Hoppin' John, a Southern Tradition

It's a Southern Tradition that if you eat Black-eyed peas on rice
on the first day of the New Year (Called Hoppin' John), you'll have
good luck all year through. My cute Katie and Mike put together
a Hoppin' John Party and invited the Thompson Crew.
Here we are together...



Eliza, showing you what it's all about.



Savanna and I, she's telling me a good one.



Steve Tate, and Warren Shuman with Cute Mike near the Big Pot (say a tearful good-bye
to my old kitchen)



Doug and I (I sure do love that man), isn't he cute!



Katie and Brent



Playing Ultimate Craphead



Who is the Ultimate Craphead? I didn't hear you Chris.



Another loser, but just for one round. She's a winner in my book, especially
since she's carrying #12 grandchild. Way to go Katie!!

There's a Hole in the Backyard!!

After a very long time planning, revising, and then crossing our fingers
we have it all right, we've begun our remodel. No!, it's not a swimming
pool.



Careful opening the back door, you just might fall in.


Too bad that the day after I took Truman back to New York, two bulldozer
came to begin digging this hole. He would have been totally in heaven.

Bring in the New Year

Several Years ago we started a tradition of bringing in the the New Year with
Doug's UFOs. He learned this from his Uncle Bob who lived in San Diego.
We've been enjoying this lost art for quite awhile. This year was
especially cold so it worked very well.

Here we are all together. My niece Mallory was here this year to help us.



Katie and I huddling by the door to stay warm.



Brent lighting the UFO.



Mike lighting another, there is never just one.



Away she goes.. Up the wild blue yonder.



Happy New Year, until next year.

A Tahitian Cruise

Doug and I went on a fabulous Tahitian Cruise the end of October 2009. Doug found a great deal. It was just the two of us on a cruise ship for a week. We loved it! It was relaxing and very beautiful. So here is Doug showing the map of Bora Bora


We went on a little jeep safari and found these World War II guns. Good thing they didn't have to use them, because they sent the wrong size ammo. Dad's just resting.

Some of the beautiful scenery

One of the spectacular sunsets we saw.


A banana tree, not a nannatree

Dad and I on another tour. We rode on this lovely bus to a vanilla farm.

These are vanilla beans out drying in the sun.

The same day as the family owned vanilla farm, we also visited a family owned black pearl farm. These ladies greeted us with song. They showed us how they black pearls are made, then fed us a fun snack of little very sweet banana's, pineapple and mango's. Very delicious. Notice the size of the black pearls around their necks.

These white round things have been brought to Tahiti from the Mississippi River. They are carefully implanted into the oysters, and then the oysters are sewn together with some fishing line so they are about 10 deep with several inches separating them. They are hung in the ocean but must be pulled up and cleaned every
3 or 4 months for two years.

Dad and I (aren't we the cutest things.)

A very funny sign we saw right next to the beach on a concrete pier.

An interesting little family car, yes, a mother father and 2 kids rode in this.

Dad on the beach near where we snorkeled

Here we are with some locals who came to perform for us on the Ship.

Catching up

All the sisters in Kaui Hawaii at Melanie's house

At Melanie's church with her family, sisters plus Jeff. Doug was unable to go, BOO HOO. I missed having them there.

Near the blow hole, where we went for a Sunday Picnic. The sisters

We celebrated Melissa's birthday with her.. Mallory, Melissa and Monique

At a luau, these grounds were one of mom's favorite places.
Don't you love the flowers!

All the siblings (minus Roark who left early) to celebrate Grandpa Flegal's
101st Birthday. We had a fun dinner at MiMi's

Katie and Brent had us to their apartment for dinner and games. They made us a wonderful salmon dinner. Guess who was the ultimate craphead?

We had Ann and Joe over for dinner and guess who made Craphead again?

Valentines morning I went into the kitchen and found this funny face. Recognize my apron closet? He had left a love note above it. He's so creative and sensitive and handsome and adventuresome and wonderful. I love that man!!

Tennessee, We love thee

He's Here!!

Tennessee Winson Taylor arrived weighing in at 8 lbs 1 oz and stretching 20" long. Sara checked in the hospital at 5:00 AM and was induced. He arrived at ll:47 AM. He didn't even wait for the doctor to arrive. I went to see him and he is just an angel. He makes the cutes little noises and is so content and cuddly. Oh how I love new babies. Who do you think he looks like? We see some of Doug, some of Eliza his cousin, and some of his sister Syrelle. He definately has Sara's lips. We'll have to wait to see what time brings.

Tennessee Winson Taylor's name came from Paul's side of the family. Tennessee is from his Grandpa Taylor's side of the family. Winson is part of Pocahontas's father's name. The Taylor genealogy has one of their relatives marrying Pocahontas. So maybe he'll be a dark little Indian baby.