Spring Break

Spring Break was last week but things have been so hectic I just haven't had a chance to post about it. I went to Texas/Mississippi to visit family and Jake went to Germany, Austria, Lichtenstein, and Switzerland. He had a great time and experienced the old and majestic places of these countries.

The first picture(above) is in Vienna, Austria and is the palace of Marie Theresa. The 2nd picture is the students in Munich in front of one of Hitler's favorite speech making places, You can see Jake's smiling face in the center of the group to the left of the red haired girl. The 3rd picture is a sculpture in the Dachau concentration camp, representing the way the Nazis stacked the bodies. Jake said this was a very solemn place and everyone whispered. The 4th picture is the famous Glockenspeil in Munich. The last picture is Neuschwanstein Castle (taken through a bus window).

This next group of pictures are some of Jake's favorites. The lion sculpture is the Dying Lion of Lucerne and Jake said it was really cool. It is a monument to Swiss soldiers who died in the French revolution. The next two pictures are of the Alps, which I think are magnificent. This last picture is of the McDonald's in Vienna. Jake was impressed with how upscale it seemed to be.

I went off to Mississippi and didn't bring a camera. But I had a great time. My sister Faye, picked me up at the Houston airport and then we drove to Mississippi. We talked and sang Beatles songs and ate pita chips. We met up with Mama at about 7:30pm at the Hollywood casino where Mom had us a room. The wind was blowing so hard that our hair was standing straight up as we got out of the car. We had some dinner and then Faye and I watched "No Country for Old Men" while Mom tried her luck at the games. The movie was really good, but quite chilling. Javier Bardem definitely deserved his Oscar for his performance. The next day we went to the Island View in Gulfport, where we stayed two nights. My sister, Diana, came over and spent time with us and we went to her house for a while. Diana has the most serene and peaceful porch and it is so nice to sit there and rock and look at the water. We sang some hymns and had some good visits. We went back to the Island View and ate. I had some really good fried green tomatoes - yum. The food was really good there. Faye and I watched movies both nights - Charlie Wilson's War (I enjoyed Phillip Seymour Hoffman's performance in that one) and Atonement. Faye liked that one better than I did because she had read the book. We also got to watch the first two installments of John Adams on HBO. I don't have HBO, so I will have to wait until it comes out on DVD to watch the rest of it, but what we saw was really good. Faye and I went back to Texas on Thursday. We got to Denham Springs and ran into stalled traffic because of a wreck, so we pulled off and found an antique village where Faye hit bank on some bells and owls. When we got to Houston, Joey was there. Joey is Faye's son and the first nephew and is just the sweetest and best guy you could ever want to know. We had some dinner from Lupe Tortilla's, and visited with Bob when he came home and then we crashed. We were both tired out. On Friday, Faye treated us to a massage that was awesome. Then we visited with Louise, Layla and Joey at their house. I also got to meet Louise's Mom, Sally, and her sister Michelle and Michelle's daughter Alex and a nephew, Andrew. This was my first meeting with Layla, my great niece, who is two. She is a cutie and we had a lot of fun getting her to tell us things and playing with her toys. This is a picture of the five of us. (If I had only had my curling iron, I wouldn't be quite so scary in this picture). We went home that night and had left overs and Faye and I watched "The Painted Veil" which Diana had recommended. It was a good movie, but we couldn't figure out where the name came from. The next morning, very early, Faye took me to the airport and I was home and walking in my door by noon, at which time I put on my pajamas and went to bed. lol It was a great time away, but as always, it is nice to be home.