February and March in the South

As I said last time we have been enjoying the winter months as much as the summer. It has been a little chilly at times, down into the 20's but it hasn't kept us from heading down to the lake every weekend.
We did take one week in February to head to Phoenix to see Leah. It was fun for Jim to show up her at her first grade class at St. Agnes. She was surprised to see him. The kids were excited and happy to have him teach a little and be the all time quarterback at recess.

Jim takes charge on the playground

We stopped to see the new kids at the Tomko-Thompson farm.

We also saw my parents who were in AZ for a couple months, my sister Lisa's family and new home and my brother Bob came down from Baton Rouge LA. It was a fun Kooima family reunion.

Family dinner at the Nilsson's

Lunch at Joe's BBQ
 

I got Jim a very romantic Valentines gift - an axe, well actually a maul and a wedge. We certainly have more wood than Jim desires to chop but it can come in handy. Of course when Eric came to visit for Presidents Day weekend they had to try it out.

The first weekend of March we headed to the lake on our usual Friday nite. When we got there we noticed it was dark at our neighbors house. It usually has a lot of lighting around the yard. As we got ready for bed we could see from our bathroom an active fire on their yard. Jim checked it out to find the entire house was burned. We learned that the home had burned early Friday morning, but it was definitely burning again. We reported it and four fire engines arrived. (The morning before there were ten fire engines.) Everyone got out safely thankfully but the entire home was a loss.

We are still keeping busy in the yard and waiting for some warm weather to try out some planting. In the meantime, less tleaves on the trees gives a more chances to enjoy the sunsets.

Christmas joy and winter time

Christmas came and went so fast this year.

 It was nice to be able to decorate the house using holly from our yard.

Table center piece with a candle and holly

Decorating the doors with holly wreaths

Putting our dated ornament on the tree, this year we bought it at Notre Dame.

. We had a nice time, spending the weekend at the house. Leah was in town for the holiday and Eric drove up from Florida. We were all together for Christmas eve and Christmas day.
Jim got a new Notre Dame corn hole game. Just what we need for all of our tailgate parties. :-)
We enjoyed it inside and when the weather warmed up a little took it out to the the driveway.

We enjoyed the fire pit and the weather was cool but not freezing. It was colder than the usual Arizona December weather but comfortable, especially when the sun was out.

S'mores by the fire

Yes, we roasted taquitoes!!

Leah stayed the week returning to Arizona the early morning of the 31st. Jim and I both worked that day and we planned to spend New Years Eve and New Years Day in city. But... Jim got off work early on New Yeas Eve, he called to see how my day was going ad found out I was getting off work too. He said "Do you want to head down to the lake?" My answer was "YES!" so we left immediately. We are so much more comfortable and relaxed at the lake, it made for another nice couple of days. Even the neighborhood gunshots and fireworks couldn't take away the relaxation of being by the water.

Sunset view from the house

One of the great things about winter at the lake is the views. We can see more water without the leaves. Also we can see frequent visist from the white tail deer.


 Cardinals are everywhere and we have discovered the eastern blue bird! What a beautiful bright blue they are. one morning we saw a cardinal and a blue bird on the same branch. Unfortunately we couldn't get close enough to get a decent picture with the phone camera. It was so amazing.

We couldnt get a picture but this is what they look like.

At any rate, I'm sure you can see, we are enjoying our first winter on the lake as much as the summer.
Hope you enjoy the blog and we'd love to have you enjoy our lake soon.