walk and his daily visit to the dog park. We then met up with Adam and ventured to the best and most frequented spot for brunch after a night out on the town - Kerbey Lane! We went to the original location which is in an old house with lots of local flair and hippie curb appeal. We ended the day with a visit to the Armadillo Christmas Bazaar housed in the Austin Convention Center just across from the hotel.


The bazaar hosts lots of great musicians throughout its run. We were lucky enough to hear Toni Price, who was an amazing performer and gave us two long sets of beautiful tunes to shop to and listen to while some danced and sang along. I happened to leave the bazaar at the same time as she did, and she was singing "Holly Jolly Christmas" through the hallways. She was full of joy and vitality and enthusiasm - very fun! Not being one to hold back, I of course told her all of this.


We found lots of unique gifts for others and ourselves at the Armadillo. One for you, one for me. One for you, two for me. Is that the Christmas spirit or what?!

Kory's visit left a very favorable impression on our Austin newbie, so he'll surely be back to pick up where we left off.

Henry Holiday Party

Me, Kory, Kelly, Bob, Derek, and Chris fist to something though I can't for the life of me remember what. Kory made the trek to Austin this weekend for his first exposure to this fabulous city. We started the night at a URS friend's Christmas party, where Kory fit right in. He works in the Raleigh URS office and knew some of the same people as the Austin crowd.

Jerimi (in the blue shirt on the left) and her husband Brian hosted the Christmas party well stocked with spiked egg nog, peppermint shots, a Live Oak keg, and a full bar.


There was a suggested party theme of tackiest Christmas sweaters. A few people took it to heart and dressed in spectacular style.

After the party, we headed downtown for a taste of 4th St, West 6th St, more 4th St, and a general run around the city. I was on a mission to show Kory the heart of Austin, and somehow we entirely side-stepped the famous part of 6th St. Oops. We did however join my hotel staff friends for a beer at the Gingerman, my favorite Austin pub with over 100 beers on tap. Sadly, the Gingerman is soon to be relocated to a building with inevitably far less character and fewer memories. Dang the downtown development!! They're destroying all the local flavor. Kory's night was made when he spotted a character from the latest season of Big Brother. Being the TV lacky that I am, I had no clue who he was or that Big Brother is still polluting the TV airwaves. Seriously? We later met up with a mutual FEMA friend Adam, who'd been on a Christmas bar crawl and barely crawled back to our mutual hotel at the night's end.

Handel's Messiah

Jill organized a night out to see Austin's Symphony Orchestra and Chorus perform Handel's Messiah at Riverbend Centre. Jill, Cyndi, Jayne, FEMA Dan, and I went to be holiday festivized. “Messiah” was first performed in spring of 1742 in Dublin and chronicles the story of Jesus Christ. It is divided into three sections: Part I explores the ancient prophesy of the coming of a Messiah and Christ's birth. Part II deals with Christ's suffering and death. Part III is an affirmation of Christian faith.


Earlier that day, FEMA Dan and I were touring the Hurricane Ike damages at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, one of our clients. We got the insiders tour through the research labs and patient care areas. We ate lunch in the well-furbished hospital cafeteria where I learned that my client Jan was taking care of his daughter's dog named Jack for so long that he created an adoption certificate claiming custody of the dog. I found it so humorous given my parents' guardianship of Jack for the past year and a half that I modified the certificate and gifted temporary custody of my dog Jack to my dad at Christmas (only for so long as it behooves my phrenetic lifestyle). I don't think he found it quite as funny as I did. On the way home from our site visit, we saw some crazy weather, including this rain storm happening a few miles away from where we were driving.

Dickens on the Strand

Here's the view from Kory's condo balcony with the bay to the left and the city line to the right.


We had some of his FEMA friends over for memosas and snacks before heading off to the 'Dickens on the Strand' festival that afternoon.

From L to R, Kory, Anne, Cindy, Mary, and Barry sip memosas (made with strawberry champagne for a twist recommended by the host extraordinaire) and delve into far too much shop talk for our one day off. All these people are planners and are on a long term recovery team to help rebuild the communities affected by the hurricanes. They love their jobs.

The Dickens on the Strand 35th annual festival promotes the Victorian era and heritage of the historic downtown area. The festival originated in 1973, and a bit of destruction from Ike did not falter the tradition, despite 12 feet of flooding.

Galveston's downtown area is teemed with antique shops, boutiques, art galleries, and restaurants. During the festival, the streets are lined with costumed patrons, entertainers, vendors, and food and drink stands. Bring on the turkey legs and mulled wine.

The next several pictures are from the festival's afternoon parade including a re-enactment of Charles Dickens' novel "A Christmas Carol".

me and Kory at the festival

We happened upon my Austin co-worker and friend JT at the festival! He and Lauren were costumed up and fully participating in the day's festivities. JT is working with FEMA in Galveston - we're everywhere!

Mary, Cindy, Kory, Anne, and Barry did their part to support the local economy buying up all the local Texan merchandise they could get their hands on.