Rain then Heat on the Way

The remnants of Hurricane Dolly came through the K. C. area on Tuesday night. We had local flooding as some of the local areas received up to 7 inches of rain. Here at our house we got about 3 1/2 inches during the night. We have had such a crazy year of weather and it is still going on - the heat is coming back tomorrow - 98 degrees. It sounds like we will have the heat for at least the next week or so but it is August in Missouri.

Jack and I have been busy with our routine days but we have did go camping two weekends in a row. We went to the Lewis & Clark State Park up near Atchison, KS and then we went to the Basswood RV Park by Platte City, MO. This is a very nice RV park and had a great time there for the weekend. We took Emma with us and she had a good time. They have a nice pool and splash area for kids and we also had some friends go with us.

Been trying to keep up with the blogs of our friends. It was good to see that Bud and Shelley Wright are going to be in Florida this winter. They are going to be at a RV park not far from the park we have made reservations. That will nice to see them again.

Baseball Mania

Last week was a busy week of baseball. Our grandson, Zack, was playing in the USSSA World Series here in Liberty. They started on Monday, July 14. Each day they played either one or two games. Of course, Grandma and Grandpa were at all the games. His team did really well when you take in consideration that there were 54 teams participating in the series. His team was in the competition until Thursday night. They played eight games total and lost two. But they came out in the top 12 teams in the series. They looked really well for 13 year olds. He was so excited about playing in the world series. He said the only thing that would be better would have been to go outside of the Kansas City area. Of course, we thought it was great he was close to home. Here are a couple of pictures:



Jack and I went camping this last weekend. We went up to a Missouri State Park - the Lewis and Clark Park close to Atchison, Kansas. Atchison was celebrating the Amelia Earhart Days. We went with two other couples and had a great time. At the festival on Saturday night they had a beautiful fireworks display. This is a pretty small town but it has the best fireworks in the whole metro area. This was the first time we had attended it but it sure won't be the last one.

Saturday, July 12, 2008

Kansas City is getting another rain storm this morning. We have had enough rain to last us the rest of this calendar year. I heard one of the weather people say last week that there had only been two days in June that we didn't have some rain or storms. Oh well, the grass is very green the trees are really full so I guess that is all right too.

We had a typical week around here this week. I went to the movies with my girlfriend on Tuesday, and we saw "Get Smart". It was a just an all right movie in my books. I thought it got draggy in a few spots. It did have some really funny lines but wasn't one of my favorites. Can't really recommend it - maybe a rental would be better.

Wednesday I had my hair trimmed. I have it cut pretty short for the summer so that doesn't take very long to get it trimmed. Snookie it is probably shorter than yours. Then Jack and I went up to a city just North of here, Platte City, to look at Basswood RV park. Don Baker, it is the one you said you stayed one time while you were in KC. We had never been by it and we are looking for a close park to take Emma to the last weekend of July. Very nice park. It was laid out real nice and has nice pool, playground area, and the sites looked to be all level. Has four fishing lakes.

Thursday night we met DeAnn and Bruce Hoover for dinner. Was great to see them. DeAnn caught me up on the happenings at FAA. Sounds like they are getting ready for another reorganization. It seems like the last few years that is all the FAA has done. Bruce and DeAnn looked great and seem to be doing good with their new employment.

Last night we had our friends (2 couples we have known for years) over to play games. We taught them how to play Sequence. This is a game that Bill and Donna Rinne taught us while in Arizona. It was fun and it moved fast with six people.

Today we are going to celebrate Emma's 8th birthday. Her birthday is actually the 17th but it worked out better for all the family to have it today. Her and some of her little girlfriends are going to have manicures and pedicures today. Boy things have changed since I was eight (but that has been a few years)!! Can't believe she is eight but they grow up so fast.

I have to brag a little on our oldest grandson, Zack. He is going to start on Monday playing in the USSSA World Series Championship baseball games. The team he is playing with drafted him about three weeks ago to play in the Missouri State Tournament in St. Louis. His team won this tournament. So now they are going to play in the World Series games. There will be a total of 39 teams from 14 different states coming to participate in these games. This will be really exciting for us to see him play at this level. So you know Grandma and Grandpa will not miss a game!!

Winter Home in Florida

We have found our winter home in Florida. We had wanted to stay around the Sebring/Avon Park/Lake Placid area. That was the area we visited when we were in Florida in June. We really liked the area and it had all the facilities/hospitals/restaurants/shopping that anyone would want, including of course, the Super Walmart.

We called Alelaide Shores RV Resort last Monday to see if they had any sites left for the winter and they were full. This was the resort we had really liked when we were there. They even had a waiting list for six-month renters with at least 15 people on it and since we only go for three months we would have been even further down the list. So we kept looking around that area and came up with one in Lake Placid.

The name of the resort is Camp Florida RV Resort. It looks like it is very similar in size to Quail Run Resort where we stayed last year in Arizona. It is a gated community with paved RV sites. It has a lake close by (one of Jack's requirements) and has a full time activities director which looks like it has lots of activities. It is centrally located in Florida and we can be to either coast in an hour or less. So hopefully we will like it.

We have put a deposit down for a site starting the last part of December. Maybe some of our Quail Run buddies, who are planning on coming to Florida this winter, would like to check it out. It would be great to see you guys. I really think DeAnn and Bruce should just quit those jobs and go get the RV and come on down!!

The web site is www.campfla.com.

Branson - Silver Dollar City Trip

Jack, Emma and I left Kansas City last Monday to head to Branson. Emma was so excited as she hadn't been there and didn't know what to expect. All she knew was she was going camping Grandma and Grandpa and that was enough!! We got to Branson and got settled into out site around 2:00 p.m. Then she wanted to hit the pool to see it and swim for a while. So she and I went to the pool to cool off for a while. Here are a few pictures at the pool:

After the pool we went back to the trailer to rest and clean up. Then we went into Branson to play some miniature golf. I forgot the camera and was so mad because it was such a pretty course there would have been some really cute pictures. Oh well, but guess who won the course - I did. I haven't beaten Jack at miniature golf in a hundred years so that made me feel good. Then we made our Wal-Mart run and back to the campground as we were all pretty tired by then.

On Tuesday, we were up and going. We left to go to Silver Dollar City. For people not familiar with the Branson area, it is an amusement park as such but has a lot of other attractions too. They have all kinds of music shows and lots and lots of shops. This time of year is what they call the Kids Festival and it is geared toward the younger crowd. That was one reason I wanted to take Emma at this time of the year. The day was great - the weather was sunny and warm but not too hot. She enjoyed it very much. I don't think she knew exactly what to expect. She rode rides, we went to a Circus on Ice show, took in a couple other shows, toured all the kids activities, and took in a lot of the shops looking for just the right souvenir. By the time we got back to the trailer we were all pooped out. So we rested for a while and then hit the pool again. She is a fish in the water and truly loves swimming. But let me tell you she was one tired girl that night. She fell asleep on the sofa at 8:00 p.m. And believe me, I was not far behind her. I only wished I had half the energy she has.

Wednesday, we spend just mainly in the campground doing things there - riding bikes, swimming, walking and sitting outside watching the people, etc. Jack was not feeling the best while we were there. He developed an intestinal bug and it really got him down for a couple days. Wednesday was the worse day so he was close to the trailer all day. So Emma and I did our thing.

Thursday morning we up to some rain, but it didn't last too long. So we got the trailer all hooked up and took off for Lebanon, MO. Emma's Dad was coming into Lebanon to meet us and pick her up as they were going to spend the weekend at Lake of the Ozarks. On the way to Lebanon, we stopped at the new Camping World Store near Springfield, MO. It is a new one that has only been open for a few weeks. Nice store and they have a large service bay area and a number of RVs for sale.

We stayed Thursday night at the KOA campground in Lebanon. We have stayed there before and it is nice campground. The only thing is they are right on I-44 and is a little noisy. Then on Friday morning we got up and headed back home.

All in all we had a really good time with Emma and I think she enjoyed the trip, too. Jack was feeling better by the time we got back home.