Elder Woodward update

Alex is doing great on his mission; he writes to tell us he loves the work and he is learning a lot from his second companion. Bless the members of the Lake of the Pines Ward for taking such good care of their missionaries. We cannot believe he has been gone 3 months already.
Meet Elder Bear; a recent gift from dear friends in Sacramento. They sent him to keep us us company while Alex is away - Thank you so much Barbara and Dennis! Needless to say, he sits in Grandpa's chair in the family room with us. Alex also asked me to remind anyone and everyone that he loves getting mail.........

Oh, what do you do in the Summertime?

You go sightseeing!

In an air conditioned car, of course. It is getting wicked hot here.
We visited the nearby San Jacinto Monument along with its neighbor, the retired battleship USS Texas; the only battleship to serve in both World Wars. The Monument is the world's tallest obelisk monument (12 ft, or 3m) taller than the Washington Monument (you have to remember this is Texas and everything is bigger and better! LOL!) and is located at the site of the decisive battle of Texas Independence.
In case you didn't know, this is the 25th anniversary of one of the best Western novels ever written - Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry. You haven't read it?! Or seen the mini series staring Robert Duvall and Tommy Lee Jones? Also one of the best book to screen adaptations ever done; in my humble opinion. Read it! Watch it! ASAP! So on that note of Texas Rangers, we ventured 150 miles (200k) north to Waco, Texas (pronounced Wake - O, not Whack - O) to visit the Texas Ranger Museum. Beautiful museum and a chance to see more of central Texas. The Rangers were once the arm of the law especially in fighting back outlaws and the Comanches. Nowadays
they are a small elite arm of Texas law enforcement - kind of a Texas FBI. We had a great lunch here and thought the name of the burger place was hysterical considering what they serve. Health Camp burgers were rated as one of the best burgers in the US and we can second that! Waco is also home to Dr. Pepper; created in the 1880's by Charles Alderton; cannot thank that man enough! As well as Baylor University (the Baptist version of BYU). We had a fun trip stopping in a quilt shop and a couple of antique stores in little towns - on the look out for certain crockery pieces.

Family comes for a visit:

Mary, Gracie and Zach came to help me celebrate my birthday. Mary drove solo with the kids and their dog, Max; what a brave girl!

We went to our favorites - the Children's Museum, and braved the Texas heat at the Zoo to see the new cute little baby elephant, Baylor.
Mary loves to experiment with cookie recipes so we enjoyed taste testing those - yum! We also experienced our first big Texas thunderstorm and lost power for 3 hours. Had a wonderful time helping Roy practice his Primary songs (he is substituting as their pianist this summer) with lanterns and flashlights.
We also enjoyed our neighborhood swimming pool (we'd never used it before - the water temp is in the 80s this time of year) and the kids discovered our empty cupboards make great hiding places. They returned home this week (their Dad, Stuart, returned from his summer military service) and we hope they come again when the weather is cooler and we can do even more outside.
Do I need to tell ya; we had a great time!

Weather and the Woodwards

In the beginning for many years we were sure we were cursed with a camping rain curse. It seemed like no matter what time of the year we went or where we went, we had at least one day of drought-breaking rain. I can give you the name of several friends who will attest to this fact, many who in fact, had second thoughts about ever going with us on our adventures again.
Then due to the fact that this phenomena seemed to follow us even when we weren't camping, we eventually had to change the name to The Woodward Weather Curse. Of the three winters we were in Wisconsin, two had record snow fall amounts! We're sure we brought the rain that ended the drought in eastern Queensland Australia (this was a good thing). So now here we are in southeastern Texas and the beginning of hurricane season; and what kind of a hurricane season are they predicting? The worse in years. I kid you not! But our new local friends tell us the weathermen say that every year; we're getting very prepared nonetheless.
We're happy to report that we have safely come through our first hurricane, not to mention that it's funny it was named "Alex", though he's safe in California. It hit land 300 miles south of us but we had 2 days of good rain from it and saw nearby stormwater ditches flow the highest we've ever seen. Living in Houston means we're bound to get hit eventually, but our house is brick, we've plenty of food, water, lighting, and cooking fuel and, given our track record, will assume the storms will follow us.
Stay tuned!

Teenagers and toddlers

I survived my first Texas Girls' Camp three weeks ago. Waaaa-huuuu! It was down right warm but not killer hot and thankfully no rain. I was the First Level leader during the day, which meant I kept tabs on 18 twelve year olds and then went back with our Westfield Ward girls and tried to convince them that 2 am was not an acceptable bedtime. This year's theme was a hospital theme (hence the scrub shirts) - ER. or Eternal Rewards.
Two days after returning home I left for some grandparenting time with our favorite family in Northern Virginia! Scout is now 7, Isaak is 4 and Miss Ellie is 1.
Scout continues to improve on the violin and both she and Isaak are on a small local swim team. We enjoyed McDonalds and reading stories at bedtime.













Mee-maw Mee-maw (that's me) took Scout and Isaak to see the new Toy Story 3 in 3D. Pixar as usual did a great job and the kids enjoyed it but I thought it was a little too intense in some places for small children.
Scout and I enjoyed pedicures my last afternoon.













I couldn't decide which picture to put include, so what the heck - here's both.
















I had so much fun with our adorable little girl!!!

Back to Vicksburg

Warning: techno geek me cannot get these pictures to line up with the correct picture - but you'll get the idea.
Now you may be wondering - do these people ever stay home?
Well, Memorial Day weekend turned into a four day weekend, so we decided it was a perfect time to return to Vicksburg, MS.
So we headed northeast out of Texas, through beautiful, green Louisiana and once again crossed the mighty Mississippi River.
We enjoyed an unhurried day in the Vicksburg Military Park; the National Cemetery was very moving being so close to Memorial Day.
Every state that fought in that battle and siege has a memorial built around the Park - this is the one for Texas.














It was a little sad to have to find the Confederate soldiers over in the town cemetery. Yes, you can't quite see it, but those are small Stars and Bars flags. Remember where you are.
This time we also had time to visit the USS Cairo Museum on the other side of the Park. It was a Union ironclad gunship that was the first ship sunk by a naval mine in 1862. It was discovered around 1960 and raised in pieces in 1965.
We were able to drive home on the Natchez Trace for about 50 miles. The Natchez Trace is an old indian trail turned into a trader's trail/pathway that ran from Natchez Mississippi to Nashville TN in the north, about 440 miles. It is now a Scenic Highway and a dream to drive - very peaceful; very little traffic and big trucks are forbidden.
You gotta love the food variety in the South!!!

Elder Woodward update

Alex survived the MTC; said he loved the Spirit there and enjoyed learning how to teach as well as playing volleyball during gym time with the missionaries going to Sweden and Estonia. He said it was great to hear all the different languages in the cafeteria. Tie trading on Saturday evenings was a fun activity and he assured me he came away with most of his "good" ties. Elder Woodward arrived in the mission field on May 25th.
President and Sister Pendleton with one of their nine new missionaries!
He is currently serving in the foothills of the Sierra Nevadas and his companion/trainer is from Salt Lake City. He is thrilled to be back in California and is enjoying meeting the new Ward members. Elder Allen took him tracting for the first time and Alex reports that most everybody was polite with only one door "forcefully shut" in his face. All his moving experiences and muscle came in handy when they helped an investigator move last Monday. Apparently they have a car and live in a small house behind a member's home.
He mentioned again that any and all snail mail letters or postcards would be greatly appreciated. I'll repeat his address - it comes through the mission office in Sacramento. (Antelope is a northern suburb of Sacramento).

Elder Alexander Sindel Woodward
California Roseville Mission
8583 Watt Ave
Antelope, CA 95843-9117

Visitors

Look who came for a visit!

For those few who may not know, this is our daughter Mary and her children, Gracie and Zachary.
You've heard a picture is worth a thousand words, so here are lots of pics.














At a nearby Mall playground. This is Gracie's new friend Jacob who announced a few minutes later that she was his girlfriend. It was very cute.





























In case you're wondering; Gracie is doing great health wise.