May was all about family, flowers, and fun times for me and my tribe! It seems that April rolled right into May with great gusto and never lost
momentum. Here we are at the end of another great Springtime month and we are still enjoying cooler temps, rain showers and a plethora of
wildflowers! The weather has been so pleasant (except for a few tornados bouncing around our area) and we’ve enjoyed being outdoors and
we have taken full advantage of it!
On our many recent trips to Home Depot, the traffic has been buzzing with shoppers loading up on gardening supplies and outdoor project materials.
The February freeze took out our front yard shrubs (they were struggling anyway), so we had a good excuse to replace those and, of course,
somehow a few other flowering plants, potato vines and ferns managed to jump into our shopping cart.
The week of Mother's Day, one of my high school friends was attending a conference in San Antonio so I drove to Wimberley and caught a ride
to SA with another good friend who also lives in the area. Only 5 of us girls were able to take advantage of a small local gathering. There are
11 of us high school girls that typically get together annually (pre-COVID). We met up in downtown SA for lunch at Mi Tierra's Mexican Restaurant,
then strolled through the neat Mexican Market and stopped at an outdoor cafe for a break and to quinch our thirst with lemonade and got our sugar
fix with some delicious flan while we wrapped up our visit.
I extended my stay in Wimberley to visit family and to celebrate Mother's Day with my beautiful and amazing mother and awesome sibs (we missed
Stormy). We honored mom on Sunday over a late lunch at Hays City Store where we enjoyed great food and fun on their outdoor pizza pavilion.
We missed having Angie with us (she was a bit preoccupied at that time), but we called her on FaceTime so she could join the fun and we also
missed Stormy (still stuck in Australia due to the COVID travel restrictions). We kicked off our meal with a flight of 5 different flavored “mom-mossas.”
While waiting on our food, we presented Mom with our gift idea to honor her with a neat display in the Brinkley Memorial Garden at the EmilyAnn
Theatre & Gardens. I'll let Mom tell you all about it in her newsletter article. During my visit, I enjoyed working with my sibs on another Mother's
Day kitchen project with Scot, Angie, Patti, and Juli. I believe that Mom will most likely cover this in her article, as well.
Once back at home, Chrissy and I got busy tending to the garden and flower beds. MJ spent a weekend with us and we had fun hanging out,
watching the movies How to Train a Dragon (1, 2 & 3) and painting rocks for Mom-z's collection.
CONGRATULATIONS ON GRADUATION CARTER HOLMES!
A big milestone was achieved for Carter this month as he graduated from Southlake Carroll High School on May 28. We are so very proud of
him for all his accomplishments throughout his academic school years. Cole and Amber hosted a family gathering over lunch at a local
restaurant and then back to their home for cake. We later met up for the graduation ceremony and had our own cheering section. Go Carter!
What a thrill it was to see him cross the stage, receive his diploma, switch his tassel, and step off the stage into the world of possibilities before
him. He is joining the US Navy so stay tuned for news of his adventures! Way to go, Carter!
JOURNEY TO YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK - COLE, AMBER, JACK & KAYLEE
What an amazing journey to Yosemite National Park for members of the Holmes clan. Yosemite National Park is an American national park located
in the western Sierra Nevada of Central California, bounded on the southeast by Sierra National Forest and on the northwest by Stanislaus National
Forest. The park is managed by the National Park Service and covers an area of 748,436 acres and sits in four counties: centered in Tuolumne and
Mariposa, extending north and east to Mono and south to Madera County. Designated a World Heritage site in 1984, Yosemite is internationally
recognized for its granite cliffs, waterfalls, clear streams, giant sequoia groves, lakes, mountains, meadows, glaciers, and biological diversity. Almost
95% of the park is designated wilderness.
Based on the stories and photos shared by Cole, Amber, Kaylee, and Jack, I can only imagine the humbling and exhilarating experience they surely
enjoyed during their time spent exploring the vast surroundings of Yosemite.
From the looks of the heights they encountered, I'm certain there were a few adrenalin rushing moments. One such moment had to be when Jack was
sitting atop of Sentinel Dome with the famous Half Dome in the background. Half Dome is a granite dome at the eastern end of Yosemite Valley in
Yosemite National Park, California. It is a well-known rock formation in the park, named for its distinct shape. One side is a sheer face while the other
three sides are smooth and round, making it appear like a dome cut in half. On one of their hikes, they even hiked through snow.
Mist Trail was another marvel to explore. This trail is one of the most traveled in Yosemite National Park. Our hikers took the trail to Verbal Falls and
Clark Point. The trail takes you so close to these two massive waterfalls that you may get wet from the trail, as you will see in the photos of the Holmes
tribe below.
A brief stopover in San Francisco included a visit with photo ops at the Golden Gate Bridge and the small town of Sausalito. The Golden Gate
Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Golden Gate, the one-mile-wide strait connecting San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean. The structure
links the U.S. city of San Francisco, California - the northern tip of the San Francisco Peninsula - to Marin County, carrying both U.S. Route 101 and
California State Route 1 across the strait. The bridge is one of the most internationally recognized symbols of San Francisco and California. It was
initially designed by engineer Joseph Strauss in 1917. It has been declared one of the Wonders of the Modern World by the American Society of Civil Engineers.
