3rd Cousins

To be identified later

1st Cousins

Buddy, Wanda, Nicky and Tommy

The 2nd cousins

Ronni, Suzi, Cheri, Karin and Leslie in the front.  Cliff, Paul and Mat in the back.

Additional Reunion Info

I initially intended to do daily updates with some pictures thrown in but we had very spotty coverage for emails, cell phones and blogging related endeavors.  So I put away my iPhone and just forgot about the whole deal.  Today is the first day I’ve even gone back to look.  Over all the reunion was a smashing success with tons of pictures taken.  I posted more than 100 on Facebook last night and will try to bring over my favorites here.  But in a nutshell: we played volleyball in the yard and in the pool, we went kayaking alone and in pairs, we boiled crabs, grilled scallops and shrimp, we walked on the beach and toured the winery, we sat around talking and laughing and promised to do it all again in another year or two.

 

Nichols Family Reunion - Day 1

So far we've been swimming in the pool, kayaking and wading in the bay
and playing volleyball in the yard. We've eaten like kings.

For the 1st cousins
Uncle Tommy and Aunt Nancy are hosting. Dad and Eileen are here.
Uncle Nicky joined us last night. Aunt Wanda will be over in the
morning.

For the second cousins
Sid and I arrived first and spent the day hanging with Ronni. Keith is
working but will join us eith tonight or tomorrow. Leslie and Frankie
made it. At the last minute Cliff and Jenny were able to join Cheri
and John. Paul and Susie will be over in the morning.

For the third cousins
More or less in order of age we have: Luke 14, Sheela 12, Shay 10,
Joey 10, Katie 9, Lindsay 9, Sunil 9, Tommy 7, Lana 7 with more to
arrive today. The kids hit it off instantly.

Today the plan is more of the same with a winery tour and a World Cup
soccer game on the TV to change it up.

Cat nap

First photo with new glasses

I swear they are different.

Last photo with old glasses

Gypsy takes a swim

Zoo day

TAKS 2010

Sunil's first TAKS scores came home today. 3rd graders test in Math
and Reading. He scored 100% in both putting him in the 99th percentile
for his age.

Allen Philharmonic Orchestra

Mom, John, Sid and I ventured out last night to the outdoor amphitheater near the rec center for a Memorial Day concert.  They do live music most Monday nights thru-out the summer but we’ve never gone.  In fact I’ve been up to, and around the rec center dozens of times and I’ve never seen an amphitheater.  But we took our folding chairs a jug of wine and a sense of adventure and set out in search of music.  The amphitheater, as it turns out, is the back porch of the center which faces a nice steep hill.  The music was pleasant, and the evening perfect.  They even threw in some fireworks.  Very enjoyable all the way around.  While walking towards the crowd we came across a very large Memorial right in the middle of the park that I’ve never seen before.  I don’t feel so bad now though because after the concert when we went to check it out we discovered that it had been dedicated just that morning.

Wax job

Putting Grammylyn to work.

Hotel gym

Sheela checks out the treadmill while Sunil swims in the pool.

Free shirt

Bday ball night

Just hanging out

Sid and his trophy

 

Monkey skeleton

Zoo service

Sheela's volunteer stint is over. She received credit for 56 hours of
service; the combined total for all of the JZs and JCs was 7000
hours. She plans to return next Spring.

Customer Service Quarterly Award

Sid had the highest customer service rating of any of the claims
adjusters in the first quarter. The rating is based on client surveys.
He vets to keep the trophy at his desk until the next winner is
announced. He promised me a picture.

Concert

Superior Award 2010

Sandy Lake Orchestra Festival (Funfest). Sheela's orchestra scored a
pretty nice trophy. It's on display at their year end concert tonight.

20 years later

Virginia and Ed have been married 20 years; that means we graduated from college 20 years ago.  To celebrate their anniversary they returned to NOLA for a visit.  This is Virginia standing in front of our Zimple St. apartment.  We lived on the first floor with Jackie and Maria, or with Jackie and Wendy, depending on the year.  It was not much more attractive than this 20 years ago but the location was prime.

Tree

Sunil and Siera have built a home in a tree in the park.

Car repair

Sid continues to work on his Vette

Sheela at work

Today her job is to get Scout used to carrying bigger kids.

New car

Sid replaced his Sentra with an XR7. It wasn't really a choice the
Sentra was crumpled last week and had to go.

The year of the "I"s

I have two major trips planned for this year.  The first is a work related excursion to Italy near the end of May.  I’ll be away from home five days and four nights but will have only 2 ½ days in Verona.  This is a trip I’ve been told to expect 3 or 4 different times over the last 12 years but this time I really think I’ll get to go.  This is intended to be a collaborative effort with the Operations team in our sister company.

 

The second, and bigger deal, trip is to India at the end of the year.  We’ve already secured tickets to fly to Mumbai Dec 17 and return on Jan 2.  All four of us will get to go on this one (which is why Sid isn’t joining me in Italy).  We will also be travelling with Sushama, Seema and Nita.  As an aside both Sunil and Nita were able to fly for discounted rates but Seema and Sheela had to pay the adult price.  This has made them slightly obnoxious.  This is the trip that we started planning before we had kids and couldn’t get done.  Then we had to wait until the kids were old enough not to be whiners (and to remember it when we are done).   What we’ll do and where we go changes every few minutes so I’m not even going to speculate right now – but I’m sure it will an experience.

Golf Tourney

With my new shoes which are mighty comfy and just Sheela's size.

Pics from the first photo safari

When I first brought the camera home we went crusing around the neighborhood getting a feel for it. This was back when the sun would shine even on a weekend. Ah, the good ol' days.


Sunil immediately took possession of my old camera. Unfortunately even though it always says it's charging it never gets a full charge. I'll have to buy him a new battery.

Fort Worth Zoo Pics

This was my favorite shot of the day. I love the lions and am thrilled that Dallas will soon host a whole pride.



This was Sheela's best lion shot.



The rest of these are all Sheela's pictures - at least I'm pretty sure. She rarely let me have my camera back.



I love the expression on this guy.


It was a pretty quiet day at the zoo with rain keeping the crowds down but the new "Museum of Living Art" was packed. This is essentially the reptile house and it is gorgeous.


The coyotes and the ocelots are neighbors in the Wilds of Texas. You can't tell by looking at Mr. Relaxed here but there is apparently some tension between the two groups. If either moved fast the others would startle and run, which would make the first one startle and run.

Landscaping in Lewisville

Sheela and Hunter came with me to check out the landscaping progress at our new building.



They are standing close to "my" window.



This is the formal entrance.



This is the training suite.



This let's you see how big it really is... 150K sqft.



The sign facing the road.



The visitor's parking by the front entrance.


This is the view from the street as you first turn in. My cubical space will be on the first floor at the edge of the picture on the left.

Yucca

Sent from my iPhone

After the rain

Darn the rain

Sheela, Hunter and I are at the Fort Worth Zoo today in the rain. 
There really aren't many animals out but it is still beautiful. It 
could be worse; Sid and Sunil are camping and canoeing.

Sent from my iPhone

New courthouse

First time Ive been here-it's pretty

Spring Photos are here

AME Reunion

It was a pretty good group that showed up to celebrate their memories of American Medical Electronics coming from as far away as Africa.  The founder of the company now runs a missionary school in Ghana.  That’s him in the center of the picture next to me.  I’d never met him before but he was quite charming.  We also toasted the memories of the friends we’ve lost through the years and there were more of those than I liked including my former boss, Dr. Nama Doddi.  We drank a little, talked a lot, ate some barbeque, went for a hayride and fed the animals: Long horns, goats and sheep.  A very nice time indeed.

Texas country

I'm off to Celina, TX to a reunion for the company that hired me when I first moved to TX 15 years ago.  I still think I work there but really they were purchased and bunch of folks have gone on.

iPhone count down

My iPhone is due to be delivered on Monday - I'm pretty excited.

Progress

It's not carpet but at least the warehouse racking is looking good.

FYI

We still don’t have carpet in the new building.

Lunch

This is my "typical" Texas lunch - half a pound of chopped BBQ beef on a loaded baked potato.  This could feed me for three meals easily.

Eye Exam

Sheela went in for an eye exam today.  It's time for some new lenses and new frames.  The prescription changed and the frames broke.