HIGHLIGHT OF THE YEAR (so far )

We have had a pretty uneventful spring since returning from Mexico ( aside of the tornado ). We are still staying at the Vineyards in Grapevine for now but we have to move for 11 days and we are going down to Arlington KOA and then back to Grapevine. We plan to stay here for the balance of the year.

NOW, for the highlight. ROD HAS A NEW BBQ.

I know, sad isn't it. However you just can't cook a steak properly if it isn't on a BBQ.

As we are not travelling much at this point I won't be posting until I return from Vegas near the end of June. I am playing in the over 50 World Series of Poker which is being held on the 23rd, 24th and 25th of June. Wish me luck.

TORNADO HITS DUPLIUM

While we were in Mexico a bunch of Tornadoes touched down in the Dallas area. One of these touchdowns hit Duplium ( where I work ) and did considerable damage, however we were blessed in two areas. The first being that it struck in the middle of the night and at a part of the building that was closed during that time and therefore nobody was hurt. The second aspect was that the part of the building that was hit was used for storage of mostly raw components. The manufacturing equipment was not touched and as a result we were up and running in two days.

The take taken to get up and running was unbelievable especially when you see the damage.

The pictures tell it all.

THE WEDDING

We arrived in Cancun on April 6th to attend the wedding of Dylan and Dawn. Dylan is the son of good friends of ours ( Tom and Ruth Smith ) and we were fortunate enough to be invited to the wedding. We stayed at the Mayan Palace which was quite nice and very big so we ended up doing alot of walking. As with most holidays we ate to much and did a lot of laying around, however we did get to 4 yoga classes and sweated out a bunch of the calories we consummed.

All said and done it was a very nice week.


The Mayan Palace





The resort was very nice and we enjoyed staying there however we were out in the middle of nowhere. We were about 40 miles from Cancun and 20 miles from Playa Del Carmen which we went into one day. They had a lot of facilities including a Cyber Cafe which is where I learned Duplium had been hit by a Tornado while we were away.

Playa Del Carmen



We spent a day in Playa Del Carmen just walking and checking out the stores. The only purchases we made was a hat and a t-shirt. The picture on the right is myself and the best salesman in the world ( he was a crook ) who sold me the hat I have on my head. I have still to wear it. One nice thing happened as we were headed to one store and were off the beaten path a little bit. I dropped my walled at didn't realize it and a lady chased me for two blocks to give it back to me, needless to say she got a large reward as I had all my poker money tucked away.


The Wedding

The Ceremony

Tom, Ruth, Kathy, Rod. Night out for Dinner.

Joe, Dylan and Tom ( Father and Sons )

Sonny & Ruth Smith ( Mother & Daughter )

Ruth, Dylan, Dawn, Tom

The Whole Clan

Outdoors, sunny day, tropical setting, beautiful ladies, guys all decked out in Tommy Bahama shirts, beatiful bride, handsome groom. It was almost surreal.

The Bride and Groom ( Dylan and Dawn ) looked spectacular and the day couldn't have been more perfect for them.

The highlight of the trip for Kathy and I was getting a chance to catch up with old friends. We had not seen Tom and Ruth for a few years and it was really good to see them again. They had not changed a bit as they looked exactly as they did the last time we saw them. Aside from the wedding we were able to get out for dinner one night and bring each other up to date. It was a good night.

See y'all back in Texas.

CANCUN AND DALLAS

Well, its now the 1st of May and we are back in Dallas at the Grapevine RV site. We have booked into Dallas for the balance of the year but have to make two site changes and will be at the KOA in Arlington for a couple of weeks. The rest of the time we will be in The Vineyards in Grapevine.



The routine is pretty much the same for the past month and should be that way for the balance of the year. I am still working part time and going into the office occasionly so we have not been doing much of anything. We went to Cancun for a wedding ( see below ) and Kathy and I have started going to Yoga and are enjoying it