Christmas

We celebrated Christmas twice, once with Darrell & Kay there prior to Christmas and once again on the actual date.
The boys got a new basketball goal. Dwayne stayed up until after midnight getting it assembled. The next morning, after breakfast, we sent Devin out to get a bag from the back of the Yukon. When he saw there was a basketball in the bag, he whipped his head around and then noticed the basketball hoop.

Rockly loves Christmas presents as much as any person. He was very excited about his bone and unbagged it himself.

Fishing the CBBT in December

The Chesepeake Bay Bridge Tunnel is at the mouth of the Chesepeake Bay connecting the Virginia Beach/Norfolk area to Virginia's Eastern Shore. It is a series of bridges and two tunnels extending 20 miles.

We decided we would take a little night trip out to the first island (first entry to the tunnels from the Norfolk side).

On the way out, we met a couple of Marine Policemen who indicated that the fishing had been slow. Our time on the water did little to change that assessment.

Darrell, Paul, Kurt, Derrik, Devin and Dwayne had a great time despite the rockfish (stripers) not cooperating the way we had hoped. Kurt grilled some hot dogs (it's amazing how great a simple dog can taste when you're cold and hungry) and we got down to some fishing.

We managed to keep 3. We caught 4, but tossed the first one back because we were uncertain of the slot limits. It turns out that Darrell could have kept that fish. It also turned out to be the largest fish of the night.

An example of what we were looking for....

Out on the Bay until 2 AM on the 27th of December can get a bit chilly.



The simple pleasures..........

I can bearly believe it...

It's about 8:30 Saturday night and we're just pulling into our driveway on our way home. I'm talking on the cell phone and I hear Devin say "is that a bear?"

Huh?

"I think that's a bear"

That's not something I expect to hear considering where we live in Spotsylvania County, VA. I would think the odds of seeing a BARE someone in our yard is considerably higher.

A quick glance to the right and there is a black blob that isn't normally there. I back the truck up, throw the lights in that direction and, sure enough, THERE'S A BLACK BEAR IN OUR YARD!

Pretty cool. He stands up on his back legs and looks as though he's considering climbing the tree. He places both paws on the tree and looks at us ("you know what -- he's a pretty good sized fella") and then decides he'll just mosey off into the woods.

Not wanting to cause too much a stir (for us OR the bear), but wanting to let the local experts know what we've seen just in case they need/should know, I make a few phone calls. What we discover is that it's just been too doggone warm for the bears to den up for the winter.

Maybe we'll get to see the bear again before Old Man Winter tell's him (or her) that's it's time for a long winter's nap.

Who let the elves out?

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1269778120

November 2007

Carla's two friends from Montana, Betty & Dicie, came to visit for a week. We toured Fredericksburg, went to the beach down in North Carolina for a few days and then hit some of the highlights in D.C.

The house we rented at the beach.

We tried to rent this place in D.C., but it didn't work out.

Since Carla took a vacation without the family, Dwayne decided turnabout was fair play. He ran off to Montana for a week with his parents and did some deer hunting. They stayed with Carla's Uncle Cedric & Aunt Jeanne.

The hunters were successful and the meat has been delicious. The deer are better fed out west.

Thanksgiving dinner was held at our house. There was a total of fifteen of us.

A family shot of us later that evening.