May through September

Brendan got free tickets this September to an Astros game with Jeff McCormick. They had box seats and catering. He enjoyed himself immensely.

Labor Day weekend in New Braunfels, we had a great breakfast here with Jeff and Marissa McCormick.
The sock is his camera case.
We went to the Ripley's Believe It or Not by the Alamo in San Antonio.
The best restaurant in the New Braunfels area is this place in Gruene, TX.
Karin's 27th birthday was in August.
Mom, Dad, Kenny, Jack, Leona and I went to Scotland for a week in July. This is the Scottish thistle.
Falkirk Wheel
A parliamentary building in Edinburgh. The black things are supposed to signify curtains drawn back from the windows.
We took a bus tour around Edinburgh with Julia Murray
Kenny and I spent the night in Julia's apartment.A fitting name for this boat in Stonehaven.
Bet you thought this was my grandma Leona....I did.

Jack in Stonehaven.
It doesn't look like much of a hill does it? It is called Bennachie, not far from Aberdeen.
We finally made it to the top after 2 hours.
Kenny being Kenny.
A really cool flower I had never seen before called an Allium, I believe.
I like this picture of my mom at a castle called the Pittodrie House.

Scott and Kimmy Schneider and our cousins came from MN for Kenny's graduation in May.

New Front Yard - April 9, 2010

It is all done! If you don't remember what the front of the house looked like before, there are pictures in previous posts (2007).

Also added some small shrubs along the side of the house.

One of the two beds nearest to the street.

The right side of the house after planting and adding mulching.

Not all the grass had to be replaced, the deep green you see above is the grass that made it.

The right side has sod!

The narrow trench you see above is a French Drain (all the water that comes off the house is diverted to the middle of the yard (one on each side).

One side is ready for new sod!

Also took the opportunity to level the ground on one side.

They removed the existing sod with flat nosed shovels. Easy work!

So this gave us an opportunity to bring the front of the house out of the 70's era!

It all started because the yard contracted sod web worm last year and it destroyed the grass.

2009

We still have Bandit, but now Brendan has developed allergies to her.

Karla, Kenny, and Karin. Kenny is now 6'4" and he may keep going. Plus he has his braces off.
This was Zoe Abe's first birthday party in February. Mom and Dad are Jill and Ayo Abe.
Brendan turned 30 this year and his family was here to celebrate. It was in June so our niece and nephew were able to stay 2 weeks.
We went to Utah in March to ski and see Patty Johnson, my aunt in the work there. We met two of the friends on the slopes.
This is Patty and her companion Katy Kyme (sp?).
My dad was able to fall in that tiny puddle.
My uncle, Brent married Ann Tanjeros. This is at his reception.
Also at Brent's reception.
My friend from high school, Kadi Knauer, got married the same day as my uncle Brent.
My family and I went to Oregon in August to see our second cousins, Lyle and Donny Waldo. This is the Waldo family. Rob and Laura Mae are their parents.
Lyle holding Donny's new baby girl, Ava.
We had a Labor Day Crab feast. The Newmans, Furrows, Chandlers, Rosamonds.
Brendan and I dressed as exterminators for Halloween. None of Brendan's coworkers could figure out who he was until they heard him speak. They actually thought I was the man to begin with.
This December, my family and I went to Minnesota for Todd Bergh's funeral. We got to see my cousin's baby, Emelia.
Playing the table game with my cousins.
The 2-3 inches of snow that Brendan got to see here while I was in Minnesota. It stayed on the ground the people were able to make snowmen.

AN-IKE-IN-MY-SIDE

Hello again. I wish we could be conversing under better circumstances, but things are what they are. IKE came through with an awesome force. Luckily, the only real damage to the house can be seen on the right dormer, some of the brown metal was ripped off (a very loud process). There is not much debris in the front yard because we have no trees on our lot, but the neighbors sure do.
The pool was a receptacle for junk and no I haven't cleaned it out yet. It is going to take some time. The picture is a tad bit deceiving, but there is thick debris on the bottom, trust me!



Looking out the front door to the neighbors you can see someone lost a tree and someone else got lucky that it just missed their house!


This picture is a typical sight in the neighborhood.


This is another lucky neighbor that escaped severe damage. The tree covered the entire road for most of the morning. The interesting part of this picture is that you can notice the tree does not have many roots and the roots that are present are small. I am sure there is a lesson in this somewhere...


Well, this fence was leaning to start with and as you can see it did not bode well for it during the storm. I am sure there is a lesson in this also...

Let's recap: IKE hit at Midnight on Sept 12 and we lost power at 2:30 AM. We regained power at 7:00 PM on Sept 14. We are now busying cleaning the debris from all the crevasses.

Later,
Brendan & Karla

Trip to Europe - Summer 2008

Hello! We went to Europe for two weeks and here are a few pictures from the trip. Considering that nearly 1000+ photos were taken, this is small sample of the wonderful trip!


One of my favorite places we visited was the Garden of Versailles. The gardens had a beautiful serenity about them and it felt like you could get lost in their tranquility!

The Newman bunch somewhere in the gardens.


At the gardens you could test-drive a segway, so we had 15 minutes of fun!


We also visited Germany during the second week. The picture below is Neuschwanstein Castle, the inspiration for the Disney World castle in Florida. This picture was taken from a bridge that was about a ~20 minute walk from the castle.


We also visited Austria during the second week. In Vienna, we met up with the Alford's. It just so happened that the World Cup was in town, so we went to one of the fan zones to see what soccer is all about! Of course, it wouldn't be Europe if it didn't rain, and yes we still got wet!


We also stopped a couple nights to visit some more friends and we were welcomed with open arms once again!
All in all, a fabulous trip filled with great food and great fellowship.

Until next time,
The Furrow's