Angela Lansbury

I got to meet Angela Lansbury!!!!!!!
She was the TheatreFest speaker and talked about her childhood and how she started out as an actress in the movies Gaslight and The Portrait of Dorian Gray. She also reminisced about being the first actress to revive Rose in Gypsy. She was so animated it was almost surreal. She told us that she is 83 and is starting rehearsals for Blithe Spirit on Monday. It was so exciting to meet Jessica Fletcher in the flesh!!!!

She signed my Bednobs and Broomsticks video cover

This was the best picture I could get during the talk

King Tut and the Rainforest

Greerson and friends at the Rainforest

King Tut and Greerson and friends at the Dallas Museum of Art

Saturday January 10

Daryl went to a rehearsal at Navarro College and Christa and Greerson headed to see King Tut in Dallas. After viewing the Museum Daryl met them at a group of friends and we headed over to the Rainforest Cafe in Grapevine. It was a lot of fun. After dinner we stopped by the Bass Pro Shop and bought a new dutch oven for our next camping trip.

First Camping Trip 2009

We found this cool fossil in the cliff at the edge of the lake A.J. is there to show how big it was

Christa is the pool shark at the lodge!

Nothing like a rousing game of miniature golf!

Breakfast preparations at the campsite

Mike and Jessica Gill called us January 2 about 1:00 in the afternoon and asked us if we wanted to go camping. We briefly discussed Dinosaur Valley and then we suggested Lake Whitney Thousand Trails. We ended up there since it wouldnt cost anything for the campsites. The only problem was that the camper was still at Daryl's sister's house so he went to get it and we didnt get away until about 5:30. We had the traditional camping meal of pizza from the Whitney Pizza Inn for dinnner and we sat up and played spades until 3am!!! Saturday was a beautiful day and we played miniature golf and went fishing. The kids also enjoyed the clubhouse where they played ping pong and pool. We werent much for cooking on this campout. The Gills cooked breakfast and served sandwiches for lunch and the Worleys proudly drove to town and got Sonic and chicken for dinner. We stayed up until about midnight playing spades. Then after we had been asleep about three hours it happened. Christa heard a noise. So she sent Daryl to check it out. It turned out to be a band of racoons. One was swinging from the trash bag that we had hung on the awning to keep them out of it and two more were on the table cheering the acrobat on. When they saw Daryl they didnt run like normal wild animals they growled and fluffed their fur up! These were not little racoons they were the size of a cocker spaniel and they meant business they wanted those chicken bones in that bag. Daryl retreated and sought the help of Christa. He was concerned, because he knew from watching RV that you really need an umbrella to fight with a racoon. He didnt have anything, but a spatula and that wouldnt get him very far! By the time they got back outside the coons were gone, but they had shredded the bag and strung trash all over the place. Christa helped Daryl clean it up and then went back to bed. The next morning the Gill's didnt know anything about it and none of the kids had heard the commotion. It should be mentioned that a very cold front had come through in the middle of the night and during all of the commotion the heater had tripped the breaker in the camper and no one noticed, so we were all a little cold when we woke up. It was about 35 degrees and windy. We ate waffles in the camper and then went to the lodge to play games. They have a new Wii and we all bowled with it. Then we packed up and came home. It was a fun trip, but ended on a very cold note!

Happy New Year 2009

Greeson shows his attitude!

Sarah, Mindy and Jenny at Cheddars!

We went to Grand Prairie to visit the Phagans. Jenny was home from Los Angeles where she is an actress. We had just watched her in a tv show the day before. Mindy was home from Boston where she and David moved last year and Sarah is still in the area. For those of you that don't know them Daryl taught them when he was at Groesbeck and Jim and Betty (their parents)helped him through many a production. We had a nice visit and did lunch at Cheddars. We got home about 7:30pm and played a game of Risk and were just settling in to wait out the New Year when Christa started feeling ill, so we sent her to bed and Greerson and Daryl watched the New Year come in. New Year's day was fun, Christa went into work in the morning and Daryl prepared lunch, homemade rolls, ham, real mashed potatos, blackeyed peas, cole slaw and green beans. It took him until about 2:00 to get it on the table and afterward we played Monopoly until about 9:30pm when Greerson finally won with over $39,000. He was excited since Daryl won the game of Risk the night before.

Christmas at Glynwood

Tyler and Greerson opening their presents

Greerson with his new ATTE

Woody and Stephen preparing their guns for Santa!

We travelled to Christa's parents (Glynwood) Tuesday evening and claimed our room before anyone else got there! Christmas Eve we baked a Hollywood Grapefruit cake (from the Brown Derby in Hollywood) and pecan tassies. Christa was baking the tassies and forgot the vanilla in the first batch so she had to remake them. After a morning of baking we went to College Station and ate lunch and picked up BBQ for dinner that evening and got some last minute supplies for Christmas day. Shortly after we returned to the ranch everyone arrived we had a great visit. We ate dinner and played a game of Scene it. Christa's aunt Sheryl's parents really enjoy the theatre so we set them up to watch a couple of movies while we played Mexican Train. Shanda was too tired to complete the game so she went to bed and about that time the movies were over so the Sheryl's parents completed her hand. We had a great time! While we played the game Woody, Stephen and Doyle were cleaning the gun collection. It was amuzing we were waiting for Santa and getting the guns ready for the reindeeet. Greerson went to be really early becuase he was expecting Santa Claus and he didnt want to be awake to keep him from coming. We stayed up until about 1:00 then Greerson got us up at 6:51 Christmas morning to check out the tree. He was so excited. We had several extended family members for lunch and we had a white elephant gift exchange that afternoon. Christa got a ceramic plaque with an statement about tires and men and problems (it was too crude for mixed company!) and Daryl got a puzzle. Greerson got two large lego sets and a car load of other toys and books. Tyler got Guitar Hero so we are destined to listen to that the rest of the time we are here. The funny food event of this holiday is Grandpa Woody's rolls. He decided he needed to double the recipe so he went to work and before we knew it he had 57 rolls and had only used half of the dough. The dough had outgrown the bowl and was spreading all over the cabinet. It was reminiscent of the Lucy episode where she baked bread that overtook the kitchen.

Christmas at Grandma Pat's House

Nancy and Grandma Pat are waiting anxiously to open presents!

Greerson gets help from Christa to open his envelope

Caroline shows off her new jewelry!

We hosted the dessert portion of a party the other night. It was a lot of fun! We started out with appetizers at one couples house then travelled to another couples house and played Christmas Jeopardy and ate the main course, then we went to our house for dessert and a game of pictionary and trivial pursuit. The ladies won both games, however it was very close! The party wound down about 1:30 am. It was great!

We all stayed in bed Saturday and then packed to go to the ranch for Grandma Pat's Christmas. We got there about 7pm and Greerson, Christa, Mimi and Grandpa Woody watched Prince Caspian in the theatre and Daryl watched Home Alone 2 in the bedroom. About halfway through the film Rhetta, Christa's aunt called and asked us to check on the oil well, there was a strong smell outside similar to burning tires. Christa and Daryl went down to oil well then over to Grandma Pats to check it out, but couldnt find anything.

We enjoyed seeing all of the Shultz family. Caroline was particularly cute, she is quite a character. We all had a good time and enjoyed Jason's Deli trays for lunch. Jeff and Sarah brought their playstation and it was fun to watch everyone play guitar hero. Greerson was quite the marksman while playing Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare. He would sneak up behind people and kill them before they could figure out where he was. Christa was so proud!!! We are back home for a couple of days then we are headed to the Ranch for Christmas Eve.

Christmas Party at School

Daryl is the room parent for Greerson's room at school and had to host the Christmas party (the school would have you believe that it was a winter party, but Daryl made sure it was a Christmas party). The kids decorated Christmas cutout cookies from the Cookie Bouquet store. They also got several Christmas party favors and played games. Greerson and his friends had a great time.