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...

These Gnats.....

Monday June 10- I had a lot of things I wanted to get done today. We are going to have Hailey come out to stay for a few days and I knew I wouldn't get much done with her here. She likes to keep us busy. I like to give the shower house a real good cleaning on Mondays, after the crowd leaves. What is funny, the crowd left but we had more show up. Usually we have some campers but this week we had more than usual. It was a pretty nice day, I tried to sit outside for a bit but you can't stay too long because the gnats just won't leave you alone. They like to fly in your ears, up your nose and sit on the inside of your glasses. That's not too annoying.... I got all my cleaning done plus a hair cut for me and a bath for Ruby.


Tuesday June 11- Katie brought out Hailey first thing this morning. We started the day off with pancakes for breakfast, followed by a competitive game of Old Maid. We decided to make it a movie day today. It's going to be rainy with a side of gnats. Hailey picked Aladdin. We went to the morning show. Everyone enjoyed the show along with the popcorn. Before heading back we made a few stops. First we went to WalMart to get a piece of memory foam for Sis to sleep on. Then to the store to get a few things for the rest of our meals while Hailey is here. We had to take Hailey in to gymnastics at 6 so we made her an early supper. We dropped her off and then met Seth and Katie at Cancun, a Mexican restaurant for dinner. We had a yummy supper, then off to watch the rest of Hailey's 2 1/2 hours of class.

Wednesday June 12- Miss Ruby woke up early today. That doesn't usually happen. I think we put Hailey's bed to close to her crate. We got the shower house cleaned with help from Sis. Then we came back and made breakfast. Scrambled eggs with cheese and toast. Hailey was a big help of course.

After breakfast we made our way to The Czech Museum, Hailey went with her school and couldn't wait to take us and give us a tour. It was a bit cloudy out but we had a fun time looking through the museum. She showed us all the important things, which was a doll, the marionettes and clothes. Jeff did some reading and learned a few things. We had fun. On our way back to the campground we spotted a turkey in the road right outside the park. We were excited to see that but there was a bonus, she had some baby turkeys too. Hailey thought that was really neat, so did we. We got back and got busy. Big plans this afternoon. First Hailey wanted to make some no bake cookies. She did a good job mixing, stirring and dropping them on wax paper. She is a big help because she wants to do everything.

After making cookies we got our craft stuff out. Last year I helped Sis do her room in a mermaid theme. So while I was in Florida I gathered lots of little seashells so we could make a picture frame for her room.  I got out the wooden frames I bought, glue gun and glue sticks. Then I brought in the shells and Hailey picked out which ones she wanted to use. I had to run the glue gun but she did a really good job in placing all the shells. We also looked through some pictures so she had something to put in the frame. Another successful craft project......

                             

We finished off the evening with a great supper and watching game 7 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs....St Louis Blues wins.....it only took 52 years to get it done.

Thursday June 13- This morning I had to go to a appointment in town. Hailey stayed back with Papa. She had a tummy ache to start the day. We set her up in our bed with a movie. By the time I got back she was feeling better. It was a pretty day out there but you can't go outside because the gnats. If you go out there they just won't leave you alone...so annoying. We stayed inside playing games and watching movies. I sure wish we could get a break from these gnats. Hailey really likes to be outside doing things, me too. I had to take Hailey in to gymnastics again. We left early so I could drop off her suitcase, cookies and her frames. Then to gymnastics. I was going to stay and watch some but she told me just to drop her off. I did and then I went over to say hi to Miss Maddyn. She was very busy tonight, I left so she could have supper and came back home. It was really quiet here cause Jeff was down in Palo playing guitar.

Friday June 14- I did a thorough cleaning of my shower house. We are going to have a full park this weekend. The rest of the day just did some cleaning and putting things away. I also got some quilting done. Justin invited us to go to Cedar Rapids Kernel game tonight. They are having a work thing there. You get in for free and all you can eat and drink. They also had a really nice area set up to eat and enjoy the game. We went over to Justin and Molly's and they drove to the game. It was a really fun evening. The weather held off and the gnats didn't show up here. We had space so Maddyn had room to roam and enjoy all that was around. She was quite entertaining to say the least.

winner winner chicken dinner

We stayed for the whole game and then headed for home. I think everyone had a great time. Baseball is usually not our favorite sport to watch but I guess it depends on the company you keep. They came away with a win tonight too.

Saturday June 15- Today I went to town to do a few errands for myself. Jeff stayed back because most of the stops I was making he wasn't going to like. Well on a good note I got everything I had on my list. I even found some other things that I couldn't pass up. I had to go to Joann's to get some batting and binding fabric for a baby quilt I am doing. Then when I got there they had so many sales going on...win...win...After doing all my running I headed back, I had gotten Jeff a sandwich for lunch. We had planned on going to a festival tonight. Wellstrung was playing and Jeff wanted to go early because there was another band he wanted to hear. Well as the day went on the weather really started changing. We were watching the radar and this front was so weird. It looked like it was going to hit there so we decided to wait and just go and watch Justin and Jordan. Well that front just kept swirling around. We ended up staying home. I even spent some time in the shower house because there were calling for winds up to 70 mph. We were lucky the wind didn't show up but we had plenty of rain. I did get lots of quilting done.

Sunday June 16- Happy Father's Day everyone. We went to church, early because we are greeting today. Justin texted me and invited us to join them for lunch after church. We met them at Bushwood for pizza. Maddyn was excited to see us and everyone that walked by her in her high chair. She is a very friendly little girl. She sure knows how to put a smile on your face. After lunch we headed home, stopping to get something for dinner. We came on back and watched as new campers came in. I can tell that the lake, beach is open. We are a lot more busy during the week this year that's for sure.

Monday June 17- Monday's always seem to be my busy day, getting stuff done day. After a busy weekend it's good to clean up in the shower house. Then I thought I better use my washing machine. I have been going in and using the kids. We actually didn't have rain coming for most of the day. I hang my clothes out so that's a must. I did 3 loads cause our washer is small, so this takes a little time to get done. We purchased our washer ourselves and put it in. We really like having it. It's not so good for sheets and towels, it makes the spinning a problem. I took Miss Ruby for a nice walk today. I put on my head phones to keep the gnats out of my ears....We walked down by the water and sat in the swing overlooking the lake. Ruby likes to swing.

When we got back I did some cleaning in the rig. Then we heard from the volunteer coordinator at Jonathan Dickinson, we needed to fill out some paperwork for them online. Jeff and I both got that done too. We stayed here all day and both felt like we got some things accomplished today.

Tuesday June 18- It's another gray rainy day today. Most of the time we go to a movie, but there is nothing on we want to see. I decided to add pictures to our electronic picture frame. So I went through and added lots of pictures. I was pretty proud of myself until I noticed a lot of the pictures I put on were upside down. Well that's weird cause they didn't look upside down on the computer. Well I spent so much time doing this I needed to step away from the computer and rest my eyes. We decided to take a road trip. We have some friends camping at Squaw Creek and we thought we would go by and see them. Well when we got there, they weren't there so we headed back in town. Jeff wanted to stop at Dick's. So we did some looking around before we headed back. At least we got out of the rig for a bit. This weather this spring/summer has been something. It's hard to get outside and enjoy much. I can't wait until these gnats move on....

Wednesday June 19- Woke up to gray and rainy weather.....again. So today I decided to try and fix my mess on our electronic frame. I had a plan but it was going to be quite time consuming. First I had to figure out which ones and how many are upside down. I had over 50 pictures. It was quite a process. I thought I had it all fixed. Then when I turned it on....still found 5 pictures I didn't get...dang it. That's going to wait for another day. This is becoming quite the project. We fixed an early dinner of BLT's. We are heading over to Justin and Molly's to see Maddyn and Jeff is going to play guitar with Justin. We had fun building with Maddyn...

Thursday June 20- Today we got up early, Jeff has an appointment in Burlington Iowa at the skin doctor. It's quite a drive. We had clear weather to drive in. After his appointment we stopped by a branch of our bank here. They have been bought and we wanted to check on some things. They seem to answer our questions. Then we went for lunch and got on the road back. We made one stop at Davis Homes. They sell manufactured homes. We aren't ready to settle yet but we like to know what is available. Both of us agree that we want something small. We have been living in 400 square feet and so anything more seems roomy..They had a couple that we liked. We got the information and prices and headed home. We got home and noticed how many campers have pulled in. We had a early supper and headed in to River Of Life Church. They are having a special concert tonight. They had a good crowd show up and the music and message were good.

Josh Misener

White Ribbon Day

Friday June 21- What a long crappy day. It rained almost the whole day....so yucky. We had planned on attending Rock The Block tonight, but that didn't happen.

Saturday June 22- It was suppose to be rainy today, but mother nature tricked everyone. It was just partly cloudy. We even saw some blue sky. We went in to Seth and Katie's to pick up Ashton and Hailey and take them to lunch. They picked the Texas Roadhouse. It was good. We had made a big deal about no phones at the table, so I didn't get mine out to get a picture. We don't see Ashton too much because he is getting older and busy with his friends. We dropped them off at home and came home ourselves. We were watching the weather because they are having a special Saturday night Rock The Block tonight. It looks like the weather will hold so we went in to that. Remember those friends we went to see a couple days ago? The ones that weren't there? Well we ran in to them there. We got to visit for a bit. The show was good and we stayed for almost all of it....the gnats, well they showed up but kept to themselves tonight.

We left Rock The Block and made our way to Greys, it's a bar where our son Justin is playing with Jarrod Hogan. We went there and watched for a couple of hours. I looked on radar and noticed we have lots of rain coming our way. We made it back before it started. It rained a lot while we were sleeping.

Sunday June 23- When we got up it wasn't raining, after we took out the dogs the rain started. It did stop by the time we left for church. We enjoyed church today and after we met Seth and Katie at Lowes. Katie got Seth a new grill for fathers day. We just happen to have a truck. So we got to be the delivery service. Then we came on back to the park. We had a busy night, lots of campers wanting to get spots. We have been busier than usual this year. The cleaning part of this job is easy. The questions we answer are easy but not all people like the answers...... I hope the next 2 weeks we will have less rain, clouds and gnats.......