Pine Cove 2026

Kennedy and Korin went to Pine Cove, the Church camp in East Texas the last week in July 26 - August 1st). 

Kashton didn't want to go because he wanted to be the "only child" for a week 😉. 

Vanessa posted on Tik Tok. I manage to grab some of the pictures.

Korin as they are entering camp.

The camp is divided into different age groups. Korin is in the one called The Ranch.

Korin in her bunk

Korin and Mom.

Not sure what is up with Kennedy's pose!

A lame hug from Kashton.

Vanessa's post was the following:

"Dropping the oldest (Kennedy) off at camp knowing I only get to do this one more time. This stage of life is hitting real hard."

Kennedy has one more summer she can go to Pine Cove. The high schoolers cabins are by the lake.

 

Walking to the cabin.

Helping carry Kennedy's stuff to her room for the week.

A friend (Campbell) from Mineral Wells also came to camp.

Pictures before goodbyes.

Kashton and Kennedy 

Mother and daughter. (Yep, Kennedy has exceeded her mother in height.)

 Kennedy made some friends. I grabbed these from Instagram.

Both girls had a great time. 

Have a good one!

Kennedy Attends Cheer Camp

If you follow Vanessa on Facebook then you have already seen these pictures. I'm posting here for my benefit. This was the first week of June.

The Mineral Wells High School Cheerleaders Facebook page made this post with the following posts.

That’s a wrap for Cheer Camp!

These girls performed great all week and represented Mineral Wells with pride! We are excited to announce that they earned:

Top Team Cheer in the Large Varsity Division

A Spirit Stick

And a huge congratulations to Raylee Brock for being selected as an All American Cheerleader!

A special shoutout to Mrs. Jordan for chaperoning camp and helping us take on a bigger team this year. We were so grateful to have her with us—she is truly amazing!

I am so proud of this team and all the hard work they put in this week. Football season can't get here fast enough! This group is incredibly talented, and they are game day ready!

Go Rams!

Kennedy is on the backrow standing on the left side of the dark skinned girl.

Kennedy is in a different spot but on the back row.

Kennedy is on the back row about in the middle.

Kennedy is on the left in blue.

This was taken in front of Mineral Wells High School either before they left of after they returned.

Have a good one!

Rude Awakening

 We were awaken early Friday morning of June 19th to an alert for a Tornado Warning! Not how you want to be awakened!

There was not a visual but the storm indicated rotation so an alert was issued. It was coming from the Northwest and was tracking to go right through downtown Mineral Wells where highways 180 and 281 intersect.

I started praying as I was getting dressed. I asked Doyle if I should try to contact Mom. Then it occurred to me she charges her phone in the living room and wouldn't hear it anyway. It would require me going over to her house. He said lets just watch for a bit. The storm starting weaking as it approached Mineral Wells and the alert was canceled 16 minutes later.

We had a few limbs down but nothing more serious. This was the worst one and the only limb that was not dead. It came from the tree on the other side of the carport.

These limbs were dead.

This limb doesn't look very big in this photo. Our neighbor offered to cut it up for us.

Have a good one!

Northern California 052626-053126

 This is our second year to attend Igniting Hope Ministries "Abounding Hope and Joy" Conference held in Redding, California. This conference is much smaller than the ones we attend at Bethel Church. We arrived in Redding Tuesday May 2026.  It was cool and rainy Doyle and I chose to not do anything on Wednesday. Just relax. 

When we were in Redding in November for the Leaders Conference, we met a young woman from South Dakota. She came by herself to the conference. We had another couple with us (closer to her age). We invited her to hang around with us. We exchanged contact information and stayed in touch. Doyle invited her to come to the Abounding Hope and Joy Conference and to stay with us in our VRBO. She accepted.

She flew into the Redding airport on Wednesday and we picked her up. Thursday was a beautiful day and
we rode e-bikes along the Sacramento River. Her name is Elizabeth.

We encountered Canadian Geese with their goslings. I suspect that people feed them as they were not the least bit intimidated by us.

I never get tired of this view! So pretty. 

We rode a trail in Turtle Bay where the Sundial Bridge is. We had not ridden this part of the trail before. We actually rode it backwards

This is the view from the sign above.

We had a great time. It was our last free day as the conference started the next day.

Have a good one!

2026 Dance Recital 050926

Kennedy and Korin had dance recital May 9th. I was delaying posting as I was hoping to have the video. Kennedy had a solo this year. I will just post it separate.

I did however take a couple of short video clips to give you an idea. The first video is of Korin. She is on the back right side.

Below is a clip of Kennedy dancing. Although you don't see her much until toward the end as she's on the back row.

Kennedy in her solo dance.

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The lighting on Kennedy's group dance was very low and none of the pictures turned out.

After the dance we got a couple of  family pics.

One more in the books! 

Have a good one!

Weekend Trip 051526

Facebook is great for connecting with family and friends. I saw a post from a cousin of mine (my mother's side of the family) who lives in Rochester, NY. His post was that he would be working at an RV park in Texas through the winter and spring. Where he would be was less than 4 hours from me!

I had hoped he would be able to come through our town when he headed home but the timing wasn't good for us. I knew mother would want to see him and so did I so I made arrangements for us to travel to him.

Friday May 15th Mom and I left around 2pm. It was a beautiful drive. So many wild flowers. I didn't stop to take any pictures on the way down but I did on the way home the next day.

We were so wrapped up in visiting. I barely got this picture.

This is my cousin Scott visiting with Mother. He and I figured we haven't seen each other in at least 50 years! Scott is the son of mom's older sister Kay who lives in New Hampshire.
 

He also had his dog Ollie but I failed to get his picture. 

There was a Mexican Restaurant across the road from the RV park. We went there for dinner.

We made plans to have breakfast with Scott Saturday morning before we left. After breakfast we visited a long time in the parking lot. It was so good to see him and catch up.

Mom and Scott.

Cousins! 

On our way home I chose to "stop and smell the roses" so to speak.   

Pictures really don't do this justice to the vastness of yellow flowers I could see! It was stunning!

We had a great time.

Have a good one!