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.