Smokin Hot

Monday July 8- Had to get up early today. I got my cleaning done and laundry packed up to take to Justin's house. I'm Maddyn's daycare today. I left here at 6:15 so Justin could be on time to work. We, Maddyn and I had a busy day. We read books, built with blocks, watched some videos. We have a new song we like to sing along with. We had lunch and Maddyn took a short nap. She wasn't going back to sleep. Justin got home and before heading back I stopped by to pick up Hailey to bring her home. When we got home she helped Papa make up tenderloins for supper. I got a text today from the park ranger telling me that the big boat ramp has been closed starting today. They are tearing up the big parking lot to redo it. That is going to make a lot of people happy...not. With the lake finally full the boat traffic has really picked up. There is another boat ramp but it's smaller and usually not used as much. Then the county has decided to tear up the road that comes in to the park. It wasn't horrible before but now it qualifies as horrible. Who knows when that will get fixed.


Tuesday July 9- After cleaning with some help I made pancakes for breakfast. Then Hailey and I decided to go to the beach before everyone else shows up. Papa dropped us off at the beach and he went in to town to go to a movie. I usually put my floating bean bag chair in the backseat on the way to the beach. Since Hailey was in the backseat we put it on the roof.  Since it was dry it kept falling off the roof. So poor Sis had to share the backseat with that massive chair.

When we arrived at the beach there was hardly anybody there. We set up our stuff then went hunting for frogs. Hailey's idea, not mine. I'm not a big fan of frogs but for some reason she really seems to like them. We probably caught around 5 of them. We didn't keep them but it was fun to catch them. 

We probably stayed longer than we wanted but we had to wait for Papa to get back and get us. While we were waiting Sis thought she would give Papa a call.

We made our way home and fixed some lunch. We hung around the campground til time to take Hailey in to gymnastics. We dropped her off and went to get supper at Cancun. It was pretty good.

After dinner we stopped back to watch Hailey do some of her tricks. Then we left and headed back home.

Wednesday July 10- Did some cleaning today, at the shower house and here in our house. Then it was bath day for Miss Ruby. Well you have to blow dry her so that takes a while. She looks so pretty and fluffy. We took off for town. Needed to get some errands done. First the dreaded Walmart, then a few other shops. We had lunch at Firehouse Subs. Then came back home. We had one more thing on the schedule.....going in to see Miss Maddyn. We played with her and Justin and Jeff played there guitars.

Thursday July 11- Today we stayed in the park. I did a couple loads of laundry here. It was really nice this morning. I got to sit outside. While I was out there I made a couple phone calls. It was so nice I decided to go to the beach for a bit.It was pretty quiet down there...

After the beach I came back home. The campground is full again this week, but we still have people showing up looking for sites. After supper Jeff took off for Palo to jam. I stayed home and I finished up quilting the last row on my quilt. I just have to quilt the border and bind it. I'm excited to get this one finished.

Friday July 12- Woke up this morning not feeling that well. I think I'm getting a cold.I set outside this morning before it got too hot. Didn't do much of anything today. We decided to go to Rock The Block tonight. We weren't sure how long we would stay because it was really warm today. That's what we like about going down there you can get some shade. We found us a shady spot and sat up our chairs. We even had a nice breeze. It turned out to be a beautiful night. The band was Funk Stop and there was a big crowd. It was a nice evening.

We made our way home and watched as the sky just got prettier and prettier. By the time we got to the park it was beautiful. We were greeted with this.....wow.

Saturday July 13- Pretty chill day, well not weather wise. It is really hot out there. Then it clouded up and looked like rain but it never did rain. Then the sun came back out which made it hotter yet. I stayed in with the air conditioning. I did lots of quilting, almost got 3 sides of the border quilted.

Sunday July 14- It was hot out there when I woke up at 6 a.m. We had to go to church early to greet. It's Baptism and BBQ day. After church we came home. I got busy quilting and we watched a couple movies. We left to go to the Baptism's and BBQ. It was a scorcher out there. It was in the mid 90's and to top it off it was super humid. There was a big turnout even with the heat. So they started off with the baptism's. Followed by a big buffet of lots of food. It was really warm but a wonderful time.

Monday July 15- Today we are going in to get Ashton. We are taking him to breakfast. He wants to take us to visit his favorite store...VICE. We left our rig heading in to Cedar Rapids. As we drove by the lake I noticed our white pelicans are back. They show up every year.

 When we arrived he was ready to go. We drove down to Village Inn for breakfast. It used to be a really great place for breakfast. Well since the last time we have been there it has definitely gone downhill. We won't be going back there again. On a positive note our company was wonderful.

We made a few stops and then when we went to his store we had a big disappointment. They are closed on Monday and Ashton had forgot. We will come back another time. Before we headed home we made one more stop at Trader Joe's. We got what we had on our list and made our way back home. We dropped off Ashton at home and we came back to the campground. It was super hot today. I stayed in and worked on the border. I finished binding my quilt around 9:00 o'clock. Now I can get busy on my next project.

Tuesday July 16- I had to take a picture of the finished project. Now I got started marking this baby quilt I have got all pinned together. I'm not going to start quilting it today because my fingers are so sore. Gonna give them a day off. It is really a hot one...again. I went to the beach, well I went to the lake. It was way to hot to sit on the beach. I took my floating bean bag chair in the water. It was just right in there. It was nice while you were in the water but that sand would burn your feet. Came home and cleaned up. We are going to town to get Jeff's ear buds, he needs them for Sunday. He will be playing with the worship band for the first time. After we picked them up we went to the church for a dinner for the welcome team at church. We had a wonderful dinner. They even gave out prizes. I actually won something!...as we were leaving it started raining and we drove through quite the down pour.

Wednesday July 17- Today was stay home day. I got started quilting and made a lot of progress. I wasn't sure I could get it done by October but now I know I will get it finished in plenty of time. We had some scary weather roll in. We got a lot of wind at the beginning and it was followed by quite a lot of rain.

Thursday July 18- I cleaned around here today. I also packed for my weekend away. I'm going in and staying with Hailey while her parents are away for the weekend. I also did some quilting but my fingers are still sore so I'm slowing down a bit. Jeff went to town to practice with Josh. They are working on the worship music for Sunday. Then he went to Palo to jam there as well. It was a super hot day with plenty of humidity...it is unbearable to be outside in the heat.

Friday July 19- I cleaned my shower house early to save Jeff from having to clean it today. He will be covering for me this weekend. I got over to the kids house by 8:30. Jeff took me there, the kids are leaving me one of there cars to drive. We took Hailey to breakfast first then back. Jeff then took off for home and I stayed. I had a list of things to do. I brought my laundry, so I got started on that. Then we went out and cleaned Hailey's frog aquarium. Then we got busy on the kids rooms. Ashton wasn't there so he made out like a bandit. Hailey did most of her room herself. Well after cleaning them we had lots more laundry to do. We took a break and ran to the store to get our stuff for the weekend. Then we came home and did more laundry. Lots of laundry. Then we watched TV. They have weird tv to me. It is all netflix, apple tv, stuff I don't get. You can't get any over the air tv... oh well...technology.

Saturday July 20- Well didn't sleep that well because I am also watching there 2 dogs. They both sleep in the bed with me.  One of the dogs is 90 pounds and likes to sleep were she wants.  Hailey and I got up early and went down to the farmers market. It opens at 7:30 and we were there when it opened. It was really a scorcher so we didn't stay long. The people showed up and it got even hotter.

We got some corn on the cob and a fresh tomato. So we went home and made BLT's and corn on the cob for lunch. Papa came over to eat with us. It stayed hot most of the day. Then late in the afternoon we got a couple showers and by supper time the temperatures and humidity was dropping. That is great news.

Sunday July 21- Slept better and the weather outside is awesome, almost cool. Hailey and I got dressed for church. We left a little early to stop and get some stuff for the birthday cake we are making today for her dad. On the way in I felt a big bug fly into my head. I have to admit I kind of went a bit crazy. Then Hailey spotted this locust on my jacket and she started screaming. That made me go more crazy and all the people walking in the store were giggling. Well I shook it off my jacket and went on in to get what we needed. Then we went on to church. It was a big day for Jeff. It was his very first time playing in the worship band. He had to get there early to go through the songs before service. We asked how it went. He said ok. Hailey and I both thought he did a great job. The worship was awesome as usual and the message was too. 

 

After church we met Papa at Bushwood for pizza. We had a nice lunch with lots of pizza to take home. Jeff went back to the campground and we went back to Hailey's house. We have a big project to do today. Hailey is making a birthday cake for her dad. His birthday is this Thursday but she wants to surprise him. Since we have already purchased everything we need, we are ready to go. First we had to mix up the batter. Hailey was all about this process. Then we baked the bakes, then let them cool. We had to cut the center out to make a surprise cake. We have reeses pieces to fill in the middle and to decorate with. We stacked the cakes, frosted them and filled the center with the candy. Then frosted the top and sides. Hailey then put on the decorations. She was so proud of her work....I got to clean up the mess. I guess that's what grammy's are for.

The finished product

That's all for this time, she can't wait for the party.

Summer's Arrived

Monday June 24- Start of a new week. Gonna stay around here today. First I needed to do my camp host duties, with some cleaning of the shower house. It seems my hummingbirds are coming back a bit. I did some cleaning around the house, did some blogging, quilting, and sitting outside. Ruby even got a walk and a bike ride.

Jeff even got a hair cut this afternoon. Hailey came out this afternoon to spend the night. We were just sitting outside when we see sheriffs cars coming in the campground. We have a ranger here that is on top of things. He knows whats going on in the park all the time. Well it seems they took care of the problem. That's one thing about our park, they work really hard to keep it very safe.

Somehow our princess Hailey has a strange fascination for frogs and lightning bugs. So as the sun is setting she was ready to go out and hunt for frogs. Jeff and I both wanted to stay in because the bugs come out, but as grandparents she won. We went out and did some hunting. I told her I think the frogs are hiding. Then she hears this weird noise. She said "did you hear that?" I said that is a bird, she informed me that, that is a great american tree frog.....go figure. Well she eventually gave up on the frogs when the lightning bugs showed up. She did catch a few of those.

Tuesday June 25- Today we are taking Hailey to the movie. We are going to see Toy Story 4. I have to admit I haven't seen the other Toy Story's but Hailey assured me they were good. We went to the show about 10 a.m. We all enjoyed the movie, her probably a bit more than us. We made a store run before heading back to the park. Since my hummingbirds are around Hailey really wanted to try to feed them from the hand held feeders. She couldn't sit still long enough. Then she would get up and I would put the feeders on my knees and before long the birds would be feeding. She came back to put the feeders on her knees and nothing. This went on for a bout three times. She decided it was because I had on a red shirt, I told her I just think I am a hummingbird whisperer. We came in to rest up a bit before gymnastics. Hailey just wanted to play with Miss Ruby...

We took Hailey in to her gymnastics and stuck around awhile to watch. Then we took off and made our way downtown to attend the balloon glow. We have never been there before so we were excited to attend. We found a place to park, grabbed our chairs and followed the crowd. I mean there were a whole lot of people with the same idea. We had no idea there would be so many people. We found a spot to sit and landed. We didn't stay in the spot to long because the volume of the music being played was super loud. Not just was it loud but the mix was not good. We moved to a spot that was better for us. It wasn't as loud and we could enjoy ourselves a bit more.

We sat around and listened to the music. Then as the sun started to set, they started filling up the balloons. They don't actually fly around this fill them and watch the glow as the darkness arrives.

We didn't hang around until it got to dark. We didn't want to fight all that traffic. So after they were all filled up we went ahead and walked to our car. We did get another beautiful view as we walked to our car.

The sky was glowing all on its own........

Wednesday June 26- We have been extra busy around here.....I guess people are vacationing. They are also stretching out this holiday coming up. It's really a warm one out there. Ruby got a walk and a bike ride before it got too hot. I did some cleaning here. I also gathered up our laundry to take into Justin's later. I did get to sit outside a bit before the heat got too hot. We went to watch Maddyn tonight. Justin and Molly both were out doing lawn work. We stayed in and played with Maddyn. On the drive over we got a phone call from the skin doctor. Jeff got a good report from the mole removal.


Thursday June 27- Going to be a scorcher today, in the 90's. We took Ruby for a walk this morning. As we were finishing up walking around the 2nd loop we spotted Wanda. She had captured a frog and was releasing it outside. It seems she found it in her kitchen sink in her rig. Well, since Hailey had no luck hunting for a frog we kept Wanda's for her. Jeff washed the bugs off our car. If you drive anywhere after the sun goes down, your car is covered with bugs. We have also been answering lots of questions from potential campers.

Friday June 28- This morning started out raining, and it kept on raining most of the morning. It looked like a big storm was coming, but just rain. It did clear up. We were really busy again today with lots of questions. Since the weather cleared up we went down to Newbo, to Rock The Block. The group was called Funk Daddy's. We met Janie, John and there granddaughter Evie. There son joined them as well. The weather was great, the music was fun and there was a nice crowd. We had fun.

Saturday June 29- We got up early and did our cleaning. It is hot already. We are heading to the Linn County Fair this morning. First we made a stop at Walmart. We are going to the fair to watch Lenny and his group, The Chuck Savage Band play. We got there early so we could walk around and check out the grounds. Haven't been to a fair for awhile. Here are a few of the sites we saw at the petting zoo barn.

After a quick walk around we found the stage where the guys were playing.

After our listening we went to grab some fair food for lunch before heading home. It's getting super hot here. When we strolled through the fairgrounds we spotted some food joints we wanted to give a go. Jeff loves a good corn dog, and he found a food cart that had just that. Did I say it was a foot long too?.....it was. Jeff was a happy guy. I found a place that had ribbon fries and strawberry smoothie, that's what I got. Oh my they were both perfection. I shared my fries with Jeff. He even had some of my smoothie. He is not a smoothie or a fruit guy. He loved them both. You see what you think.......

After getting our lunch we headed for the car. Jeff was carrying my smoothie. I ate and drank my stuff on the way home. Oh our car smelled like a strawberry into the next day. We had to get home because Justin and Molly are bringing Maddyn out. Those crazy kids are going to play golf in this heat. We will be staying inside with the A.C. When we got back it was time for Maddyn to take her nap. We all had to lay down to get her to go to sleep, but it happened.

We tried to take her for a walk but all of us couldn't take the heat, so we came in and played inside. It was so hot for supper we just went down to Palo and ate at Brogans. We got a pizza. The place was even hot, it seems they are having air conditioning problems....
Oh I don't know what has happened to my hummingbirds, they have left the area. I don't know what happened. I was filling my window feeder twice a day. My feeder is full and no takers, that's a bummer.

Sunday June 30- Another scorcher today. We went to church and after stopped at the store to pick up some groceries. When we got home the campers had pulled out. But in record time the 6 walk in sites are full. We stayed in most of the day. After supper we had some big wind and rain show up. It didn't last too long.

Monday July 1- After such a busy weekend I started my day off with a deep cleaning of the shower house. I also did some cleaning at home. Next I made a trip to town. I wanted to avoid the last minute shoppers for the 4th of July. We have a couple picnics to attend and I want to get what I need a head of time. They also got our site mowed today so we had to move our stuff back into place. then later on before dinner Hailey came out to stay the night. She was excited to meet her new frog....

Tuesday July 2- A busy day indeed. We started it off with a pancake breakfast. Then Hailey put Papa to work playing trac ball, ants in my pants, and old maid. She prefers to play games with him.

 Then her and I decided to make a trip down to the beach. I think we arrived there around 9:30 and stayed until noon. We had a fun time.We had more geese on the beach than people and that was completely ok with us.

Hailey even made a friend with a kid that had a net. She caught a little minnow she was pretty proud of. We would go over where the weeds were and look for frogs. We found plenty, next time we come down we will have a net. We headed back to get some lunch. It heated up so we stayed in and played more games. I took her in to gymnastics but we left early so we could set up her frog in there aquarium.

Wednesday July 3- Busy busy day today. I started my prep work for the holiday picnics. We have a family picnic here in Cedar Rapids on the 4th. Then we are attending a Marlin family reunion on Saturday July 6th in Keokuk. So today I got started on what I can make a head of time. So I made deviled eggs, a couple kinds of cookies, and prepare everything to put a fruit pizza together tomorrow. We were also busy here at the camp ground with lots of people arriving early for the long weekend. We had friends arriving today, Jan and Jerry are coming in. Later in the afternoon we got some rain. It was kind of a bummer because we were planning on attending a special Rock the Block tonight. The band was The Strays, one of the members is our worship leader at our church. The weather was still sketchy come show time. We went to eat dinner around 5 at Zeppelins. Then we were hoping the weather would break. Well our dinner was really good. All of us had something different but all of them were good. After eating it was a bit late but we decided to head down and see if they were still playing. The good news is they started late because of the weather so we got to enjoy a lot of the show. The crowd was a bit sparse but that's ok, we still enjoyed it.

What started off as a complete bust turned in to a great evening of food, music and company. We had fun.

Thursday July 4- Happy 4th of July!! After cleaning the shower house I got busy putting together the fruit pizza. We are also making kabobs for our meat. We put those together as well. We headed over to Seth and Katie's. We are going to use Seth's new grill today. So let the picnicing begin.

When we arrived Seth and Katie were outside enjoying the sunshine. Then Hailey decided to work on her aerial cartwheel. She was getting really close so I got out my phone to take pictures. She suprised herself and us and did about 4 of them in a row. Well to say we were proud of her would have been an understatement.

Then Justin, Molly and Maddyn arrived so we got busy putting food on the grill. I brought over some corn on the cob so we got it cooking. It was better than expected and so was everything else we had. It was a bit warm but Seth and Katie have a nice shady area. We had fun visiting and watching the kids. It was a great way to spend a afternoon.

our little family

girl cousins

The Marlin girls

grandson Ashton

father, son

Daddy & Maddyn

Uncle Seth & Maddyn

This was a great 4th of July......the weather even cooperated. They were calling for rain today...


Friday July 5- Up early to clean the shower house before the campers wake up. Then I came home to frost the sugar cookies I made the other day. I also cut up fruit for a fruit salad to take tomorrow.  We hung around here at the park all day. Jan and I decided to make a trip to the beach. The guys aren't excited with the beach. It was hot enough that we went in the water to float and stayed there for about 3 hours. It was a really nice time. It wasn't as busy as I thought it would be either. I took my floating bean bag chair down and on the way home I put it on the roof to ride home...

We had supper and then waited around because Judy is coming up. She is my best friend and Jan is her sister. So when she arrived with her grandson Shea we went down there and did some visiting. It was a nice evening for sure.

Saturday July 6- A very special day indeed...It's Miss Ruby's 2nd birthday so here's a birthday picture of her, well pictures....

 Then we loaded up my trays of cookies and the fruit salad and drove in to Justin's. Then we loaded up in his tuck and and made our way towards Keokuk. Actually we didn't go to Keokuk, we went to New Boston. That is where our niece Lindsay lives with her husband Cody. They have a home in the country and they were prepared to entertain. This party was for the Marlins with  a couple extra's thrown in. The had a giant slip and slide set up for the kids and some of the crazy adults. We had so much food and I'm telling you we couldn't have ordered any better weather. It was perfect out. The sky was blue with white puffy clouds. There was a nice breeze and the humidity was nothing. They had a big tree so everyone would sit in the shade. I can't remember the last time everyone was together. I know for a fact I haven't seen them all together since we have been on the road which is almost 7 years. Only a few couldn't make it. We had a blast catching up with everyone. What a great day. So happy that Lindsay and Cody went to the trouble of putting it together. Everyone had fun.

When we left there we had smiles on our faces. It is really nice to focus on family and spend some time to see what is going on in each others lives. A great day for sure.

When we got home we walked down to visit with Jan, Jerry, Judy and Judy's husband Don had showed up. Then we called it a night. Super fun full day.

Sunday July 7- We got up and went to church. We had guests joining us today. Jan. Jerry, Judy and Don came too. The worship and message were awesome. We headed home after and just hung around the campground. We visited with Judy and Don until they left. Jan and Jerry are here for one more night. We didn't feel like cooking so we went in and got a pizza at Tomaso. It was very tastee. Came home and did some more visiting before calling it a night. The good news is the park is starting to clear out. We have had a busy couple weeks...