Stormy Weather

Started off the week alright but Monday evening spent a lot of time in the shower house... We've had some serious storms, warnings and rain. The rivers are full and people are thinking about previous years. It seems like we are always watching the weather cause if we aren't getting a storm they aren't far away from here. Keeping us on our toes. You really need to be aware of the weather when living in a RV.

Friday June 20, My best friend came up for the weekend. She's never been to this park. Most of the time we just sat and visited. The weather was really good for us. Saturday morning we headed into town to try our luck at the farmers market. It was super busy again. We found some good things to purchase. Some of the stuff we included in our dinner plans.....(Apple pie) for dessert. Well our dinner plans changed cause we went back into town and met Justin & Molly for a late lunch...so just had popcorn for supper along with a movie ( Castaway). Since we didn't have supper and had it mostly ready we  had a big lunch on Sunday before Judy headed home. Went into see the grand kids cause Hailey kinda likes Judy. The weather started looking bad so  we got Judy on the road. She did run into some rain but made it home to Keokuk before the big storm hit.

Monday the gloomy weather continued so I stayed in and did some cleaning. I have started a quilt for my grandsons birthday, I got the top put together but to put the back and batting together I needed a bigger space. It dried up enough outside that I used our outside rug. I got that all pinned together and ready to start quilting.

Wednesday June 25, it was Ashton's last hockey practice so we made it  a point to go. He did great! Celebrated with pizza at Godfathers after practice.

Thursday June 26, the park is full for the weekend. We had plans to go to the BBQ roundup. It's happening downtown at the new amphitheater. They had lots of different vendors to choose from. Jeff was partial to the fresh peach bread pudding, I had a pulled pork sandwich, it was good. Then I spotted these spiral potatoes that looked delicious....I got some of them. Then we stayed and listened to some music. The weather held off... No rain.:)

Friday and Saturday it rained, felt bad for all the campers here. On Sunday I tried a couple new recipes...pulled pork and cheesy potatoes. I got the recipes off of Pinterest....love Pinterest!! Our pork called for coke and liquid smoke, the best pulled pork I've ever made. Gonna use that recipe again for sure.

Monday June 30, Started off hot and humid...we had lots of rain last night. I heard on the weather news that Cedar Rapids had 13.69 inches of rain this June, that broke a record from 1969 of 11.25...we have had so much rain. It's expected to rain again today.. We watched the weather and a big storms heading our way. We ended up heading into Seth's cause he was at home watching his basement.(flooding) the storm rolled thru about 3:00. It was a big one. They didn't get any damage, but other areas of Cedar Rapids did. Lots of people without power. We decided to head back home and see how the park looked. We drive thru the town of Palo, oh my my I bet there was a tree down in every yard. It was a mess. Drove up to the park and everything looked fine...yeah! We didn't have any power though. When the power goes out here you don't have water. The use a well and need a pump to pump it.  Back into town we went. The power came on at 1:34a.m. We considered ourselves very lucky. Some of the folks in Palo didn't have power for a couple days. 

The park filled up by Monday for the holiday weekend. The campers were here but no people in them yet. We had a visitor on Wednesday, Hailey came back with us and spent the night. The best thing about being close to the kids. When I took Hailey back home we spent Thursday afternoon at the Cherry Hill Pool. It was a beauty of a day. It's cooler than normal and no humidity today. 

Friday the 4th of July....you couldn't have asked for better weather, low 80's and no humidity. Jeff & I took the kayaks down to the lake. We claimed a picnic table and waited for the family to show up. Seth, Katie & the kids took the boats out. We had some chairs and we just enjoyed the day. They went over to the beach for awhile, but the dogs aren't allowed so I stayed with them. Justin & Molly came out as well. They stuck around for a late lunch before heading out. We didn't head in to watch the fireworks. We watched them on TV. Saturday it rained most of the day, I guess we are paying for that beautiful 4th. 

To finish off our holiday weekend we drove to Keokuk. We stopped by and got the grand kids. My nephew Todd and his wife Jen, and son JT came to visit. We met them for breakfast and visited. It seems a pool party was in the plans. Went to my nieces house and the rest of the family came. The kids had a great time. The cousins took off with Hailey, Ashton played with the boy cousins. When the big kids got in the water they tossed the kids in the air to do flips. The kids didn't want to leave that's for sure. The good news was both were extremely tired and slept most of the ride home. We got back just in time for a severe thunder storm warning. We stayed a bit at Seth's til the weather passed. Boy what a busy weekend...sure had lots of fun.

Bring on Summer

Saturday June 7th was the opening of Cedar Rapids farmers market. It happens right in the downtown area and it's huge. You can find just about anything there. They offer produce, flowers, spices, meats, wines, crafts and every kind of eats a foodie would want. Jeff likes to get his honey there, also elk meat sticks and his favorite spice Jonesyz. It was unbelievably packed there. So crowded we pretty much got we wanted and escaped. Went with our daughter in law and the grand kids. As we were leaving there was a guy up on some steps making these huge bubbles. We called him the bubble man. The kids loved chasing down the bubbles and popping them. We let them play at that then left. They definitely offer something for everyone.

We finished this day out with a trip to Iowa City to see Steve Earle and the Dukes.  It was a little iffy cause we had a storm roll thru and wasn't sure if it was still on because it was outside. We decided to go, the concert happened but some of the equipment had gotten wet so they had to make a change. To our surprise Steve Earle came out and played solo....no Dukes. It was a really good show and the only drawback was driving home in the dark...we made it safe so it was a good day.

Sunday June 8th was family fun day. Both boys came out, but at different meals. For lunch Seth, Katie & the kids came out. We played outside with a huge glider and ate a yummy lunch. Then for supper Justin came out with his friend Molly. We enjoyed another good meal. We got to see both boys, maybe next time we can get them together for one meal.

We are still pretty empty during the week so our duties are light. I started a new quilt, got it cut out and laid out.... I love it already. I worked on that a lot this week, I got it all sewed together but put it away for quilting at a later date. Jeff has been working on maintenance of the camper. He drained and cleaned the water tanks, also worked on lubricating the slide seals .

Thursday June 12, was the last day of school (they had lots if snow days this year) We went and got Ashton to spend the night. On our way back stopped at Morgan Creek county park and saw that John & Janie are camping there. We stopped and visited awhile before heading back. We had a celebration supper, celebrating schools out. We were busy the next day with fishing, biking and even a little time at the beach. Always a good time with Ashton. Just having him around makes for a fun day.

Friday June 13, We took Ashton home and headed to downtown Cedar Rapids for another uptown Friday night. This one was a bit more special cause our son Justin was playing at 5 p.m. There band Well Strung sounded really good and I'm not just saying that because I'm partial...they were great! After Jeff and I walked to a restaurant for supper. It was White Star, my meal was really good, Jeff's pick wasn't as wonderful. He'll be ordering what I had next time. I ordered crunchy chicken with cheesy potatoes... On my so yummy. 

Saturday June 14th we had plans for dinner at Seth & Katie's. I made stuff to take, we dropped it off and went to a movie." That Fault With Our Stars"...it was really good but a tear jerker. After headed over for supper, the guys watched the fights. The girls worked on some decorations for an upcoming wedding.

Sunday June 15, Happy Fathers Day...the boys & kids were going to Air E -Fex trampoline park. We watched them have a wonderful time. Justin had us over for breakfast but somehow I ended up behind the stove. It's really nice to be close to the family, we get to join in on all of this fun actives.