M.I.A.

I know. I know. I've been missing in action. We took time off over the long weekend and headed to Waco.

Emily has been traveling for Interstate Batteries and her last stop over for the week was in Waco. We decided we'd head down to spend Friday night with her and go to the Texas Ranger Museum on Saturday. Of course, my granddaughter heard "Texas Ranger" and began working her grandpa to "take her out of school early" so she could see the Ranger Museum. We all knew what her ulterior motive was...she thought she was going to be able to catch a glimpse of "Walker, Texas Ranger." (She loves that show...don't know why!)

So...with Mom's approval, we picked her up early on Friday and headed out to Waco.

Once we met up with Emily our fist big site was a catfish on top of this truck.

Next stop was for dinner on the Brazos. We have eaten at this same restaurant since the girls were little...it has changed names and menus many times over the years...but we go there for the turtles, ducks and catfish feeding!

Lauren met another little girl while we waiting for our food. They had a great time feeding day old bread to the creatures below.

The turtles are huge.

Can you see them all in the water? I don't think you can see the catfish right below the surface.

The restaurant is now called Buzzard Billies...food was OK, but we had a great time enjoying the breeze and the sunset, and Lauren loved throwing that bread overboard!

Next morning we headed over to the Texas Ranger Museum. The day was perfect!

Lauren got into the spirit of photography...

Checking her settings...

Taking the shot...

Better shoot it again.

Lauren also discovered the "dress up" clothes. She pulled her bandanna up to protect her face against the desert storm! (She didn't want to be a bandit!)

Of course, her whole goal was to see Walker. She asked me if she could go ask the man at the front desk if Walker, or any other Ranger would be stopping by the museum. I couldn't believe the first words out of the kids mouth were, "Well, Walker's not a real Ranger...." The look of shock and horror were all over Lauren's face. I gave him my best mother..."another word and you'll die" look. He swallowed and began again, "Since it's Saturday there are no Rangers around, and if they're working today, they would be working on a case." As soon as we walked away, she turned and asked, "What did he mean, Walker's not a real Ranger." I told her that Walker was now retired, so that seemed to satisfy her. REALLY...how many kids come there to see Walker? That guy obviously had no children!!!!

He did tell us that Walker had his own space in the back area, so we headed back to the back to check it out. Sure enough...Walker memorabilia filled the space.

She was VERY happy to have her picture taken with his "outfit"!!!

Her next favorite activity was to shop the souvenir shop...and it didn't take her long to find something to buy! A PINK Lady Kentuckian rifle (cap gun.)

The young lady in the gift shop put her in jail for a picture. She had a hard time not smiling.

She could hardly wait to get outside and shoot....

Right next to the Ranger museum is an old grave yard. There were a lot of really old headstones...

the problem was the whole place looked really neglected. It looked like a storm had blown through and knocked branches into some of the fences...but some of it just looked like neglect. It was sad!

When we left Waco we headed to Hillsboro for lunch.

Hillsboro Court House on the square.

We found a cute little soda shop on the square and had sandwiches and a drink.

The owner told us this would be the last time it looked "this way"...he's planning to renovate.

We had great service and Lauren enjoyed sitting at the counter, spinning her chair.

We found Ronald at a local antique shop.

We had a fun weekend...time away from home and from the "BIG PROJECT". We're back on track for this weekend. Miss Janice is away for the weekend, so we want to finish all those "little" things that are not checked on the master list. I hope to have pictures of the FINAL, FINAL completion of the project.

Till then,

debi