Mothers Day Week

Well the end of the week was rainy,windy and way below normal temps. So for me it means keeping busy inside. I did some quilting and baking. The day before Mother's Day was really pretty and you could tell with all the people at the campground. Everyone was out and enjoying the great outdoors. Kids biking, people fishing and boating, it nice to see families enjoying this nice park.


We had planned to have a Mother's Day get together at Justin's place. Guess what it's raining on Mother's Day. We brought back fish, shark, and a couple lobster tails. That's what we are cooking. Both my boys were there and my daughter in law. We were joined by Katie's mom and sister. The food was great, we tried some new things... And enjoyed some of our favorite things as well. The weather was lousy that's for sure.

We left to come back home with our grand daughter, her mom has to travel for work so we are her daycare for the next 4 days. The weather was still really cool with rain. We kept ourselves busy inside with movies and watching the birds. We have a couple hummingbird feeders, one is on our window. We also have a couple other feeders. What I learned is that orioles like hummingbird nectar. They would land on the feeder at the window drink and then peck on the window so you would look at them. With all the yucky weather I also finished my quilt I've been working on. Thursday the day we took Hailey back home it rained most of the day. Our power kept going out so Jeff would have to go reset the breaker. It's pretty annoying. It quit for awhile but it went off at 3a.m. When the power goes out the refrigerator beeps. Again out to reset. It went off a couple more times. We called the park manager and she had an electrician come take a look. Kinda annoying but I'm sure we'll get it taken care of. I'm hoping that this weather will change... I'm ready for some sunshine and warmer temps....bring it on...

May is here.....

Thursday May 1, Rain,rain,rain , I'm beginning to think this spring thing is never gonna happen. Not only with the rain but the cooler than normal temperatures. On the other hand I'm getting lots of quilting done. Jeff had to go fill up our propane tank, we've been using it to heat the rig. It's been so cold the heat pump doesn't cut it. I think we've become babies with the cold weather. On a good note Jeff brought me home a plant for May Day.

Friday May 2, Ok I think I see sunshine.....:) I definitely made good use of the good weather and went for a walk. It's just nice to have some sunshine, changes your outlook on everything. With the nice weather we had some ambition to get some things done. I did laundry and Jeff got started on his long list of things to do. He did some cleaning of the vents and tightening down of the air conditioners. When you travel it's amazing how everything gets shaken loose. Had a few campers last night so went to clean the shower house. Just getting a routine started on our duties here. The good thing is we also have help keeping the shower house clean. I went back up to check on them and noticed it had been cleaned again. Good to know we have help when it gets busy. Well we've figured out that Friday evening is a busy night. We watch all the campers pull in and set up. We had someone pull into our site...our grand kids are staying tonight so there parents can go out to celebrate there anniversary. We had a nice dinner and a good evening together.

Saturday May 3, Sunshine again!!! I'm loving this. We all enjoyed a big breakfast. It was nice enough that we could go outside and enjoy it. The guys went a for a walk in the woods, us girls went to the playground and found some dandelions. Headed into town to meet up with everyone for lunch at Red Lobster. I went with my son to get frames for his house. We watched the Kentucky derby and then headed back home. It sure seems quiet after those kids leave....extra quiet.

Sunday May 4, Well, we watch them pull in on Friday now we watch them pull out on Sunday. Went back in to help Justin hang all those frames we got yesterday. Then over to Seth's to watch the Blackhawks win!!!! When we got back to the campground it was empty...only us.

Monday May 5,  Finally a really nice day. Went up to clean the shower house. We decided Mondays would be a good day to do extra cleaning. That's what we did, starting on the shower stalls. It's rewarding getting something done. With good weather I caught up on laundry. Then I noticed the washer was leaking. Had to pull it out and clean up that. Not sure what happened just have to watch it. I also got all the screens out and washed them. They really get dirty quick. What was really good about today... The birds were singing and it felt more like Spring.

Tuesday May 6,Today was a lazy day, sorta. That's what's so good about this life style, you can feel very ambitious and do lots or sit in a chair and read the day away. Nobody gonna care.....The weather was pretty good but very windy. Went for a walk and then pulled out my clippers. First Jeff's haircut then Belles.... Different clippers of course. I did cut Belles ear a bit, I'm blaming it on the wind. Jeff also emailed some fulltime rv friends, wanted to get together and hear about there winter. That's always fun to hear about others adventures. That's one reason we are doing this. Jeff follows lots of blogs and learns many things. So many tips and lessons to learn. My feeders are starting to get some visitors, I spotted some finches today.

Wednesday May 7, It was really nice today it was in the 80's, felt good with the warmer temps and sunshine. Did a little extra cleaning in the shower house. We went into town and ran some errands. Jeff had some things he needed to get to start the maintenance on the rig. With the warm weather I felt springy, so I bought a pretty red geranium, got home and replanted it. Starting to look a little homey here. It was warm enough to give the dogs a bath, neither dog cares for them but sitting in the sun after they enjoy that. It's Wednesday so we went in to watch Ashton's hockey practice.  I think I'm gonna do some changing with my posts. Since we won't be traveling about and most if our adventures will be with family I'm gonna just do a weekly overview.. This is new to me so I'm trying to post some things for me but want to keep it somewhat interesting to others.

Pleasant Creek State Park/Palo,Iowa

April 22, Big moving day, we are heading to our new home for the next 5 months. We lucked out with the weather, it was really pretty. We didn't leave early, no reason to its just about 15 miles. When we arrived we knew where to go and what we needed to do. We are located in the first campground loop. Our site number is 27. All the sites in our loop are pull thrus, but all the sites are 30 amp. That will be the hard part. We've survived 30 amps many times before. Just have to be careful when we turn on things. Since we are hosts we have a water hookup and sewer. The second loop has 50 amp service. Still no water or sewer hookups. Our site is the campground host spot but our sign hasn't been put up yet. Guess we aren't on duty yet. Carl stopped by to welcome us, he is the park ranger. Next we were welcomed by Joan the park manager. It's very pretty out here and our site is located right across from the lake. The feel of all those that work here is super friendly. Really excited about our new position. We had one more visitor, our son Justin brought out his puppy Barkley, he's a miniature dachshund. He's staying with us a couple days while both our boys go to Chicago to watch the Blackhawks.

Wednesday April 23, Oh my gosh.... Note to self, 3 dogs in 1 bed= no sleep. Our dogs are fine in bed but throwing that 3rd one in there was horrible. I couldn't even get him to lay down til after 2. Then he just wouldn't sleep, it was a long night. The weather today cloudy and rainy so I stayed in and quilted. The dogs are starting to get used to each other again. It was a long day with the weather, but it was good for me to get rested up. Watched tv and waited for updates from the boys about the hockey game....they got a lot of excitement for there money and a victory for the Blackhawks.

Thursday April 24, Again today it's very rainy and chilly. Welcome to Iowa spring.

Jeff went to town to get a different wifi hotspot. We had sprint and it just wasn't working. Now we have Verizon and it's way better. My phone is still sprint and it's not working all that great but with a booster I can work with it until our contract is up. The phone parts ok but anything with internet is so slow and sometimes impossible. While Jeff was in town our daughter in law called to say Hailey needs to get picked up from the daycare early. I called Jeff and he went to get her and take her to there house cause Seth was on the way home. I stayed at the rig with 3 dogs. Did have a bit of excitement....had a bird fly into our back window. He hit hard and then feathers were flying everywhere. Never found the bird but lots of feathers. When Jeff came home he had an extra passenger. Looks like we will have a overnight guest, princess Hailey. Justin came and got his puppy, so 1 dog gone but one princess added. We had to play inside cause of the weather. Found out that Sissy is pretty good at playing memory. We didn't use the whole game but she had a great time as long as she won.

Friday April 25, We got a nice day. One thing about it here, there's lots of wind.Hailey wanted pancakes for breakfast, hello kitty pancakes. Joan called us to set up a time to show us what to do at the shower house. It doesn't seem too bad, I think we can handle it. We got the dogs and walked up to the playground. Spent a lot  of the day outside cause it was so nice. We headed into town to watch the Blackhawks, they won in overtime.

Saturday April 26, It was the first day of our job. We headed up to the shower house to get started. It's not gonna be that bad. We just need to get a routine started. We headed into town, Seth & Katie was cooking out on the grill. I made potato salad. It was another nice day and we played outside with the kids. Went to cold stone for ice cream.  It was yummy but kinda cashy. We came home and spent the night at home, watching TV.

Sunday April 27, Happy Birthday Judy (my best friend). Jeff woke up and didn't feel good. It's suppose to be stormy today. We were suppose to go to Justin's house and watch the  Blackhawks. Since the weather is really suppose to be bad and Jeff's not feeling well we decided to stay home. At the last minute Jeff felt better so we grabbed the dogs and headed in. The weatherman was right and the sirens went off, we were in Justin's basement watching the Blackhawks win the series!! The game was over and the storm looked as though it passed. We headed back, both Carl and Joan called to check on us. We didn't know what to expect, there was a tree that was blown down. Our camper was safe. We went in and it started raining again.  Then our power went off. Jeff went outside to check things out, he couldn't get the 30 amp plug to work. So we used the 20 amp plug and really watched it really close. 

Monday April 28, Rainy again. We are still running with 20 amps. Went to the shower house and did our job. Then we headed to the camper store to get a new plug. The one we had is damaged and can't be used. When the power went out there must have been a surge or something. It was cold and rainy all day do we spent a lot of time inside. I did finish quilting all the rows on my quilt now I just have to quilt the borders.

Tuesday April 29, Rain,rain,rain.....Carl the park ranger came and checked out our electric box, it's melted and needs to be replaced. He worked on that, it was just sprinkling then. We had to have the power off so it got down to 58 inside....brrrr. After it was fixed it took awhile to warm up. Stayed inside most of the day. Where's spring?

Wednesday April 30, Another rainy day, seriously this is crazy....I'm definitely tired of this rainy gloomy weather. Went to town had pizza before watching Ashton's hockey practice. Maybe May will be a little more like spring? We can hope.

Grand Kids Here We Come/Cedar Rapids,IA

Friday April 18, Woke up to a beautiful day. Both Jeff and I were ready to get to Cedar Rapids, the good weather was a bonus. We left around 9:30 and didn't have any issues. We stayed at Morgan Creek, it's a county park in Cedar Rapids. We had some coupons from last year and it's real close to ours kids. We wasn't for sure if the water was on but when we drove in we saw the hoses hooked up so we were in luck. There were a few campers but lots of sites to chose from. We pulled into site #16 which was a pull through. We set up what we had to, grabbed a quick bite and then headed into our oldest sons house. His wife and daughter were at home today. It was good to see the family and wonderful to get hugs and kisses from the kids. School got out early and our grandson came home from school, which is literally right behind there house. He jumped the fence and into my arms....great hugs!!! Our son Seth got home from work and I even got a hug from him. We decided to meet up at the ice rink to watch Ashton and Seth do stick time. Before heading to the rink stopped by our younger sons, Justin's house. He had a few things for me to sew up...( he's training a puppy still ). After watching them skate went to Seth's for a quick dinner. Ashton came home with us. We played some Yahtzee and headed to bed....what a full wonderful day.

Saturday April 19, Ashton ordered waffles for breakfast. I made cupcakes because I promised Hailey we could frost and decorate some. Headed back to Seth's, all of us were going to lunch. It was a new place for us, Emil's Hideaway. Every body's lunch was really good and the prices were good too. Back to frost cupcakes. Went to Justin's to watch the Chicago Blackhawks play. They've started the playoffs and they're playing St Louis Blues. It was a very good game but ended with the wrong results. Back to Seth & Katies to have our Easter egg hunt. That's always a good time. I give each kid a colored bucket with all the same colored eggs. It works well cause everyone gets to find there own eggs. Ashton has a green bucket, green eggs. Hailey our princess has a pink bucket, pink eggs. It was a fun time for sure. When we left to go home we had a couple extra passengers. So the rest of our night was busy, fun but busy.

Sunday April 20, Happy Easter!!!! 2 little blessings to start our day, Ashton & Hailey!!  We had Easter baskets for the kids with a few surprises in them. We hid them outside and watched them hunt for them. They left early cause they had to go to there Nanas for lunch. We went to lunch with our other son, Justin. Went to The Road House, it was really good this time. Justin had things to do and we wanted to go to a movie. Went and saw Heaven is for Real. I had read the book, the movie was good but the book was better. The popcorn on the other hand was great. Since we had the kids this morning we decided to watch a church service online from a church we love in Florida, it was even live. Oh boy what a full weekend....we went home and rested up.

Monday April 21, this morning was definitely quieter. It's sprinkling out and suppose to rain on and off most of the day. Originally we planned on moving today, but with the weather, we are going to stay another day. The campground host arrived today and I went up to visit with her awhile. Went into town to fill up the truck and get a few groceries. Funny thing we ran into Joan, the park ranger at Pleasant Creek State Park. That's were we are heading next, also where we will be camp hosts. After supper went to Justin's to watch the Blackhawks play and WIN !!!