We had a lovely celebration of her life and so many people came to her service, and for that we are forever grateful. It was a closed casket ceremony since we had donated her body to Houston Methodist ALS clinic, for them to take samples to help further fight ALS. While folks were visiting we visited Space Center Houston, ran 2 groups through the Escape Room in Galveston (both were successful in solving the rooms) played Disc Golf. Dena and April also installed a beautiful photo tribute wall in our house.

In further sad news, our beloved dog Hunter passed away peacefully in his sleep on May 17th in our backyard. He was 16 and half years old and showed it, he was deaf, and going blind, and also suffered from a neuro-muscular disease, that caused him to limp, but according to the vet also prevented him from feeling pain. Also his blood work showed him to be otherwise healthy.

Phelan is now 5, he is attending Pre-K at Music and More and is starting to read. He really enjoys Legos, Matchbox/Hot Wheels cars and wooden Trains. He is quite masterful at laying out new train track designs. Every Friday he is attending eco-kids at Armand Bayou Nature Center. He enjoys watching YouTube videos featuring cars and trains, especially Izzy’s Train Time.

Megan is 12 this year and is attending public school for the first time at Brookside Intermediate School in Clear Creek Independent School District. She is taking all the Pre-AP classes she can along with Drama and Art as her electives. She participated in her school’s Vex Robotic competition and Harry Potter club. At Drama Fest, Megan received a blue ribbon for her performances in both Prose and Solo Improv. Megan also received a blue ribbon for her Science Fair project “K9: Robotic Dog to test Prosthetic Leg” and is advancing to the district level Science Fair. She is also participating in Music and More’s FIRST Lego League Robotics Class. She anticipates getting straight A’s in her classes this quarter, and hopes to be accepted into the science magnet program in 8th grade. She spends a lot of her spare time producing works of digital art on her iPad.

Winston continues to work at Boeing, specifically on the Space Launch System (SLS) program and other tasks as assigned. The company was kind to honor his request to not require travel this year and half.

Ah-Ma moved out of her apartment a mile away to live with us this summer, Ah-Gong migrates between Texas, Maryland, Connecticut and Maine every 3 weeks or so. They’ve been a great help making sure Megan and Phelan get to where they need to be on time.

Our cats Pakhet and Pepper have divided the house into two zones, Pakhet’s domain is upstairs and Pepper mostly stays downstairs. Unless it’s cold and then they’re both upstairs together on the bed.

Lunar Eclipse, Megan’s Leopard Gecko has taken over the job of escape artist often disappearing from her habitat, only to show up days (and sometimes weeks) later downstairs wandering around. Sunny, Megan’s Bearded Dragon has gotten bigger and enjoys hanging out on her hammock.

We didn’t have a lot of time for our Garden this year, but nevertheless we harvested okra, and purple yams. Our lemon tree continues to produce way more fruit then we can consume or give away. And our Orange tree has about 20 oranges turning umm… orange.

Travelwise we had 3 big trips this year and 1 last year.

In February 2018, we drove out to Phoenix, AZ to attend Winston’s Cousin Amy’s wedding to Eric. Along the way there we visited, Austin, LBJ’s Ranch NHS, Davis Mountains State Park, Chiricahua NM, Saguaro NP, Arizona Sonoran Desert Museum, Phoenix Zoo, Tuzigoot NM, Grand Canyon NP, Petrified Forest NP, Monument Valley, Four Corners, Mesa Verde NP, Santa Fe, Oklahoma City and Dallas. We had a great time, and the wedding was beautiful, and there was snow.

For Spring Break this year, Phelan and Megan went with their grandparents to Baltimore and Washington DC. They visited the Smithsonian Museums, National Zoo and the B&O railroad museum.

After school was done for the year we embarked on our big summer road trip to the Headwaters of the Mississippi River and the North woods, we visited 7 State Capitols (Jefferson City, Des Moines, St. Paul, Madison, Lansing, Columbus and Little Rock), and 7 National Parks (Gateway Arch, Voyageurs, Isle Royale, Indiana Dunes, Cuyahoga Valley, Mammoth Cave, Hot Springs), 1 National Monument (Grand Portage) as well as the Mark Twain Cave. On our trip we also visited with Alan & Tina, Amanda & Tyler, Fred & Mary Ann, and Jessica and Chris.

In the middle of the summer, Phelan and Ah-Ma went up to Maine for a few weeks where Winston’s Sister Peggy gave birth to Sylvan, Megan and Phelan’s newest cousin. Phelan had a great time playing with his cousin Trevor. Then in the beginning of August Ah-Ma and Ah-Gong drove Phelan down to Baltimore, where Winston and Megan met him and the three of us drove to Virginia Beach to see Julie’s brother (Joe, Jimmy and Jerry) and their families, and Megan and Phelan had more cousin time, playing on the Beach, Disc golf and going to the Air and Space Museum. Afterwards we drove across the state, and visited Nancy and Bru in Ferrum, VA. We climbed to the top of the Peak of Otter and visited the boyhood home of Booker T. Washington. On our way back to Baltimore we stopped at Belle Grove and then we visited Jeff and Zoe and went to the B&O museum. (Winston had never been)

For Thanksgiving we visited Baltimore for a family reunion. While there we went with Cousin Regina to visit Annapolis Naval Academy and the Maryland State House. (which is the quaintest State House we’ve been to.) We then spent lots of time with cousins and relatives eating lots of food, having a paper airplane contest and visiting a indoor climbing gym, and replaced the basement flooring in Winston’s Grandmothers house with Luxury Vinyl Plank.

We went on our first tent Camping trip with Megan and Phelan’s Forest Path Academy families at Brazos Bend State Park.

We had a few day trips to Galveston Island, Easter Fest, Railfest in Rosenberg, Xtreme Hummingbird Extravaganza at the Gulf Coast Bird Observatory, at Creepy Crawlers at Armand Bayou Nature Center.

Phelan’s 5th Birthday Party was at our home and focused on playing with the Trains and cars. And Megan had her 12th Birthday Party at Urban Air.

Phelan was a Bee for Halloween, and Megan dressed up as one of the characters she drew up, Amethyst. Winston carved three pumpkin portraits this year, one of each of the kids in costume, and one of Julie. Megan carved a version of Amethyst.

In the world of House upgrades, we bought a new washer/dryer set, a new Microwave oven and finally replaced the carpet in the upstairs bathroom with Luxury Vinyl Tile.

For Christmas and New Years, we plan to visit Las Vegas and see Penn and Teller, and then go to Death Valley, Joshua Tree, Lake Havasu and Hoover Dam, before seeing New Years Eve Fireworks in Vegas.

So ends another chapter in the Quiet Canyon Chronicles, we hope you and your have had much to celebrate and wish you health and happiness as we look forward to future with perfect 20/20 vision.