Monty's Adventures

2011-03-15T06:36:00.000-07:00

Can't believe it has been a month since blogging but days just pass and I just didn't get it done.

We have thoroughly enjoyed our stay in Arizona this year. It has been the warmest winter we have experienced overall the last five years. We had lots of friends in this park and that always makes it fun. We did have one incident that wasn't enjoyable - car accident.

On February 28, we were involved in a car accident. We were out to eat with our friends, DeAnn and Bruce, and we were T-boned on the passenger side of the car. I was sitting on the passenger side. My rib on my right side was broken. Bruce was shook up and has a sore back but other than that we thankfully were not seriously injured. It could have been much worse. We were riding with our friends and their car was totaled but it is drivable. The other car was totaled also. It is now two weeks later and my rib is still sore but is improving. So I have slowed down on the activities here in the park until my rib is better.

Here are a couple pictures of the car:

On February 25, we went to the Fountain Hills Art Fair. This is always such a treat to go to as they have over 400 vendors with all kinds of arts. This is the second time we have attended and have enjoyed both times.

Here are a couple shots at the street fair:

Jack and I have been thinking of up-grading our fifth wheel for a while. Last week, DeAnn's uncle and aunt came up from Coolidge to look at our fifth wheel as they were looking for one similar to ours. Well, yesterday they called and said that they would like to purchase ours. So we are going to sell it to them, and deliver it to them next week on Wednesday. Then we will start back to KC on Thursday, March 24. When we get back KC, we will start looking for a new trailer. We have been looking at some while out here but haven't decided for sure what we will buy. We both liked the Open Range. So it will be exciting to start looking for a new one.

Verde Canyon Railroad - 2/14/11

2011-02-23T17:03:00.000-08:00

On Valentine's Day, we took the Verde Canyon Railroad, Chocolate Lovers ride. This is located in Clarkdale, AZ (about 90 miles NW of Phoenix). DeAnn & Bruce Hoover and Shelley & Buddy Wright went with us.

The train has two FP7 locomotives that pull the renovated passenger cars. It has the passenger cars plus an open-air car so you can go outside to enjoy the scenery. The train follows the upper Verde River, runs by Indian ruins, and over trestles. It goes through a man-made tunnel.

Enough about the train, the real thing was the chocolate - we had chocolate lava cake, chocolate cupcakes, chocolate mousse, chocolate candy, etc.... We also had champagne served, a full appetizer bar, with no less than a chocolate fountain with strawberries, marshmallows, pretzels,
& bananas. Oh so good! Now you
know why were so full and mellow
on the ride home.

Buddy & Shelley Wright

DeAnn & Bruce Hoover

Birthday Celebration - January 29

2011-01-30T19:23:00.000-08:00

On January 29, we celebrated my birthday with our friends here in Arizona. We had a great time!

New friends - Marilyn & Paul -

Donna & Bill -

DeAnn & Bruce -

Jack, Brandy & me -

Buddy, Shelley, & Sharon - (sorry we missed getting Tom in this picture)

We had drinks and snacks at DeAnn & Bruce's and then went to Garcia's (Mexican Restaurant) for dinner.

What a day! We had a great time from morning to night. Thanks for making my birthday special.

Tonto National Forest

2011-01-22T17:23:00.001-08:00

On Friday, January 21, we took a drive to Tonto National Forest.

This is Red Mountain which is located
just outside Tonto National Forest entrance.

Jack thought he had to get out on the
rock to get better pictures. DeAnn and I thought he was going to fall in the River but he fooled us and made it just fine.

Jack, Brandy, and I on the banks of the Salt River at one of the recreational areas.

The Salt River that runs thorough the
Forest. The water is so clear you can
see the fish in it.

We had a picnic lunch at Saguaro Lake. The shelter house was right on the bank of the lake. Lindy and Brandy enjoyed all the fresh air. Jack and Bruce enjoyed watching the boats on the lake.

This was a great scenic drive and the weather was just wonderful. Great day with great friends.

Enjoying Arizona

2011-01-16T15:51:00.000-08:00

VAL VISTA RV PARK

Here are a few pictures from our RV park.

We are enjoying our RV park here in Mesa. The park is great and has all kinds of activities and things to do. The weather has just been beautiful the last week or so.

I have gone to line dancing, took some pickleball lessons, went to Zumba exercise, utilized the gym equipment and took walks. Last weekend we went to our first dance with a live band which was a lot of fun.

Last Wednesday we attended a concert from the Fab 5 which was five sisters that dance. They had appeared on one of the talent shows on TV and were in the top 10 finalists. They have performed at a number of places throughout the U. S. It was very good and they even had their children who also performed a number of dance routines.

Today we went to the Mesa Marketplace - Flea Market and we made some purchases.

Looking forward to another week here in Arizona.

New Home for the Winter

2011-01-05T05:16:00.000-08:00

We have arrived at our new home for the next three months. We are at Val Vista RV Park in Mesa, AZ., this year. This is the first time we have visited this park, but so far we really like it. Some friends, Tom and Sharon, are the ones that recommended this park. They had been here last year and liked it real well. There are a number of people in the park that we met while at Arizona City three years ago.

We left KC on Monday, December 27, and arrived in Mesa on Wednesday, December 29. We had a good trip - didn't have any weather and no problems with the RV. Our friends, Bill and Donna, ran with us on the way out and that was nice having someone else traveling with us. They had been coming out here the last few years, so they knew places to stay at on the way.

Our friends, DeAnn and Bruce, arrived last Friday. We have been busy exploring the park and getting to know the town. DeAnn and I went to a cooking class yesterday which was presented by the Chef from the park. It was very informative on lots of healthy ideas and on how to start your new year off in a better way. They served a lunch with it and it was very nice. We also went to a class at the gym to learn all the equipment they have to use and we signed up with the personal trainer to give us a one-on-one session. So see we are going to try to be a little better (at least for the first month of the year!)

Hope everyone had a great holiday season and are ready to start their new year.

Where did Summer go?

2010-10-05T08:45:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it has been 3 months or more since I have been on here. I really don't know where the time goes but it just goes!!

We have been busy with the family & friends most of the summer.

We visited the Kansas City Chief's Training Camp this year in August. They have moved it to St. Joseph, MO., which is only about 35 miles North of KC. So that makes it real handy to visit. It was fun to go there and see them work out and practice. So far this year the Chiefs are doing so much better than the last few years, so there is always hope for them!

Jack and I have gotten back into square dancing the last couple of years while we were in Florida, so when we came home for the summer, we decided to take some more lessons which has been fun. We have been to a few dances over the last couple months but most clubs do not dance much in the summer. We plan to attend a few dances this fall/winter before we leave for Arizona. We have already checked out the parks in AZ to see where the dances will be held. We need to get some of our friends to take lessons this year.

The last week of August we went to Branson with our friends, DeAnn an Bruce. Had a great time. While we were there, our friends we met in AZ three years ago, Don and LaVon, were there also. Had a good visit with them.

Over Labor Day weekend, we camped at a local lake - Smithville for four days. We took our 3 year old grandson, Bronson, with us for the first time. He did great. We only had him for a day and night, but he enjoyed it and wanted to know when would be the next time he could go. Hopefully we can get him out one more time this year.

On September 25, Jack and I attended my 45th high school reunion. We hadn't been to one for about 15 years so it was fun. Boy, how people change!! Of course, I haven't changed just them - LOL. I have about 6 girlfriends that I have kept in touch with over the years and most of them came to it so that was the best of times.

Zack, our 15 year old grandson, is playing JV football this year. So we have been busy attending his games. We went last night, he made a touchdown and had some really good plays. It is so much fun to attend these games. Both of our sons played football so it sure brings back the memories from their games.

The weather has been just beautiful here in the Midwest. Fall is definitely my favorite time of the year. The mornings have been cool but it warms up to the high 60s and low 70s by afternoon. Just perfect!! We have made our reservations for the winter in Arizona this year. We are going to be in Mesa at a RV park called Val Vista. We understand that there is going to be a number of people we know going to be there also so that will be fun. Looking forward to seeing them.

Winfield Country Music Roundup - July 2010

2010-07-26T06:48:00.000-07:00

Dierks Bentley in Concert:

On July 13, Jack and I took a trip to Winfield, Kansas, to the Country Music Roundup. This was our second year to go to it and we had a great time. This roundup runs through the week.

We had three other couples go with us and we all camped at the fairgrounds at Winfield. The weather was a little on the hot side but we found ways to keep cool. Mary and Doug; Bruce and DeAnn; and Bill and Donna were the other couples. We made a U-shape with our RVs and had a courtyard in the middle of the RVs. This worked out great as Mary and Doug brought a canopy type tent so with the awnings and this we had a lot of shade. Had two big fans that ran most of the time!! We had good food, including homemade ice cream. Can't ask for more than this.....

The music concerts were at night so that helped out. They were in the arena with covered stands that faced the East so we were always in the shade. They had some great entertainers this year -- LoCash Cowboys; Bill Currington (People are Crazy guy); Hotel California (tribute to the Eagles); Randy Houser; Chris Cagle; Keith Anderson; and Dierks Bentley - this was just some of the bigger names. So we had a good variety of country music.

I will try to post some of our pictures.

Bill & Donna:

Mary & Doug:

Bruce & DeAnn:

The whole gang except Jack, who took the picture:

This was one great trip.

Summer-Time is Here

2010-06-20T10:36:00.000-07:00

We are definitely in summer here in Missouri. It has been hot and humid for the last few weeks and we are still having the summer thunderstorms almost daily. There has been some flooding and if it doesn't stop soon it might become more severe (like we had in 1993) - hopefully not.

Let's see what have we been up to for the last six weeks. Busy as usual, with our normal activities.

We spend spend four days in Columbia, Missouri, helping our friends, Jeannene and Warren, celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary. We took the RV and camped in Columbia. We had a wonderful time. I helped Jeannene get ready for their party on Thursday and Friday. We got to visit with their two sons and two granddaughters. Then on Saturday the party was from 2 - 5 at one of their friends' clubhouse. Everything turned out just great and a good time was had by everyone. After the party, we all went out to eat at a country restaurant between Columbia and Jefferson City - by the Missouri River. It had wonderful home cooking! Here is the group standing on the steps outside the restaurant. Jeannene's two sisters; their sons & granddaughters; a friend; and Jack and I.

Here is a picture of them at the party:

We have been busy with our neighborhood board as we are members of it. We are in the process of changing some things so that has been taking up a lot of our time the last few months.

Our granddaughter, Emma, was in her school district's math bee. She represented the fourth grade from her school. She competed with a large number of candidates (don't know how many but I would estimate over 25 in the fourth grade level) and she came out in 4th place. She received a medal and trophy. We were so proud of her!

Jack and I celebrated our 45th wedding anniversary on June 12. Can't believe that it has been that long but time flies when having fun!! We had a wonderful dinner on June 11 at Bonefish Grill. Then on June 12 we were actually with our friends, Marlin and Dora; Frank and Linda celebrating Marlin's 60th birthday.

On June 13, we left for Branson, Missouri. We took Emma with us and camped there until Friday, June 18. We had a great time. Our youngest son, Chad and his family, were also staying in a cabin on Table Rock Lake, which is close to Branson. So we all went to Silver Dollar City one day and then another day we went to see the play, Noah the Musical. The children just loved the play. Well, the adults did too but they were so fascinated with all the animals and the special effects of the show. We forgot the camera on some of the trips but here are a few of the pictures.

Jack went fishing with Chad three mornings we were in Branson. Chad was staying at a resort on Table Rock Lake so they had a great place to fish. Two mornings they rented a fishing boat. Bronson, our three year old grandson, loves to fish too. He caught a 4 lb bass. He was the envy of his Dad and Grandpa!!

April Showers (Storms) Bring May Flowers

2010-05-11T12:02:00.000-07:00

Can't believe we have been home for over a month. Where does all the time go.....just keeping busy with one thing or the other.

It is good to be home and catch up with our family and friends. We met our friends, Donna and Bill, for dinner the last part of April. It is always good to see them and catch up with their lives. They spend the winter in Arizona so we compared our winters, etc., and that is always fun.

My niece, Tara, had a baby girl on April 13. We are all excited about this baby girl as she already has three boys!!! So it was time for this girl. Jack, my sister and I went down to Lake of the Ozarks and stayed at the condo for four days the fourth week of April. As my niece lives in Lebanon, we got to see the new baby and Mommy. Her name is Amelya Kay and she is a doll. There is a picture on Jack's facebook page of her.

We have been catching up with our routine doctor's and dentist's appointments. So far we are healthy and cavity free ...LOL.

We started some Spring cleaning and decided to have a garage sale since the neighborhood was having one on May 1. We had a really good sale -- got rid of a bunch of stuff and made a little money to boot. Luckily, we had good weather which hasn't been easy here in the Midwest. We have had all kinds of rain and storms the last three weeks. So far we haven't had any tornadoes here in KC this year. Sorry to hear about the ones in Oklahoma as we have friends with relatives there - hopefully all is well with them.

I had a wonderful Mother's Day weekend. We started on Friday night having dinner with our youngest son, Chad and his family; and then on Sunday morning we had brunch with our oldest son, Craig and his family. Then we went to church (our granddaughter Emma) spend the day with us so I couldn't have had a better Mother's Day. Thanks to my family.

The sun is finally out today but it is cool - 59 degrees. Where has the nice warm May days gone?? I'm ready to be able to sit out and enjoy the weather. Hopefully it will be here soon!!

Traveling Home - Part 3

2010-04-12T15:32:00.000-07:00

Here is some of the beautiful old houses in Charleston. (above)

Here is one of the residents of Charleston making Sweet Grass baskets. (below)

This was our view when we camped at Asheville, NC. It was beautiful through this area.

This was our view when we camped in St. Louis. We were across the Mississippi River from the Arch. Beautiful view.

Home Sweet Home - Part 2

2010-04-09T10:14:00.001-07:00

(Above) The trees were all blooming at Savannah.

This house was featured in one of the famous movies filmed in Savannah.

This is inside of Paula Deen's restaurant. We were there on a Sunday and they have buffet that day. All the food was delicious!!

This is outside of the restaurant - you have to stand in line to get a time for a reservation. We lucked out that it wasn't near as busy on Sunday so we only had to wait about 30 minutes to get our lunch time.

Here is Jack on the stairs that were built back about 275 year ago. (Savannah)

Home Sweet Home - Part 1

2010-04-09T09:05:00.000-07:00

We left Florida on Friday, March 26, and headed home via the Carolinas/Tennessee. We got back to our home on Sunday, April 4.

We really enjoyed our trip home this year as we took our time and only drove about 300 miles a day at the most. We visited Daytona Beach; Savannah; Charleston; Asheville; Nashville and St. Louis.

I will probably blog in phases - so I can post some pictures.

It is so nice to get home and see all the family and friends. The weather was good for us on the way home. There was some severe weather around but we were very lucky that we didn't see any of it. The weather here has been pretty nice - had some severe weather a couple late afternoons but didn't have at our house. Our kids' houses did get some hail and wind but no damage.

Our first stop was a night at Daytona Beach. We camped at a KOA right down the street from the Speedway. It was a nice location - close to everything but the actual park was not all that good. Went to the beach and had a nice dinner. Then we got up the next morning and drove to Savannah.

At Savannah, we camped at Savannah Oaks which was a pretty nice park. It was about 10 miles from Downtown but the route to the Downtown area was all expressway so it was easy traveling. Savannah is a beautiful old town. We spent two nights and got to see a lot of the area.

Here are a few pictures:

This is the restaurant we had dinner the first night - it is down on River Street next to the Savannah River. Good and reasonable.

This is the famous "Savannah Waiving Girl" statue. The story is she waived at all the ships that came into the harbor looking for her lost lover.

Packing up and Hitting the Road

2010-03-25T11:16:00.000-07:00

It is hard to believe that three months have already passed and we are packing up and heading back North. Oh what a winter - it has been quite different than anticipated as the weather goes but we survived and had a wonderful three months!

The last three weeks we have been busy doing all sorts of activities and going places. We visited the Ft. Meyers Flea Market; attended Florida's Strawberry Festival (which has the most wonderful strawberry shortcakes!!); another day in Ft. Meyers at the Miramar Outlets shopping. We have been very involved in square dancing this year. Some weeks we have danced up to 4 times a week. It is great exercise and it has a fellowship of great people. We have met some wonderful people thru it. Our caller, who lives here year round, had most of the new class and us "angels" (that is experienced dancers) over to their house for a picnic dinner. They live on a lake and canal and have a wonderful place to entertain.

The park had its annual fish fry - they cooked 3,000 pieces of crappie fish for the park's family. This was great.

On March 15, we met some ole friends from Arizona, Buddy and Shelley, for lunch. It was great to see them and catch up with each other.

Tomorrow, March 26, we are heading out of this park. We are heading to Daytona Beach for a night or two; then on to Savannah, GA; then to Charleston, SC; on to Asheville, NC; next to Nashville, TN and then on to Missouri. Anyway that is our list of stops so hopefully things will work out. I hope the weather cooperates at our stops and that we don't run into any severe weather at this time of year. Hope to be in KC by April 5 or 6.

For all of you that will be hitting the road soon, may you have safe traveling!

Friends, Festivals, and Fun

2010-03-04T06:02:00.000-08:00

Jack took this picture of these birds over by Lake Okeechobee. We are told they are Florida storks. My niece is having a baby in April so I'm going to tell her I saw the bird that is delivering her baby - LOL.

We have been busy with all different things here in Florida. We have attended two different Arts and Crafts Festivals. One of them was right here in Lake Placid. It really surprises you when you attend this one. The town is small but they have a really pretty large festival with some really neat vendors. Then there was another one in the town North of here, Sebring. Both days for these festivals, the weather was pretty nice (for a change). The weather this year here in Florida has really been crazy - cool most of the time.

We had some friends from KC come over and spend the day with us. Mary and Doug came over on the 17th and we had a great time. We started off with breakfast here and then we took them to the Myakka State Park. This park is a nice park with some big alligators. Drove around and look at the different sites, etc. Saw some wild boars too. It was a nice day. After finishing the park, we stopped at a little restaurant in Myakka City - Suzy Q's. It was great to see Mary and Doug. They are heading back to KC area, on March 18.

Here are Mary & Doug:

Our friends, Don and Linda, came up from LaBelle, on February 18, had a good visit. We went out to eat at a new restaurant in Sebring - Cowboys. It was good. Then we came back to the trailer and played "Wizard" card game. Had a great time with them. Then last Saturday, we went down to LaBelle, and visited with them. Their park was having a hamburger cook-out. Then we played cards after that. Don and Linda were leaving the next day to head back to Alabama. Don got a call to return to work for 4 - 6 weeks.

We have been square dancing at least twice a week. We have met some great people through our square dancing and got good exercise doing it. This year the square dancing is at another park about 2 miles from here. We have assisted with lessons this year plus going to regular dances too. It's fun....

We have decided that we will leave this park on March 26 and start heading back towards KC. We are going to take our time going home this year. We are going to make some stops at Daytona Beach; Savannah, GA; Charleston, SC; and a few other ones. So we should probably be back to KC the first part of April. Have to be there on April 8 to have the taxes figured.

Next week, we are going to the Florida Strawberry Festival. This festival is at Plant City which is about 70 miles North of here. It is like a big state fair. It runs from today through March 14. But the best thing is they have the biggest, best strawberry shortcake ever!! We missed it last year so we wanted to make sure we got there this year. Will let you know how it is.

We have had a good time this year in Florida but it has been different than we had last year so we haven't decided where we are going next year.

Hot-Hot-Hot in the Cayman Islands

2010-02-11T05:36:00.000-08:00

This is the cruise ship we were on - Celebrity Century.

The beautiful waters at Cayman Islands.

Key West Lighthouse.

Key West's beautiful flowers.

Cayman's Seven Mile Beach.

Cayman's Seven Mile Beach.

Jack and I left on Monday, February 1, for Miami to get on our cruise ship. We drove down to Miami in a monsoon rain storm. It rained so hard we could hardly see to drive on the Interstate. But once we got on the ship and left Miami, we had great weather.

The first stop was at Key West. The weather forecast was rain, but thank goodness we had a sunny warm day. We took the sightseeing train that took us all around the city with a couple stops. This is a good way to see all the highlights and save you a little walking. Last year when we were there, we walked most of it and it is much longer than you think. Did some shopping and looking around Duvall Street.

The next day we were at sea - to lay around the pool and do the activities on board the ship. At dinner, we had three couples at our table. It is a small world, as one of the couples at our table was from Popular Bluff, Missouri. But all the couples were very nice and we enjoyed eating and visiting with them each night.

Then on Thursday, we were at the Cayman Islands. This is a beautiful place. It has a Seven-Mile Beach that is luscious. We have been here before a few times so we didn't sign up for any excursions. We went to shore and walked around shopping and looking - then we hired a taxi to take us to Seven-Mile Beach to enjoy the sunshine and water. The water here is a beautiful turquoise color.

On Friday, we were at sea again. We decided we would play a little Bingo to pass the time. Well, would you believe that Jack won two pots!!! Yippee..... That was fun and help pay for our shopping. We have played a number of times but this is the first time we have won.

Then on Saturday we were back to Miami. As you know, the Super Bowl was played in Miami this year. Well, to say the least, there was traffic on the roads that day. We got caught up in traffic from an accident and it took us about 1- 1/2 hours to go about 3 miles. We were glad to get out of there after that. But overall we had a great time on the cruise!!

Last night we went to the park's soup supper. Had some wonderful soup and then stayed and played bingo - but we didn't win this time but our next-door neighbor (who was sitting at our table) won the big jackpot.

Manatee Park - Ft. Myers

2010-01-28T10:43:00.000-08:00

This is a picture of a manatee. You have to look hard to see the shadow of it - it is about 8 feet long. The day we were there we saw ones from 4 foot (baby) to 15 foot long. They sure are interesting animals to watch.

This looks like Jack has a bird setting on his head!! It really is part of the mural behind us.

Linda and I with our new friend.....This was a great park to visit. We recommend it to everyone to see.

Lipizzan Stallions

2010-01-28T09:23:00.000-08:00

Here are some of the pictures that Jack took while we were at Hermann's Royal Lipizzan Stallions. They are beautiful horses!

Fun in Florida

2010-01-27T03:21:00.001-08:00

Since the weather has improved here we have really been enjoying the outdoors. Jack has been cleaning on the fifth wheel. He usually just works on it a little each day so it not too much of a chore at once. He got the roof all cleaned and then started on the sides. It is looking real nice. The neighbors are giving a hard time about making them feel guilty about cleaning theirs.

A week ago Thursday, we went to LaBelle to visit our friends, Don and Linda. We had lunch at a good bar-a-que place and then drove over towards Ft. Myers to see the manatees. There is a power plant next to a river - so the power plant discharges warm water and the manatees come to the warm water. The day we were there - there were about 25 - 30 manatees in this small area. It was very interesting to see them - there were babies as well as very large ones. Hoping to post some pictures.

We got back into our square dancing last week. It was fun to get back to this and see the people we danced with last year. They are having it at another RV park just down the road. We have also been walking and riding our bikes.

Last Saturday night, we went to the famous Spaghetti Dinner here in the park. It was delicious. There is a small group here in the park that cook everything - homemade sauce, etc. We had around 300 people attend it and each person got 4 meatballs so this is not a small project but they pulled it off wonderfully.

Last Saturday, we went over to Myakka City to see the Herrmann's Lipizzan Stallions. This is their winter training area. These are beautiful horses and they perform really great. The show was about hour and half long. They had a good crowd. This group comes into Kansas City but we had never been able to go to them so were glad that we made it over to see them. Hope to get some pictures posted later.

Next week Jack and I are going on a cruise out of Miami. We leave on Monday and get back next Saturday. We are going to the Caribbean with stops at Key West and Cayman Islands. Since we are so close to Miami it is crazy not to take advantage of driving to get on a ship. Brandy will be taking her vacation at the "Dog Haus" which is a pet resort here in Lake Placid.

Friday is my birthday and we are going to celebrate it by going to the outlets in Bradenton. As most people know me - that is my way of celebrating "shopping"!! DeAnn sure knows this!! Wish you were here to go with me. Next year, maybe we will be together to celebrate.

Sunshine and Warm in Florida

2010-01-17T12:42:00.000-08:00

The warm and sunshine is back in Florida!! Yes, thank goodness it is back in the 70s and sunny again. Since Tuesday we have had wonderful Florida weather like it should be here. Hopefully, the cold weather is gone for good.

We have been out and about checking the area over. We have gone into Sebring a couple times to Walmart and to the computer store. Did some shopping there too.

On Friday, Jack and I went into Tampa to the Florida RV Show (Wendy thought about you guys). Last year Wendy and Rick went with us to this. This show is very large - over 1200 models and lots of vendors, etc. We walked our legs off and saw a lot of new things. One of the models we went through was the new Montana model for 2010 and it had five slides with a loft living area. This was a different layout than most fifth wheels but looked like it would be nice. Jack and I was surprised about how many of the models had SOLD signs on them. So I guess people are still buying their RVs.

Friday night the park had some entertainment. It was a Elvis impersonator and a comedian. They were both very good. We remembered them from last year. They have been performing for a number of years in Nashville and Pigeon Forge.

We have been watching the football playoff games this weekend. Looks like Minnesota is going to be playing the Saints next weekend. I was rooting for Brett (the old man) to make it.

Brrrrr......in Florida

2010-01-09T04:45:00.000-08:00

Florida had snow in the panhandle yesterday. Thank goodness where we are located which is in the southern part it didn't do anything like that but it has been cooler than normal by 15 - 20 degrees. The poor farmers (strawberries mainly) have had a terrible week trying to keep their berries warm. We have had a couple of nice days with high 60s/low 70s with sunshine but it has been cloudy and cool most of the week. The forecast for next week is showing a big improvement so hopefully once we get through this week it will turn around.

We have been talking with our kids and KC is really getting hit with the winter weather. They have already had 20 inches of snow and the temps have been very low (-5) and the side roads are terrible. Our grandchildren have been out of school since December 22. If they don't get back before long, they will be going to school through June which they won't like. But the forecast for next week is better - suppose to warm above freezing for a few days which will be nice. It hasn't been above since before Christmas. So Florida weather is great!!

We haven't had the best start to our stay in Florida. I had an attack of diverticulitis (colon infection) and ended up in the ER for 8 hours on the night of New Year's Day. What a way to start the year!! Don't recommend that for anyone. But I got all checked out and got medicine and am feeling better by now. So I haven't done much this week. Hoping to get back to our activities, etc., next week.

Our friends that we met here last year, Don and Linda, called us on Wednesday and said they were coming by to visit. It was great to see them. We went out to eat with them and our other friends, Dave and Becky. It was great to catch up with them.

Arrived in Florida!

2010-01-01T11:11:00.000-08:00

We left KC on Monday, December 28, with 11 inches of snow and drifts up to our mailbox, and got to Florida, on Wednesday, December 30. We had good weather all the way down - it was three hard days of driving but we made it without any problems. Glad to be here. It was 77 degrees and sunny when we arrived; yesterday it was 78 degrees and sunny. Today it is partly cloudy with some rain but the temp is around 62 so that is good compared to back home which is about 10 degrees today.

Yesterday Jack got the trailer all set up with everything and I worked inside to get things organized. By the time we finished, we were pooped out. So we didn't celebrate too much last night. Just enjoyed the weather and met new people.

I'll blog later when I get caught up with other things.

Picture of the Boys at the KC Chiefs Game

2009-12-23T16:45:00.000-08:00

Thanks to my friend LaVon, here is the picture of boys at the Chiefs game. They look like they are ready for winter. It was pretty chilly that day, but at least the sun was out and they didn't get too cold. Marlin, Jack and Frank.

P.S. - The Chiefs didn't win (as usual) but it was a high scoring game - 44 - 37. We played the Cleveland Browns. The poor Chiefs have had a bad year so I guess we can just say they are re-building for next year!!

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

2009-12-23T12:50:00.000-08:00

Sorry to be so slow with the blog but things have been really busy around here. We have had Christmas get-togethers; keeping the grandchildren; shopping & wrapping; and then in our spare time trying to get things organized for our trip to Florida. But we have had plenty of fun doing all these things so that makes it all worthwhile.

I attended two Christmas parties with some of my old co-workers which is always a lot of fun. Got to see some of the people I hadn't seen in a couple years and catch up with them and their families.

We had a card group in last weekend for a chili and soup dinner with Christmas goodies. Always have a good time with them.

On the 12th, I hosted along with one other neighbor, a brunch for the women of our neighborhood. We have a pretty small neighborhood - 21 houses - but we had 11 attend the brunch.

Jack went to the Kansas City Chief's' game with our friends, Marlin and Frank. Thanks to Marlin who had some tickets his son wasn't going to use so the guys had a day at the football game. They had a good time. Marlin took a picture of them and I was in hopes that I could post it but we couldn't figure out how to get it over to here. Sorry no picture. While they were at the game, Dora and I decided to go to the movies. We went to see the new George Clooney one. It was all right but for some reason it wasn't as good as I thought it would be. Be better to rent it I think.

We are going to celebrate Christmas with our sons and their families on Christmas Day. The grandchildren are really getting excited about Santa coming. We had the two little ones on Monday and Bronson (3) was telling me I better go see Santa and tell him what I want!!

If the weather cooperates, we plan on pulling out of Kansas City on Sunday, 27th, and heading South to Florida. Right now they are calling for snow late tomorrow and on Christmas Day but then 26th and 27th are to be clear and cold. So we will see - hopefully we can get out of this cold weather.

Hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas and I'll blog when we get to Florida.

Girls Day Out - Thanksgiving

2009-11-29T09:01:00.000-08:00

I'll try to catch up a little since last blogging.

On November 19, two of my friends, Dora and Linda, went on a Girls Day Out. We went to lunch to a really neat restaurant in Downtown Kansas City. It is called Webster House. It looks like a old schoolhouse - it has two floors. The first floor is like a boutique with all sorts of things to see and buy. It was all decorated for Christmas and had some unique gifts. The second floor is the restaurant. We had a lovely lunch - very good. After lunch we decided we needed to make a stop at the Old Pottery Store. We love to go to this store as it has anything and everything you can imagine for decorating; housewares; and just lots of stuff!! We had a great day. That us at the top of the blog at Webster House.

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. We had a great time here. We had 18 people for dinner. Our friends Jeannene and Warren came in on Wednesday. They were a big help with getting things ready for for the dinner. Both our sons and families were here; my sister; my nephew and his family. The food was good and company was exceptional!!

Jeannene and Warren stayed until Saturday a.m. We had a lot of fun with them - playing cards and dominoes; going out to eat; checking out the Christmas lights at Zona Rosa; visiting the Independence Square.

Jack and I started putting up our Christmas decorations yesterday. We had put out the lights outside early last week as the weather was unseasonably warm. Yesterday we put up the tree and today I worked on getting the other decorations put out. Can't believe that December is going to be here in another day. The weather around here has been very nice for late November. But I think it will be changing by end of this week. It is time for us to start thinking of heading South before long. We won't be leaving until a couple days after Christmas.

We have some Christmas parties coming up over the next few weeks and that is always a lot of fun.

Pictures of Branson Trip

2009-11-12T08:50:00.000-08:00

Bronson's 3rd Birthday & Branson, MO Trip

2009-11-12T08:06:00.000-08:00

We celebrated Bronson's third birthday on Sunday, September 18. He is growing up so fast but is a sweetheart. He was big enough this year to really get into the party. This is Bronson blowing out his candles on his Big Bird Birthday Cake. He had a great time!!

The weather has been much better here in November. Usually October is our great fall month but this year it has been November. It has been unseasonably warm, and sunny which has been great since October was so wet and cool. But I believe next week things will be going down hill but I guess that is to be expected since Thanksgiving is almost here.

I don't know where all the time goes - we have been busy with one thing or another. I have been volunteering at the hospital a little more and we have had our craft fair. Jack and I both got our flu shots so hopefully we will keep healthy this winter.

Last weekend we went to Branson, MO., to see all the Christmas lights. They start their Christmas season down there the first part of November. We went to a country music show on Friday night, Pierce Arrow. This is a good family show and we just love their comedian. So that started the weekend off to a good start. Then on Saturday we went out to Silver Dollar City. They have over 4 million Christmas lights shining. It was just beautiful. If you are not in the Christmas mood when you leave there you never will be. This was the first weekend for all the Christmas festivities so was a really large crowd. Also, with Veterans Day being the following week the crowds were big. Our friends, Jeannene and Warren, met us in Branson - we really met up at the restaurant in Ozark, MO - Lambert's for lunch on Friday. If you haven't been to this restaurant, it is quite a treat. They are known for their "throwed rolls" - which is what they do and all their "down home" cooking. Then they went with us to SDC on Saturday. We had a great time with them, as usual. On Sunday, we did some shopping at the outlets and at the Landing. On Monday, we came home. Overall, it was a great trip.

As I mentioned in a previous blog, Jack and I are on the transition board for our housing area. We have been busy meeting with the other members trying to get things lined out for the coming year. It has been a challenge but we are making progress and hopefully it will all work out and we will have the necessary paperwork completed before 2010 begins.

Starting at 6:00 a.m. tomorrow we are going to be keeping our two littlest grandsons, Bronson and Nico, while their parents take an anniversary trip to Miami Beach. Chad and Cathy have not been on a trip by themselves since Bronson has been born so they definitely deserve one. Their 5th anniversary is tomorrow and they are going to come home on Monday. Chad and Cathy are really excited about their trip but also have some reservations leaving the kids. I know they are going to be so homesick by Monday (hopefully we can keep the kids busy and they won't get homesick too bad). Cathy's Mom is going to take over Saturday night so will just have them Friday and Saturday. Wish us good luck!!

Cold Weather in the Fall - October 2009

2009-10-17T08:11:00.000-07:00

This is Jack's new hobby. He decided he wanted to build him some of these airplanes. He also found out it takes more time than he thought. This is the first one.

Bronson's First Birthday Party: (Grandma & Grandpa got him the dinosaur)

Cathy, Bronson, Nico, & Chad:

Nico says he would just as soon be somewhere else:

Well, you wouldn't know it was October in the Midwest by the weather. We have had unseasonably cool weather the last few weeks. Usually our Octobers' are sunny, nice and warm, but this year sure has been different. We have gloom, rain, and cold weather for the last three weeks. Maybe it will get it out of its system, and we will have warm, sunny weather for November. It has been down in the high 30s at night and maybe in the high 40s in the day with no sun. We are definitely ready for a change - tomorrow and Monday they (the weathermen) are saying it will be sunny and in the 60s - boy I hope they are right for a change.

We have been busy the last few weeks with doctor appointments, volunteering at the hospital, and with the family and friends.

We celebrated our grandson Nico's first birthday on September 26. I can't believe he is "one" already. They grow up so fast.

We celebrated our youngest son, Chad's birthday on October 8 (his birthday is really the 11th but we were going to be out of town). He turned 38 - where does the time go??

Our grandson, Zach, is playing Freshman Football this year and we have been going to his games. He is doing great - playing fullback, linebacker and is the kickoff kicker. Last week he made two touchdowns - boy did Grandma jump up and down on those!! His team has not lost a game - next week is his last game. Jack was saying if these kids stay together all thru high school by the time they are seniors they will really have a great team.

We met our friends, Bruce and DeAnn Hoover, for dinner on the Kansas City Plaza. It is always great to see them and catch up with their family. We ate at Jack's Stack Bar-A-Que and it was so good. We plan on going back to this place.

On October 9, we went to Lake of the Ozarks for a few days. My sister went with us and we went into Lebanon (which is our home town) to a mini-family-reunion. I have an uncle that lives in San Diego who was going to be in town for a class reunion so we wanted to visit with him and his daughters. It turned out to be a nice visit with relatives that we hadn't seen in about 30 years. One of my cousins has traced our family back to the 1200s. That was pretty interesting. She has put together scrapbooks with old pictures of when we were all kids. We stayed at the Lake until Monday, October 12. The weather was not the best but at least it didn't rain just cool and cloudy. Jack did some fishing and caught a few Bass, so that was enough to make his trip worthwhile.

We had an homeowners meeting this last week as our homeowners association is being handed off from the developer to the homeowners. Well, this is a new experience since our little neighborhood is small and has not had the responsibility of this assignment. Well, guess who got elected to the Board the first year?? Oh well, somebody needed to do it so I guess we will learn as we go. The first year I'm sure will be the hardest but once we get things established it won't be so bad, maybe!! So keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we will need it!!!

Tomorrow we will be celebrating our grandson, Bronson's birthday. As you can tell October is a very busy birthday month for our family. He will be turning "3" and he keeps us on our toes. But we love it!!

Melvern Lake & Smithville Lake

2009-09-24T15:50:00.000-07:00

(Still having problems with getting the pictures on here in order - so here they are up front)

Here are the Kansas flowers:

Here are the guys - Don, Dave & Jack:

Here are the girls - Becky, Cathy & Linda (and Brandy):

Our friends - Don and Linda:

Our friends - Bill and Donna:

Here is Melvern Lake at sunrise.

On Tuesday, September 15, Jack and I packed up the trailer and drove out to Melvern, Kansas, Lake. This was the first time we had been out to this lake. It is about 90 miles West of Kansas City. It is a beautiful lake - very well build and landscaped. It is a Corp of Engineer lake so it is very well maintained and beautiful.

Two couples that we met while in Florida last winter - Dave and Becky (from Illinois) and Don and Linda (from Alabama) were coming to Melvern also. Dave and Becky had some friends that were workkampers there and they had recommended the lake to them. So Dave sent out e-mails to everybody to see if we would want to have a reunion there for a few days.

Also, we have another couple who camp there a lot so I contacted them (Bill and Donna from Olathe) to see if they would like to go out at the same time.

As it turned out, we all were there for a few days. We had a really nice visit with everybody. The first night we were there, Dave and Becky had everybody over for chili and bar-a-que meat sandwiches. They were camped on the lake side so enjoyed the scene.

The second day we visited with Bill and Donna. We played games and caught up on our families. We met Bill and Donna in Arizona a couple years ago through mutual friends, Bruce and DeAnn.

The third day, Jack and I had everybody over for happy hour and snacks and then we went to Don and Linda's for chicken stew (Southern style)!! It was really good. Then we all played Yard Golf. We had a wonderful time and fellowship with all these great people.

Then on Friday, September 18, we packed up the trailer and headed back towards Kansas City. We had prior plans to camp out at Smithville Lake (just North of KC) over the weekend.

On Saturday, our granddaughter Emma, came out to spend the weekend with us. Also, on Saturday night our friends, Dora and Marlin, came out and we cooked out and build a camp fire. The weather was just great - sunny and no wind. Enjoyed the evening with them.

Emma went home on Sunday afternoon and Jack and I remained at Smithville until Monday afternoon. We could not have ask for any better fall weather than we had on these outings. Fall is great time to go camping!!

Stressful Three Weeks - Jack

2009-09-22T14:28:00.000-07:00

We have had a stressful three weeks. When I last posted, we were waiting on the results of Jack's MRI on his left ear area. Well, we received the results on September 3, from his Ear, Nose and Throat doctor. He said that the MRI showed a leison on his brain. He said since this was out of his expertise he was referring us back to Jack's internalist for further testing.

On September 9, Jack had a CAT scan and bone scan done. We got the results back on this on September 11, and everything looked good. But his primary doctor still wanted us to go to a neuro-surgeon to let him reviews all the tests and determine that things were all right.

So we had to wait until today, September 22, to get into this doctor. So today we finally got a complete "A- O.K" from the neuro-surgeon. Boy were we excited. He said everything looked fine but there was a small abnormality but was nothing to worry about. He says these things show up different ways in the films but not to worry about it. We really liked the doctor - had a wonderful bedside manner. He said to go out and enjoy life every day and that is just what we are going to do!!

Thanks to everyone that had Jack in their prayers and thoughts over the last few weeks.

Fall Weather in KC

2009-09-01T09:23:00.000-07:00

What great fall weather we are having in KC!! September came in this a.m. with 50 degrees on our porch. This is my favorite time of the year - cool mornings and warm afternoons. August in our area has been quite cool and wet this year which is really a big change from our typical August.

We haven't done any exceptional type activities here lately. We have had the little ones a couple of times and have enjoyed them.

We went to the KC Royals baseball game a week ago. This was a really nice treat as they have just renovated the stadium this last year. It is beautiful!! It has an updated scoreboard with running scoreboards all around the stadium. The lights are so brilliant. They have added a number of restaurants, bars, and other eateries all along the back field. It didn't seem like a stadium more like a large entertainment complex. Very nice!! Of course, it hasn't helped our poor Royals to win any more games. And now our Chiefs are not starting off any better......

We have been to two concerts at Crown Center (which is a large entertainment/hotel complex in the downtown area of KC). These concerts are free to the public - you just bring your lawn chairs and find you a place to sit. We have been going to these concerts for about 15 years or more. It is a nice place to go a relax and enjoy the outdoors.

Update on Jack's hearing problems. The doctor decided about a week ago he wanted him to get an MRI on his ear area. He is still not satisfied with the other two tests. So Jack had the MRI last Friday but we have not received the results on it yet. You know it seems like it takes forever to hear back on tests these days. Hopefully we will get something by tomorrow or Thursday.

Enjoy this nice fall weather!!

August 16, 2008

2009-08-16T13:36:00.000-07:00

Where does the time go? It doesn't seem like it has been three weeks since I have updated the blog, but it has.

We have been busy with our routine activities - keeping the grand kids, playing cards with our friends, doctor's appointments, and volunteering at the hospital.

Our grandson, Bronson, who is going to turn three in October stayed all night with us for the first time. His parents thought that he wasn't old enough to spend the night away from them but we proved them wrong!! I had been wanting to keep him so we planned it for Friday, August 7. I thought maybe if Emma, our granddaughter, stayed too that he would be happier with her to play with. And it worked out just fine. He was just fine and didn't even ask for his parents - so we have passed that milestone!!!

Jack went to an Ear, Nose and Throat Specialist on August 6, to have his hearing checked. His hearing has really seem to go down the last couple of years in his left ear. He blamed it on him working around loud machinery over a lot of years but when he had his hearing test the Dr. thought that his left ear was a lot worse than his right one. So he is going back on August 20 to have another test done to determine that there isn't anything else causing this, i.e., growth/tumor. We don't think that is what it is but who knows so we need to rule it out. He had a bicycle wreck about 33 years ago and he hit the left side of his head on pavement and had to have corrective surgery on his cheek and eye orbit, so we think maybe that might be some of the cause. So we will find out after the test is completed.

On August 10, we went back to Lebanon, to take Aunt Dorothy to have her second cataract surgery. We stayed with her until Wednesday afternoon, and then went down to the Lake of the Ozarks for a couple of days. The weather was pretty nice and enjoyed that. Jack didn't have the best fishing but did catch one keeper bass.

Tomorrow we are getting new living room furniture delivered. We bought a new sofa, chair & ottoman. We got chocolate colored leather. Looking forward to that. We put our old furniture on Craig's List and sold it to a couple here in Liberty. Glad to get that done so we don't have to fool with it.

Can't believe it is time for school to start again. The grandchildren (Zach and Emma) start their school year tomorrow. They are both excited to go as Zach is the big guy starting high school (can't believe that)!! Emma is going into 4th grade. Oh my, where does the time go. Zach has started football practices so he is excited to start playing.

Update on World Series & Lebanon Trip

2009-07-23T11:27:00.000-07:00

We left for Des Moines, Iowa, on Wednesday, July 15, to attend the USSSA World Series that Zach was going to be playing in. We started the games on Thursday, and played two games that day and won both of them. On Friday, we played two more games and won both of them. So by now, we were feeling really good about the team. There were 15 teams in the series from Iowa, Nebraska, Arkansas, Illinois, and Missouri. Then on Saturday, we only played one game, as we got a bye since we were undefeated, and we won this one. So Sunday started the final games - we played at 11:00 a.m. to a team that had only lost one game; we beat them so we were still undefeated. So we played in the Grand Championship Game at 3:45 to a team that was also undefeated. We lost this game in the seventh inning (we only play seven innings) by one run. Oh we were so disappointed but they placed second out of 15 teams so I guess that was really pretty good. The boys were so disappointed but they held their heads high anyway. It was a really good game - final score was 7 - 6. The team that won it was from a suburb of Des Moines.

We had a really nice time while we were in Des Moines. We all stayed at the same hotel so we got to know all the boys that Zach played with and that was fun. We did some site seeing while we were there and did some shopping, of course. Des Moines is really a nice town. Very clean and modern. One of the shopping centers we went to was as nice, and very modern, probably better than most we have in Kansas City. So overall the trip was great. Enjoyed spending time with the family.

Here are a few pictures Jack took while we were at the games. The blog would have been over loaded if I had put all of them on it!!

Here is Zach getting his trophy:

Here is Zach as one of the captains of the team for the coin toss (he is #22).

Here is Zach getting ready to bat:

Here is the team congratulating one of the boys after his home run: (Zach didn't get a home run but came really close - the ball bounced off the fence).

Zach batting:

Zach playing right field:

Another one batting:

We got back to Kansas City on Sunday, July 19, around 10:30 p.m. It had been a long five days as we were pretty busy the whole time we were there. Then on Monday, we left to go to Lebanon (our home town) to stay with Jack's sister-in-law as she was going to have cataract surgery early Tuesday morning and we had to drive her to Springfield for that. All went well with her surgery. We stayed with her again Tuesday night and then took her back to the doctor the next morning to remove the patch and have her eye checked out. Everything went well. So then we came back to Kansas City late Wednesday night. So we have been a busy bunch the last few weeks. So now I believe we will stay home a few days and catch up around here.

July Activities - Family & Friends

2009-07-14T08:13:00.000-07:00

On July 4th, we went over to our friends, Linda and Frank's, to cook out and celebrate the 4th. We had a nice time and then went to the Gladstone's fireworks display.

We celebrated Emma's birthday on July 10, as her birthday (July 17) we all will be in Des Moines at Zach's baseball games. She is turning 9 which I can't believe how fast she is growing up on us. Here are a few pictures from her party:

Craig, Emma, and Maggie - watching Emma open her presents:

Chad & Bronson:

Grandma Cathy & Nico:

Shannon with Emma, Maggie and Addison:

On Friday, July 10, drove to the Lake of the Ozarks. DeAnn had called us a week or so ago, and said that some of our friends we had met in Arizona a couple of years ago were coming in for the weekend and she invited us to come over on Saturday to see them. So on Saturday morning, Bruce, DeAnn, Lavon, Don, Wendy and Rick came by to pick us up in their new pontoon boat. It was great to see everyone. We took a spin out on the Lake for a couple hours and then went back to DeAnn & Bruce's condo. We had a terrific visit with everyone - we ate, visited, went to the pool, and ate some more. What great fun!!

Here is Captain Bruce:

Don, LaVon, & DeAnn (and Lindi) on the boat ride:

Wendy, Rick & DeAnn at the table:

All of us around the table:

Hope everyone has a great week. We are headed to Des Moines, Iowa, tomorrow to go to Zach's baseball world series games. Looking forward to this. Will give you a report when we get back.

Baseball Update - State Tournament

2009-06-30T14:38:00.000-07:00

This is a short update on Zach's state tournament.

Zach's team played Friday, Saturday, and Sunday - two games each day. Out of the six games, they only lost one game. On Sunday they played the championship and won!! So his team, the Oak Grove Heat, was the winner of the state tournament.

Zack played great during the games. He got some good hits at the right time, and he made some great catches in right field. Manner of fact, he caught the last fly for the third out, that won the championship. Grandma and Grandpa are really proud of him.

We are going to go with them to Des Moines on July 15 to play in the USSSA World Series.

Winfield, Kansas Country Music Roundup

2009-06-26T07:43:00.000-07:00

Main stage at the Winfield Country Roundup:

Doug and Mary enjoying the concert: (above)

Charlie Daniels on stage:

LoCash Cowboys performing:

Enjoying the campsite: (Jack, Cathy, & Mary - and "Happy")

Jack and I celebrated our 44th wedding anniversary on June 12. Can't believe we have been married that long - most of the time it doesn't seem to be more than 15 years but when we look back and see our children I guess time flies when you are having fun!! We went out to dinner at McCormick and Schmidt, a restaurant at the Country Club Plaza, and had a wonderful dinner and it was a beautiful evening to be out and about.

On Monday, June 15, we left with our trailer to go to Winfield, Kansas, to the Country Music Roundup. We had never been to it but some friends of ours, Mary And Doug, had called us and told us about it and invited us to go with them to it.

Winfield is about 35 miles southeast of Wichita. We camped right at the fairgrounds where the concerts were taking place. They had music entertainment some days for 12 hours. So we got our music fix. Here are a few of the acts that were there: Country Gold Tour - Leroy Van Dyke; Jim Ed Brown; Moe Brandy; LoCash Cowboys; Charlie Daniels; Outlaw Junkies; Cowboy Crush; Ronnie Milsap. In addition, to the headliners they also had another stage with amateur talent and they were good too.

They also had a burger contest as to who could cook the best burger. Jack and Doug decided they wanted to enter it and believe it or not they did win a prize. They received third place in the uniqueness category. Whatever that means!!

We were there until Sunday, June 21, and we enjoyed every day. We are thinking we might go back next year.

Our friends, Jeannene and Warren, came up on Tuesday, June 23, and stayed with us for a couple of days. On Wednesday, Jeannene and I met some of our former work friends for lunch - DeAnn, Sheila, and Diane. We had a great time with them - visiting and catching up with our families.

Our grandson, Zach, starts his baseball state tournament today. It is being held here in Liberty, which is close, and hopefully it will cool off some before it is over. Will let you know how things come out next post.

Bennett Spring State Park

2009-06-10T12:19:00.000-07:00

Zach eating between games. He plays a double hitter on Tuesday nights.

He got a inside the park home run at this game.

The coach giving him some advice. He is as tall as his coach.

Grandpa and Emma fishing:

Breakfast of champions!

On June 1, Monday, we left Liberty for Bennett Spring State Park. This park is about 180 South of the KC area. It is close to the town, Lebanon, where Jack and I grew up and went to school, so we know the area real well. We both still have relatives that live around there.

Emma, our granddaughter, went with us on the trip. She loves to camp with us so we thought this would be a good trip for her as they have lots of things to do and see at the park.

We arrived around 2:00 p.m. and got checked in and set up. Emma was pretty excited as she had been riding for about 4 hours and just wanted to get out of the truck for a while. They have a nice campground and the park where we camped is right by the Spring and River so you can walk or ride bikes to about all the things you wanted to do.

Jack and Emma went fishing a couple days. As you all probably know, I'm not much of a fisherman - don't have the patience for it. But they both love it. Jack actually fished a day more than Emma. As you can see by the pictures, Emma actually caught the first fish and showed "Grandpa" how to do it!! But I believe he ended up with more than her.

My brother, his wife, and my niece and her family all came down on Wednesday night for a cookout. We had a great time with them. My niece has three little boys all under the age of 5 so they definitely kept us entertained!!

We had a really nice time and the weather was pretty good all week except for one day it was cloudy and cooler with some rain but other than that it was ideal weather for our trip.

We have been going to our grandson, Zach's, baseball games. He is playing about two to three times a week now. Jack got some really nice pictures of him at last week's games.

On Monday, we had our little grandsons, Bronson and Nico, for the day. They are both so cute and are a pleasure to keep.

Next week we are going with our friends, Doug and Mary Christenson, on a camping trip to Winfield, Kansas, to a Country Roundup at the fairgrounds at Winfield. Will tell you about that trip when we get back.

Have a good week!!

P. S. As you can see I'm still having problems getting my pictures moved to the right place. They transfer fine but then when I try to move them it is like they are locked in place. If anyone has any suggestions, would love to hear from you.

End of May

2009-05-27T08:04:00.000-07:00

For some reason I couldn't move these pictures down. They belong at the bottom of this blog. Sorry!

Where does the time go?? I don't know what we have been doing but we seem to be busy all the time. Let's see what been going on......

Since I last blogged - On May 13, we had DeAnn and Bruce Hoover; and Donna and Bill Rinne over for a night of eating and talking!! We had a wonderful time with them. We had a lot to catch up on and just enjoyed their company. Here is a picture of them and ,of course, Miss Lindi (Bruce & DeAnn's little dog). Lindi came to see Brandy, too.

On May 15, we had our card playing buddies in for a night of cards and dominoes. Linda and Frank Wilburn came over, our other friends, Dora and Marlin Ragain, didn't get to come as Dora has been having severe back problems. Also, this same day, we had severe thunderstorms and got over five inches of rain. All this rain came in about three hours so there was some big time flooding. In Liberty, which is the small town we live in (really just a suburb of Kansas City), there were over 10 intersections closed due to flooding. This is the first time I can remember having this much rain in such a short range of time.

On May 17, our granddaughter, Emma, had her first piano recital. She has only been taking lessons for about 8 months and she is doing very well. She loves playing the piano and has always liked anything music. Her father loves all kinds of music so I guess she got his gene for this. She had a nice presentation.

Our friend, Dora, had back surgery on May 18. She has had severe pain for over three months and it took almost this long to get the surgery scheduled. Jack and I went to the hospital to set with her husband during the surgery. It turned out to be over a five hour surgery but there were not any surprises and it turned out good. She got to come home the next day (can you believe how fast you get out of the hospital these days)!! I took some food over for them on Wednesday and was surprised to see Dora up and walking pretty good. She seems to be progressing along pretty good. She of course has some pain but it seems to be getting better each day. I do hope and pray she continues to get well and gets back to her ole self real soon.

On May 21, I met two of my previous co-workers, Kathi & Lois, for lunch. We had a great time talking and eating and catching up on our lives. It is always fun to see my co-workers as I really miss them (but not the work). Then on May 22, I met Shirley Duello, an old carpool member) for breakfast. This was definitely the week to catch up with my friends. We had a great visit.

Over Memorial Day weekend, our grandson, Zack, was in a competitive baseball tournament. So we were busy going to his games. There were over 60 teams here from all over the Midwest. It was a fun time and Zack did very well. He got a inside the park home run along with other good hits. We enjoy going to his games - it reminds us when our sons played baseball. (Sorry LaVon Jack forgot his camera but we will get some of Zack playing before summer is out).

Here are a few pictures of my flowers around our patio: (see picture above)

Here is a picture of next door neighbor - Doris and her dog, Sophie. Brandy and Sophie are the best of friends. And we are very lucky to have Doris as our neighbor. She is like our adopted Mother. Thank God for great neighbors. (see picture above)

Well, that catches us up for another time. Have a great week!!

Happy Mother's Day To All

2009-05-10T15:13:00.000-07:00

Here wishing all the Mothers a Happy Mother's Day. We celebrated yesterday with our sons and their families. I had proposed to the boys that we celebrate on Saturday so that way the girls could have their day at home to do what they wanted and it worked out well.

We have been busy with trying to catch up with our doctors' appointments and getting to the dentist for checkups. I have one more appointment this week and hopefully we will be done for a while. Jack has been fighting a cold ever since we were at the Lake three weeks ago. He thought it was getting better then it would come back so he finally gave up last week and went to the doctor to get some different medicine. He got a Z-pack and some other pills and finally he is getting over it.

Last week I got back in my routine of volunteering at our local hospital. I volunteer in the Surgery Waiting Room. Our surgery schedule was really light the day I was there but I'm wondering that things have not been as busy because of the economy. It sure has affected a lot of things around the KC area.

Our oldest grandson, Zack, has started his summer baseball season. We have been going to some of his games. I can't believe how much the boys have grown over the winter. They are 14 and 15 year old and that is definitely the years they grow up fast. We are enjoying going to the games.

Last Friday, I went with Emma on a school field trip. She is in the third grade and they went to Union Station. It was a fun trip. We toured the Station; went to a section called Science City which is a great place for wondering minds of children; attended a 3-D movie, "Fly Me to The Moon"; and saw a live theatre performance. It was definitely a full day but a fun way to spend time with my Emma.

This next week, on Wednesday, we are having DeAnn & Bruce Hoover and Donna & Bill Rinne over for dinner. We are looking forward to that as we haven't seen Donna & Bill for a long while and we always look forward to visiting with DeAnn and Bruce. Hope everyone has a good week!

Lake of the Ozarks and Branson Trips

2009-04-26T17:22:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it has been three weeks since I blogged but we have been busy with one thing or another.

We have got the taxes figured, sent in and all is taken care of for another year. Sure glad to get that chore done. We celebrated Easter - didn't celebrate too much. We went to church and then out to eat. My sister went with us. The boys and their families went to their in-laws for Easter so we celebrated with the grand kids on Saturday.

The week of the 13th we baby sat the two little grandsons a couple times. We haven't had them all that much since we have been home. Our schedules have been full and they have not been feeling well. They have had ear infections and colds - it will be good to have good weather and hopefully get rid of all the bugs...

On Thursday night the 16th we met our good friends, Linda and Frank; and Dora and Marlin for dinner and then went to Linda and Frank's to play cards. We taught them how to play Wizard. This is a card game we learned to play while in Florida. Had a fun time.

On Friday the 17th we drove to Columbia, MO.., to stay the night at our good friends, Jeannene and Warren. Our granddaughter, Emma, was having her state competition in gymnastics in St. Louis on Saturday, so we were going to drive on there on Saturday. She did very well and got a medal and five ribbons. She loves her gymnastics. After the competition was over we drove back to Columbia to stay the night. Then on Sunday we drove on to Lake of the Ozarks.

On Tuesday the 21st, Jeannene came by the condo and picked me up and we went to Branson for three days. We had a wonderful time doing what "girls" do on their day out. Went to Silver Dollar City one day; saw a music show - "Six" - which was very good; did lots of shopping, eating, and visiting!! Here is a picture of Jeannene in front of the Fish House - a restaurant at the Landing Shopping area. This restaurant is owned by the Bass Pro Company. It had some very good food - would recommend it.

Jack stayed at the lake and did lots of fishing. He caught some big bass - a 7 pound one; a 6 - 3/4 pound one; and a lot of smaller ones. He was in high heaven.....here is a picture of the big one.

We got back to KC on Friday, the 24th. Jack caught a nasty cold while he was at the lake and is not feeling the best.

Today my nephew, Todd, was in KC with his baseball team playing at a local college. Todd is the head coach of the baseball team at the Missouri University - Rolla, Missouri. So we went out to the local college to watch his team play. It was a good game and they won.

So you can see we have been busy with lots of different things going on in our life. This next week we will be busy with doctor appointments; volunteering; having lunch with a couple friends.

Have a good week!

Back Home in KC

2009-04-05T15:54:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, March 28, we left Lake Placid, Florida, to start heading back to Kansas City. The weather was wonderful there when we left and was hoping it would be nice by the time we got home......WRONG! Today we had snow showers and it is to be 26 in the morning.

We didn't drive that far the first day, just North of Tampa. We wanted to look around this area, as we didn't make it up there while we were in Lake Placid. We have always liked this area.

The next morning we left for Navarre Beach, Florida. We had been told by a number of people that this area was a nice place to visit. We hadn't been there before so we decided to spend a couple nights to look around. We stayed at the Navarre Beach Campground which was all right but we think next time we will try the Emerald Beach Campground down the street. We visited the Navarre Beach, Destin, and Fort Walton Beach areas. This is a very nice area and has beautiful beaches. Here are a few pictures:

Here are a few pictures of the Destin Beach area:

These beaches are beautiful and the sand is so white. The weather was pretty good while we were in this area. The forecast for the day we left was to have rain and storms coming in that night. We were very lucky to make it through the area without any severe storms.

The next day we traveled over to the Gulf Shores, Alabama area. We had been there about eight years ago and it has changed quite a bit since we had been there. We stayed at a nice RV park (Gulf Breezes) - thanks to Don and Linda for recommending it. We stayed only one night since the weather was rainy and cool the next morning, so we decided to go ahead and leave for the Memphis area.

In Memphis we stayed at the EZ Daze RV Park in Southhaven, MS., and it was a really nice park. It is only about two years old and the office manager/owner was so friendly and gave us all kinds of information for the area. We highly recommend this park.

Then Thursday we drove on in to Kansas City. Overall, we had a good trip home and we missed all the severe storms, thank the Lord for watching over us. It was great to get home. We have been busy catching up with family and friends since we got here. Emma, our granddaughter, stayed all night with us last night and today we went to visit with our two youngest grandsons. So we are back in the swing of life in KC!!

Goodbye to Florida

2009-03-28T03:39:00.000-07:00

Well, the time has come for us to head back to KC. We have had a wonderful time this year here in Florida. We have met some wonderful people, saw some beautiful sites, and have thoroughly enjoyed our retirement!!

We have been busy this week wrapping up things to get ready to head out this morning. Jack washed the trailer and worked on the roof. He thinks it needs to be clean to hit the road just to get dirty again but at least it will be clean for a while. We even cleaned the carpet one day. We went out to eat with our friends a couple times and played cards one more time. It is sad to leave but we are getting really homesick to see our kids and grandkiddies. Can't wait to hug them!

Don't know if we will have WIFI on the way home so probably won't be on the computer much this next week. The weather in KC is not the best today but sure hope by the time we get there it improves a lot. According to the forecast it should be much better by the time we get in there next weekend. We are going to take our time going home - stopping in Navarra Beach, Florida a couple days; staying in Gulf Shores, Alabama a couple days; and then a couple other stops on the way. We will keep our eyes on the weather and see how it works out. Our friends, Bruce and DeAnn, are on the road too so we wish them good traveling as they head back to KC early next week.

Fun, Friends and Florida

2009-03-20T13:21:00.000-07:00

We have had a busy week. Our friends, DeAnn and Bruce Hoover, came to our park on Sunday, March 15. They got here about 5:00 p.m. and we had our park's annual Fish Fry scheduled that night. So as soon as they got here we went to our clubhouse to the fish fry. Here is a picture of our table:

The food was delicious - we had crappie fish and potluck side dishes. As most of you know potluck dinners are the best. After the dinner, we went out by the lake to watch the NASA shuttle take off but it was too cloudy for us to see it. Oh well, will have to wait until next year, I guess.

Then Bruce and Jack took the motor home to get gas and DeAnn and I sat outside and visited. Oh my this was not good!! DeAnn got hundreds of bites on her (which turned out to be No-see-ums). We had not had any bugs at all until they found her. As Bruce says she always finds the bug bites. Bless her heart, she had them awful so she made a trip to the doctor to get medicine for them. She was a trooper about it - and kept on going.

On Monday, we met our Quail Run friends, Shelley & Bud; and Wendy and Rick; in Sebring for lunch. Had a nice lunch at the Sunset Grille on their outside patio. Nice weather and nice people. Then Monday evening we went to our favorite catfish restaurant - Jaxon's - for all you can eat catfish. As you can see we didn't miss any meals!!

Tuesday we showed them around the Lake Placid area. Lake Placid is known for its murals on the downtown buildings so we drove around and looked at them and the parts of town. On Tuesday evening, we had a birthday party for one of our new friends, Linda. We cooked out at Becky and Dave's. DeAnn didn't make it as she had her new medicine and stayed in hoping her bites would be better. Here are a couple of pictures from the birthday party.

When we were riding around we discovered this addition that was named "DeeAnn's Estates". Jack and I had seen this sign before and was always going to take pictures and send it to DeAnn but never got around to it. So we stopped and took pictures:

On Wednesday, we decided to take Bruce and DeAnn over to the Gulf side of the state. We stopped at Mayaka State Park on the way to see the alligators, etc. Here are a few pictures we took:

We then drove on over to the Gulf. We stopped by a place called Casey Key which is just North of Venice, Florida. A beautiful beach and area. Here are a few pictures:

After Casey Key, we went on down to Venice Beach to meet our Quail Run friends again for lunch at Sharky's. This is a bar and grill right on the beach. Had wonderful food and drinks. Had another wonderful time with friends. Here are a few pictures from this beach:

On Thursday, DeAnn and Bruce left around noon. They were going to meet some other friends in Savannah, GA, and spend a few days with them before heading back to KC. We had a great time with them and can't wait until they retire AGAIN and we can winter with them again. They seem to like this area so maybe we will winter here with them. Jack and I have decided to reserve our site here again for next year. We have enjoyed the park and area.

Here is a picture right before they pulled out of the park. As you can see, they have a new puppy, Miss Lindi. She is still adjusting to the world but is as cute as bug's ear. Safe travels!

We will be here for another week. Plan on heading out next Saturday, March 28, for KC. We are going to take our time going home so will probably be on the road for about a week.

Coast to coast - Florida

2009-03-11T16:19:00.000-07:00

Well, another week has passed and we have been busy traveling around Florida.

Last week on Thursday, we drove over to Punta Gorda - Port Charlotte areas to look at different RV parks. We really like this park but we hadn't really looked at that many parks, so we thought we would just drive through a few over in that area. Of course, the closer you get to the water the more the park charges. We looked at five different ones and found that they are more expensive and really don't offer as many amenities as we have here. There was one that was comparable to this one in most things and costs. It was called Sun N Shade in Punta Gorda. It was a smaller park than this one but it had a pretty good location to the water. But we did not see one that we liked the lay-out any better than this one. I don't know who designed this park but they did a very good job thinking of everything and how it is designed. Oh well, it was fun to go and look and compare parks.

We have been busy here in the park doing the activities, playing cards with friends, and going out to eat (of course)!! Here are a couple pictures of a tree that is on our circle. It is just beautiful but we don't know what type of tree it is. If anyone knows what it is called let us know.

The weather has warmed up some the last few weeks. It has been in the high 70s and low 80s most of the time. That has been nice. Makes the pool feel nice and cool.

Jack has had to have the truck worked on a couple of times the last week or so. We had a service engine light come on and then we had a recall that needed to be corrected. The service engine light turned out that the turbo had to be replaced. So hopefully this will take care of that problem. I sure don't want any problems on our way home. We will be leaving here either March 27 or 28.

Today we drove over to the Atlantic side of Florida. We went over to Port Saint Lucie and the Fort Pierce areas. It was a nice drive and we got to go to the beach and had a nice lunch a seaside restaurant. Here are a few pictures.

Here are a couple pictures we took at Fort Pierce and the little restaurant we ate at today.

We are looking forward to DeAnn and Bruce Hoover coming down and visiting. They will be in here sometime on Sunday and stay until Thursday. It will be like old times (as this is the couple we have "wintered" with the last two years). They are driving their motorhome down and then they are meeting some other friends in Georgia on their way back to Kansas City. So we will have a fun filled four days!!

Cruising - Key West and Mexico

2009-03-01T07:23:00.000-08:00

We are back from our cruise and it was wonderful! The weather was great and the ship was nice. Here is a picture of our ship.

On Monday, February 23, we left Lake Placid around 8:15 a.m., after we dropped Brandy at her new home for the week - The Dawg House. She was a little nervous at first but seem to settle in before we left. They had nice dog runs - indoor/outdoor ones so she could go out anytime she wanted.

We drove over to Fort Lauderdale to pick up our friends, Dora and Marlin, who flew down on Sunday afternoon, and then headed to Miami to the ship. We arrived at Miami and got on the ship around 2:00 p.m. This was the first time we have driven to the ship and parked at the port and it seem to work out great. The checking-in lines were not as long as when you arrive with a lot of people who all fly and ride the same bus from the airport. The ship departed Miami around 4:30 p.m. Here are a few pictures as we were pulling out of the port:

Taken from the back of the ship:

Here is a picture of our dream house:

This is going out of Miami port:

Here is a beach on the way out of port:

On Tuesday, we arrived at Key West, so we got off the ship and headed out to explore this island. This was the first time we had been there so we wanted to see as much as we could in the few hours we were scheduled. Here are a few pictures:

Here is Jack at the end of the road in Key West:

Here we are in front of the Hog's Breath Saloon. For those who don't know, Clint Eastwood, started these saloons. I'm not sure if he still owns them or not.

Dora and Marlin in front of the Hog's Breath:

Hemmingways' House:

On Wednesday, we arrived at Cozumel, Mexico. We had been here a couple other times but our friends had not been here before. An hurricane had hit this island in 2005, but they have rebuilt it, and it is much better than it was before. Of course, it is very commercialized but I guess that is how they make their money from the tourists. Everything is very colorful and bright. Here are a few pictures:

On Thursday, we were at sea. We scouted out the ship and enjoyed the activities on board. Of course, we enjoyed all the food venues. Overall, we had a wonderful time. We are so glad our friends came and went with us. It always makes it more fun if you have someone to share it with. Dora was having back problems but I think she enjoyed the cruise and was a real trooper with all the outings we did.

Here is a picture of our tower "character" we had one night. We had a different one each night.

Honestly, we were not sure about this ship because Jack had read some reviews and they were not the most favorable. But you know some people cannot be pleased no matter what and I think that must have been the case. This ship had been completed renovated in 2006 and it was so bright and pretty that it looked like a new one. The service was very nice. So we had no complaints at all. Had a great time.

We docked on Friday morning; took Dora and Marlin back to the airport and dropped them off; headed back to Lake Placid to pick up Brandy. She was excited to see us. She looked good as we had her groomed at the Dawg House.

Yesterday the week caught up with us and we just laid around and rested most of the day.

Another Week in Paradise

2009-02-22T14:36:00.000-08:00

Can't believe how fast the weeks go by while in Florida. We have had another nice week of weather. It was cool one morning but by 10:00 a.m. it is sunny and warm again.

We have just done our routine activities most of this past week. On Wednesday night, we had a soup supper which was good. They had about 12 different types of soup, with bread and crackers, and then cake for dessert. Everything was very good.

The owners here at the park have an organization called Friends of the Circles and they are the ones that made the soup. It is a good fund raiser for them. Although it was only $4 a person.

Yesterday we went with our friends, Don and Linda, to a town called LaBelle. It is about 40 miles Southwest of here. They were having their annual Swamp Cabbage Festival. Don and Linda had been there before for it and they said it was a lot of fun and invited us to go with them. It was a fun day. They had a parade and they have different type floats in their parades than we do in the Midwest. I will attach some pictures. They decorate the floats with palm leaves instead crepe paper - it sure made you know you were in Florida.

After we watched the parade, we walked over to the their park where they had vendors for food as well as arts and crafts and live music.

As you can see by the menus they had Gator bites and Swamp Cabbage Fritters. Well, we decided we needed to try both of these. Both the Gator and the Fritters were deep fried (no good for our arteries) but really they were pretty good. I thought the Gator tasted like chicken and the Swamp Cabbage tasted like regular cabbage. Swamp Cabbage comes from the heart of a palm tree - I forgot exactly the name of the palm. Here is a picture of a pile of the palms. They just take the heart of it out and cook it. It is like a filler - not much of a favor.

Well, after all this the guys wanted to go the Lawnmower races. This was a first for us. We had never been to anything quite like this. They "supped" up the lawnmowers and they raced around the tracks. First they had some drag races and then they had oval races. It was pretty cute! And, a woman won two of the races. She was quite a driver. We heard she had been racing for 22 years. So I guess she should have been good....

This was a fun day but we were pretty "pooped out" by the time we got home.

Today we have been packing for our cruise. We are leaving in the morning to head over to Fort Launderdale to pick up our friends, Dora and Marlin, and then head to Miami to catch our ship. We won't have the computer so we will be off until next weekend. Have a good week.

Beautiful Weather in Florida

2009-02-14T05:29:00.000-08:00

Well, the last week has been perfect, sunny weather in Florida. This is why we came here. It has been in the 70s/low 80s and really nice. As a man of fact, it almost got too hot a couple of days....but Jack says it is just right!!

On Thursday, February 5, we took a drive over to Bradenton to look around. We had been there before at different times but not since we had been here this time. We enjoyed the drive over - went over a different highway. Stopped had lunch and of course had to hit the outlets there. You wouldn't believe the number of cars & people there. One of the sales clerks said it had been that way since the middle of January when all the "snowbirds" had hit town.

We are continuing with our square dancing here at the park. Are really enjoying it and getting to know more people.

On Saturday, February 7, we went to Lake Placid's art and craft fair. I thought it wouldn't amount to that much, since Lake Placid is not very big, but was very pleasantly surprised. They had over 150 vendors, entertainment, and food. Had some real cute stuff. We bought a new "wrought iron" welcome sign with a glass ball on it. It was cute. We even met a couple from Overland Park, Kansas, while we were there. Small world.... Here are a couple murals that are in the downtown area of Lake Placid. This town is known for its murals - we haven't seen all of them yet.

Sunday, February 8, the park had a bar-a-que chicken dinner. There is a man in the park that is in the catering business and he caters most of their dinners and they are very good. Met another couple from Missouri there. They were from a small town close to Rolla, Missouri.

We have enjoyed the pool this last week. The water is back to being very nice since the cool snap so it has been a busy place.

On Thursday, February 12, we drove over to Ft. Myers to go to Camping World, Miromar Outlets and go to the Beach. It was a nice day but let me tell you the traffic over there is really busy. It got over to the Beach area around 2:00 p.m. and it took us 45 minutes just to get up the road to the Beach and then another 30 minutes to find a place to park. Really crowded. It is a nice Beach area but sure didn't like the traffic we had to fight. If we go back we will go early and leave early.

We have had a couple groups in this week for entertainment. On Tuesday, we had a couple named Grace Harmony Gospel which we really nice; then last night we had two guys - Elvis, Alex and Elmer. They were really good. The guy that portrayed Elvis had a wonderful voice and did sound real close to Elvis. He also say Conway Twitty, Roy Orbison, and some others. We really enjoyed this one.

Jack and I are going on a 5-day cruise leaving Miami on Monday, February 23. We are getting excited about it. We found a good bargain and couldn't pass it up. Our good friends, Marlin and Dora, from Kansas City are flying down and going with us so I know we will have a great time. We are going to Key West & Cozumel.

We have our Valentine's Dance tonight. Hopefully the music will be good. It is a new group we haven't heard yet.

Happy Valentine's Day to everyone and give all your love ones a kiss and hug today for sure!!

Back to the Sunshine State

2009-02-04T04:48:00.001-08:00

Let's see where did I leave off. On Tuesday, 1/27/09, I flew back to Kansas City to my aunt's funeral. Had a good flight even though I didn't get a non-stop - went through Chicago but just to let people off and on. Got into KC around 2:30 p.m. My good friends, Dora and Marlin, picked me up at the airport. Oh it was cold!! Had some snow on the ground but not anything like when we landed at Chicago.

Went to my sister's house Tuesday night and caught up with what had been happening with the family.

Wednesday I went over to Chad and Cathy's to baby-sit the little ones - Bronson and Nico. I really needed my Grandma fix. Cathy went with Chad to look at a new van their were looking at buying. Had a great time with the kids. Chad and Cathy decided this was the van for them. It is a wonderful one. It is a Honda Odyssey. They definitely was needing to get a bigger car with their two little ones. Cathy was real excited and she said that is a sign she is getting older when you get excited over getting a "van"!! Then I went to get my hair cut and met Dora at the movies.

Thursday was my Aunt's funeral. I went to pick up Cathy and the boys (Chad was going to meet us at the funeral). Then we met Craig at his office in North Kansas City and he rode with us too. You know funerals are where to see family that you don't see other times of the year. So it was like a family reunion. The service was very nice but very sad. But she is in a better place and is not suffering any longer. Pray for her son as he is a only child and this was really rough for him. This day was also my birthday (I'll definitely remember this one). So on Thursday night, Craig and Chad and their families took me out for dinner. It was a little different not having Jack with me to celebrate my birthday.

Friday I had some things I needed to get done while I was home. Went to the movies with Dora again - we got our movie fix (see Jack and Marlin do not really like going to the movies so we go)...visited with the neighbors (thanks Doris for letting use your computer while I was home). Emma stayed all night with me so we could get our visiting by ourselves.

Saturday morning Craig picked us up and took me to the airport. Had a smooth flight back to Florida. Was great to get back to the warm and sunny Florida. Jack picked me up and we stopped at our favorite restaurant at St. Pete Beach - The Wharf - and had our grouper fix. Brandy was glad to see me too.

Got back in the swing of things here at the park. Went to Tai Chi and line dance lessons yesterday. DeAnn called yesterday and they are going to come visit us in Florida in the middle of March. We are excited about that!! Can't wait to see them.

Cool & Warm In Florida - Heading to KC

2009-01-25T16:45:00.000-08:00

This picture is the Goodyear blimp that went right over our park on Saturday. I believe it is here for the Super Bowl.

The weather has been both cool and warm. We did have some cool mornings this last week but the days have been pretty nice. Starting on Thursday we have had ideal weather - 70s and sunny. But one morning it was 30 degrees with frost on the truck. That wasn't good!! But I guess you have to take the good with the bad.

Our dance last Saturday night was great. Finally we had the music we like - variety with 50s/60s/country/pop. It was a one-man band type music - good voice - he played the guitar and fiddle. We thoroughly enjoyed it. Fun time...

We did our routine activities and had fun. On Wednesday, we went to the movies with Becky and Dave (couple across the street). We saw the new Clint Eastwood movie - Grand Torino which was very good. Was surprised he didn't get any nominations for the Oscars from it. He acted in it; directed it; and produced it.

We met Wendy and Rick (friends from Arizona City) for lunch on Thursday in Sebring. Had a good visit with them.

Jack and I also started taking square dance lessons on Friday. We danced years ago but haven't done it for a number of years. Two years ago in Texas we took a few refresher lessons and enjoyed it so thought we would try it again. It was fun and it is definitely good exercise, which we can always use.

Last night the park had their annual spaghetti dinner. It was real nice. They had decorated the club house into a Italian restaurant with red checked tablecloths and wine bottle centerpiece/candles; played music while we ate. It was very good and had the right price. After the dinner, we had a bonfire down by the lake. Here is a picture of our table.

My sister called us right after we got home to tell us that my Aunt Arlene had passed away. She had been in bad health for the last year and has lived a long good life but you know you are never ready for the final goodbye. Aunt Arlene was like my "second Mother" as she lived in KC while my Mom lived 200 miles away. She was a wonderful woman and knew how to live life every day. God take care of her. I will be flying to KC on Tuesday to go to the funeral and then fly back on Saturday. Not looking forward to going to the cold/snowy weather but some things we just have to do.

Here is a couple of pictures Jack took today down by the pool and lake.

Cool Front in Florida?

2009-01-17T07:01:00.000-08:00

Can't believe we have been here for almost three weeks already. Time flies when you are having fun!

The Floridians think we are having a real cold front come through, but if you are from the Midwest it is just a little cooler than normal. We did have a front come through on Tuesday and we got a little rain and clouds. But you know it isn't that bad for January. It is in the 60s in the day and high 30s and low 40s at night. It is suppose to get to the higher 60s today and a little warmer tomorrow. The clouds are pretty well gone and the sun is out.....yippee!

Let's see we went to Ft. Myers last Saturday to the flea market. It was a pretty nice one. It had a lot of stuff and was similar to the one we had in Arizona last year. Only bought a few things but will probably make it back now that we know how to find it and where things are located.

We did our usual activities this week. On Wednesday, we went to Tampa to the Florida RV show. This was one big RV show - over 1300 models to look at and hundreds of vendors and suppliers. We really enjoyed it but was tired from all the walking. Wendy and Rick (from Quail Run) went with us and that was nice to visit with them. Didn't buy much but did get us a new yard sign with our names on it.

Went out to eat with our new friends, Dave and Becky, a couple times. They watched Brandy for us while we went to Tampa and then we watched their Yorkie yesterday so they could go. This is nice to have someone close that can let Brandy out if we are gone for a while.

This morning we went to the pancake breakfast here at the park. It was nice and they had plenty of pancakes, sausage, O. J. and coffee. Tonight we are to have a dance and music - hopefully it will be good.

Sunny Florida

2009-01-09T08:21:00.000-08:00

We are adjusting to the Florida lifestyle. It really doesn't take much to get use to it though...just set back and enjoy it.

We have tired some of the activities this week. Monday, Jack and I went down to shuffleboard. We have played it before but we have never learned the rules and how to keep score, etc. So we went to learn the basics. It was fun. They have a group probably 20 -22 people who play most of the time. There were about 6 - 8 new people so we had a good time. But the deal is you play for about 2 hours or so - so you spent the morning which worked out fine. I have been going on Tuesdays and Fridays to Tai Chi which I'm liking real well. It is a fun exercise and not too hard on you!! On Tuesday afternoons they have line dancing which is always fun. I have tried the water aerobics - they have three times a week. The pool is nice.

Here are a couple of pictures Jack took of the front entrance of the park. It seems to be well taken care of and landscaped nice.

The weather the first part of the week has been really warm - in low the 80s - but a front came through on Wednesday and it has been much nicer. It has been a little cooler - low 70s - and the humidity is lower. Can't ask for more than that!!

Jack has been fishing a few times but hasn't had a lot of luck. He has caught a few little ones but nothing to talk about but he is enjoying having a lake right on the property. Here is a picture I took this a.m.

Tomorrow we are going to drive to Ft. Myers to the flea market. It sounds like it is similar to the one we went to in Arizona last year at Mesa. I'll let you know how we like it.

The park is getting fuller. Still have empty sites but each day we get new people into their sites. Yesterday a couple from Canada moved in and they are going to be here about as long as we are.

Enjoy your weekend!

Dinner w/friends and Lake Okeechobee

2009-01-04T14:31:00.000-08:00

We are getting settled in at our new home. We are getting more into a routine and enjoying the park.

Last night we met our friends from Arizona - Bud and Shelley; and Rick and Wendy. We met them at a restaurant in Sebring - the Sebring Diner. The food was really good and very reasonable. They had ate there before but we haven't been there. We talked and laughed just like old times. It was really nice to see them and catch up. Here is a couple of pictures we took:

Afterwards, we went on into Sebring since we were there and stopped a couple places - I didn't find as good as bargain as Wendy did though. But I hadn't visited the Mall so I wanted to check it out. (You know DeAnn we always have to do that!!)

Today we got up and went walking early before it got too warm. Then we came back and loaded up Brandy and we went over to Lake Okeechobee which is about 40 miles or so from here. We were a little disappointed that it didn't have as many accesses to see the lake as we thought. But we enjoyed the drive and looking at the lake, etc.

Here are a couple pictures of the lake:

Drove by a number of orange groves and lots of sod farms. Florida is so flat it is ideal for these types of farming. It must be orange picking time as we are seeing lots and lots of trucks full of the oranges. A couple of days ago we stopped at a roadside stand and bought some called "Honey Bells" and they are delicious - so juicy and sweet.

Florida Home for the Winter

2009-01-02T08:51:00.000-08:00

Jack was able to get some pictures of our new site today. As I said we are really liking this park. We have met a lot of new people and everyone seems so nice.

The only thing we have had a good laugh about is the New Year's Eve dance. I can't wait to talk with DeAnn on this one!! The band was aimed more at an older group. They played songs from the 40s and some 50s - not really what we had in mind. And then we heard they had paid them something like $1000 for the night. Oh what a waste of money. We ended up leaving around 10:00 p.m. and going with three other couples to play cards. Had a lot of fun with them. Oh well, I guess we were just spoiled in Arizona City with all the good entertainment. Hopefully the other dances, etc., will prove to be much better. Had a great Chicken dinner last night.

Yesterday we went into Sebring (which is the largest town around us) to visit the Walmart store. Got our staples, etc.

We hope to meet Shelley & Bud - Wendy and Rick for a meal this weekend. They are within 20 miles or so of us. It will be good to see them.

The weather is great. Suppose to be in the 70s for the next week.

Arrived in Florida

2008-12-31T13:33:00.000-08:00

We arrived at our new winter home in Florida on Tuesday, 12/30/08, around 5:30 p.m. We had a good trip to the South as the weather was warm and sunny all the way. We were very lucky we didn't even have any wind or rain.

So far we like our new site. It has a concrete pad for the trailer, concrete driveway, and a concrete patio. This sure is nice. The weather is warm about 74 today.

Sorry LaVon we haven't taken any pictures yet but we will later and get them posted. Well, I need to run and finish getting things done. We are going to the park's New Year Eve's party tonight. The people here seem very friendly. Will post more later.

On the Road Again!!

2008-12-27T07:13:00.000-08:00

Whee, made it through Christmas!! We had a wonderful day with our sons and their families. The grandchildren, of course, makes it a fun Christmas. Emma, our 8 year old, was into it big time this year. She gets so excited over her presents and is the drama queen - we just love her!! Bronson, the 2 year old, was a little overwhelmed with all of it but had fun ripping open his presents and discovering there was toys inside. All of them had a wonderful time.

The tree and presents before the kiddies got here:

Bronson looking at his stocking's goodies:

Nico just resting and watching everybody:

Cathy Marie with her boys:

Emma (Miss Drama Queen) showing off her clothes:

Zack (and Bronson) looking at his World Series Poster with pictures:

Chad and Craig looking at their gifts:

This says it all - at the end of the day Bronson just laid down and looked at the snow globe as it played music. He was so tired.

We woke up this a.m. to 60 -70 miles a hour wind and thunderstorms - in December?? Yes, it was 68 degrees here yesterday but we paid for it early this a.m. and more. Some places had trees up-rooted and windows blown out. There are about 34,000 people without electricity. It is now about 36 degrees. Luckily, the rain is suppose to be out of here before it gets to freezing - sure hope so.

Jack went and got our fifth-wheel yesterday out of storage and we started packing it up for our trip to Florida!! Yippee - yippee!! Can't wait to get out this crazy weather. We are going to finish up loading it today and pull out tomorrow. The weather is to be sunny tomorrow and in the 40s. So hopefully we will have safe and calm trip.

I may not be able to blog for a few days on our trip down so I will catch up when we get there.

Winter is here and Christmas is Coming!

2008-12-18T08:24:00.000-08:00

Well, this week we have definitely experienced "ole man winter" here in the Midwest. We have had rain, sleet, snow and very, very cold temperatures. I will post a couple of pictures that Jack took a couple days ago when the snow was falling. You know it is beautiful to sit in the house and look out at, but if you have to be outside and traveling in it, it is not fun.

We have been busy with some Christmas parties and get together, which is always fun.

On Thursday, December 12, we went to Craig and Shannon's house to celebrate our oldest grandson's birthday. I can't believe he is 14 years old. He is growing up so fast but is still a very sweet boy.

On Friday, December 12, Jack and I met three of my old co-workers for lunch (Sheila & Doug, Kathi, and Theresa). We had a real nice visit and was so good to see them. Sheila and Doug were in town for some medical tests. They now live in Ft. Worth - she was transferred with FAA a couple of years ago. She would love to get back to the KC area because her children and grandchildren live here. Hopefully one of these days she will get back. Kathi and Theresa still live here and we try to get together every few months to catch up on our lives.

On Saturday, December 13, our neighborhood had its annual ladies' brunch. This year it was hosted by Lisa, Nancy, and Peggy. We had 12 attendees and had a nice time. This is how we catch up with the neighbors that aren't close to us. We only have 19 villas that are sold. So we have a pretty small neighborhood. When all them are build and sold I believe we should around 30. So it is small enough to know all your neighbors.

Jack and I trying to get all our doctor's appointment in before we leave town. So we have had a number of them the last couple weeks. I believe we are done for this time frame.

Yesterday I attended a Christmas luncheon with my old office bunch. We had it downtown at our new Kansas City Power & Light District. This has been a rebuilding of the downtown area and it seems to be doing pretty good despite the economy. It was fun to see everyone but my office workforce is dwindling - as the FAA is consolidating offices and districts. When I retired 3 years ago we would have around 30+ people at our luncheons and yesterday we only had 13 and that included 3 retirees. It is sad to see all this happening.

Tonight we were to see our good friends, DeAnn and Bruce, but they are forecasting freezing rain to start around noon so we decided to cancel and try again next week. Hopefully the weather will improve.

Well, I hope everyone is ready for Christmas as it is approaching fast. We want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and if you are traveling, stay safe.

Old Man Winter has Arrived!!

2008-12-09T10:17:00.000-08:00

We just looked at the temperature in Lake Placid, FL, and it is 77 degrees!! What are we doing in Kansas City.....

It is snowing and the wind is blowing about 30 miles an hour. It is about 29 degrees and is suppose to be down to 11 degrees tonight. So I think we need to start our packing for our winter trip!!

We can't wait, and are looking forward to loading up and heading out. We are looking at leaving here probably on December 27 - it really depends on the weather forecasts.

We have just been busy getting things ready for Christmas. We have got all the decorations up and have a lot of our packages wrapped. Still have a little shopping left but getting on the tail end of it.

Last week, Jack and I attended my FAA Retirees' Luncheon. It was nice to see some of my old buddies from work and catch up with them and their families. Had a nice lunch with about 45 people or so.

Then Saturday night, we had our good friends, Frank and Linda, and Marlin and Dora, in to play Tripoley. This is a old game but we have just started playing it again in the last couple months. It is a fun game with cards and pennies. We also went out to eat before coming back here to play. I had read an article in the KC Star about a restaurant that had opened up (Stephenson's) out South. This restaurant used to be open, and had been an established one for many years in Lee's Summit. One of the sons has now opened this one up again. Well, let me tell you it was not like the old one for sure. We were really disappointed in the food!! So for you local people, you might not want to waste your time.

Have a good week!!

Thanksgiving and Wintery Mix Weather

2008-12-01T06:39:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving week has come and gone, and we survived it all. We had a busy week just getting ready for the big day.

On Thanksgiving Day, we had 17 people in for dinner. We had our children, grandchildren, sister, niece and family, nephew and part of his family, and our friends, Warren and Jeannene. We had a great time with all the family and friends. Everyone had a good time visiting and of course, a wonderful time eating all the good food.

My goal for this year was to get an immediate family picture. You might think this is easy to do but with everyone's schedules it is not as easy as you think. But I knew that everyone was coming here at the same time for Thanksgiving so we decided that would be a great time to get one. Jack was excited to get to try out his new camera and use his remote control clicker and it worked great. Here is the outcome:

Left to right: Bronson, Chad, Cathy Marie holding Nico, Jack, Cathy, Craig, Emma, Shannon, Zack.

With the two little ones, we weren't sure how it would work out but overall it worked pretty good. Bronson had just woke up from a nap and wasn't in a very good mood.

Here is another family picture of Craig's family.

Chad's two little ones were not up to anymore pictures so we didn't get theirs done at this time. That is the way it goes sometimes.

On Sunday morning we woke up to a wintery mix of moisture. We had some on Saturday but then Saturday night, we had much more but not near as much as Chicago. Here is what it looked like in our front yard.

It is definitely getting closer to the time to head South. The wind chill was not good today. We looked at Lake Placid's temperature and it was 64 degrees and it was 28 here. Florida here we come -- right after Christmas!!

Branson and Big Cedar Lodge Trip

2008-11-21T13:46:00.000-08:00

Boy, was it ever cold this morning - 16 degrees on our porch!! It is definitely getting time to head South. But two days before it was like 65, but of course it doesn't stay warm.

Last Monday, Jack and I went to Branson to meet our friends, the Likins, at the Big Cedar Lodge. This is located just outside of Branson and it is a beautiful place. For the ones you might not know, it is owned by the guy that owns Pro Bass so it is decorated all in the outdoors decor.

The plan was to meet up with them for a late lunch at Lambert's (a yummy place where they throw the rolls) around 2:00 p.m. Would you believe when I called Jeannene to see where they were we were within a mile of each other on the highway to Lamberts. So that worked like a charm. We had a nice lunch and then headed on down to the Lodge.

Here are a few shots from inside the condo:

How about that fish. This was the bench back for the table:

Got all checked in and were very pleased with our accommodations. It was really nice and roomy. The only thing Jeannene wasn't sure she would be able to sleep with the deer looking down on her!! We visited and then fixed the dinner and then we played dominoes until bedtime.

The next day we just stayed around the Lodge area (which covers a lot of acres and looked at things).

LaVon this tree picture is for you. Do you know what kind it is? It has orange balls on it.

After lunch we went into Branson and picked up some music show tickets and did some shopping at the outlet. Then we had dinner at the Hard Luck Diner. (LaVon I thought of you when we went there - sorry Jack didn't take the camera).

Went to the Jim Stafford Show - which I wouldn't recommend. It was all right but it was just too much Jim Stafford and not enough music and singing for me.

Then on Wednesday, we got up and went out to Silver Dollar City for their Ole Time Christmas. If you haven't been to see all their lights it is definitely a trip to make. They have millions and millions of lights on everything. We really lucked out as the weather was at least 70 and sunny so we really enjoyed the day and night. They had some really nice Christmas shows and it wasn't too crowded. Had a great time!! Jack didn't take the camera - that is one thing about his new "big" camera he doesn't like to take it everywhere.

Then on Thursday, we went to breakfast and then we split up as we both had places we wanted to shop and then we were going to head home. I got some Christmas presents bought at the Landing. We got back to Kansas City around 5:00 p.m.

We picked up Brandy from our sitter's house and boy was she glad to see us.

Now I need to serious about getting Thanksgiving's menu established and assign the dishes to everyone. We usually have around 17 - 18 at our house. Hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving!!

November 14, 2008

2008-11-14T04:27:00.000-08:00

Here we are in the middle of November. Where does the time go? Just six more weeks and we will be heading South to Florida. We are getting excited just thinking about it. It will be another adventure for us as we have not spend the winter in Florida before. We are looking forward to the new adventures it will bring. One couple we met in Arizona last year left for Florida last week. Looking forward to seeing some of the couples we met last year when we get there.

Things have been pretty quiet around here the last couple weeks. Nothing too exciting just doing our routine things.

Last Friday, we had the two little grandsons for the day. That was a fun day. They are so cute and fun. Then Emma called and wanted to know if she could come spend the night with us so that made a full day and night. But we enjoy all of them.

Jack went back to his foot doctor this last Wednesday for a follow-up. The doctor told him he was doing fine and he should keep doing what he has been doing. Jack is back go walking his mile and a half each morning. He still has some swelling with it but the doctor said that was to be expected. He said it could take up to 6-months to not have the swelling and some pain. But he did tell Jack no jogging!! LOL Jack never jogged in his life!!

Yesterday I went to the dentist to start the prep-work done for a crown. I tell you that was not fun. I was in the chair for over an hour with my mouth open wide. Man am I glad that is done!! Go back in a couple weeks to get the permanent one put on. Oh well, just another thing to happen as we enter our "golden years"!!

Next week Jack and I are going back to Branson, MO., to see all the Christmas lights. Silver Dollar City is one beautiful place at Christmas. They advertise that they have over a million lights and I believe it. We are going to meet our friends, Jeannene and Warren Likins, there. Sure hope the weather cooperates for us.

Nico's Baptism and Activities

2008-11-02T14:38:00.000-08:00

Can't believe it has been so long since I have gotten on the blog and wrote, but it just seems I don't take the time to get things down in writing.

The weather here in the Midwest has just been beautiful. It has been dry and sunny for the last week or so. It is in the 70s in the day and gets down to around mid-50s at night. We can't ask for a better fall than we have had so far. We have had one hard freeze but it only lasted a night or so. Hopefully this weather will hold out for couple more months and then we will be heading South!!

Jack went out one day last week to look for some pictures of the fall leaves. Here are a few of them.

Let's see what we have been up to lately. Jack went to the dermatologist to have her check out a couple new spots on him. She thought they weren't too bad but to be on the safe side she froze them off. That is good.

On Saturday, October 25, we had our newest grandson's baptism. This was a joyous occasion for our family. Jack took some pictures which I will post below. We had a nice time and afterwards we all went out to eat. Nico did very well and didn't even cry until it was all over and that was just because he was getting hungry.

Here are a couple of pictures of the baptism:

Jack and I had dentist appointments and all went pretty good. I do have to go back and have one tooth checked to see if I might need a new crown. Sure hope I don't.

On Halloween, we went to our oldest son's (Craig) house and his family to celebrate Halloween. This has become a tradition for us. We all fix food - usually chili, soups, cornbread, and deserts and just have a good time. We have a few pictures of the kids (big and little). Here is Craig and Emma:

Here is Bronson as "Elmo":

Here is Grandma and Nico:

Last night, we got together with our good friends (Linda, Frank, Dora & Marlin) and went out to dinner and then played games. This is always a great time and we really enjoy getting together with them. We have been doing this for many, many years so this is definitely good time to have for sure.

Hope everyone gets out to vote on Tuesday (if you haven't already done so). Jack and I did our early voting last week so we won't be one of those standing in the long lines.

Have a good week.

Branson Trip and Bronson's Birthday Party

2008-10-22T13:04:00.000-07:00

Jack and I left KC for Branson on Monday, October 13. We got there about 3:30 p.m. and on the way down we stopped at a restaurant in Ozark, MO., for lunch. For people who haven't been there, it is called Lambert's, and it is known for their hot rolls. Actually the waiters throw the rolls to you. The food is wonderful, good ole home cooking. They are well known, especially in the Midwest, so we had to wait about 45 minutes to get a table. The tour buses always stop there too, so you almost always have to wait for a table. But it is worth waiting for.

When we got into Branson, we went to the complex where we were staying. Some friends of ours have a time share there with the Wyndham organization. This was the first time we had been there and it was very nice. It was a one bedroom condo. Monday night we decided to go to one of the music shows, Pierce Arrow, which was pretty good. The comedian makes the show. We laughed so hard we were sore. So it was good for us to go and enjoy the evening.

Tuesday morning, we met my uncle and his two daughters from California, for breakfast. This uncle is 88 years old but you would never know it. He comes back every year to his high school reunion, which is a small town in Missouri (they only had 35 people graduate) and this year they only had 7 people come to the reunion. He said next year would be their 70th year and it would be the last one since they hardly have any people left. But he has always thoroughly enjoyed seeing his old friends. He plays golf twice a week and still works out at the gym. We had a great visit with him and my cousins. After breakfast, we went down to the Landing shopping area and looked around.

Wednesday we went to Silver Dollar City. The weather forecast was not too good as it was suppose to rain but we really lucked out and it only showered one time while we were there. It really turned out to be a great day - sunny and nice.

Thursday we shopped around the outlet centers and actually done some Christmas shopping. Went back to the condo and took a nap. Then for dinner we met my uncle again and had a nice dinner with them as we are leaving tomorrow.

Friday we headed back to KC. We needed to be back by 12:15 pm as Jack had an appointment with his orthopedic doctor. He was delighted as the doctor told him he could come out of his walking cast boot!! He was getting really tired of it. He had it on over for 5 weeks. The doctor told him to start walking and working his foot and ankle. So far things are going good. He has to go back in 4 weeks to have it checked.

Friday night my niece and her three little ones; ages 1, 3 & 4; my brother and his wife all came up to see the new baby. My niece and her little ones stayed at our house and my brother and his wife stayed at my sister's. So our house was a busy one to say the least!!

Saturday we all went to our grandson, Bronson's second birthday party. So it was like a mini-family reunion. We all had a great time and Bronson was a little overwhelmed with all the people. They had it at the local Pizza Shoppe. Everyone left on Sunday morning and Jack and I laid around the rest of the day. Here is Bronson with his birthday hat on!

Yesterday Jack and I kept our youngest grandsons for most of the day. This is the new baby and his brother. Their Mother needed a rest as she was not feeling well. Things went great with them. This was the first time we had kept the baby but he was no trouble at all. He just sleeps and eats. We thoroughly enjoyed having them. Here is Bronson and Nico.

Fun week with Friends

2008-10-12T17:10:00.000-07:00

We have had a busy and fun week. Our good friends, Warren and Jeannene Likins, came to visit with us last Wednesday. Jeannene and I met and worked together at the FAA over 30 years ago. We have kept in touch with each other over all these years. They left KC and moved to Iowa and then transferred back to Columbia, MO., but we kept in touch throughout the years. They were in town for a class reunion.

I had dinner for them on Wednesday night. We visited and caught up with our families. Then on Thursday, we took them to see our new grandson, Nico. Then they went to meet some other friends over in Kansas City, KS and to see Jeannene's sister.

Then Friday morning, we got up went to garage sales. We had a great time and found some pretty neat items. You never know what you will come up with from these sales. Jeannene even found some elegant glasses (which she already had) but she needed some more since she had broken some. We couldn't believe that they were the same pattern, in good shape and an excellent price. Then they went to one of the reunion activities Friday night.

Saturday morning, Jack and I went with them to a breakfast they were having at their old school - Wyandotte High School in Kansas City, Kansas. There is another couple who we both know that also graduated with Warren. It was fun to see and visit with them. After this we took them downtown Kansas City, Missouri, to see what all had been build since they had been there. We now have a beautiful downtown and it is coming back alive with all the new construction - - new downtown arena; a new area with bars and restaurants; up-dated new lofts and apartments. It has changed a lot in the last few years. Then Saturday night they went to another reunion activity. Jack and I met some other friends for dinner and then went to play a game, Sequence, with these friends. Warren and Jeannene and us got home about the same time and then of course we had to hear how things went at their reunion so it was a late night but fun!!

This morning, they got up and left pretty early as they were going to Warren's sister's to have brunch. We had a wonderful time with them and really enjoyed their visit.

Jack and I went to our son, Chad's, to celebrate his 37th birthday. We picked up bar-a-que and ate at their house. I made his favorite cake so we had a good time with all of them. This is the house that has the new grandson!! So we ate and played with the kiddies. Jack and I are leaving tomorrow for Branson, Missouri for five days. So we have been a little busy lately.

That's all for now. Have a good week.

Busy, Busy Week with New Baby, etc.

2008-10-06T17:18:00.000-07:00

Baby Nico and Mama are doing pretty good. Nico is a very good eater so I think he will start making up for lost time real soon. They have been taking him to get weighed every day or so just to make sure he is gaining and he is - as of Friday he was back up to 6 pounds and 1 and 1/2 ounces. He had lost down to 5 lbs. 8 ozs. So he is doing fine. Their household is getting a little more adjusted and Chad went back to work today. Jack and I went over and picked up Bronson and kept him most of the day so Cathy could get some rest. We have been going over at least every other day to help out; taking food or taking Bronson so they could get some extra rest.

Last Monday, Jack had his colonoscopy. Everything came out (LOL) just fine. This one was a follow-up from a couple years ago when he had some polyps removed. The doctor gave him an all-clear for another 10 years. That is great!!

Last Thursday, I volunteered at the hospital. I worked the surgery waiting area and when you work there you definitely learn to appreciate your good health.

On Friday, Jack and I went to our granddaughter Emma's school to have lunch with her. She was being recognized for demonstrating the virtue of "caring". So that means that their parents or grandparents can bring lunch to them from the outside - i.e., McDonald's and eat lunch with them. She was really excited about this. Of course, we were very proud of her.

Saturday, we went to Zach's football game. Like Shelly and Bud, we try to go all his games that we can. He is playing linebacker this year and is really enjoying it. They won 42 - 7. He has had a good season so far. Hey, did anyone catch the Missouri Tiger's game on Saturday night? They played Nebraska Huskers and won. Good thing we have the Tigers to watch since our Kansas City Chiefs have gone to pot!!

Our good friends, Warren and Jeannene Likins, are coming to visit this Wednesday and staying with us through Sunday. They are coming into KC to Warren's 50th class reunion. Looking forward to their visit.

Have a good week!

New Baby Montgomery - 9/26/2008

2008-09-28T07:18:00.000-07:00

On 4:50 a.m. on September 26, Jack and I got a telephone call. I just knew that it must be something to do with our new grandson coming. Sure enough, it was our son Chad calling to see if I could come over to keep Bronson, they needed to go the hospital. Man, did I jump up and get moving!! I made record time getting to their house. Jack had to take care of Brandy before he could get over to their house. But he moved pretty fast (even with his boot on). One reason we were so surprised at this call was she was not due until October 26. So I was very worried about our little one being a month early.

At 11:35 a.m., Nicolo (Nico) Joseph Montgomery was born. He weighed 6 pounds and 1 ounce; he was 18 1/2 inches long. He has lots of dark hair. He looks so much like his big brother.

We did have a little scare right after he was born - he came out screaming but stopped so they rush him to the nursery and put him on oxygen and in a warming bed. But he was checked out from top to bottom and everything seems to be fine. They kept him for about 3 hours and then brought him back to the room. So we didn't get to see him or hold him until then. He is beautiful, of course!! They are going to keep him an extra day and keep him on monitors when he is in the nursery. But so far everything is doing just fine. But of course with him being a premie, we will have to keep a close eye on him and make sure he continues good health.

Here are a few pictures Jack took when we first saw him:

Mama with Nico:

Daddy with Nico:

Please keep Nico in your prayers. Thanks.

Beautiful Fall Weather

2008-09-24T15:27:00.000-07:00

We definitely have had beautiful fall weather here in the Midwest. It has been in the low 80s and cool 50/60s at night. This morning was the first day we had had rain for over a week or so. The rain didn't last long - only until around 9:00 a.m. and then the sun has come out. We have really enjoyed our screened-in room this fall.

Jack is doing pretty good with his foot. He got his stitches out last Wednesday. Actually, the pain has been minimal; his foot is still swelling and he sure doesn't like having the boot on all the time. He is off the crutches, which is good, but it is very slow moving with one of these boots. He didn't change boots, he still has the walking cast; but he is getting better on getting around in it. One good thing the doctor told him, he only has to keep the boot on another 3 weeks from this Friday. That is a little better than the original time.

We have had a pretty quiet week. Just the routine type activities. Volunteered at the hospital with a fundraiser. We sold fall mums and were we ever busy -- we sold 280 mums in about 6 hours. It is a great fundraiser for our auxiliary and we always have people to contribute for a great cause. Played bunko last night with my girlfriend's group. I just substitute when they need one. It is a fun game, but I wouldn't want to do it every month.

Tonight we are going to Zack's football game. Last Saturday we went, and it was their first real game. He was so excited and they won; 42 - 0. Tonight's game will be much closer as the team they are playing is a tough team.

Have a great week!

Hurricane Ike is gone - sunshine again!!

2008-09-16T06:36:00.000-07:00

Oh boy, have we had the rain!! We had about 7 inches in two days all from the hurricanes coming to the Midwest. Yesterday it was so nice to get up to sunshine. We are having wonderful cool mornings and now sunny afternoons. We will soak all this in over the next week or so.

Jack is improving with his from his surgery. He has had minimal pain from it but it is just a real pain trying to get around with his walking cast. Taking a shower with a plastic bag over the cast is not the easiest thing to do either... but tomorrow will be better as he gets the stitches out, the bandages off and then gets a more mobile type walking boot. This boot can be removed to shower, etc.

We have had a pretty quiet week so not much to report. Emma spend the night with us Saturday night. Today is our oldest son's birthday - he is 41; oh my, does that make us feel old!! Happy Birthday, Craig!!

Yesterday we had Bronson for the afternoon. Here are a couple of pictures we took with Jack's new camera (Nikon D-80). The bear in the picture with Bronson is one we bought while we spend the winter in Texas from some friends, Fred & Joan, from South Dakota.

Notice our dog, Brandy, had to be in the picture too. She is a little jealous of Bronson on Popo's lap!!

Family Get Together; Birthday Celebration; & Jack's Foot

2008-09-10T15:39:00.000-07:00

We have had rains again in the Midwest. One day last week we got 3 inches of rain in about 4 hours. August was a dry month but so far September is making up for it. With all the hurricanes coming to shore, next week we will probably have rain every day.

Last Thursday, my brother, T. C., and his wife, Sandy, came to Kansas City (they live at Stoutland, MO) and spend a few days. It was great to have them up here. T. C. is not too excited about coming into the "city" - he is a country boy. Friday night, we had our sons and families; my sister and her son & grandson; all over here for a mini-family reunion. I fixed dinner for everybody and we had a great time. Not very often do we all get together - usually it is just around the holidays.

Sunday evening we took our oldest son, Craig, and his family out to dinner to celebrate his 41st birthday. His birthday isn't until the 16th but we decided that since Jack was going to have his foot surgery this week, we had better do it early. Lavon, we did remember the camera. Here are a few:

Zack, Shannon, Emma, Craig and me.

Craig & Emma (for the Quail Run Friends - they are ones that visited with us last winter)

Today was Jack's foot surgery. He was to have his bone spur removed. His surgery went well. Believe it or not the doctor was even 30 minutes ahead of schedule. He was in surgery around one hour and the doctor said things went well. The spur was a little larger than we believed at first but it was all removed. The doctor said it had some scar tissue around it which is why it had gotten larger this last year. We were home by 3:00 p.m. Jack has a beautiful, black walking cast boot which he will wear for one week. Then we go back next Wednesday to have the stitches removed and they will put on a different type boot. He will wear this boot for another 5 weeks. So he won't be running any races for a few weeks. So far he has had just a couple of pain pills so hopefully the pain won't be too bad.

Gustav reaches the Midwest

2008-09-03T08:55:00.000-07:00

Gustav has reached the Midwest. We woke up this morning with rain and cool temperatures. It is to reach 64 today and tomorrow - cool fall weather. We did need some rain and so far it has been a slow, easy rain. Southern Missouri is forecast to get 6 - 8 inches of rain the next couple days. Sounds like there are a number of hurricanes coming out of the Caribbean the next week or so. Hopefully they will not be to0 severe to the Gulf and Eastern Coasts.

Jack and I went camping out to Smithville Lake over the holiday weekend. This is a nice, small lake North of Kansas City. It is only about 15 miles from our house so it is very convenient for us.

Normally we don't go out camping over holiday weekends but decided we better go since Jack is scheduled for his foot surgery a week from today and he probably won't be up to camping for the next month or so.

The campground was completely full for the weekend but we lucked out and had a very nice family next to us. They had three children - 13, 11 and 4 ages - all boys. The man worked for the government, USDA, so we had that in common and enjoyed visiting with them all weekend. The 4-year old was a hoot. He would come over and help Jack with playing the Yard Golf game.

The weather was great all weekend. Temperatures were in the 80s but had a good breeze and a good shade tree.

Here are a few pictures from the weekend:

The campground:

We took this picture on Tuesday morning and as you see we pretty well had the campground to ourselves.

Jack trying to play Yard Golf:

Here I am making all the rings!! Not really. I blamed it on the sun going down and not enough light.

Here is Brandy watching what was going on:

Here is another sunset. We had some really nice ones.

We had a couple nights with the camp fire:

Overall, we had a great time.

Nice Fall Weather in the Midwest

2008-08-27T14:04:00.000-07:00

We have had beautiful fall weather in the Midwest for the last few weeks. We even turned off the air conditioner a couple of times and opened up the windows. This has been an exceptional August for Kansas City. Beautiful!!

We took our little dog, Brandy, to the vet this last week to get her annual checkup. They did her blood work and found out her triglycerides were out of sight. They are suppose to be around 350 and hers were 1100. I asked them what would cause this and the vet seem to think it was her diet which I can't believe since we have her on Science Diet for Seniors. Oh well, she is now on a prescription dog food (which I found out DeAnn's dog is on too) and we are to cut down on the amount we give her plus change her treats. Then have it checked again in six months. You know they say your dog begins to look like you after so long, well I guess your dog picks up their master's health problems too!!

Last Friday night, we went to another summer concert in our downtown area. It was country star, Tracy Bryd, who has been around for a while. It was the best concert, he was on stage for over two hours and sang all his number one records. The weather was great - couldn't ask for more for a "free" concert.

Yesterday we met our friends, Donna and Bill Rinne, for lunch. For you Quail Run friends, they were the couple that came and stayed for a month last year. It was great to see them and catch up on all the things that had been going on in their lives and hear about their camping trips. They have bought a new Hitchhiker and are enjoying it. Here is a picture of them:

They have made their winter reservations in Mesa, AZ. They have a granddaughter who attends the University of Phoenix.

Today I went to my old office, the Federal Aviation Administration Regional Office, in downtown Kansas City. They were having a 50th Year Celebration. It was nice to see some of my coworkers that I hadn't seen since retiring and it was nice celebration for all.

Jack went to his bone and joint doctor today to see about a bone spur he has on his heel. He has had this spur for a long time but it just keeps getting larger and it has really bothered him more the last six months. So today the doctor decided it does need to come off so he is scheduled for surgery on September 10 to have it removed. I hope he knows what he is in for as it doesn't sound like it will be a "walk in the park". He will have to wear some type of case for the first week and then be in a walking boot for another five weeks. But then it should be fine. Please put him on the pray list.

Have a fun and safe Labor Day Weekend!

August 18, 2008

2008-08-18T17:20:00.000-07:00

What wonderful weather we have had the last week here in KC. The lowest have been in the low 60s and highs in 70s and low 80s. It seems like it is like late September instead of August. We have really enjoyed it.

Last Sunday, Jack and I took our bikes for a ride at a State Park north of Liberty. It has a real nice trail - 4 miles around a lake through the woods. It was the first time we have had our bikes out since we got home from Arizona. That is bad. Hopefully we can get back to riding them more often now that it is getting cooler.

Last Monday, we had Emma, our granddaughter, for the day. We told her it was her last "fun" day before her school starts. We took her shopping for a few new clothes for school and she wanted to go to eat lunch at Red Robin. Red Robin is a gourmet hamburger place which is a good place for adults too. Her school started last Wednesday and she is off and running in the Third Grade. She likes her new teacher and has already made some new friends. Good for her.

On Tuesday, I met a couple of my friends from the office I retired from. It is always good to see them and catch up with their lives. I really miss all the people I worked with - you know you spend almost as much time with the people you work with as your family. So when you leave you feel like you have left part of you. These girls are a lot of fun and we had some really good times together.

Our grandson, Bronson, was over on Tuesday afternoon to visit. His Mother had a doctor's appointment. The new baby is due in October and everything is coming along just fine. She hasn't been near as sick this time. We can't wait!! Then Tuesday night, we met Chad and Cathy for dinner.

Our good friends, Dora and Marlin, had a couple of extra tickets to the Kansas City Chiefs Football Game on Saturday night and invited us to go with them. This was a pre-season game but it was a beautiful night to go and we really enjoyed it. The Chiefs' didn't win but we had a good time anyway. Thanks, Dora and Marlin for the tickets!! Here are a couple pictures we took at the game.

Heat and Humidity Has Broken

2008-08-09T07:44:00.000-07:00

This week has been much better in the weather department. Finally, the heat and humidity has broken in KC. Had real nice days the latter part of the week - low 80s and no rain. Today it is cloudy, and cool, rather occasion in KC in August.

I am feeling much better. I have had some problems with my blood pressure, which I have never had that problem before, but the doctor put me on some medicine and that has helped out a lot. So I'm back in the swing of things, and running as usual.

My girlfriend and I went to the movies this week to see "Swing Vote". This was a Kevin Costner movie, but it sure wasn't as good as some of his other movies. I thought it was pretty corny in some places, and really didn't have that good of a plot. Don't recommend it - maybe as a rental.

Yesterday a couple of my friends and I went to tour a new +55 plus adult living community development that has just opened in the Northland (for people not familiar with KC - that is what we call the land North of the Missouri River - which is where we live). This is a state-of-the-art development which has approximately 115 apartments. Dora, my girlfriend, has a friend that is the marketing director for this place and she wanted us to come tour it and see what all they have to offer. Let me tell you, this would be where I would love to live in about 15 - 20 years. It has a beautiful setting and they have all the amenities anyone would want. The marketing director says it is like a cruise ship that never docks. We were very impressed with it. It is called Riverstone and they have 7 other developments in the nation.

Last night we went to a concert in the Downtown area of KC. There is a shopping/hotel area called Crown Center and they have free concerts during the month of August. Last night, Chris Cagle (a country singer) was there. It was a beautiful evening and the music was good too. They have had these concerts for years. You just take your blankets, lawn chairs, etc. and go enjoy the evening. Over the years, we have seen some really big stars come through - we saw Roy Orbison a few months before he died. Had a great time.

Have a good week.

Rain then Heat on the Way

2008-07-31T17:36:00.000-07:00

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

2008-07-21T14:23:00.000-07:00

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

2008-07-12T08:37:00.000-07:00

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

2008-07-06T14:38:00.000-07:00

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

2008-07-05T10:42:00.000-07:00

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.

2008-06-29T11:12:00.000-07:00

Another week has gone by and it seems like I have a time getting to my blog. I read other peoples and keep up with them and then forget my own.

We were busy this week with one thing or the other. We kept Bronson, our youngest grandson, on Monday. That is always a delight. He is at such a cute age. I guess we better enjoy it before he reaches those terrible "twos"!! Then on Tuesday I had a 6-month checkup with the doctor. Everything was fine.

On Thursday and Friday my sister and I had a garage sale at her house. The weather really turned out great for it. We had a cool front move in so it wasn't so hot and we had a pretty good turnout for it. We got rid of some things we don't use any longer. We changed out the recliners in our fifth wheel. The ones that came in it were so big and heavy we got some leather ones which are lighter and easier to move around. I think we will really like them. Anyway we sold the old ones at the garage sale.

Jack started a project this week he has been putting off for a few months. He started building shelves in our storage area. We have talked about this for months but he just didn't seem to have the time to get it started. Anyway he got one section done yesterday and hopefully he will get the other section done before long so we can get our storage area organized....yippee!!

Well, we went and picked up our trailer today - out of the storage lot. Tomorrow we are headed to Branson, MO. We are taking our granddaughter, Emma, with us. This will be the first time she has been there so we are looking forward to taking her around and seeing the sites. We are planning on going to Silver Dollar City. They are having a Kids Festival at this time so they should have a lot of things for kids. We are going to have dinner tomorrow night with Don and LaVon (our Quail Run friends) and catching up with them. That will be fun.

Hope everyone has a safe and fun filled Fourth of July!!

Lake of the Ozarks

2008-06-22T14:26:00.000-07:00

Jack and I left Kansas City last Monday, June 16, and headed to the Lake of the Ozarks for the week. I volunteered at the hospital Monday afternoon so as soon as I got home we packed up and headed out. Our oldest son has a condo in Osage Beach, MO., and we stay at it. It seems like his family is so busy with the kids' activities they don't get to use it as much as they should. Jack loves to go so he can can get his "fishing fix"! And he caught a few bass - only two keepers (which is releases).

Another reason we went this time was to go into Lebanon, MO (which is Jack's and my hometown) to see his sister-in-law. She is more like a sister to both of us and we are really close to her. She was married to Jack's brother who died about 10 years ago. She hasn't been feeling very well the last few weeks and we decided it was time for us to make sure that she was doing all right. So went into Lebanon on Tuesday (which is only about 35 miles from the lake's condo) and spend the day with her. She was feeling some better but we helped her out with some house projects that needed doing and visited with her. She is very independent and doesn't want to impose on anyone. She turned 75 this year. But she is normally very healthy and active. We were glad to see her and discuss some of her health plans and see that things were all right. She doesn't have any children so we are her "kids"....

On Wednesday, our good friends, Jeannene and Warren Likins, who live at Columbia, MO came down to the lake to see us. They stayed with us Wednesday and Thursday nights and we had a great time with them. We have been friends for 30 years and always have a good time. Jack and Warren did some fishing and Jeannene and I got some shopping in and caught up on our visiting.

Friday we headed back to Kansas City. The good thing about being retired is you can go to the Lake through the week when it is nice and quiet and then leave it to the others on the weekends. On the way home, my girlfriend called to see when we would be home and to see if we wanted to get together to play cards or dominoes. So we met the two couples we normally play with Friday night.

Saturday we got the laundry caught up and then Saturday night the hospital I volunteer at was having an appreciation night for all the hospital workers at our local independent league baseball game. So we went to that and enjoyed a night of baseball and had a good Kansas City bar-a-que dinner. So we have had another busy week.

Bouncing Baby Bunnies

2008-06-15T08:10:00.000-07:00

We have been trying to get things back in order since coming back from Florida. Finally got all the laundry caught up and got to the grocery store.

When we got back from Florida, Jack was out beside our house working with the water hose, and saw a nest of baby bunnies. They are so cute. They must have been there for a while as they are ready to leave the nest but we hadn't seen them. But if you could see this nest you would see why. The mother bunny had made a hole in the ground, but she had pulled the grass back over the front of it and you really couldn't see it if you were not looking for it. We never could get an actual count but at least six were in there. They were so cute. We had some of the lawn people come Friday to fertilize the grass, etc., but we told them not to come between the houses that we had baby bunnies and they didn't need that stuff on them!! Oh what old people do to occupy their time!! Yesterday they started leaving the nest. They would move to a new area, and then make a new little nest just for one of them. If you were not careful you would step on them. They look awful little to be leaving but I guess the Mama has taught them all she can. Hopefully they will make it out in the cruel world. Here are a couple pictures we got:

Had a great telephone visit with DeAnn yesterday. We haven't been able to visit with each other that much since she has gone back to work. I miss our visits. Sounds like they had a heck of a day on the 13th. Hopefully that is all behind them. They were getting ready to have all the kids over today for Father's Day. We hope to be able to get to see each other one of these days.

Hope all the fathers have a great day!! We are going out to eat with our son today. Have a good week.

Back Home in KC

2008-06-11T12:14:00.000-07:00

Jack and I got back to Kansas City yesterday. We had a great time while we were in Florida. We enjoyed being around the ocean and the beach. And, the sunsets were just out of this world.

We probably drove close to a thousand miles while we were there, but you know we enjoyed it because we got to see a lot of Florida we had never been to before. We looked at a lot of campgrounds, did a lot of shopping, and a lot of eating!! The seafood is so good down there.

We are going to have to wait until July 1 to see if we can get a site at Adelaide Shores because they don't take reservations for us short-timers (3-months) until then. We finally talked to someone in the office last Monday, but he was just a fill-in as the owners/hosts were on vacation and he didn't have a lot of information. So we will see on July 1 if we can get our reservations. It sounds like they are pretty full most of the time especially those three months. So we hope we will get one. Will keep you posted. If not we have a couple other parks in mind.

On Sunday, we drove over to the Bayou Bay Park and looked at it. We really lucked out as one of the full time residents happened to be up by the office and offered to take us on a golf cart tour of the park. His wife works in the office, and he does a lot of the music activities at the park. Real nice guy. The park is nice, they are in the process of enlarging it and that side doesn't have all the improvements made yet, but they hope to have it done in a year or so. It definitely is right on the Bayou. The only thing I wondered about was - was there a lot of mosquitoes around? He said they were the kind you couldn't see but could feel them. He said they sprayed the park about three times a week and that helped out a lot. Had a nice club house and pool area.

While we were over in that area, we ran across a big flea market and of course we had to walk through it. It was big and had a lot of stuff. But it was a little warm that day and with the tin roofs we didn't stay too long. Ran across a restaurant called Cody's Roadhouse, and had a late lunch. We hadn't ever eaten at one of these before but the food was excellent and great prices. It looked like they were mainly in Florida.

Last night we went to our grandson's baseball game. He is getting on the end of their season so we wanted to make this one as we will missed last weeks. It was a great night for baseball and they won their game. Chad and Bronson came to watch too so we had all the grand kids and both our sons there so it was a great night for us.

Still in Florida

2008-06-08T06:20:00.000-07:00

We are still enjoying the sun rays of Florida. It has been hot but we have tried to time our time in the sun. We have enjoyed the ocean and the pool a lot. Here are a couple pictures. Jack and the "beached whale":

These are some sand dollars we saw on the beach.

Friday we took another drive loop to look at some more RV campgrounds. We left St. Pete Beach area and headed to the east/south areas. We first stopped at Bartow park - Good Life. This was a nice park but it didn't have any cable TV availability; and it was kind of out in the middle of no where. Then we went on down towards Avon Park area. We stopped at Adelaide Shores RV Park. This is a very nice park. But the management was not there to talk to - guess they take Fridays off during the summer. But we did go ahead and drove around the park. It was clean and nice big lots. Big recreation hall and pool. Also, they have an 100 acre lake right behind it. Nice walking trail around the lake. We really liked this park.

Then we went on down to Sebring area. Really Avon Park and Sebring are real close together and Sebring has everything you would need. It was much bigger and nicer than we thought this area would be. Oh there is a WalMart within a few miles of Adelaide Shores. We visited a park called Buttonwood Bay. This is a large park, has a lot of park models, has a fishing lake, two large recreation halls. Has lots of activities. This park I would say is older than Adelaide Shores. Their lots were not as wide and level as some of the other parks.

Right now we are leaning towards Adelaide Shores as our next winter home. But we need to talk to them and get some more details on the expenses, etc. But based on their web site they seem to be reasonable. Here is the only picture we got of the park.

Yesterday we went to a large flea market here in St. Pete and then to an Art Fair. Both were pretty good. The flea market is a big one that we have gone to before but it seem to us that it wasn't as good as it is in the winter months. Art fair was nice but DeAnn it wasn't anything like the Fountain Hills' one.

We will be heading back to Kansas City on Tuesday. Hope the weather is good that day. The Midwest is sure having more than their share of severe storms. Looks like Indiana and Illinois is having terrible rains. Even heard this a.m. that Ohio had some storms too. Hope things are all right with Rick and Wendy.

Later today we are going up to a RV park called Bay Bayou which is in the Northern part of Tampa. Barbara Howard told us about this one. We will let you know about it later.

Sunny in Florida

2008-06-04T18:25:00.000-07:00

Jack and I flew to Florida yesterday. Had a good flight down. The weather is definitely warm and sunny!! Really so far it hasn't been that bad. It is in the low 90s and of course have humidity but there has been a nice breeze so it hasn't been too hot. We are staying at a resort on St. Pete's Beach which is nice. We have stayed here a couple times and it is right on the beach. We both like that - taking a walk on the beach is great!!

Here are a few pictures of the sunset:

Here is a bird we saw on our walk down the beach this morning. We don't know what it is maybe some type of crane.

Today we drove down South of Tampa to look at some RV campgrounds that we might stay at next winter. We looked at five different ones. Found two we really liked. Hey, Shelley we looked at Cross Creek. This is a RV park that Bud and Shelley told us about while in Arizona. It is very nice and has a lot of amenities we liked. Another one we liked was called Riverside RV Park which is close to Port Charlotte. Jack really liked this one because it was right on the Peace River where he could fish every day. But they are already filled up for next winter.

We have another five more parks to look at on Friday. Hopefully we will be able to find one that we like and has the things we are looking for.

Today on the way back to St. Pete Beach, we were coming up I-75 from Port Charlotte and we came to a screening halt on the Interstate. They had a terrible accident on an overpass about 10 miles from where we came to a stop. They closed the Interstate both ways, and we sat in traffic and then took the detour through Bradenton town and it took us two hours to go about 35 miles. We were tired of sitting in the car all that time. But we got back to the beach to see the sun set and of course it was beautiful.

Tomorrow we are going to stay around the Beach and enjoy some the local sites.

Celebrations

2008-05-29T07:48:00.000-07:00

Oh we have a perfect morning today. The sun is shining and it is about 63 degrees and beautiful.

We have two big things to be thankful for and to celebrate. Yesterday Jack received his first Social Security Check - yippee!!!! And the other one is even better and wonderful. We found out yesterday that we will be having another "grandson" in October. Chad and Cathy had there 19 week sonogram yesterday and it showed it was a boy. Chad said he had never seen such a detailed sonogram before. The facility had just got in a new machine. He said it showed every little vessel in the heart; looked at each vital organ; and it was amazing. The new science we have today is something else. Everything looked great so now we just have to wait until the latter part of October to hold this little thing. Cathy is feeling much better with this pregnancy so that is great.

Jack is working today in the front yard putting pavers around our tree. It should really add to the landscape when it is done.

Have a good day.

Happy Memorial Day

2008-05-26T14:41:00.000-07:00

Another week has passed and what have we got done?? Oh well, I guess that is retirement life.

Last Wednesday, Jack and I went to our granddaughter's, Emma, field day at school. We took some pictures. She had a great time with all the activities. She is the one in the white shirt and shorts.

Then we picked up Bronson (our 18-month grandson) to keep so his Mother could go to the salon for some highlights. We took him to McDonald's to eat and while we were there he got choked on some cookie. Scared us but I knew he was breathing as he was coughing and crying. I finally got him to get it up and when that happened, he said "All Done" as if to say don't feed me any more. We laughed and everybody around us did too. He is a cutie!!

Thursday my girlfriend, Dora, and I went out to so some shopping. We went to the Old Pottery Store. We love to go there at least a couple times a year to look, feel, and sometimes buy. We had a great time. Didn't really a lot but a few things. Got a new gazing ball for the garden. Now I have to find a stand for it. Every place I have been have been sold out.

Saturday we went out to Nebraska Furniture store to follow up on our mattress we bought about three years ago. It is not holding up at all and we need to get a replacement. Well, that will probably be a real process before we see the replacement - first you fill out an application; take pictures of the problem; then take all that back to the store; they will review and then determine if they need to come to look at it; well by the time we get a decision our backs will probably be broke!!

Sunday we went to church and learned that our associate pastor will be leaving the end of the month. But what a small world we live in - he is being transferred to Columbia, MO, where our good friends live. And is taking over their lead pastor position. Isn't that a hoot!!

The weather has been warm and rainy the last few days. We have had some storms but nothing too severe which is good. Our Missouri humidity has really jumped up this weekend. We broke down and turned on the air today.

Hope everyone has a great Memorial Day. Travel safe.

Summer is Coming

2008-05-19T16:48:00.000-07:00

I started this blog yesterday so I will try to get it done today. LaVon, you will be proud as I actually added some pictures this time.

It is warming up around here. It was in the mid-80s over the weekend and is forecast to be around that most of this week. But hey, it is almost June. But of course, it is not near as warm as it is in Arizona or Texas!! It looked like it was around 105 in Phoenix today. Man, that is way too warm for me.

Over the weekend, we went to our oldest grandson, Zack, who is 13, baseball tournament. He played Friday night, Saturday and Sunday. We saw all his games. His team won second place in the tournament. He has improved so much from last year it is a real pleasure to watch him play. Youth baseball is my favorite sport. Emma, his sister, spend Saturday night with us so means we were busy keeping up with her.

Today we attended Zack's honor awards assembly. He was recognized for his academic achievements. He was in the Magna Cum Laude group. We are so proud of him. He is in the 7th grade, and this was his first year in Middle School, so we were really glad that he adjusted just fine.

Last week Jack worked on our front yard landscaping. He put a border around the shrubs and flowers. It looks real nice. We are scheduled to go to Emma's field day on Wednesday so I will try to remember the camera this time. Here are a couple of pictures of Jack's work and some of our flowers. They are so pretty this time of the year before it gets hot and dry.

Today - Tuesday - we had our youngest grandson, Bronson, for a trip to the park and back to our house. Here are a few pictures:

Marvelous Monday - Sunny Again!

2008-05-12T07:35:00.000-07:00

This morning is beautiful. The sun is out and it is suppose to get in the mid-70s with little wind. We are so excited as we haven't had very many of these days lately!

It seems like time has been flying by lately. Can't believe it has been almost a week since I have blogged. Let's see what we have been up to:

Last Thursday was my day to go to the movies with my girlfriend. Jack is not a movie bluff and neither is her husband so we usually try to make it to the movies at least twice a move to keep up with the new ones. We went to see "Baby Mama". It was a silly, non-serious one but it had some cute lines and kept you laughing. Sometimes you need this type of movie.

Friday was my day to volunteer at the hospital. I worked in the surgery waiting room. I do like this as I feel I can hopefully help a family through a difficult time in their lives. Just a friendly smile helps when you are under this type of stress. Normally we have around 30 - 35 surgeries a day but Friday we only had about 22 so I wasn't that busy.

Saturday night Jack and I had two couples over to play dominoes. We went out to eat at Texas Roadhouse first ( which we really like) and then came back here to play our games. I was ahead all through the game until the very last round and then I blew my lead. Oh well, it lasted for a while. We have a really good time with these friends, as we have known them for over 30 years. We try to get together with them at least once a month and do something. It is great to have friends like this.

Sunday started off real cool but sunny. But by the middle of the afternoon it was warmer, in mid-60s, but had a wind out of the North which make it feel cooler than that. We celebrated Mother's Day with both our sons and their families. Had a nice day. Got home in time to see the end of Survivor and couldn't believe that Parati (not sure this is spelled right) won. I just didn't think she would get it - thought Amanda had a better chance. What do I know!

Have a good week.

Spring Raindrops

2008-05-07T06:52:00.000-07:00

Well, things have been kind of quiet around here this week. We have just worked around the house.

Let's see last Saturday night, we attended a neighbor's daughter's wedding. The wedding was simple but elegant wedding. It was a little different from the traditional one, but was very nice. They got married in a beautiful old church over in Kansas City and then had the reception back out North of the River (where we live). One thing that was different was at the end of the ceremony they played a Jimmy Buffett song - can't remember the name of it (something about the Caribbean) and all the groomsmen put on their sunglasses before they came back down the aisle. The couple are honeymooning in the Caribbean, so I guess it was to get them in the mood.

We have had some more rain but at least no big storms. The poor people who got hit last week with the tornadoes are still cleaning up. Jack and I drove through a couple of the areas and you just can't believe all the damage. We are so thankful that we were safe.

Last night we went to our oldest grandson's (Zack) baseball game. It was a little cool and windy but we enjoyed it anyway. It reminds us of all the days and nights we spend at the baseball fields with our sons. His team won both games!! Good for them.

This morning it is cloudy and cool. Had some showers through the night. They are forecasting us to be this way for the next four days. Oh where is the sunshine??

Spring Storms in Kansas City

2008-05-03T08:48:00.000-07:00

Friday morning (around 2:00 a.m.) the Kansas City area had terrible spring storms. We have made the national news with them. The suburbs of Gladstone & Liberty, Missouri had tornado damage. Luckily we did not have any in our neighborhood, but only about 5 miles north of us there was 20 homes destroyed and 200 damaged. I feel so sorry for the families that have been affected by them. Also, my sister lives in Gladstone and the damage over by her was terrible. The house she lived in before, where she raised her children, was damaged and some next to that was destroyed. We are very thankful that no one we know was affected this time. Our oldest son, Craig, had a window blown out of his house and their trampoline was moved over the fence. But that was it. It seems like every few years the Kansas City area is hit by storms in the worse way. Thank God for watching over our family and friends.

We have been busy around the house and going to some garage sales. Last night we had our granddaughter Emma. She spend the night and had fun with her. She is so good at games that she usually beats her grandparents and we don't let her. She loves any kind of games especially card games. This morning she had to leave early as this is her gymnastics day.

Been reading the blogs of our Quail Run friends and sounds like they are keeping busy. Hope they travel safe and miss all the spring storms.