Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.

Mark Twain

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Morgan Creek/Memorial Day


Like I said before we decided to leave a day earlier than we had planned and were happy we did. Morgan Creek was filling up fast. We got a spot right next to the shower house and was glad of that cause of all the serious weather we've been having. Nice to have a strong shelter close by. This trip was the first one with our new kayak rack on top the truck. We had previously carried them in our rig. Still have some fine tuning on the rack and how we load, but I think it's gonna be way better.

Wednesday and Thursday we just kinda hung out around the campsite. I did put up my hummingbird feeder. I love when they come around so much fun to watch. On Friday it was a beauty of a day so Jeff took his kayak to Pleasant Creek to go fishing. He got 1 good one. Then we met Seth, KT and the kids at Pizza Ranch for supper to ranch a roo it up.


We had made plans to go back to Keokuk, Iowa for the weekend. The weather was horrible, it poured rain all the way there. Then that kinda put a damper on the big event we were going to. It was a graduation party, good thing they had a big garage. After the party we went to visit and spend the night at my best friends house (Judy). We mostly just visited and caught up on things. We left Judy's Sunday morning around 10:30 wanted to stop at the nursing home to see my uncle Bob. Found out that's a good time to go calling cause we ran into 3 or 4 people we hadn't seen in quite awhile. We both were happy we stopped.

On Memorial Day it rained, rained and rained. We met the kids at Perkins for breakfast. With the weather being as it is we took in a movie, The Great Gatsby was not as good as we had hoped. When we got back to the campground we just watched TV and I finished the quilting part on my quilt. Oh yeah for you hockey fans the Blackhawks won so it tied up 3 games to 3. Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday rain, rain, rain. I did manage to finish binding my quilt and get started on a T-shirt quilt for the girl that graduated. With this weather, all the rain the bugs are horrible so even if you get a decent day you can hardly stand to sit outside.

The weekend arrived and I had promised to paint my younger sons table and chairs so we headed over there. We did it inside, good thing cause it rained again. I also recovered the chairs and they look
good. Also watched the Blackhawks win again.

Sunday came and the weather took a dive it's really cold out. Boy this Iowa weather is something, you never know what you'll wake up to.

Another week and its nice today I did some cleaning, and gave our dog Belle a haircut. We went in and picked up Ashton to stay with us a couple nights. Schools out and his summer camp doesn't start til next Monday. We thought he could see how we pack everything up. He thought it was neat how the slides pulled in and everything had a place . So we are off tomorrow to another site.





Sunday, June 16, 2013

Squaw Creek



Wednesday May 8th making a big move across town. We have never stayed here at Squaw Creek. Before leaving we talked to some new friends Janie and John that are fulltime RVers. Jeff has followed there Flamingo on a Stick blog for awhile. What was really nice about this move...no hassle. Didn't have to hurry or rush around cause it was literally across town. When we arrived, took our time and found a spot that was kinda private. I found the sites to be bigger and spaced apart more. Everything was really green here.


We got everything set up and it's really nice. It's always different to go into a new spot and figure out what they have to offer. This park is definitely bigger than Morgan Creek. What's bad for us is we aren't familiar with this side of town. So when we take off we really have to think of where we are going and how to get there. So that's what we had to do when we headed in to watch Ashton's hockey practice. That's getting to be a habit, he really loves it and you can tell by the excitement on his face. 

I'm glad we moved on Wednesday cause Thursday it decided to rain so we went to Menards to get some supplies. The weather didn't break so decided to go to a movie and dinner. Friday cloudy again so I baked. Saturday came and Justin came out for breakfast and to look for mushrooms....no luck. Later on in the day Seth (oldest son) called and invited us to an arena football game, never been so we went. There are some serious fans there and I don't know about Jeff but I thought it was great! We left early cause Justin (youngest son) had a gig and of course we weren't gonna miss that. It was a late night for us, not really use to that.


Sunday....Mothers Day. Usually we are on a vacation this time of year but not this year. Our daughter in law had lunch. It was yummy, turkey and all the trimmings. We visited and ate and ate. Nice to spend time with the family. 


Started off a new week and the weather was better today so decided to do some cleaning in the basement of the camper. I took everything out and vacuumed it out. There was sand in there from Florida. 
Then we had a super hot day 96 degrees. Yikes that's too hot! We took advantage of weather without moisture and did some maintance. Worked on the A.C. Unit. I had to help Jeff cause his hands are to big. Got the cover off the unit but to get it back on that was his problem, so thats were I came in my hands could fit down in there to start the screws. We got everything done on it that was needed. It took longer than we thought of course. 

Had a bit of a scare with our little wiener dog, she woke us up at 5:30 one morning which doesn't sound that bad but she never wants to get up. I have to drag her out of bed every morning and then she goes right back to sleep. She wouldn't lay down at all and her little tummy was rumbling like crazy. I took her out and I think it was cause she ate a bunch of grass and had a belly ache. She felt better and so did I.

The weather changed again, got cooler so it was perfect to sit outside and quilt, bonus I was serenaded by turkeys...one even ran by our campsite.

Had to make a day trip to Keokuk IA to attend a visitation. My best friends father in law passed away. Not good circumstances but nice to see my friend.

Saturday another family dinner I thinked they called it Seafood Saturday. Red Lobster a family favorite, and for dessert we got to take the grand kids home with us.  We kept very busy entertaining them. I had to paint sissys toes and watch her ride her new scooter. That was sure something to see. Ashton just wanted to ride his bike. 

We got to attend church the next day with them. Ashton went to Sunday school and loved it, Hailey was pretty shy so she set on my lap and fell asleep. We met Seth & Katie at the ice rink for some ice skating. Now that was something to see.....me on skates. I thought maybe after 20 years I could still skate but no, not gonna happen. I'm old and afraid to fall down that makes you a terrible skater. I made a batch of baked spaghetti for supper. We ate at Justin's it was delicious.

Had some bad storms come through, so we didn't sleep that well. So our day was spent resting up from lack of sleep and running around after kids. Very lucky with the storms, there were some terrible ones all around us, grateful for that.

With the holiday weekend approaching we decided to move a day early. When we went to hook up the rig couldn't get the hitch to lock. That's a big problem. Jeff took it apart and worked on it. Finally got it to work. Moved to Morgan Creek again. We were glad we moved early cause the park was filling up fast. We got a pretty good spot. Home for another 2 weeks.




Sunday, June 2, 2013

Grand Kids Here We Come!!!!!




Got stuff loaded and headed to Cedar Rapids around 10am. Both of us really excited to see the kids and grand kids. Definitely know these roads have taken this path many many times. When we arrived at Morgan Creek Park there were probably only 3 campers set up. The hosts hadn't even showed up yet. The water at the sites were just turned on but the dump station hasn't opened yet. The good news it's suppose to be a nice weekend. Not any problems really setting up, I was just in a hurry cause we had a very important meeting scheduled. We had set up to surprise the kids with picking them up at daycare.

So we made our way in town parked at Seth & Katie's and walked to the daycare. When we got there Mary had Ashton and Hailey come out. Ashton ran to us with hugs and kisses, he is such a loving boy. Sissy was a bit surprised she came to me but she noticed Papa had a beef (Beaird) she told him right away that she didn't like it and told him to shave it off. We gathered them up and walked to there house. It was fun giving them the little things we brought back from our travels. Ashton was especially happy with the alligator head.

 It was a big night for Ashton cause he was starting hockey tonight so we got to go and watch. So we drove over with our son Seth and our other son Justin showed up to watch. So nice to see my boys we really missed them too. After we headed to Justin's house for pizza. So nice to be around the family again.


The next day we hung around the campground and Jeff got his work done on the computer. I quilted and we both went to grocery shop.

On Friday we decided to go to a movie "42" really good. Then we met up with the family at Pancheros for supper. Went to Justin's to watch a movie but just visited instead.

Saturday morning I made homemade cinnamon rolls took them to Seth's. Katie and I went to get paint for there house. I'm gonna do some painting for them. Jeff and Seth went to get some hockey pads for Ashton. We came back to the campground with an extra body. Hailey is staying over night. We had supper, painted her toenails like Grammys and had a campfire with marshmallows. I don't think she liked the marshmallows they were sticky she said.

Had Mickey Mouse pancakes for breakfast. Then Jeff went to hit golf balls with Justin. I had to bake some cupcakes for a family fish fry tonight . Jeff went skating with Seth & Ashton. We had a wonderful dinner at Seth & Katie's. We even had an Easter egg hunt since we were gone then, the kids loved that.


The start of next week, I started painting Seth's basement and hallway. The weather turned cooler, actually cold. Then on Friday we had to be the daycare for the day. Ashton went to school, so it was us with Sissy. It was cold and rainy so I decided to start on painting there bedroom. Sissy was good all day and a joy to be around. Than we went to Riverside Casino to hear an Eagles tribute band. They were excellent.


Another weekend with lots to do. Went to Coralville with the kids and then they came home for supper. Hailey went home Ashton stayed over. So needless to say we had a busy evening . Jeff & I were tired from our late night on Friday so I asked Ashton if he was tired he said Nope not one bit....yikes!

After breakfast on Sunday Jeff  & Ashton were outside playing trackball and with the new bug assalt gun. Ashton thought the gun was the funniest thing ever. KT came and got me and we went to the farmers  market. I got cupcakes, so good. For supper to Justin's. I think they missed us. A new week and its a bit warmer that's nice. We worked on some cleaning cause we had a tree at this spot that keeps dropping sticky stuff kinda messy. We are getting ready to move across town on Wednesday. We did talk to some full time RVers who has a Blog that Jeff has been following. Looking forward to getting to visit with them some more.