Steamboat, CO 2009 - Xmas Holiday

We started the holiday on Dec. 20 when we flew into Denver and picked up our car and drove to Steamboat.  Since we did not leave Denver till late...it put us on the road after dark traveling to Steamboat, however keep in mind that it starts getting dark around 5pm here.  We reached our destination up at the Burgess Creek Townhomes which is located way up on the side of a very steep mountain.  It overlooks the slopes of Steamboat and has an incredibly view.  We skiied the first day, only half a day as it took us a while to get our skiis waxed and all.  The snow was not great...but much better than we have had in the past three years.  Day 2 was even better....Kai took an all day class and Richard and I road the slopes, some together and some on our own.  He does not like the blues and blacks as much as I do, and he hates ice on the slopes.  We retired for the day and went home with great anticipatin for Kiana and Ryan coming into town the next day.  We decided to take the day off to get everything ready for their arrival and it was the first day of snow to come in.  It started snowing that morning and progessively got harder throughout the day.  They did not arrive until around 2:30 at which time we decided to take everyone into town to get a quick bite to eat (they had not eaten since dinner the night before and were starving) and to buy some more grocery's for the house.  Well that is when the trouble began.  As Richard, Kiana and I in one car headed down the hill, with Ryan, Kai and Ryan's mom following behind in their car, Richard hit some bad ice on a very steep hill.  He lost control of the car and it spun out of control throwing us into on coming traffic, in which we hit one big truck head on, then a station wagon behind it and that threw us into the side rails, which I might add was a cliff drop off.  Once we hit the rail it threw us into the other lane where all vehicles stopped.  The miracle is that no one got hurt.  No one in our car nor in the cars that were hit.  It was truly a blessing from above.  We totalled the rental car we were driving, but the other two cars did not have as much damage.  What we did not know was happening at the same time, or right after is that Ryan lost control of the car when he hit the same place of ice and it almost threw him into the rail, he was able to swerve and when he did it over corrected and threw their car into a snow drift that was a deep ditch.  In the end, our car was towed away and a very nice man came by while we were waiting for a truck come to tow him out of the ditch.  Like I said, it was a miracle, a true blessing and I am just so thankful that the good Lord was watching over me and my family and loved ones, as well as the innocent bystanders who became victims of this horrible ordeal.  It will take me a very long time to get over this and I doubt it will be something that I will ever forget.  We are only beginning are vacation and I only hope and pray nothing like this happens again and that we all return home safetly.  You just never know when something can come along and change your life.  Sometimes for the good and sometimes not so good!  But as they say, the good Lord has a plan for us all and I am just happy that we all walked away safe. 

A Happy Thanksgiving and Christmas Holidays to all my family and friends!

The year is slipping right by us faster than ever and I just wanted to take a few minutes to wish everyone a safe and joyous Holiday season!  With all of our busy schedules with work and family we sometime forget to appreciate all of those special people in our lives.  To my family ~ you are the best of the best or as I like to say "la creme de la creme".  I am so lucky to have such a wonderful husband and the best kids in the world.  You might all drive me insane from time to time...but what else could I expect from you all.... putting up with me! And to my friends - who all make my day's easier with your kind words, smiles and the much needed kick in the butt from time to time. 

I hope you all know that you mean the world to me!  Again, I wish you all a Safe, Joyous and Blessed Holiday Season! 
Love ~ Barbie

It's been a while!

Well we finally moved back into our home that Hurricane Ike destroyed. It took them almost a year to rebuild it. All I can say is that it was quite an experience and one that I hope to never ever relive. My best friend's husband rebuilt it for us with his construction company and I have to say it is much nicer than when we left. I am very thankful for him and Schaaf for helping us through this trying time.

Everyone is back at school. I am in my 7th year of teaching at Deer Park, Kila is in her 2nd year teaching for Friendswood, Kiana has graduated and moved back to Houston with Ryan. He is teaching at Cy Springs HS and Kiana is being a lab rat tech for the year awaiting to getting into grad school. Kai returned to St. Thomas and is doing good...even though he does not like to admit it. He is loving his new past time of Paint Ball!! My little sweetheart grandchild is growing like a week...putting words together...starting to run and just growing up! He always brings a smile to my face no matter what is taking place.

This past month Kai and I have found a new home at Friendswood Community Church. We are really enjoying attending and to make matters even better, Kila and her family join us as well. It is a little bit of a drive for Kiana to get there...but this past weekend I had all my kids sitting with me in church together...Kila, Kiana, Kai and Ryan. John John was in the day care and loves it. Kai usually goes upstairs for SLAM...but they had taken the week off. I can really say I look forward each week to go to church. It is a new experience for us and it is making a huge impact on our lives.

My other love - Kaizer (90 LB) puppy - Goldie...has been sent away to be trained. I miss him immensely. He is such a joy to come home to. But with his size and all we had to send him off to be trained. The trainers have told me that he is doing great, event though he likes to test the water with them as well, they said he is learning daily and makeing great progress. I still have my Alaskan Klee Kai, a teacup Chihuahua and a very fat cat to vie for my attention. What can I say...I love animals.

I was hopeing to make it through the year with out being sick...but of course that can not happen. Came home today not feeling too good~ but what do you expect..I have been averaging about 5 girls a week out with the flu on my team. Guess its my turn. :( Not running fever, as of yet, but I do feel really horrible and have a cough, sore throat and aches...not a good sign.

That is all I have to share for the moment ~ so until next time....take care and remember that "you only live once, so live it like the last"!!

It

This is the first submission to my new blog site. I hope to keep all my friends and family members updated with the happenings of my family, job and hobbies. Still working in the dance world, teaching a high school drill team for the past 11 years has pretty much taken most of my time. However, I have managed to also: get any several ski trips a year, travel to many countries including Japan, Malaysia, Wales, Canada and Mexico, finish my masters in education with a principal certification, take up a past love...cycling and still finding time to knit and read, and spend time with my family (which I am sure they would say ~ "they never see me".

Over the past year, I started cycling again both for fun and for the exercise. (No - turning the big 50 this year...will not slow me down..lol) After biking every Saturday with a group from the Pearland area I decided to take on the big one and pledge to bike the MS150 from Houston to Austin. This will be my longest bike ride with the exception of the 7 day bike trip I took around the big Island of Hawaii back in my college days. The big difference with these two rides is ... I was biking in the beautiful Islands of Hawaii - need I say more, except keep in mind the wind and the mountains we climbed was something to talk about. We traveled about 35 miles in a day and camped out at local beach sites and public parks. We packed all our clothes and sleeping bags and tents on our bikes in bike saddles. I will never forget the first day off the plane after landing in Hilo airport. We proudly put our pedals back on our bikes, strapped on our saddles on the front and back and headed UP...uphill for 32 miles straight to the top of the volcano. What took all day to go up, moving like turtles, we sailed down on day two on a five mile road, with no traffic. Chain of Craters road was just being reopened to the public for travel the next day - so needless to say that was one fast ride down. The rest of the trip was remarkable...and an experience that I will never forget or trade in a lifetime! Well - the trip from Houston to Austin...will still have its "hills", but the scenery will not be quite the same and we will be traveling 80 miles the first day and 70 on day two. So I guess you might say we will be pushing a little harder on this trip...but I hope to be traveling a little faster - without the packs on the bike and no mountains to scale.

Over the past 8 years I can proudly say that all of our 4 older children have either graduated from college or is very close to doing so. With only Kai left at home, attending St. Thomas in the 6th grade - he sure has some big shoes to fill, but they have all set incredible examples for him to follow: Raymond is in his 8th year of the Air Force and is working on an Engineering degree, Kila is a 1st grade teacher at Friendswood ISD, Charles finished is BA degree from Nebraska and is working at a clinic here in Houston, and Kiana is a pre med biology senior at Baylor University and will be graduating in August with hopes of continuing forward in med school. They have made their father and I both very proud! And to add to those feathers in the hat ~ Kila and John, her husband (married in July of 2006), made me the proudest "grandma BB" to my first grandbaby - John Evans Savoy IV.

The Barbie Doll