Christmas at the beach -Happy New Year

Christmas is over and soon the New Year will be here. Most of us reflect on what we accomplished, what we never got around too, the good times and some sad times.  So for us it’s been a little of everything.

We've accomplished making a final move from full Time RV’s to Winter Texans by leaving the 5^th wheel in Texas, selling the big truck and purchasing a new vehicle to make the trip to and from Michigan. We never got around to finishing some remodeling in the house but there’s always 2013.  We had many good times but one of the best was seeing our daughter Brandi marry a wonderful man. And of course there always seems to be a sad time, ours was losing our dear friends Larry and LaVila just one week apart of each other (at least they are together now). The next year hopes to have many more good times and maybe a few more accomplishments.

We made our trip to South Padre Island on Christmas Day. We took a walk along the beach and tried to get Pepper use to the water. She seemed to be alright until the water started chasing her than all bets off, she was heading for land.

After our little lunch on a pavilion by the beach we took our towels and enjoyed the perfect weather of soaking up the sun and people watching. We were surprised on how many families were there but this may be their tradition of opening presents and hitting the beach in the afternoon. I took several pictures and have posted them on Snapfish if you’re interested.

I received a picture from daughter Renee’ who wanted to share some of their winter wonder land. It’s very pretty and I really enjoy seeing this snow, especially when we are 1800 miles away from it.

But they aren’t the only ones who have had a cold snap. I’ll admit we don’t get the snow or as low of temperatures but when it goes from 89 degrees on Christmas day to a high of 54 degrees the next it’s darn right cold for us.

We’ve been working on a project that we were asked to oversee. When we were asked it was a “could you help” with the annual Walk through the Village event. As it turned out our “help” and the sales managers “help” are two different things.

As my kids will attest I am an organizer and a big one for notes – on everything and sometimes in triplicate. So when I found out that in the last four years of this event there weren't any I thought - well never mind what I thought.  And as my kids know there will be a full notebook completed for the ones who do this next year.

So we asked two other couples to work with us and we’ve been putting our heads together to try and make sure this thing runs smoothly. Every year the residents open their homes and coach houses to the public so visitors can see what it’s like being in Retama. It’s a pretty big event with several hundred people coming to our park. While the residents show their places we have many things going on at the clubhouse including food, raffles, vendors. So that we don't have vehicles all over we will have the visitors park in a vacant area by the clubhouse and use golf carts to shuttle them around the park.

I think we’re going to try something different, in the pass they have always served hot dogs but this year we are going to try Frito Pie. We’re having a taste testing tomorrow afternoon so we’ll make the final decision after that. But I have to admit that none of this could be possible without so many here that have volunteered their time and opening their homes.

I guess that’s it for this week.  Happy New Year to all and be safe

Larry's project - Grandsons boot - Ladies Pictures

Larry’s been working on a little project. As I mentioned before he has a Lionel Train set that he would like to get set up in the spare room in the house in Michigan. He’s been working on one of the scenes and I’m sure the family members will recognize this but for others this is one of the hip roof barns on the family farm. It’s not done yet but he would like to try and do a replica of the farm.

Daughter Brandi called and said our new grandson Dar’Relle dropped a weight on his foot at school. Darrell (dad) went and got him and off to the ER they went.  I should mention that normally our other grandson Darrius is the one who goes there but I think he has finally realized that yes Superman can do all these leaps and bounds without getting hurt but Darrius can’t. Anyway after the x-rays showed his big toe and the one next to it were broken the Dr. said he would have to wear a special shoe but would probably be ok to go back to basketball after xmas break. After trying every shoe/boot that the hospital had they had to send someone out to Michigan State Univ’s athletic department to get one big enough.

Thursday was the Ladies breakfast  and since it was at a place  I’ve never been I decided to go. Very nice local family owned restaurant that at one time was a house. I ordered their special 2eggs, hash browns, toast, ham and coffee for $4.50.  Of course have to share a picture of the group.

Another picture I want to share is a group one that was taken after the Ladies Luncheon in front of the fountain.

 

Last Saturday was my side of the family's Christmas Party. Some day all of the family might be able to come together for this party but for those of us not there it's always great seeing this.

 

 To all our family and friends where ever you may be, safe travels and may you all have a wonderful Christmas.

O-Pepper wants to share a picture she has of her friend Trash.

 

Till next time ..........................

Busy Week

Half the month of December is over. What happened to Thanksgiving wasn’t it just last week. So let’s start right off with a couple of pictures.

Our grandson Darrius is in his glory in this picture. He was chosen to be a water boy at his big brother Dar’Relle’s high school basketball team. What 8 year old that lives, plays and dreams this game wouldn’t want this job.

Another picture from our daughter Renee’ is of our grand-dogs. Can’t believe these two would sit still for this. I can just see Pepper; she’d be in Santa’s lap playing tug of war with his beard. Renee’ and Brian are a foster home for a pet rescue called Love a Stray in Ohio.(check out the website, our granddogs are on the front) This is where Pepper came from. Each year they have this event of having a picture of Santa with you’re pets to help raise dollars for Love a Stray.

Since we allowed Brandi’s family to open their Christmas present early Renee’ called and wanted to too. Since she knew about this one and wanted to put it out I said ok.

Wednesday was the Ladies Christmas Luncheon that Marilynn and I hosted. From all the comments it was a great success. The men did a wonderful job on fixing our meal and serving us. Here's are chef and waiters.

 

Once the luncheon was over Marilynn and I turned our attention on to the next event for Saturday. Marilynn was in charge of the monthly breakfast and I convinced her it would be great fun to have an “Egg in a Bag” breakfast. And I have had to convince her almost daily that this is a good idea. But it turned out to be a great success and everyone seemed to have a good time. Lots of prep work to get this ready for 70 people but we had a lot of help. Here's a couple of pictures.

 

 

This afternoon we along with Marilynn and Gary treated ourselves to a DQ Blizzard. We earned it.

Till next time..................

Bazaar - Rattlesnake

Another week has flown by. The good thing is I have my Christmas Shopping all done and it’s either on its way or has been delivered to the family.  The air hockey table arrived sooner than I was told so Brandi and Darrell picked it up one night. It’s a little too big to put under the tree or even hide in a closet so told her to go ahead and set it up.

Here’s Darrius and Dar’Relle having a little competition between brothers.

Monday was our 35^th wedding anniversary. Can’t believe it’s been that long. Seems like it was just a few years ago that we joined two families together and we all went on our honeymoon to Disneyland. We were both very lucky on not only finding each other but also having some pretty neat kids.

The residents here had a bit of a wakeup call recently. One of our friends was bitten by a rattlesnake. He admits he did a dumb thing, heard a noise in the bushes and moved the branch to see what it was. After three days in intensive care and five doses of anti-venom he’s doing fine and doesn’t have any long term effects. Trust me everyone is now using a long stick to shake the bushes before we start trimming them.

Marilynn and I went shopping one day to get the items needed for the ladies luncheon that we are hosting on Wednesday. The count is at around 60 so it should be a good lunch. Especially with the men fixing and serving it too us.

Last Wednesday we had a Clean out the Storage Room party. It had more crap in there from activity decorations that haven’t seen the light of day for several years. But it’s much better now with clear tubs labeled with the events so people will be able to see and get too the decorations.

Yesterday Donna and I hosted a Pre-Holiday Bazaar in the clubhouse and we really had a nice variety of items. We were both surprised at the number of people that came from our park and the one next door. Here’s a picture of the event.

 

We went out for pizza the other night with Bill and Kathy. They had their granddaughter Sabrina with them. Here’s Larry feeding little Sabrina her substitute pizza.

We lost two very dear friends.  We met Larry and LaVila about six years ago out in AZ in the middle of the dessert. Larry was a bull s****er (must be something about that name) and LaVila was an unbelievable hostess.  They purchased a RV lot not far from us and we enjoyed many times heading into Mexico together. LaVila passed away on the 26^thof Nov. and Larry on the 5th of Dec. We’ll miss these two special people

  That’s about it for this week. Till next time……………….

Border Patrol, Shopping, The Birds

Another week has passed and again I’m not sure just what I did to make it go so fast.

I have finished up the Christmas shopping or at least made the final decisions.. Don’t you just love on line shopping? We decided to do a family gift for Brandi’s crew and Sears had the item so we did go there on Monday to see what it looked like. Then I came home and ordered it on line to be shipped to the local store in Lansing. The rest will be ordered today and some sites even have gift wrapping. I enjoy shopping but not so much when I “have” to find gifts. I’m more of a walk around shopper and if something jumps out and says buy me I do.

Our neighbors Gary and Marilynn arrived on Friday from WI. So nice to see them, but I think Pepper was more excited to see Gary than anyone. I swear that dog is half human and remembers everything and everyone. We were heading out for a walk when they pulled in and she about pulled my arm off trying to get to him.

There was a meeting with a Border Patrol guy this week. He was supposed to come and just give an information talk but he sure blew it. A two hour meeting in a nut shell is he thought we were all basically dumb for living where we are and that illegals are coming here to do us harm. Oh and he also said we should never go in to the State Park next to us.  Boy the poop hit the fan when the owner of our development heard this and the people at the State Park notified the head of the Parks in Austin. We’re supposed to have another meeting with the head of the Patrol on Tuesday, Should be interesting. I forgot to mention that this guy kept repeating that his pay has been cut and some of the benefits. Hmm a little bitter maybe.

I only have one picture to share. This time of year we get hundreds of birds that use our area as a landing pad and fly overs. It normally only last a couple of weeks than they are gone. Our friend Bonnie took this picture from her place and posted it on Facebook so I have to give her credit on these.

Kind of reminds you of a movie doesn't it

 

I guess that’s about it for now. Till next time…………………

Thanksgiving 2012

What a week. Seems like all we’ve done is either fix food or eat food. I saw an article that the average Thanksgiving meal is 2500 calories. I have to admit I did my part of becoming part of that 2500 amount. I was able to talk with all my kids and some of the siblings. My sister sent us all a picture that is etched in all our hearts.

This is my father who never cooked a meal in his life until after mom died. Than he became the official Turkey Roaster and every year it was perfect.

We had a wonderful time with some of our friends here.

A perfect day to eat on the patio

We had 2 grilled, 1 smoked and 1 deep fried turkeys. All were wonderful

We were in charge of mash potatoes, Pepper’s doing her part by being the cleanup crew.

 The first of the week some of the ladies made treats to take to the Border Patrol Headquarters which is only just a few miles from here. As it turned out we had enough to take to the fire station and police dept. Everything sure looked good.

 Guess that's it for this week. Till next time.....................

 

 

I'm Proud to be called a Wimp - A Grandma Fix

My sister keeps reminding me that I’m a wimp when it comes to the weather. As I tell her I am proud to wear that patch and will continue to stand by this honor. I’ll admit there are times that I think I should be able to handle Michigan winter weather. Did I mention that while having these thought it’s normally during happy hour sitting outside on the patio. Luckily I come to my senses very quickly. But after a week of not seeing the sun and having temperatures in the mid 60’s I have come to the conclusion I could not handle Michigan’s winter where they go months with cloudy skies. And we won’t even go in to the temperatures. 

Can you believe how fast Thanksgiving slipped up on us? It seems like it should only be October. Of course the Christmas decorations have been out in the stores since the first of Sept. so why should I be surprised that Turkey Day came so quickly.

We have a visitor in our community and she is the precious little thing. Her name is Sabrina and she and her momma Sharon are here visiting her grandparents Bill and Kathy. You can only imagine the attention Sabrina is getting with a village full of grandma’s.

Even the grandpa’s are enjoying her just as much.

There’s nothing like a baby fix, especially this time of year.

Larry got our tires fixed on the bikes so we’re trying to get use to riding those again. Short trips until my legs get used to it.

Our friends Donna and Grant pulled in on Friday so good to see them again and then Al and Betty pulled in that afternoon. So our little corner is starting to have some activity.

I’m still getting use to my computer. For the most part I really like it but there are times I swear it has a mind of its own. Like the zoom. I’ll be typing along and all at once it goes down to 60%. Than down to 40% and I have no idea what I’m doing to make it do this. I thought it was just when I’m on the internet but it also does this while I’m in Microsoft Work typing this blog. Also I haven’t been able to figure out how to turn Spell Checker on. But I’ll figure it out eventually.

Marilynn and I have been working on the Ladies Christmas Luncheon for next month. Some of the Retama men will be fixing, serving and cleaning up can’t beat that.

I’m also involved in the Bazaar we’re having on the 7^th between our community and the RV Park next door. First time for doing this so hopefully we’ll have a good turnout both is sellers and buyers.

So that’s about it for this week. I pretty much have the things I need to make my part of the turkey day feast. I think there will be either 14 or 16 of us and we have 4 turkeys.  May sound like a lot but between Thursday’s dinner, Fridays left of dinner, and Sunday’s soup dinner we need that many.

We hope all our of family and friends have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Till next time…………………………

 

 

 

Flowers planted - ice cream social & hair cut

 I got my flowers planted this week and here is the picture I said I’d post. The only problem with having flowers is I need to water them sometimes twice a day with this wind.  But hopefully they will grow and fill out. 

Monday Larry and Bill worked on one of the washers and dryers. I guess they haven’t worked for most of the summer.  After spending most of the afternoon on it they got them both working and so far he hasn’t heard that they quit.

One night was the monthly social at the clubhouse. Of course any social includes food so I didn’t have to cook that night. It was a perfect night to sit outside by the pools and get caught up with summer events.

Every Thursday the women go out to breakfast and they try to find a local business to try. I don’t go each week but they were going to a place I wanted to check out. There were around 15 so not a large group and we were the only ones there. Probably a good thing they weren’t any busier, we got there at 8:30 and by the time everyone was served and finished eating it was close to 10:30.  Plus many didn’t get what they ordered but by that time we just ate what was brought to us. It’s too bad as this was a new restaurant and many said they wouldn’t go back. We might give them a few months than try it again. But the price was sure right, 2-eggs, ham (I ordered bacon), fried potatoes (which were cubed frozen) and tortillas for $4.50.

When we arrived we noticed a new salon next door so we had to check it out. Again a new business and since I needed a haircut I made an appointment for that afternoon. She did a really nice job and would you believe she only charges $7.00. Looks like our little community will be helping this business out.

Today we had the monthly ice cream social. They get it from Baskin Robbins and it sure was good.

Here is a little fellow who has been hanging around our place this week. He doesn’t seem to care about leaving, just moves to a different spot.

 

Guess that’s it for this week. Till next time………………..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

New Computer - Trip to Mexico

For those of you who (or have) written blogs you can relate to this. All week you do/go/see something that you tell yourself this would be a good thing to put on the blog. Than when you sit down and start typing your mind is blank and you can't remember one thing you did that week. I have a folder in my notepad named what else “blog" and the idea was to make a quick note as a reminder for the blog. Well that's all fine, except you have to remember to go into the notepad, which seems to be another problem. But luckily I am very good a rambling and can usually fill in a few paragraphs each week.

One of the special things that happened this week was Larry surprised me with a new Dell Computer. He said it was for his own peace of mind as he was getting tired of me complaining about my old one. I think he’s just a good guy and wanted me to be happy. But I will admit that I may have mentioned on occasion the problems I was having. I knew my computer was on its last leg, the G key disappeared about a year ago, the mouse pad died several months ago and I’ve had to use a wireless mouse, I swear it was over taken by ghosts as the curser would move all by itself and in order to get some of the keys to work I would have to beat the heck out of them which meant I needed to use a plug in key board.  Which was OK, except with all the cords I was constantly tripping over them when I would get up? OK, maybe I did voice displeasure a lot but I am enjoying the new one. Except – I haven’t figured out how to turn the spell checker on so I’m typing this on Word (which I love) and will have to transfer.

One morning we made a trip down to Mexico. Larry wanted to get his $3.00 haircut that is now $5.00. Guess inflation has hit Mexico.  The vendors are there but like last year they have all moved to the first three blocks of town. Crossing the bridge has increased from .25 cents to .50 cents going into Mexico but still .25 to come back in to the U.S. We were only there a couple of hours to just look around and see what’s new, we didn’t even have lunch there, so I didn’t get my 2-4-1 $2.00 margarita.  Of course maybe those have gone up in price too?

Thursday night we were invited over to David and Linda’s for a Mexican dinner, which was very good. Along with us, Lon/Pat and Bob/Kathleen were invited. David/Linda moved out of Retama and purchased a home a couple of years ago and they sure have a nice place. Love the open feature of the living area and a nice covered patio to sit out and have a drink, great dinner with wonderful friends.

The weather has been warm, low 90s each day but a cold front (low 80s) is supposed to come through later tonight. We’ve had a few sightings of illegals in the park. Actually only one sighting yesterday afternoon ,  nine of them running across the back field and a resident posted on our Facebook site yesterday morning that the trees along the fence row were speaking Spanish when they walked pass.

A trip to Lowes was in order to pick up a few things and I found a sale on iron window boxes. Regular price $18.00 and sale price was $2.50, couldn’t pass that up. Once I get some flowers for those and my pots I’ll take a picture.

Guess that’s it for this week. Till next time……………..  

Our 1st week back in Retama

I forgot to put a picture on the blog last weekend. I took one of Larry giving our Oklahoma cowboy last minute information before heading out with our truck.

 

We had the pictures of the truck on our webshot site but I think I'll probably delete it now. Last time I looked we had 13,500 + hits on it, was amazed at the number of people who looked at it. Actually just looked at the site and see where I will need to find another site to download my pictures too. They have sold Web-shot and the new one called Smile does not offer the picture site free. Sorry Web-shot but I seem to pay enough each month for all my technical things without adding you to my billing schedule.

Where did our first full week go? Larry needed to do a couple of maintenance jobs on the trailer. We went over and check the other one out. Don't remember if I mentioned it in one of the blogs but our shed at the other park was broken into over the summer. One of the neighbors there secured it for us until we could get back. They had the propane tanks outside but some one scared them off as it was sitting by the trailer and nothing else was taken. 

Monday I went to the HEB (like Kroger) for groceries. It's so nice to go in and not have to pay such awful prices for meat like it is in Michigan. I picked up steaks, pork chops, beef roast, hamburg and stew meat that after I re-packaged everything I ended up with enough for 15 meals. Can't wait for our fruit/veggie guy to start coming on a weekly basis.

One day Linda C. and I met at the mall for coffee and catch up of summer activities with family. For those of you who are heading down here the McAllen Mall has had some major remodeling, especially the food court. They even have a Sushi bar. Lots of new stores but most of them are for the skinny minnie - 20 yr olds. Linda and I decided we should open a 55+ clothing store, clothing some place between our daughters and grandmothers style cause there sure isn't many choices out there.

Tuesday we (along with other volunteers) went up to the clubhouse, pulled every chair and table from the storage and clubhouse outside and gave them all a good bleach water scrubbing. We finished those up so fast that we kept going and did all the patio tables and chairs. All set for the Oktoberfest tonight.

 We're both getting out walking more. With people pulling in daily we have to find out who's rig we saw. Of course Pepper loves it cause she gets to meet up with some of the other puppies.

The weather has been highs in the mid 90's and lows in the 70's -until - today. Last night a cold front went through and it got down to 54 degrees. Right now it finally got up to 65.  Didn't no so many people had winter coats. here.

Pepper and Foster finally got to see each other the other day.  I video them and put it on Peppers Facebook but for those who would like to see it I attached it here. About like two kids who haven't seen each other over summer break. Today we went over to the dog park and there was a small group of seven there. Pepper really needed this energy release. Anyway hope the video works cause if it doesn't I have know idea what to do.

 

Guess that's it for this weekend. Larry's watching MSU Game, hopefully it will be over before we need to go up to the clubhouse. Till next time,...............

Truck Sold & We're in Texas

Now that it's all done I can tell you why we didn't leave Michigan when we planned. Larry had been talking to this guy (in Oklahoma) about the truck for several weeks. Finally he told him we were leaving on the 9th but if he was interested we would stay a few more days. The night before we were to leave we went over to daughters house for dinner and I took all the food that I didn't dare leave in the house. About 8:30 that night he called and said he wanted the truck and would send a guy out to pick it up. Of course nothing can ever be quick and easy but finally on the follow Tuesday we picked this Paul up at the airport. Proper paperwork was exchanged, we loaded the car that afternoon and the next morning headed south. Arrived in Retama Friday afternoon around 1PM.

We had a nice drive down here and even Pepper seemed to relax after the first few hours. She didn't care for the hotels with the strange noises so she pretty much slept wrapped around one of us. She'd hear a noise, bark, than jump in Larry's lap. Such a brave thing.                                                                      

The trailer wasn't too bad. Been cleaning today between laundry and talking with neighbors. Luckily our air conditioners started right up as it's been in the 90s with the humidity high so I needed this going while I was cleaning.

Made a trip to Sam's. We weren't to impressed with the store compared to the one in Lansing. I really thought I'd have a 200-$300 bill from having to stock up on things and we walked out of there at just over a $100. This store has gotten more into electronics and small appliances with maybe a quarter of the store having food and a lot of that is snacks and cereals. So it looks like I'll make a trip to HEB (like Kroger) and give them some of my money tomorrow.

The park looks amazing with flowers blooming and every thing is so green. When we pulled in yesterday and I opened the door I was greeted with a whole bunch of butterflies on our bushes. Today we sat outside with Bob and Kathleen for happy hour and shortly Lon and Pat pulled in. They just arrived in town and wanted to check the place out. Larry/Bob/Lon took the cover off their trailer and got things plugged in. They'll be back tomorrow to stay.

Pepper has fallen right back into her habits from last winter. She loves laying under the trailer people watching. We need to get her over to the park and turn her lose but it was just to warm for her to run that hard. Maybe tomorrow.

So that's it for this week. For all my family up north - stay warm -

Till next time.....................

Micigan weather- yuk, Lionel Train

OK, the choices are Michigan or Texas and you get to guess where we are. 1st hint -  cloudy, 2nd hint- have seen rain/sleet/hail/frost all within the last three days and 4th hint - we aren't sitting on wheels. So yes we are still in Michigan. Luckily our life style allows us to make last minute changes. Everything pack, mail forwarding notice done, last good byes to family, refrigerator emptied and food all given to daughter. But something came up the night before departure and we decided to stay for another week. Hopefully the next blog will find us in that other warm State that we so want to be at.

Even Pepper was ready and wanted to make sure her favorite toys weren't left behind.

My friend Jutta said I needed to post a picture of the new car. If you look closely you will see that nasty stuff called frost on it.

 If you don't believe me check out another picture taken a few days before.

 

 We went down to the annual Color Tour that our town has on Friday. They say this is the 33rd year. We were really disappointed with the event and probably won't go next year if we're still here. All other events held on the Island has been packed with all sorts of local's selling their home made items but this one had maybe 8-10 booths, with a few food vendors, a petting zoo and a couple of tents showing how the first settlers lived. But what we really wanted was to try some of the bean soup cooked over a open fire that a local farmer was fixing. You would of thought they would have had that ready when the event started at 10am for people to try but we were there long after that and it wasn't ready. This is the only event that they charge for going on the Island and as I said, not worth it. The one thing that was nice was seeing the River Boat with the fall colors.

We went to a Estate Sale a couple of weeks ago that had some Lionel Train Cars. This got Larry to thinking about the ones he has had since he was a kid. They have been traveling with us and we brought it back here this spring. The last couple of days he's been doing some research on what he has and the values, some have been very surprising. He has always wanted to set up the track with the full village and landscaping. Now that Darrius is older and he'll probably be spending more time with us next summer I think they will have a ball working on it together.  As long as he had everything out of the box I decided to take a picture of them.

The time frame of this set is 1947/48. He's taking a couple of them back to TX with us to get the interior lights working and the little guy in the picture to come out. Plus maybe we can hit some of the estate sales to see if we can't find things to go in the villages.

Guess that's about it for this week. We are hoping to leave here on Wed or Thursday and will make a straight shot south. The weather at our place in Retama has been in the 90's and we're hoping we don't take any of this rotten nasty stuff down there with us.



Till next time..................................

BRRRR why are we still here

Alright, now it's really time to get out of here. I've put up with these 40's and even a couple of 30 degree nights. It's doable on occasion.  Especially when the thermostat gets bumped up to 70*. But today they put a heavy freeze warning out for Sunday night with temperatures below 28*. enough already.

What does a Winter-Texan (that loves 90*) who is stuck in Michigan, do on these 30/40degree nights when one person in the family (who will remain anonymous) refuses to have a electric blanket? First you pull out the heaviest PJ's you have,(they're ain't pretty but its called desperation),  than make sure flannel sheets are on the bed, of course the big heavy blanket is pulled out and can't forget the comforter. Just to be on the safe side you keep another blanket within reach. Oh and than you whine about being cold until you get that 70* setting. Now wouldn't you think a dual control electric blanket would be much simpler?

As I mentioned we are waiting for the license plate registration on the new car. I called our mail forwarding place in S.D. on Friday and had them check to see if it was in our box. Nope not there. Great, and of course there isn't any mail on Monday. We had to go out to the dealership as the temporary tag was up. They did set us up with a 14 day in-transit tag which was great except we didn't notice until later that they shorted us 2 days on the expiration date.

We finished up with the outside things and put the last of the lawn furniture in the garage. I was hoping to have a couple more days of grilling this weekend but no go on that. Larry really doesn't like grilling steaks wearing gloves and winter coat.

Last Sunday we went over to Bob/Diane's for dinner with some of the family and met up with other members during the week. Of course we had to have one last meal up at Swedes.

Got some storage tubs out and did a arrangement in the back of the car to see how many I can pack in to take south. This is where I'll miss not having the big truck to take everything I want back with me.

During all this our poor Pepper has been sticking to us like glue. She knows something is up with tubs around, putting things away. She's been pulling her toys out every time I pick them up and leaving them in the middle of the living room. It's like she's telling us not to forget her things.  With that being said I have a picture to share that kind of explains how worried she is.

 

Not sure if I'll do a blog next weekend. Hopefully we'll be in a lot warmer temp's and close to our place in Retama. Can't wait to get back there and see friends.

Till next time......................................

Fall yard work - Home Coming Parade - New Vehicle

First off I uploaded a few more wedding pictures to Web-shot if your interested. That's it on the pictures except I want to share one last one.

This is my brother Larry, new grandson Dar-Relle and Rob who catered the dinner

I guess Rob has the picture hanging up in his restaurant. He wants to be able to say he knew Dar-Relle when he was just a high school student before he became a college football star.

 We had a great visit with Donna and Grant on Monday. They were passing through on their way to Elkhart and we met them at the Walmart. Short visit but we'll see them in a few weeks hopefully.

The plan is to leave here the 9th but since then we decided to purchase a 2013 Chev Equinox. Now we need to wait for the registration before we can take off. The dealership has to send it to the Sec of State in South Dakota and once that's processed it 's sent to our mail forwarding place than we have to request it to be sent here. Keep your fingers crossed for us. We really like the car and it's going to be nice driving that back to TX.

This week the weather turned out nice so we did some fall yard work. I wanted the grass plants moved to another part of the yard. Than trimmed the flowers and plants. Also did some rearranging in the garage so we could get everything in it.

Last weekend we took the truck out to the farm and put it in one of the barns. Need to go out and disconnect the batteries and put a tarp over it next week.

Yesterday was homecoming here so we met Bob and Diane for dinner than watched the parade. They had their little 15 month of gr-grand-daughter and she seemed to enjoy it. I was really surprised at how long it was. They had every sports league walking from the 5yr year olds to the high school seniors. Really neat to see so many kids involved in sports.

Than we walked over to the high school to watch the football game. We played the school that Dar-Relle plays for so we had to yell for our home school and clap quietly for Dar-Relle's school.

Today was Darrius's football game. The last one and since they won they will go into the play-offs. That isn't for two weeks so we won't see that. 

Next week we have to get busy and get things taken care of on the house for the winter. Now that we've set the date I'm getting anxious to get down there. Besides these 30-40 nightly temperatures just aren't our thing. 

Guess that's it for this week. Till next time.

The Wedding

Don't you just hate changes. I got on our blog today and it was different. I knew it was going to change , they were warning me but I was hoping I would fall through the cracks and it would stay the same.

This week has been so uneventful with not having to think about graduation - open house - shower - wedding events.  Don't get me wrong, I loved being involved in everything and even tho there was a few stressful times (why wouldn't there be) it was fun and Brandi and I had a lot of laughs.

Brandi got the flash card with the wedding pictures but I probably won't get a copy for a few days. But I took some off of Brandi's FB and down loaded them to our webshots if you want to take a look.  Of course I have to share a few here.

And Two families become One

Dad was pretty happy too

 Anissa and I were able to catch a few minutes alone

OK, so the rest you can go to webshot and later when I have more I'll upload them there. 

I mention there was a few stressful moments that would eventually become funny stories. Lets start a few days before the wedding. 

We decided to order the tuxes from this new bridal store here in our little town. I'd stopped in there several times to look for a dress for myself and the girls and was impressed with the owners. A young couple who grew up in GL with a small baby following a dream they both shared. So even tho we weren't able to find dresses we did order the five tuxes needed. Now this place just opened this summer and I'm not sure if we weren't the first time tux renters. I was a little concern with the sizes we would need for our future grandson  Dar-Relle.  I mean there's not a big market for size 16 shoes. Tuxes in on Wednesday but because of football practice for both boys they couldn't try them on until that night. Well boys were good but dads was a little too tight, like he could move but not to fast or it might rip the shoulder seams. Quick call to Emily that next morning and luckily she had a size larger Friday by noon. Stress #1 over 

 

Brandi wanted a popcorn table instead of a candy table. Great idea for a after dinner snack during the dancing and as it turned out the group watching the football game.

Here's the center piece of the popcorn table. There were six other flavors to choose from.

This is the Fruit Salad Flavor and the biggest hit

We ordered the popcorn from this place called Pop Corn Wagon in Frankenmuth Mi and it arrived the Wednesday before the wedding. The minute I opened the box I knew there wasn't enough. Panic call to the company to double the order and was told would be shipped the following day as UPS had already left, but it would arrive that Friday. Hmm, the young man promised me it would be here and since I couldn't do anything else (other than the threat of a mother of the bride jinx on him) I hoped he was right. About a hour later I got a email from the company saying they had processed my order, taken it to the UPS store and it would be at our place before noon the next day. Wow, talk about service. A huge thank you email was returned to them. (will always wonder if the mother of bride jinx wasn't taken seriously). Stress #2 over

For two weeks before the wedding I tried to convince the kids they really shouldn't let Darrius go to his football game the morning of the wedding. I kept telling them he would break a bone and they would be having their ceremony in the local ER while their guests watch it on Skype. But Darrell assured me they are old hands at this and if this happened Darrius would be all fixed up by noon. Ya right. So no there wasn't any broken bones with Darrius but Dar-Relle had a game Friday night and he walked in the house on crutches with a sprained ankle.Stress #3 over - even tho it wasn't the one we figured. (oh and Dar-Relle is doing good, more of a precaution)

Wedding Day: For most of the week before the big day it was calling for cloudy - rain - cool temps. But the day turned out picture perfect for our kids. Stress #4 over

Noon: While Larry and Brian went and got the liquor for the reception Renee' and I finished up on some last minute table decorations. Luckily Renee' went in to check the flowers that we picked up the night before and put in the refridg. Too our horror ALL of the wedding parties flowers were totally wilted and looked like they were two weeks old. Did I mention that this was the day of Lansing's annual Bridal Show and this was the reason we had to pick up the flowers the night before. Our florist was working totally on that show. I called Amy at Delta Flowers and told her what had happened. Now this is 4hrs before the wedding but Amy and Delta came through and within a hour we had all new flowers. This one was beyond a stressful and more of a full fledged Panic Attack #5 over

The "plan" (which we all know goes out the window on wedding days) was for all the family members to arrive a hour before the ceremony to do pictures. Hmm, ok 1-hour ahead - no groom/groomsmen, 45minutes -still no groom/groomsmen, 30-minutes, nope not yet, 15 minutes -  and they have arrived.  Talk about a real stressful hour #6 over.

Finally the wedding began and I was sure we were done with anymore stress events. The ceremony was beautiful with happy tears a flowing. Later I found out that not only did Brandi  have a death grip on Larry but he kept tripping over her dress and was afraid they'd both go down.  thankfully unknown stress #7 over

Nope we're not quite done yet but getting close.

Shortly after dinner Brandi motioned for Renee' and I. She has this problem that when she's cold she breaks out with something almost like hives. Well the air conditioner must have been stuck on high cause it was cold in there and she was starting to break out with a red itchy rash. Not good. So Renee' made a emergency run to the local drug store for some antihistamine. Since Renee' lives in Cleveland and had no idea where this might be in the store she said she went straight to the counter and announce something to the effect "Quick- Bride - Breaking out - Hives -need antihistamine. She was very impressed with the speed the employee had on getting her in and out of there. Stress #8 over

The last and final one wasn't really a stress or panic event. More of a funny one but unfortunately our poor Darrius was the bunt of it. Seems he was standing watching the MSU game with the men and when he turned around his cousin jumped in front of him. The full glass of lemonade Darrius had ended up hitting him right in the face. Of course it didn't help that all the men bust out laughing when this happened.   When he came up to me he was dripping lemonade down the front of him. Poor guy, afraid this was about all he could handle for one night. First he not only had to put on this monkey suit but he had to stay clean, than he had to walk grandma down the isle to her chair, which wouldn't have been so bad but he had to walk all the way back by himself, so he could walk back down again with his sister. Than all these people kept telling him to "smile" for the pictures. Even tho he was thrilled that his mom and dad were getting married this was not what any 8 year old enjoys.   Someday even tho he still won't believe me he will laugh about his lemonade bath.  

That's it for the wedding story. The rest of the evening was uneventful, fun and exhausting.  We got to spend a very special time with family and friends plus a chance to meet several of Darrell's family who live out of State. The last song (loud) was played and the dancers did their best to wear out the wood floor and now it was time to clean up. But with the help of Darrell's family this was done in short order.

There was one kind of neat thing that happened that night. Brandi and Darrell had a anniversary dance where as the DJ would call out the number of years married the couple would sit down. Well we were down to four couples and three out of the four were us with our siblings Larry/Stint and Bob/Diane (who won).

The following three days we did "nothing". Both of us felt totally exhausted. But it was a good feeling and with that I'll say    Till next time.......................

A Wedding Success

The day took a long time to come but than it came so fast. Too all eyes it was a total success with only a couple of panic attacks that now that it's the next day we can laugh at. Some time this week I will re-post another blog with more details -

Brandi's aunt Elaine posted a few pictures on FaceBook that I'll share today with more to come later.

Daughter Brandi and our new son in law Darrell

Dar-Relle (our new 16yr old grandson) and Anissa

Here's new gr-daughter Aaliyah and Anissa

Doesn't this picture of Darrius say it all about mom/dads wedding

But even a wedding can't keep those MSU fans from watching the game. Just takes a little extra thought to make it happen.

That's it for now. Once I get some pictures I'll put a link on our Webshots. But as for now, we both are going to do what the kids say and Chill Out today.

Till next time...........................