Steph's here

Stephanie arrived on Wednesday to spend Christmas week with us.  She was ready for a break from her hectic schedule and we cleared our calendars so we could all just hang out together.

We did all sorts of fun stuff, went shopping in Tubac, hiked in the Tucson mountains, she and I went to yoga class three days in a row, (more about this in another post--yep I'm doing yoga now, too) and went to three different movies, went for sushi and Mexican food.  She is so fun to have around.

 That's snow on Mt Lemon--a view from the Tucson mountains west of town.

The valley floor from King Canyon trail

Newest Lia video

She is growing so much.  Settling in at her Shanghai home and doing well.  Mom and Dad took her for her first "baby massage."  Such a Shanghai thing to do.  They sent pictures of that too but will save those pics for later.  They rubbed her all down with lotion which she obviously loved and then put her in a bath of warm water with her head held above water with this funny little air ring around her neck.  She caught on quickly and cooed and kicked and enjoyed the stimulation.  I wanted to trade places.  She's 4 1/2 months old now.

Quail

We're enjoying an invasion of Gamble Quail!  Don't think I have ever seen so many in our yard at once.  The males trying to chase other males away and get a good spot at the feed block.  Pretty funny.  You'd think they were hungry.  They look pretty healthy to me.  This was right after a shower of rain so perhaps the block was wet and tasted extra good.

wall hanging

Newest tile wall hanging.

Christmas lights up

Its looking like Christmas around here.  Our neighborhood is really lit up this year.  We felt like we needed to get in gear and get ours up too.  Tree is up inside also, ready for Stephanie to come next week.  Christmas has gotten pretty low key at our house anymore.  We will be home this year but it will be a quiet one. 

Home!!

Spent last night in El Paso and then bombed on home today.  The sky was unsettled and the play of light on the mountains and the desert was amazing.  Loved driving across New Mexico and southern Arizona.

All unpacked, laundry started anyway, started my new to-do list--back into life in Tucson.  Wow, only 20 days to Christmas!!

We spent another day in Fredericksburg.  Unfortunately it turned out to be a cloudy and rainy day but we couldn't complain as the locals are thrilled with the moisture.  This part of Texas is still suffering from severe draught.  They have gotten some rain in last few weeks but not nearly enough to bring them back to normal.

We went looking for St Mary's Catholic Church.  It is one of Texas' "Painted Churches."  They are scattered around mostly east central Texas but there is one here in Fredericksburg.  They are famous for their ornately painted interiors that was inspired by immigrant craftsmen.

Will enjoyed the National Museum of the Pacific War while I did the shopping street.  The Admiral Nimitz Museum is here because he was born in Fredericksburg.  It is an amazing museum and one could spend days viewing all the exhibits--well worth the time. 

Another of the town's public art highlighting its German heritage.  So of course, we went to a German restaurant for dinner.

Hill Country of Texas

We got to Johnson City, Texas about noon and stopped at the visitors center in town to take a tour of LBJ's boyhood home.  He was 5 years old when his parents moved here in 1913 and the house and grounds has been restored to look much as it did in 1937 when he lauched his political career from the east porch.

On down the road a few miles near Stonewall is LBJ's ranch and his Texas White House.  An 1890's stone cottage forms the nucleus of the ranch's main house, which Johnson expanded into a showplace.  As president, lots of policy was decided here.  It has been open to the public since Lady Bird died in 2007.

When we were all toured out, we went a little farther to Fredericksburg where we plan to spend a couple of days before we make a bee-line for home.  The town has no shortage of shopping opportunities and is definitely lit up for holiday shoppers!   This 20 ft tall merry-go-round sits in town square and has full sized animated "people."  Its a huge replica of one I use to have--you lit the candles and the rising heat turned the little fan at the top and little bells jingled on mine.  This one is powered by something much bigger than candles and is the center piece of the square. . .

along with this 30ft Christmas tree!!