Almost Fall

Tuesday September 2, Today we cleaned up around our campsite. Tomorrow we will be pulling our home to Ketlesons to get our wheel bearing repacked. It just makes it real that we will be packing up and hitting the road soon. Thats a completely different kind of a routine. I think I'm ready, I love being here to see the kids and be a part of there lives but it's hard to stay put for so long. Now I will have to get my check list out to make sure there aren't any silly mistakes before taking off.

Wednesday Sept 3, We got started early because our appointment is at 8:30. We unhooked the water and sewer lines. We hooked up on the first try and headed out. We made it to Ketlesons with only one glitch.... one of the tire sensor alarms went off. This was the first time we actually rode on our new tires. Jeff found a spot to pull over and check it out. It was a false alarm so that was good. We decided to just wait there while the work was being done, it took a little longer then they told us but the quoted price was the same. After pulling out of there we went to a truck scale to weigh the rig. Jeff wanted to get an accurate rear axle weight and the pin weight. Then we headed back to the campground and set back up. It went pretty smooth.

Friday September 5, A special day indeed, It's our grandson 9th birthday so I had to sing to him. It was a rainy day most of the day. Our son Justin had his wisdom teeth out today....that is not fun. He's probably gonna be sore for awhile.

Saturday September 6, We went into town to mail off our old wooden refrigerator panels, Jeff sold them on eBay. We didn't plan on using them again and our kids weren't thrilled about storing  them either. It worked out well all the way around. We stayed and watched the Iowa Hawkeyes play but left at halftime cause it was painful to watch. The good news is they came alive in the last four minutes of the game and won. We brought Hailey home with us to spend the night. So our Saturday night was action packed. 

Sunday September 7, We met Katie & Ashton at Bloomsbury Farm. We had promised Ashton we would take him on the zip line. When we arrived we were the only ones there, we did some exploring and feeding of the goats, llamas and mules. Needless to say that was great fun. Hailey wasn't big enough to zip line so first Jeff and Ashton went. Ashton got a little scared but loved it after the first initial leap. Then it was Katie and my turn... It was a blast. The kids played around on all they had to offer. It was a great way to spend grandparents day....

Monday Sept. 8, It was a nice day and a busy day for me. It's a big cleaning day for me, the shower house and after that I usually continue with the cleaning here at home. I also did the laundry, gave Belle (our schnauzer) a haircut, and helped Jeff install a light on the ceiling fan. My day ended on a sad note, a friend of mine was diagnosed with breast cancer. It looks like they caught it early so that's a plus.

Tuesday Sept 9, It rained a lot last night and it looks like rain is in the forecast for the next few days. We decided to take in a movie,"When The Game Stands Tall", I liked it, Jeff thought it was a bit slow. They have a special on Tuesdays here, $2.00 drinks and popcorn, now that's a deal at the theater. 

Wednesday Sept 10, We both woke up not feeling good, we have sore throats, probably a cold coming on....yuck. We stayed in and didn't do much, Jeff made some yummy turkey and rice soup that tasted really good.

Thursday Sept 11, We hung around home most of the day. We had plans to go watch the Roughriders scrimmage tonight at the ice rink. We met Seth and the kids. First stopped at Justin's to help get his plane tickets bought to come to the Keys this winter for a visit. Then we all watched the game, the Roughriders didn't look to good. They lost. It was still fun to watch.

Friday Sept 12, Still didn't feel to good so hung around here. We had plenty of entertainment though cause the hummingbirds are just going crazy . I'm having to fill the feeders twice a day. We have counted up to 7 or 8 at the window feeder at a time. There's only 2 places to drink from. So it's a battlefield out there. Jeff has been bragging about his meatloaf to Justin and Molly so they came out tonight for supper. They enjoyed the dinner but didn't stay long.

Saturday Sept 13, We still both didn't feel that good, we didn't do much of anything but watch a TV. We couldn't get the Hawkeyes game so I just waited for updates from the kids... We lost. It's really cool outside, way below normal temps.

Sunday Sept 14, I couldn't stay in again today so I took the truck and went to town for some retail therapy. I must be loosing my touch cause I don't seem to get the same joy out of that. When I got back I think Jeff was ready to get out so we went in to see the kids, we hadn't seen them for awhile because we didn't want to give them our colds. Then Justin invited us over for supper so if course we said yes. Who passes up a free dinner?  As we pulled into the park we noticed they had the new sign up....finally. It looks really good, we both had the same thought... Put the sign up just about the time it time to close shop. Oh well it sure looks nice.

Summers winding down.....

Monday August 18, My best friend Judy received a call from her mothers assisted living saying she fell. We packed up Judy to get her on the road..disappointed she had to leave early, but happy her mom was ok. My son Seth nominated us for the ice bucket challenge for ALS, so we knew we wouldn't wimp out on a challenge. We did the challenge and donated online. Jeff went to movie " The Giver" while I ran some errands.

Tuesday & Wednesday it was gloomy and cloudy.....perfect weather to quilt , I finished Ashton's birthday gift which was a big load off my mind. I did have a week to spare. Jeff got in touch with Janie & John trying to get together once more before they take off back on the road. Set up to meet them tomorrow.

Thursday, There is hardly anybody at the campground, so makes for a quiet week. We headed into town to meet our friends for dinner at White Star. They enjoyed happy hour and had dinner. I had crispy chicken with the cheesy potatoes. I loved it, I had that before and couldn't wait to enjoy it again. After we finished eating we decided to move our party to another spot. We walked to a bar called Rocks. Since the flood this city has really worked on the downtown area. It's really nice now. For Thursday night the place was hopping. One of the draws is the mechanical bull. We didn't partake but there were plenty who did....Ones that had been partying harder and longer then us. It was really fun. We said our goodbyes and wished them happy trails.

Our weekend consisted of grocery shopping, a trip to Lowes and Hobby Lobby. Jeff has been helping our younger son work on his basement. So some of that shopping was to help him get everything he needed. The weather for the weekend went from smoking hot to humid and rain. We went back to church Sunday at the Cedar Rapids Family church, we like the church and the welcoming feel they show. 

Monday we were surprised to get a call from Ashton, this is his last day of summer vacation. Seth took the day off to spend the day with him. They invited us to go to a movie, so guess what, we went to a movie..."Into the Storm". It was pretty good,I knew there was a good reason I don't like storms.

Tuesday August 26, Woke up to the camper shaking because of the wind. Jeff had already looked at the radar, he told me we have weather coming. I grabbed my stuff and my dog and headed to the shower house. It looked really bad, we got lucky though mostly just rain and some wind. After seeing that movie yesterday I wasn't taking any chances.

 

We went to town to have our eye appointments. We made them with a new eye Doctor.  He's from our hometown Keokuk Iowa, and went to school with our boys. He did an excellent job and we will definitely go back. Well that's one more thing off our to do list.

Wednesday Jeff got a call that our new 17.5 wheels and tires are here. He ordered them a couple of days ago from Trailer Tire and Wheel and had them shipped to the Fed Ex Distribution center in Urbana.  It saved us some money on shipping. It was only about 10 miles away and so easy to pick up. They even used there forklift to put in the back of our truck. Another  job I did today was defrost the freezer. It had gotten really frosted up. The ice maker wasn't making ice it was so bad. I got it all defrosted and the ice maker worked, so happy about that. Then we put on our new tires. I was really surprised that it went so smooth, no issues. Another task crossed off the list.

Thursday August 28, It was a rainy day and I was kinda bored so I decided to cut my hair. I've done this before but I couldn't remember which comb to use, well I grabbed the wrong one so needless to say its shorter than normal... Good news is it will grow back...

Jeff decided he wants to do a bit more remodeling. Wants to add a light to the ceiling fan. Something that should be so easy right.... Well the wiring that's up there for the light isn't hooked up so it didn't work. Gonna have to do a bit of research before we can get that put up. It was so gloomy and cool that Jeff decided to make some homemade chicken noodle soup. It was yummy, I guess I'm ready for some cooler temps for a bit. 

Friday, it's suppose to be clear today til after supper so I thought I better get the laundry done. We don't have a dryer on board so it all depends on the weather. Also it was Jeff's turn for a haircut, so I took care of that. We purchased a new rug for outside, our other one was just falling apart. We put it down, love it it's super big. My last task to do today was to get my grandsons birthday cake made and put in the freezer for frosting later. I make there cakes every year and I always put a lot if pressure on myself but in the end it always turns out.

Saturday August 30......It's opening day for the Iowa Hawkeyes. Kick off was at 11:01. We were invited to Seth & Katie's for breakfast. I made some homemade cinnamon rolls to take..we enjoyed breakfast burritos and some had bloody Mary's. They say Katie makes really good ones. The Hawkeyes won, closer than we thought but a win. While I was over there and had help, we put up the pictures and shelves in Ashton's room. It's part of his birthday present. I painted one wall and got some Blackhawk pics to put up. It looks good. We headed home to see how everything was going at the campground. It is a holiday weekend, but with that being said it sure is a quiet bunch.....that's great.

Sunday August 31, I made cupcakes today for the party tomorrow. It's a really nice day so Katie and the kids came out. Us girls went to the beach. Jeff & Ashton put together a new balsa wood plane. They didn't get to fly it much cause it was so windy. Glad that we got one more beach day in.

Monday Labor Day...and that means one thing PARTY!  Ashton was born on Labor Day so it's not technically his birthday but usually have his party on this day. The first thing to do was get his cake frosted. He wanted a Stanley Cup Cake this year do that's what I did. After that was finished I frosted those cupcakes too. The party started at 1, so we headed over around 12:30. It was a wonderful day weather wise. Everyone had a great time. He got lots of great gifts and the cake was good. A good time was had by all. Came back home and relaxed, the park had cleared out and party & cake number one done. I can relax til October and Haileys cake and party.