May Showers and Cool Weather

Monday May 11-Well we are getting settled in here. Starting to get a schedule established. We aren't required to do a lot around here but we do have some responsibilities. We are in charge of the shower house so we clean it and keep it clean. We also answer questions, those we know the answers for. It has been below normal temps. So its cold. I'm a baby with this cold weather. Its also been raining a lot....yuck. We are still trying to get caught up with doctoring stuff. Us and the dogs. Soffee has had issues that she cant seem to get rid of so we have been worried about her. She is 14 so that's a factor as well. I've been trying to get in to see a doctor about my ears, the right one is stuffed up. Driving me nuts, trying to get in to a new doctor is like winning the lottery. I went to a urgent care place but don't go there if you have an emergency...they tell you to call 911 if you have an emergency. I think they need to change the name to a walk in clinic. I tried another place that said they were excepting new patients but when I called and they found out I was only going to be here for 6 months they said they couldn't except me. I guess they don't want any part time patients.

Tuesday May 12-Today We had to make a trip to get some surgery on my face. I had some skin cancer removed. We love our dermatologist. He does great work. The surgery was a success and we stopped for lunch on the way back home. Jeff is still working on changes to his diet. Its been hard because of all the stuff they add to our food...its really crazy when you start reading the labels.

Wednesday May 13- We worked on the new steps we put on....had an issue with a brace that was bent so we had to fix that. The medicine they gave me for my ears seems to be helping. I also have been working on a t-shirt quilt for my niece in California, she's a runner and sent me lots of t-shirts for that. I sent off a scrapbook I made for a friend of mine who has twins. Went to town, had to pick up Hailey, she's staying the night. Went by Justin's to pick up some packages that came for us. I got my new hummingbird feeders. I added the vivofit app while I was at my sons house.....free internet. Now I can sync it to my phone and get all my information. I really like it, I have to admit it keeps you aware of how much you move or don't move.


Thursday May 14-Its a rainy day. We stayed in and played memory, old maid and watched movies.
Good thing Sissy was here today to make the day a lot more fun. That's a bonus we enjoy, close to family. We went back in to town making a few stops before heading to Ashton's hockey practice...another bonus. While we are here we want to enjoy the activities that the kids are in.

Friday May 15-We saw some sunshine today...that was good. Stayed here at the campground today. We watched the campground fill up. Worked on the blog a bit. I got a nice walk in and got to enjoy the sunshine. Suppose to get rain tonight.


Saturday May 16-Jeff and I went to town and went to a movie. There is a really nice movie theater in the area that we love. Its clean has great prices and real butter for there popcorn. The movie was Woman In Gold. The movie was really good too. We stopped at Menards to look at backsplash..we want to change ours. I got a really pretty red petunia, I'm not very good at growing plants but going to try it again.


Sunday May 17-Really weird weather today. First it was nice with some sun then when we came out of church...it really windy and cold. We tried a new church again...can't seem to find one that fits us...but we aren't giving up. Well its hockey playoff time again. We went in to Justin's house to watch the Blackhawks play. They got beat by the Ducks. I noticed my phone was acting funny. It kept saying my phone was full with no storage left. I deleted some things and still no space. I ended up calling Verizon and they passed me off to Apple. I had myself all in a dither but I had an awesome guy on the other end of the phone. George helped me through it all. I ended up having to clear my phone off. It was very traumatic for me but I did it. It took a couple hours but I did it. I will have to put back all my apps and stuff but its going to be ok.

Monday May 18-Well another cold front came through last night and its going  be here awhile...where has Spring gone? Today we had to make another trip to Burlington Iowa to get my stiches out.....It looks pretty good. Whats going to be really good is I can go without  the bandages  on my face. It's really hard having that so close to your eye. My glasses wouldn't fit right so I had headaches. Needless to say that makes me happy. Stopped and got lunch before heading home. I tried to walk but it was  so windy it make it really hard. I did get started on putting that t-shirt quilt together. I also tried to call the doctor about my ears. I ran out of medicine and then my ears did the same thing. I'm trying to get more medicine without going back. I hope they call back.

Tuesday May 19-I ended up calling the doctor office again. This time they called back and told me they refilled my prescription.  Jeff cleaned out the truck. We ordered some seat covers, so after cleaning them we put hem on. Boy we should have done that long ago. They look really nice. We got a phone call from some friends, Janie and John called to see if we had any empty spots at the campground. They just went to another park and it was full. We did so they came out to stay awhile. We had to go in town to get my prescription. We also stopped at the healthy store. We found some really yummy sunflower cookies. They don't sound so good but believe me they are yummy. We went up to visit with Janie and John after they had time to set up. Always good to catch up with them.


Wednesday May 20- So cold it got down in the 40's brrrr .....it was a long long day. It rained most of the day. I even took my umbrella out to walk around the loop. I couldn't even make my 10,000 step a day goal. Just stayed in and worked on that quilt. A very long day.... I need sunshine!


Thursday May 21- It was still cool this morning but its suppose to get in the 70's today with sun. We decided to load up the kayaks and head to Lake McBride. We left around 9:30. It was still chilly but we had faith it would warm up. When we arrived it was still cool and the wind had picked up. Jeff assured me he could find a spot out of the wind.

It turned out to be a really nice day. We paddled all over that lake. We didn't catch any fish but it felt really good to be outside and soak up some sunshine. It did warm up and the wind died down too.
We paddled around about 3 hours. We came back home unloaded the boats and had a bite for supper. Its Thursday so we headed in for hockey.

Seth helps with Ashton's hockey practice. Here is Ashton trying to get the puck from his dad.



Friday May 22- It's a big day! It's also a beautiful day. I took advantage of the good weather and did the laundry. Also washed the windows on the truck, its so buggy that every time you drive your windshield is covered. Sat outside a bit to enjoy the sunshine. Tonight we are going to the first uptown Friday nights. It's at the amphitheater in Cedar Rapids. Justin and Jordan are opening up for the show tonight. We left early because we had errands to run. It starts at 5 and that's when they started playing. Janie and John were going to meet us there. We had the whole family there. After Justin got done playing he asked his girl Molly to marry him...he did it right up on stage in front of everyone.

Justin asked and Molly said yes... We are very excited. She was completely surprised. It was a great night. So happy that we could be here for this. After all the excitement we went for supper with Janie and John. Tammy joined us as well that is Molly's mom. We went to a restaurant we've never been to. I can safely say we won't be going back anytime soon. The service and the food .....not so good. It was a good thing we brought our own company because that saved the experience.


Saturday May 23- It's another really nice day. We decided to se if Janie and John wanted to join us for dinner. It's so convenient since they are staying at the park. Jeff decided to smoke some salmon. I made salad, some vegies and Janie brought bread. It was a real good dinner, way better than last night. After supper we went in to Seth's house to watch the Blackhawks. Boy this is some kind of an exciting series. They had a 3-1 lead and the Ducks scored 3 goals in 37 seconds. the Hawks tied it up and sent it into overtime. First overtime no score, so we decided to head home and on the way home they scored in the 2nd overtime to tie the series at 2-2. They sure know how to make a game exciting.

Sunday May 24-Well the rain has made its way back. We went to church and decided that we will find another one for next Sunday. Since the weather is yuck decided to make it a movie day. We got there early and it was a good idea. I guess everyone else had the same idea, about the movie. The theater was full and the movie was good. A funny thing happened while we were there. They run ads on the big screen. I looked up and I said that looks like Ashton...Jeff said that is Ashton, he was on the big screen holding a fishing pole. They must have took his picture in his summer camp last year. I didn't get a pic because it didn't come back up. It was a funny surprise. That boy pops up when you least expect it. Well hopefully the weather will continue to improve...bring on the sunshine....

May...Back to Work

Friday May 1- Well we officially took over our camp hosting positions today. Its going be a busy weekend. Our loop is full up. The good news, these campers are clean. Jeff and I were surprised it was so full so early. When we went up to clean the shower house we spotted a problem...the hot water heater is having issues. Jeff tried to take care of that but it ended up being more than he first thought. I rode my bike to fill up our supplies. We went into town because Seth and Katie are celebrating there anniversary. We watched the kids so they could do a movie and dinner. We brought the dogs with us and Soffee had a good time checking out there dog Noodles toys.

Saturday May 2- We have a big day today...Ashton has a track meet this morning. So after cleaning the shower house we headed to town to watch the meet. Ashton signed up for the long jump, the softball throw and the 800 meter. All of us were surprised with the choice of the run cause he doesn't usually run. He picked it cause he thought nobody else would.

 After the track meet we brought Ashton home with us to spend the night. We fixed lunch then Jeff and Ashton got busy putting together the rocket we got him for Christmas. They worked together putting the rocket and the launch pad together. They did a good job. Now if the wind will die down.






















Sunday May 3- Woke up to super windy weather so launching the rocket was out. Ashton didn't bring his bike so I let him use mine. Its a bit different from his bike but he did a good job. We loaded up a lot of stuff to take to town. We are having fish, shrimp and other goodies at Justin's house. We brought the shrimp and fish from the South. We fixed the shrimp on the grill and fried up some of the fish. It was good. The weather even stayed decent so we could get outside for the Easter egg hunt.






















We went outside and hid the kids eggs. They always like finding the golden egg, it has a $5.00 bill inside. Justin's yard adds a little bit of a challenge.

After all the excitement we headed back home, we are suppose to get some rainy weather tonight.


Monday May 4- We had a pretty good storm last night with rain, lightning, and even hail. I think we were the only ones in our loop. I started my Monday off by going to the shower house and really cleaning it good. Cleaned the place from floor to ceiling. I guess you could call it spring cleaning. We only have a couple campers here. It looked like the rain was going to hold off so I got my walk in. When I got back I worked on the blog. I also started a scrapbook for a friend that has a set of twins. The day was mostly cloudy and wet but I felt like I had a productive day. I even saw a hummingbird today. Maybe spring is showing up.

Tuesday May 5- Again the weather was rainy on and off most of the day. We stayed inside, I scrapped and Jeff worked on the computer. We have been trying to get busy on our too do list. Jeff has been collecting information about changing his diet. Its very confusing and aggravating.


Wednesday May 6- Another rainy day, this is getting old. We decided to head to town to do our grocery shopping. Besides getting groceries I picked up some bird seed. If  I'm going to be stuck inside at least I can watch the birds out there. We got home unloaded everything and filled up my feeders. We set out some extra chairs because we had company coming. Janie and John Dean just got back to the Cedar Rapids area. We were excited to get together and catch up. The weather was good at first but the rain came in and we moved our party inside. They follow a sugarless diet and Jeff picked there brains on some ideas. He is trying to customize his own diet plan.

Thursday May 7- Its another cloudy day. I stayed in and cleaned out closets, funny had things accumulate. We did a whole lot of nothing today. We went into town to watch Ashton's hockey. It's a new session and they play games instead of practicing. We also stopped to pick an order up from Advanced Auto. Now on to hockey......

After practice was over we headed to Justin's, Jeff getting another guitar lesson. We picked up a couple boxes from Amazon....When we are stuck inside what else can you do....shop online.


Friday May 8- We had made an appointment this morning for someone to come look at our air conditioner in the bedroom. It quit working while we were in Florida. They had looked at it last year before we left. Thought they had it fixed but nope. He said if this didn't fix it we would have to replace the relay switch and that's what they are going to have to do. The problem was our appointment was for the morning. Jeff had ordered some new steps to put on but he didn't want to get started on that with a repair man coming out so we held off. Well we still haven't seen anyone at 12:30 so we gave them a call to make sure we had wrote down the right day. Yep we did, they are running late. At 3:30 I was getting aggravated. I called this time and it seems someone had messed up. He assured me he would be here by 4:00. He was and confirmed the relay switch was the problem. They are going to order us one. Well it was too late to put the steps on, we'll save that for another day.  I have received a box of t-shirts from my niece in California. She wants me to make her a t-shirt quilt with all of her running shirts. Went in town to get supplies for that. Jeff wanted to stop at the new Pioneer co-op store. He found some goodies that he can eat.


Saturday May 9- Well today we started on the steps. Should be an easy fix.......famous last words. We got the old ones off and started to put on the new ones. Like always its not as easy as it should be. We got them on and went to pull them down the brace on top is bent and won't allow that to happen. So Jeff managed to move it enough to get them down. We had to leave it be for now. We will have to take them back off and fix that brace. We had plans to take the grandkids to the movie today. We picked them up and off we went. We watched the movie Monkey Kingdom...everyone liked it.



Sunday May 10-Happy Mothers Day to all those mothers out there. We decided to try a new church. Jeff looked it up online and found one in Iowa City. Its called Parkview. So away we went, the church was ok but not exactly what we are looking for. After church we stopped at the Coralville Mall. We did a little shopping. Jeff even found me a new fishing pole for mothers day. We had lunch at Panera, Jeff had a really good salad. We left and went to Seth and Katie's. They are fixing us an early supper for mothers day. We did have a little excitement when Hailey got on her bike...without the training wheels and with a push she took right off. She only liked going up the hill. When they tried going downhill, that she didn't like.





















After all that excitement we had dinner. Justin and Molly came over and the boys got me a Garmin Vivofit, an activity tracker. So now I'll have to get really active. It's going to monitor all my steps etc. It was a good Mothers day. To finish off the day we had an Orange Leaf. They had a special for mothers, ours was free. That frozen yogurt was a perfect end to a great day.

Finally Cedar Rapids

Thursday April 23- Both of us were up early....ready to see everyone. It was so cold out there we decided to slow down and take our time. I'm still trying to help Jeff out by doing those jobs I'm not used to doing. We don't want any stupid mistakes. It's hard for Jeff to sit and watch. He decided that he wanted to try driving so we had some spots picked out to change drivers if needed. We got on the road about 10:30 and it was a pretty day to drive. It was sunny and not a lot of wind. Jeff said it felt good to be driving again. When we arrived we set up on site number 18, not are usual camp host site but we will move into that one on the 29th. They are all pull thru anyway. Set up was minimal because we will move so soon.

After setting up and getting things arranged inside, we had some lunch and waited for 4:30 to come. We packed up and headed for ice rink to see Ashton's practice. It seemed to take awhile to get there. He was happy to see us but couldn't have been as happy as we were. It wasn't too long before Katie and Hailey showed up too. It was really nice to get all those hugs. We went up in the seats cause its not as cold up there. We aren't used to that. We talked with Hailey and watched Ashton skate. He really is getting good.






















Our second son Justin showed up and we got a hug from him too. After the practice was over we went to Seth and Katie's to give the kids there surprises. Ashton was especially excited about his hermit crabs. Said it was the best surprise ever. Sissy liked her stuff too. We stayed awhile and visited then we needed to get back before it got to dark. We went our usual way but the road was closed. They have a detour but its clear across town. That's gonna be a hassle this summer for sure.

Friday April 24- Both boys took the day off so we decided to meet for breakfast. We met at Perkins and had a nice breakfast. Hailey was there to entertain us. Then we went to Best Buy with Seth and Hailey. They headed home and Jeff and I went to the second hand book store. Got a bunch of good movies for $1.00 each. Then we went over to Justin's. We had to stop at Walmart before heading back. Jeff found a smoker so looks like we will be having some smoked meats. It still is pretty cold out so thought chili would be a good fix for supper. We ended up heading back in to see the kids, we promised Ashton we would see him on Friday after school. So we brought the chili for supper. It rained most of the day. After we got home Carl stopped by for a visit. He is the park ranger.






















Saturday April 25- It was a cold rainy day, we decided to stay in today. Justin has a show tonight and we planned on going so thought we would just rest up. It rained most of the day. It stopped for a bit and we got a walk in. I decided to make sugar cookies because I had promised to the kids and Seth loves them. The blackhawks played tonight, we headed into Shueyville to Shuey's to watch the game before the show. Well we watched part of it before and some of it during. We didn't stay to long, we watched about an hour of the show. Had to listen to the end of the game on the ride home......Blackhawks win!!!!


Sunday April 26- Another really cool morning but today we have sunshine. We got dressed for church. After went to lunch at Pancheros......Jeff researched and found something he could eat. After we went to Seth and Katie's. Ashton was already on the run with his friend so Sissy helped me frost cookies.






















After we finished the frosting thought we would celebrate with a trip to Orange Leaf for some frozen yogurt. Ashton declined so it was just us and Sis. We picked our flavors and toppings then set down to enjoy.

We dropped Hailey off at home and headed over to see Molly, Justin's girlfriend, she's been out of town all weekend. Visited for awhile then came home to walk the dogs. It was a good Sunday.


Monday April 27- Today we had planned on getting something's done. First we called the vet about Soffee, she's been having some issues thought it best to check it out. Well the vet looked at her and said it might not just be infection could be a tumor....gave us 2 different medications. Boy I hope these work. That could be tragic. When we got back we picked up the stuff we had stored at the shop here. Jeff wanted to transplant his tomato plant. It's starting to look a bit sick. I cleaned up inside. Jeff also put together his new smoker. Then he got the bugs off the front of the rig. I started cutting up vegetables for stir fry tonight. It was yummy. Also had to wish my best friend a BIG Happy Birthday today.


Tuesday April 28- Jeff wanted to run to the store to get a turkey breast, so he could try out his new smoker. I gave Belle a haircut then gave both doggy's a bath. I think Soffee's feeling better. She just seems more spunky. We walked them around the campground. Jeff worked some more on the front cap, waxing it. We had our supper a bit late but the turkey breast definitely tasted smokey.


Wednesday April 29- I got up and headed out for my walk, I saw that our host site was empty so I skipped the walk and we started packing up to make the move. It wasn't far just to site 27. We moved in and begin to set up. This time we unloaded lots more. Setting up Fort Marlin. We took the kayaks off the truck and the racks. We got out the rugs, chairs, tables and the grill. Jeff set up the sewer and water lines. Time was going fast and we needed to be on the road to Keokuk by noon. I had to go back to redo a test......been worrying about that but it was for nothing. I passed. On the way home we stopped by to pick up Hailey, her daycare is closed tomorrow. The roads in Cedar Rapids are crazy. They are working almost on every major road. Its a mess. When we got to Seth's Hailey was sitting on the porch waiting for us. We got home had supper and then took a walk. Sissy saw some ducks, that was kind of exciting.






















Thursday April 30- We had a busy day today for sure. Hailey woke up early and wanted pancakes so papa got busy with that. It was still a little cool out so Jeff played memory with Sis. She's really good.

After it warmed up and we took a few walks around the loop we had lunch. Then Hailey and I decided to take a walk down by the lake. Thought we might find some ducks to feed. We brought some bread and away we went. Found a dock that was close to some floating ducks. We tossed some bread and the mama duck came over to investigate. Sissy had a blast. So did I.

After running out of bread we made our way back to the camper. It's Thursday so that means hockey practice. That's were we headed next. Its really fun to watch him do all the drills. He definitely has improved since last year.

After practice was over we went to Justin's. He has a guitar for Jeff and he's going to teach him how to play. I visited with Molly while the lesson was going on. Tomorrow we start our hosting job.