Merry Ho! Ho! Ho!

We gathered today at Brian and Hollie's new house to celebrate Christmas. Hollie and Brian fixed a wonderful Cajun Turkey stuffed with a rice and shrimp dressing. The rest of us brought ham, slaw, sweet potatoes, red beans, potato salad, macaroni and cheese and lots of desserts. Chuck and Kim drove in from Houston and arrived just in time for lunch.
After lunch we gathered in front of the fireplace to exchange gifts. The kids ripped open the packages and surveyed their new loot. Lexi got a MP3 player, Nick a Wii game, Chelsea got jewelry and Ross got a 4G card for his video camera...plus lots of other goodies. After the gifts we had a photo session with lots of laughs.
Grandma and John handed out their envelopes of cash, a much appreciated gift.
On a cold winter day we enjoyed a good meal, lots of laughs, and a Merry Christmas.

Dive with Cristina

I just got everything washed, dried and put away after a dive trip to Cozumel with our dive friends, Sue and Dave. We flew out of Houston on a Funjet package and stayed at Casa Del Mar. Dave and I decided to dive with Cristina, a divemaster I used on past trips. We made some great drift dives and I got to try out my new Canon G9 camera, quickly finding out that the camera and housing were very bouyant on the first dive. The air temp was in the high 70's, with the water temperature in the low 80's, kinda of unusual weather for Cozumel. I was lucky to find some weights for my housing and the camera problem was solved. Cristina was fantastic, treated us like old friends and loved my new camera. On our dives we saw turtles, barracuda, grouper, lobster, stingrays, anemones, and lots of French Angels and Queen Angels. The visibility was great and the current wasn't to bad, not a good place to use a new camera while drifting.
Dale and Sue lazed around Casa Del Mar and in the evening we went out for dinner. We found some great restaurants: Especias, Alberto's Beach Bar, Coconuts, La Conchita del Caribe, and Cochina Mexicana Dorados de Villa. We had a fantastic meal at Especias and enjoyed a young man playing the guitar, a real talent! A table at the water's edge at Alberto's Beach Bar and great food made Alberto's tops on the list.
We rented a car the last day from Isis and toured the island, stopping for lunch at Coconuts on the rough side of the island, ending up in some hammocks on the beach by a sign that read "Naked Beach".
It was a great trip, no problems, and we got in six great dives with our friend, Cristina Roman.

Berndt Family Reunion

Dale and I were up early this morning and drove to Danavang, Texas for the Berndt Family Reunion. We arrived and began to set up with the help of Elvin and Susan. Soon relatives began to arrive, and the Danavang Lutheran Church Meeting House was buzzing with activity. The reunion was held in part to honor Dale's Aunt Helena Lauritsen, plus it was a chance for all his cousins to get together. Shortly before noon, Aunt Helena led the family in a Danish Table Prayer and the group lined up for a catered meal.
Dale served a Master of Ceremonies, and had everyone laughing with his stories. A plaque was presented to Aunt Helena, and guest shared their thoughts and stories about her. Several tables of old photo albums were on display for all the guest to look at.
Special guest, were cousins and spouses Gary, Kim, Cathy and John, that flew in from the Seattle, Washington area to attend the event. They will be spending the week visiting with their relatives in South Texas.
Almost seventy descendants were in attendance at the event.

Lunch at Moby Dick's

Dale wanted to fly, so off we went for lunch in Port Aransas and some fried shrimp. We caught the trolley, paid our quarter and rode into town looking for a new place to have lunch. We decided to give Moby Dick's a try, after several recommendations from the locals. Lunch was good and we left stuffed. The flight home was good, not to many bumps.

Looking for Redfish

Unloading the boat as the sun came up we headed across the bay to the lakes, our favorite fishing spot. The tide was still higher than we hoped and fishing was slow, but it was a beautiful day to be out on the water. We caught several reds that were to small and threw them back in hopes of catching their "Grandpa". We kept moving, catching one or two, then moving on to try a new spot.
The boat ran smooth after having the motor worked on recently.
We ended the day with some nice reds, I can already taste the fresh redfish filets on the grill.
We headed home, washed the boat and put our fishing gear away.

The Atchetee's Invade Huatulco, Mexico

We just returned from a wonderful week of sun and fun in Huatulco, Mexico with Evon and Linda. We landed, were met at the airport by Carlos, our friend for the ride to Villa Pacifico in Conejos. Rebecca and Hugo greeted us and we settled into our rooms for our week stay. Rebecca spoiled us again with her wonderful cooking and Hugo made sure our rooms were clean and neat. On Sunday we took the car and headed to La Entrega for a day at the beach with some snorkeling. Dale showed Evon and Linda the "Cave" and we enjoyed our first full day. The next day we chilled out around the pool, enjoying the warm water and sun. A trip on Luna Azul with Pepe wasn't very good with the swells making for a rough ride, the snorkeling wasn't good...current was swift and the visibility poor. Just trying to get back to the beach proved to be a group effort. We did enjoy a stop at Maguey for lunch before heading back to the Villa. The next day we stayed around the Villa in the morning to recover from the previous day. In the afternoon we went to La Crucecita for some serious shopping, a tour of the new grocery store and ice cream at Terra Cotta. On Thursday we decided to spend the day at La Entrega, great snorkeling with clear water. Dale even found a spotted eagle ray for the group to see. We also enjoyed feeding the fish some crushed tortilla chips which they really liked.
Our last day in Huatulco we rented the car and went exploring....La Bocanna, a beer at Barra de la Cruz, and a tour of Santa Cruz. We did get in some pool time before showering, dressing and going to dinner at The Kristal Rose. Juan, the owner was glad to see us and took excellent care of us, the food was great and we enjoyed a wonderful dinner our last night.
Sadly it was time to pack and head home, we said our goodbyes to Rebecca and Hugo, caught a ride to the airport with Carlos and boarded our flight landing safely in Houston.
We had another great week in Huatulco, the weather was perfect, Chef Rebecca's meals were amazing and Hugo was always smiling and laughing. Linda and Evon fell in love with Huatlco and liked it as much as we do. The week at our "Little Gem" in Mexico was perfecto!!!!

Autumn Oaks Fly In

We flew this morning to Jim and Ruth's home North of Hallettsville for a fly in and barbeque lunch.
The skies were clear and the flight was smooth and short. We landed, unloaded the plane and visited with old friends. Lunch was very good and the dessert table offered many selections to pick from. The crowd was smaller than usual, other fly ins and the weather kept the crowd down.
We stayed until late afternoon, loaded up and had a hot bumpy ride home.