Tim Goes To TexASS

The week before Christmas, I flew to Suzie and Adam's home in Lubbock, Texas to attend their college graduation, attend the blessing of their new son, Tyson and just hang out and visit. Here are some highlights of the trip.

 Lubbock is in the northern part of the state in the panhandle. They call it 'West Texas' and it is flat and desolate. You can't get there from here... or anywhere. It is in the middle of nowhere. I had to fly from Baltimore, MD to Houston, TX and then on a small plane to Lubbock. As you can see in the picture above, there is a lot of nothing in the area.

 Here is a picture of downtown Lubbock in the foreground and Texas Tech University in the background- look for the white-roofed building.

 After the whole Caputo family picked me up from Lubbock International Airport, we went to lunch at a small Mexican restaurant. It was delicious. (International airport? They must have had a drug-smuggling plane land there from Mexico or something. The airport is quite small).

 Adam, Suzie and Tyson in the restaurant.

 Tyson and I hangin' at the restaurant.

 One day, Suzie took me around to see the places they lived and worked, among other parts of town. This is a picture of their first apartment together. It's the one on the second story beyond the stairs.

 This is where Suzie worked, another apartment complex down the road.

 This is a picture of the Lubbock Temple, located in the back of the parking lot of the stake center.

I guess having it here allows the church forgo the landscaping- it would probably just burn up in the heat of summer anyway.

 Tyson likes to sit on the table. His pajamas say 'Naps are for babies'.

 A bad hair day.

 Sue decorated the front door of their house for Adam's graduation. Sue graduated last spring, but wanted to participate in the graduation ceremonies with Adam when he graduated this fall.

 This is Miley. She is all ready to drive to the park for a walk.

 Sue and I took Miley to the park for a walk.

 Anyone that knows anything about the roots of Rock 'n Roll, knows that Buddy Holly was born and raised in Lubbock. We went to the Buddy Holly Museum and checked out all the displays and watched a film on his life. This is a picture of Adam, Tyson and me with the oversized glasses that were Buddy Holly's trademark.

 Suzie, Tyson and me posing for a picture in the glasses. Most early rock 'n rollers copied the sounds from Buddy Holly and his band, The Crickets. The Beatles said at least 40 of their first songs were influenced by Buddy and the Crickets.

 Across the street, named Crickets Ave., is the Buddy Holly statue. We took some pictures here- power lines and all. And yes, there is also a Buddy Holly Ave.

 Another picture with Buddy Holly.

 The day before graduation we went to the Texas Tech campus to take some graduation pictures with Adam and Suzie in their graduation cap and gowns. We thought we would beat the crowd... so did a lot of other graduates. This is the statue that gets wrapped in red before the football games.

 Adam and Suzie posing at the entrance to the campus giving the 'guns up' sign.

 Sitting in front of one of the fountains.

 Hey, what's going on behind those caps?

 Oh, I see.

 This picture is in front of one of the newer pieces of art on campus, the class ring.

 Posing at another statue on campus. Texas Tech is the Red Raiders.

 This statue is several feet high and I had to boost Suzie up so she could stand with Adam.

 The beginning of the graduation ceremony. The school has three graduations a year, and this one had three different ceremonies- one Friday night, one Saturday morning and one Friday afternoon. Adam and Sue's graduation ceremony was on Saturday morning.

 Sue is looking at the camera from the foreground of the second to last row. You can click on the picture to enlarge it.

 Adam is up there shaking hands with faculty after being presented his diploma.

 Here is a picture of Adam returning to his seat after getting his diploma.

 Suzie walking up to get her diploma after getting her picture taken by the school.

 Suzie getting her diploma.

 Ah, the end of the graduation ceremony.

 Time for pictures of the graduates.

 The graduates and their son, kind of a rare sight here.

 Tyson with his graduating parents.

 And Tyson likes wearing the cap.

 Adam, Sue, Tyson and me.

 I even got in the 'guns up' action.

Here is a video I shot after graduation.

 We went to Adam's building to get his certificate. He graduated in Petroleum Engineering and is standing in front of a well head in the building.

 Picture time in one of his classrooms.

 And another picture in his classroom.

 After graduation, we went to Texas Roadhouse for lunch. On the right is Adam's brother that lives in Dallas, and his mom & dad from California. We had a great lunch there, until Tyson pulled a glass of ice water down on his mom.

 On another day, Adam took Miley to the park. She was hesitant to climb on the play equipment.

 Miley and her blanket.

 On Sunday, Tyson was blessed by Adam at church. We took some pictures afterward.

 Family picture: Me, Suzie, Tyson, Adam, Gene (Adam's dad), Francine (Adam's mom) and Joel (Adam's brother).

 These are Suzie's and Adam's great neighbors, Cole and Chelsea. They came to watch the blessing.

Me, Suzie and Tyson.

 Since Suzie had all of us there, she wanted to have her Christmas dinner after church. We had ham, green bean casserole, rolls, pumpkin pie and ice cream. It was a delicious dinner.

 Tyson liked sitting on the table where he could see everybody,

 Tyson likes to lay on the floor to play with toys.

 I would steal Miley's blanket and she would grab it and try to get it back. She is a lot of fun to bug.

 At under 6 months, Tyson is mesmerized by Suzie's iPhone. He loves the little animal game on it.

Tyson was fussing so Suzie pulled up this on her iPhone and he stopped and paid close attention to what was going on here.

 The front of Suzie's and Adams house. Adam got a job in his field several weeks back. His job is in Dallas, about 6 hours or so away. So while I was there, things got all packed up so they could move before Christmas. Adam's company moved them and even paid for cleaning, hotel stays, travel and food.

 The moving van in front of the house. There were three movers that packed everything.

 The front of the truck and their house.

 The bedroom I used is now all packed up. That's one of the workers packing up Tyson's room there in the background.

 The living room getting all packed. The movers packed up all but the beds and furniture on one day and then came back on the next day to pack everything else. That is the day I left, so I didn't get to see any of that go on.

 Hard to tell, but this is the kitchen.

 Tyson and Suzie in the kitchen.

 Tyson on top of all the boxes in the living room.

 Tyson drooling all over the boxes. You might have to enlarge this picture to see.

This is a video of all the boxes in the kitchen, living room and dining room.

Suzie and Adam have a large dining table with a thick faux marble top. It was too big and heavy to just put in a box, so a couple of guys came to crate the table. They built the crate in the front yard.

I had a great time in Lubbock an did a lot of things.

The End