What Happened to Summer!

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What happened to the rest of summer!   The last time I wrote it was June!  Lets see if I can catch you up with the Abbotts on events of summer.  

As I established in my last post… It is Hot in Texas in the summer and in August it  just got hotter!  

There weren’t too many 100 + days but it stayed close enough to keep us Texans inside an air conditioned building, cold & icy …the way we like our tea.         We celebrated Johnathan’s Surprise Birthday in July and he was as surprised as if he never planned it.    It was a great time of family gathering to celebrate another wonderful year of John’s life.   

   I attended a Christian Writer’s Workshop and loved it!   I learned some great tips about writing and publishing.   Now all I need to do is put it to work!   

Our daughter Missy and family came home for a surprise visit from Australia and we were able to officially welcome our little Katie Bug into the family. 

    She weathered the trip with surprising ease and was indulgent with everyone who wanted to hug and kiss her.

  It was wonderful to visit with Missy and Wes and we were sad for the day we had to send them back to Australia.   We have found out they will be moving back to the States in December.    Our hope and prayer is that it is right back here in Texas.

 

The Grands are back in school and involved in their extra curricular activities.  That has kept Big Daddy and I busy either attending their game or buying their fundraisers.   


  Jimmy is on a wilderness camping trip and we look forward to hearing about that plus has been working at a scuba shop and was certified for diving.   

 Pierson is playing tennis and on the Cat Corp, which is a group of young men who represent their school during extra curricular activities.  They do many crazy things…  as well as look good. 

  Katelyn is cheering for Bishop Lynch and is very busy with their games and a tough academic year.  She won a top NCA cheer award during cheer camp and invited to go to Ireland. 

  









Ashton is beginning her first year of tennis and we look forward to some of her games plus continues to sing with the school choir.  Her starring role in her school musical has us ready for more! 

Justin is in football again and tough as ever.   He is busy with scouts and enjoying school.    Go Justin!!

  Johnathan has started preschool and just returned from a trip to California with his mommy and daddy.   He went to Disney and loved the Santa Monica Beach.  

     











Katie Bug is in her fifth month….and is creeping  and jumping around in her little jumper.  Too cute.   We get to visit with her via Skype.  Thank the Lord for Skype!   I loved watching her jump in that little thing.   

Our business is picking back up and God is blessing our efforts.   We have lots of help from Jeff & Pierson with our property management and Lara continues to sell real estate with us.   Larry is still mentoring me and I enjoy learning all the practical application of real estate.   Josh is on the road a lot with his job.   Though travel can be tiring on a regular basis he has enjoyed seeing the different parts of the country.     We enjoy the times we are able to get together with each of  our family  and look forward to the holiday season. 

Big Daddy and Mimi

Granny and Elaine
at Johnathan's  Party

Dee Dee and Jeff

James the master chef

Lara enjoys a summer cruise

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                                           Missy, Wes and Kate 

 Luisa, Elaine & Granny

 Josh with Katie Bug and  Johnathan 

Our Blessings to each of you!  

Elaine, Larry and Family  

June in Texas

June in Texas starts getting hot...and this year we got a jump on it.... The occasional shower cools us off a bit.... but as we enter July it promises more hot days to come... That's OK though... I LOVE Texas....and hot is just part of the package...

So whats been going on deep in the heart of Texas...........

Larry's last scan was good... yay! I have more photos of his innards to add to our growing file... He is feeling good...and work is picking up.... We have much to be thankful for.

Larry

Our family is all doing well....

Jeff and family plan a trip to Branson , Mo this month.... Pierson is working this summer to earn extra money... playing on the varsity tennis team and in training for Cat Corp....a group that represents his school in assemblies and games etc... It is a great honor that he was selected...

Pierson, varsity tennis competition

and Ashton had the starring role in her school musical in May. Way to go Pierson and Ashton!

Ashton as a pirate in starring role in school musical

Lara just returned from visiting her new niece in Australia and left just days later with her family on a Caribbean Cruise...

Lara & James



Jimmy had some great spring camping and canoe trips....

Jimmy camping with friends

Katelyn had a surprise sweet sixteen birthday party in May .... Yay Katelyn!

Katelyn's Sweet Sixteen Party

Justin got to go to Tennessee to compete after winning state in Destination Imagination with his school. Yay! Justin!

Justin as state winner of Destination Imagination

Josh and Luisa plan a trip in September to Israel..and Johnathan gets to stay with us!!! Yay!!

Luisa is excited about their upcoming trip

Johnathan is about to have his 4th birthday! Can you believe it! He asked me just tonight if I was going to come to his " surprise " birthday party... :-) His favorite game is playing super heroes ....and sometimes his dad plays super heroes with him too... :-)

Josh & Johnathan playing super heroes

Missy and Wes are still adjusting to new parenthood and loving it!!

Our Smiling Kate Bella

We just celebrated my folks' ( Granny & Papaw to all ) 60th Wedding Anniversary. We created an album with photos and words to let them know how much they have blessed our lives... They loved it!

My Mom & Dad

We had a great 4th of July. We spent it at an annual party at our friends the Bowling's house... along with many other church friends... After dinner we sit on their balcony that overlooks north Dallas ( they are in Highland Park ) and can see several firework shows at once... It is great!

Larry & Greg Bowling at the July 4th party

another notable event in our life.....
James' little sister, Lizzy, was married in Feb...and it was such a blessed event...

Lizzy's beautiful wedding

All in all it has been a very blessed year so far.... We have enjoyed spending time with friends and family....

With my cousin Lisa

We are praying .... good health and joy to all!

Elaine & Larry

Leaving Australia

After about 24 hours of airport lines and flight the Abbotts made it back home to Texas!

Leaving Australia joins the list of hard good byes. Knowing that we were leaving our kids and new granddaughter a Pacific Ocean away made us very sad.

Before we knew it though we were in Dallas and our son in law James was giving us big hugs of welcome at the airport. As soon as we got home we immediatly went to have our usual "Mexican Food after a trip". Can you say wonderful!!

Josh brought Sassy to us that evening or at least we thought it was Sassy. Peeking out of some black and white paper was his dog chuy...pretending to be Sassy. We got a good laugh out of that.

Sassy was anxiously waiting in the car and was as predictably excited as we hoped she would be.

We got a call from Missy and Wes around midnight and filled each in on our time apart.

Melbourne, Australia is about as other side of the world....and down under as you can get. They are on the other side of the international dateline down near Antarctica and even have different constellations because they are in the southern hemisphere! What that meant to us in good ole Texas is not being able to sleep at night because we were still on Aussie time. It was strange rambling around at 3 am with Larry because we were wide awake.

:-) After two days of watching movies all night and having chats about our trip I decided I had sleep deprivation and it was time to take some Ambien. I needed about two more days of catching up on sleep and I was back to central time zone and only a little jet lag fatigue.

We are settling in to a routine finally.... and maybe in a few more days I will get my things back in place so I can find them! We have talked to Missy and Wes most every day and it helps to know they are making it just fine.

Activities have begun to pick things up a bit and we have enjoyed catching back up with everyone. Being home is a nice place to be.

We have much to be grateful for. Our wonderful trip to be with our daughter and family was such a blessing. The travel though long was safe and we were well taken care of by Qantas. We had quality time with our family and enjoyed some wonderful activities. Our family back home welcomed us with love and took care of things for us so we could enjoy our trip. Friends galore have encouraged us...prayed for us and were pleased at our joy. We thank God for the wonderful way He has blessed us and thank you for your love and prayers.

My God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4:19

St. Oswald's Church, St. Kilda's Beach, Dandenong Ranges & The Yarra Valley

I have alot of blogging to catch up on and we leave tomorrow! Hard to believe the time has already gone by. It has been an amazing trip and it is great to see my little Missy getting around and things beginning to settle into a routine. They still have some areas they want to work on, our little Kate seems to have her nights and days mixed up, but babies will do that and it will all sort itself out before they know it.

Let me cover a few of the daytrips we have taken…. After Larry arrived we took some opportunities to let him see a bit of the area. I will give an overview of some of the amazing things we saw and include a few pics.

St. Oswald's Church

Larry & I enjoyed mass at this lovely old church. Afterward we were invited for

coffee and bisquets ( cookies ) in the Parish Kitchen.

We answered all their questions about America and they filled us in a bit about their church traditions in Australia. We enjoyed our time in worship and fellowship with them.

St Kilda’s Beach

St. Kilda’s Beach is Melbourne’s playground. You can stroll, enjoy cafés & pubs, watch the locals, rollerblade & cycle along the Lower Esplanade or enjoy all the shops. The day we went was coolish but St Kilda’s Beach just off the CBD of downtown is a must on a Melbourne visit. (Pronounced Melbun….no R ) There were plenty of people there taking in the sun….and did not seem put off by the brisk day. We enjoyed the shops and stopped in for my favorite…. large chunks of fried potatoes with a bit of crisp to them and always very hot and served on a big piece of butcher block paper. After wandering in and out of shops we headed down to the beach. It is a beautiful beach and though nippy we enjoyed the lovely walk.


Dandenong Ranges

Perched high above Melbourne amid glades of ancient ferns, towering trees, enchanted forests and storybook villages is a spellbinding region. This was my first time in the Dandenongs and I loved it immediately! It was a gorgeous sunny day and Wes, Larry & I (Missy and Kate stayed back this day) was drawn into the beauty of the mountains ahead of us as we climbed the roads to our destination. We traveled through Fern tree Gully that was named because there is an actual fern tree! We stopped and fed large white cockatoos, red cockatiels and pink fluffy parrots who were not afraid to land on our hands, arms and backs. These birds are not in captivity but live in the rain forest of the Dandenong Ranges. One bold white cockatoo took Wes’ whole bag of bird feed and flew to a nearby tree when I pursued it. That drew a laugh from everyone and I gladly gave over the rest of my bag to get away from the hungry birds for fear they would start on me next! We saw beautiful gardens, quaint and cozy breakfast cottages with plenty of old world charm. At the sky top summit we got out for some picture taking and then headed back in Wes’ jeep on an unpaved road! As I gripped the bar in front of me I commented that it felt like a roller coaster ride….and I wasn’t kidding! We all proclaimed it was a perfect day and shared our tales with Missy and Kate when we returned.




Yarra Valley

Missy & Kate joined us on this full day outing. Our destination was the Yarra Valley. From world famous wines to fabulously fresh food and breathtaking scenery, the Yarra Valley is Victoria’s source of indulgent sensations. There is nothing like the magical mountain villages and sun kissed gardens or magnificent forests and cozy bed and breakfasts.
Our first stop was the Healsville Sanctuary. It is Australia’s only Wildlife Centre. It features the Duck Billed Platypus, which is an endangered species. This year there was much excitement about the twin platypuses born. The sanctuary is beautiful in the natural habitat and you can wander in and among the animals with only the most dangerous contained. We also saw Dingo, kangaroo, wallaby, ostrich, Tasmanian Devil, snakes, lizards and much more. Larry loved it and drug me from a warm spot because I missed seeing the large fruit bats up close and personal. Ewwww! We got to feed the kangaroo and that was pretty cool. .

Healsville Sanctuary

Kangaroo

Dingo

Kookaburra

Our next stop was the Wine Boutiques and Wineries. The Yarra Valley is recognized as one of the world’s great wine growing regions. It is home to over 55 wineries and is one of Australia’s finest cool climate regions, which is what produces such excellent wine. We lunched, tested sips of the wine and a variety of cheeses. The scenery is breathtaking with vineyards sweeping the entire valley with colored roses marking the type of grapes grown in each section. The afternoon warmed up when the sun came out and added to the perfection of what we were seeing. Eventually it was time to call it a day and head home.

Vineyards

Today we went to the Queen Victoria Market for a bit of shopping. It is a large marketplace somewhat like a flea market but with fresh vegetables, meats and cheeses along with almost anything else you can think of. We shopped for a while enjoying the busy marketplace taking time to make some purchases and then headed home. I prepared chicken cheese rellenos for dinner and we will spend the rest of the evening packing for our return trip home to Texas. Your prayers for travel mercies would sure be appreciated.

Queen Victoria Market

I will lie down in peace, and sleep; for You alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.
Psalm 4:8