2015-01-12 Spending More Time in Austin

After our 3 weeks with Karen's father in Seattle, we spent 5 days in Los Angeles. Our niece, Jessica, was in the Color Guard marching with her high school band and we wanted to support her.

Our 5th wheel was still back in Round Rock and we needed to get back to it and continue our traveling. We flew back to Austin from LA on the 2nd of January and stayed with Karen's sister's family for another 10 days.

I managed to find odd jobs around the house that needed to be done to keep myself busy.

Their garage was still 3 deep in boxes since they moved into this new house. The Christmas decoration boxes only added to the pile. So we put those boxes into their place above the garage first. Then Karen, Mark and I started in on the remaining boxes one at a time. If the box wasn't labeled I would label it. There was a garbage pile, a reorganize and stack it pile, and a donate pile.

Margaret pitched in when she got home from work and helped make some tough decisions that the men had no clue about. Eventually after Day Two we were only left with a pile of boxes against one wall and almost room to park two cars.

During the cleanup I got distracted and in the process of moving the dryer to clean behind it, I felt compelled to dismantle it and clean it with a vacuum cleaner. This was a task I was well suited for, having been a Sears Repairman in my prior life.

The dryer vent wasn't on very well so a lot of lint was being sprayed around the garage. I simplified the vent tubing, cleaned it all out, and reattached it. No more lint dust.

While we were cleaning up, Mark mentioned that Margaret had always wanted a cabinet moved over the dryer instead of where it was over the washer. Mark and I made quick work of that job and it was nice that Margaret noticed that it had been moved.

Of course, NONE of this has been documented with pictures. All the participants were too busy doing the work to get any.

About a week later Margaret noticed water coming up from under the water heater wall. Mark and I diagnosed it as a bad water valve going to the washing machine. ONLY two trips to the hardware store later and we had replaced BOTH of the rusty valves.

On our second trip to the store I suggested that we pick up a door insulation kit because both of their outside doors were not sealing well and this probably wasn't helping their gas bill. We thought we'd try ONE kit just to make sure we could install it and make it work. It turned out great and the drafty door is no more. Mark says he'll finish the door going into the garage later.

With that done it was time to start acting retired.

Karen spent time with the girls by taking them shopping. Very few pictures actually exist of these events however.

We had a wonderful time with the Rogers family but it was time to travel on and head east toward Orlando.

2015-01-01 Jessica's Big Day at the Rose Parade

Our niece, Jessica, is in the Color Guard at Round Rock High School. The school was invited by the Rose Parade Committee to march in the 2015 Rose Parade. We wouldn't miss this for the world!

Of course, since cold weather had chased us from Missouri to Oklahoma to Texas it was to be expected that it would join us in Southern California as well. As we walked to our seats along Colorado Blvd at 6:30 am we had multiple layers of clothes and jackets on to hold out the 36 degree cold.

Once in our seats it was obvious, because of all the Dragon colors around us, that we were surrounded by Round Rock friends and families. But, we were still cold.

As the parade started we were thrilled to see the Northrop B2 Spirit (Stealth Bomber) fly directly overhead.

The Round Rock Dragon Band was the 11th attraction in the parade so we didn't have to wait long to scream and show our support for the band.

Jessica is just above the camera

Jessica is the blonde in the middle of the picture.

They got plenty of air time on the television stations with Al Roker singing Sweet Caroline along with the band. Jessica is in row 6 (4th row from the back) and second line from our side of the street.

Jessica on TV

Here's another video by the local Austin TV station.

Austin TV Coverage of Round Rock High School

The rest of the parade lasted 2 hours and it took us nearly that long to get out of the Pasadena area after the parade.

2014-12-31 Leaving Seattle Pasadena Bound

Karen's father was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in early December. We flew back home to take care of him for a few weeks until his body healed from the surgeries.

The family discussed what Dick's care should look like moving forward and it was discussed with the Hospice nurse as well. Karen's brother, Vern, arranged for 24 hour in-home care. As Karen and I headed for Pasadena to see our niece, Jessica, march in the Rose Parade, the new caregivers took over for us in Vern's home.

Our short week in LA included In-N-Out Burger and a few hours at Downtown Disney walking around soaking up the Disney atmosphere.

Bandfest on Tuesday was our first opportunity to see Jessica perform with her high school. She twirls many different sizes and colors of flags during their 10 minute routine. The theme was Arabian Nights and they played a song from Aladdin.

After Bandfest we made our way over to three different locations in Pasadena to see the parade floats getting their remaining flowers installed. I was surprised how meticulous they were in placing flowers and even the petals of the flowers on the various parts of the floats.

New Year's Eve is famously the busiest day of the year at Disneyland and that's where we were headed on Wednesday. We had a plan for the attractions we would ride in the morning and lunch reservations were made for just before noon at Cafe Orleans.

Jessica was due to march down Main Street around 4:30 pm so for the rest of the afternoon we shopped around the park, stood in line for a couple of more rides and staked out our viewing spot a couple of hours before showtime.

And then it was time for Jessica to shine as her school marched right down the middle of Main Street USA - DIRECTLY IN FRONT OF US.

We spend the rest of the evening waiting to ride Space Mountain and then watching the lights turn on on the Castle. Sarah show us how to take pictures with our phone.

Tomorrow would be ANOTHER fantastic day as we would see Jessica on Colorado Blvd in the Rose Parade.