tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow

I just received a copy of my dad’s discharge papers from the Army, and with that came a letter stating that his full records were destroyed in a fire in 1973, and cannot be reconstructed. However the discharge papers have enough information that I don’t feel too disappointed by that.

He was discharged on June 9, 1947 as a First Lieutenant. He was an Air Observation Pilot and fought in the Rhineland and Central Europe Campaigns. The summary for Air Observation Pilot is:

Piloted a single engine aircraft assigned to a particular ground force unit, and was responsible to the unit commander for performing missions involving aerial observation and adjustment of artillery fire. Flew on reconnaissance missions to locate enemy units and installations or to spot camouflage areas and activities.

His list of decorations and citations:

• World War II Victory Medal
• 2 Bronze Service Stars
• BASE (maybe, the copy is fuzzy) Ribbon
• American Theater Ribbon
• Air Medal with 1 Oak Leaf Cluster
• Occupational Medal (Austria)

He was in foreign service for 1 year, 8 months, and 19 days, and continental service for3 years, 1 month and 16 days.

We had great weather for our bbq this weekend. Well, it did start storming but not until after we were done cooking and everyone was inside.

The master of the grill, in a totally unposed shot. No, really!

Margaritas make me happy.

Illy is modeling Leslie’s scarf.

Winner of the Longest Distance Traveled award.

Yes, he broke yet another bone.

Good times.

Aaron and I spent four wonderful days in Texas visiting my sister and her husband. We flew into Houston and then drove straight out to their lake house, which is sort of in between Austin and San Antonio. It’s a little piece of heaven. They have a gorgeous Tuscan style house with an amazing view of the lake. And they just bought a boat!

Here we are after our long day of travel.

My sister, Krista:

I just love the stone on their house.

We both look like our mothers, but I suppose there is a little family resemblance?

Lest you forget we are in Texas…

On Saturday we took the boat out – the weather was perfect. Not too hot but nice and sunny.

I actually got in the water!

Aaron was a little more excited about swimming in the lake.

Such a relaxing day.

This will probably be the most tan we get this summer.

I cropped this poorly – she is wearing her bikini…

We ended up hitting a stump with the propeller which cracked and bent it, so we didn’t get to ride the tube and had to head in early. But Aaron and I were starting to feel the sun a bit too much so we were happy with that. After a siesta we headed out to dinner.

Sunday we decided not to take the boat out. Aaron and I tried out their mountain bikes for a little but around their neighborhood, said Hi to a few deer, and then we headed back to Houston. We arrived home to a leaky pipe which came through the ceiling and soaked the hardwoods. Not fun.

Martin replaced the pipe and we hit up some tex mex and margaritas – good comfort food.

We flew home Monday. And we can’t wait to go back and try out the tube!

Aaron and I have been playing tennis a lot lately. Not playing matches, just hitting the ball back and forth. He’s never had lessons so I’ve been giving  him pointers. He’s pretty natural at it, so we’ve been having fun. And he hasn’t dislocated any more shoulders, so that’s a bonus.

We also watched Wimbledon last week. With the final lasting so long, we watched a LOT of tennis. I would point things out in the players’ swings, and Aaron would nod or say, “See? He didn’t swing low to high!”

Then we went back out on the court on Tuesday after a bit of a hiatus.

I guess osmosis* works, because his game was so much better than before! He was hitting with topspin, and hard! Sure, not every ball was a winner but seeing that much of change after just watching some tennis was amazing to me.

I better start getting my head back in the game too, or he might actually beat me! gasp

* yes, I know osmosis is only the diffusion of water, but it’s a funnier word, ok?

Well, we had another wonderful weekend with Kim. She arrived on Thursday and we immediately headed to the IMAX to see Transformers 2, which I thought was pretty good, glaring plot holes aside. It was cool because we had just been walking around the museum, and they had filmed a scene from the movie right there. I had never been to the Air and Space museum before, and it was pretty cool. What was not cool was the vertigo we all felt peering over the railing of the catwalk. Or rather, gripping the edge of the railing as hard as possible while trying to shuffle backwards away from the edge. That was pretty freaky.

After the movie we had a great meal at our favorite Ethiopian place.

Friday was spa day where we got our traditional massages, and she got some bright blue polish on her toes.

Suitably refreshed and relaxed, we paid a visit to Kelly and Pat, so we could help prepare for the July 4th bbq they were throwing. Carrots were shredded, potatoes boiled, and sangria sampled. It was lovely.

We even found some sparklers at a roadside stand and had more fun than we probably should have lighting them up after dinner.

Saturday morning was spent making frosting – for the cinnamon rolls I made to take over for Pat and Kelly’s breakfast for the morning-after-bbq, and for the mojito cake I made earlier in the week for the bbq. I think it turned out well:

We made a brief stop at a  yarn store, and then it was party time!

We made some new friends:

Perfect weather, great food, wonderful people.

I might have had too much fun.

They had quite a crowd.

Lots of sangria was enjoyed.

Rawr.

Maybe too much sangria?

Our wonderful hosts.

Sadly, Kim left on Sunday and I spent the day watching Wimbledon (what a match!) and knitting.

And today Jennifer and Aaron are coming for a short visit! Yay for friends!