Winfield Country Music Roundup - July 2010

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

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

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

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

(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

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

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!