A Blast From The Past

Our oldest granddaughter, Rayna, loves the Beatles!!  She also loves to play albums - you know, the old fashioned round records!!  She's had a stereo (not sure if that is what you call it these days) for a couple of years now and has collected a few albums to play!

Anyway, my sister Patty also loves the Beatles (as do I of course) and after talking with her a few months ago, she said she STILL had our old Beatles albums from when we were growing up - she had no idea if they would still play as they have been moved several times and usually end up in a hot attic!  AND she wondered if Rayna would be interested in having them since Patty no longer has a stereo to play them on and none of her grand kids were interested in them - I said ABSOLUTELY!!

So when we were back the end of June, Patty gave them to me - I couldn't believe she still had those 8 albums that we grew up with!!  What memories!!  Luckily Jill and Robby were in Iowa at the same time and had driven so I gave them to her to take back to Colorado since we had flown!

Patty and I were both excited for the day that I would give them to Rayna - and she was SO happy to get them - her look was priceless when I handed them to her!!  I explained to Rayna that these were the original albums that Patty and I had grown up with and how our mom and dad had given us the first Beatles album for Valentine's Day in 1964!!

 Rayna brought her stereo down and we started playing those old albums - they played just great!!  And I couldn't believe all the songs that I hadn't heard in years and years!!

We called Patty that evening so Rayna could tell her thank you - I also videotaped her getting the albums and sent that to Patty also - what an awesome evening!!

July Birthdays

Since we didn't do a family camping trip this summer, the July birthdays didn't get celebrated with the whole bunch!!  Nevertheless, Jessi STILL had her birthday on July 10th!!

We did have Aleah open her gifts on this trip, even though her birthday was back on July 4th!  I was not organized enough to remember to buy her "craft" at Hobby Lobby this year so just gave her cash to shop for herself and she did enjoy that!!

Hostess cupcakes make the BEST cakes when you don't want to make a huge one from scratch!

We sang Happy Birthday 3 times that day!!  July 13th was the actual day of our birthdays and it's always fun to celebrate with Jill on our special day!

Jill and I had wine to go with ours!!

 That evening Jill and I went out to eat at Carmen's for our birthday meal!  We enjoyed getting 3 tapas and splitting them!

Dessert was on the house since we were celebrating our birthdays!!  Can't beat that!!

 Glenn watched the kids while we were gone and we enjoyed a movie once we got home!  A great day for a birthday!!

Trusses For The Shop

In the midst of our busy July, Glenn has been continually working on the shop!!  He was excited when it was finally time to put up the trusses!  Unfortunately Glenn's skidster couldn't lift the trusses high enough so he borrowed a friends' machine and rigged it up to lift them!

 Our neighbor was kind enough to help man the ropes to hold the truss steady as Glenn was lifting it - it was a little nerve racking to watch at first!!

 But on the days that the neighbor couldn't help, guess who was volunteered - yup - I actually did a pretty good job of helping Glenn and after several days, they eventually all got up!!

It's starting to look like a shop now - but I'm sure there are still many, many hours left to finish it!

Fun At The North Pole

Jill and the kids headed down our birthday week to stay for 3 nights and to celebrate our birthdays!  Aleah and Parker had never been to the North Pole in Cascade so we headed there one day!  I'm proud to say I got in FREE as I'm over 60!

We got there right at opening time and the line wasn't long at all to get in!  In fact, it wasn't super busy all day so the kids got to ride and ride and ride!!!

The kids were the first in to see Santa Claus!!

The famous ice pole - I STILL remember that from when I was a little girl!

No reindeer this year - but plenty of regular deer!!  Parker wasn't too thrilled to feed them!

But Aleah got right in there and fed them!

I love this big polar bear - a great photo place!

We had packed a picnic lunch so ate around noon and then continued to ride!  Also we saw the magic show which was surprisingly very good!!

I took this picture to show Rayna as it was her favorite ride when she was little!

Of course I love all the Christmas statues and the music playing - even though it's July, it always gets me in the mood for Christmas!

And if you're wondering how far off Christmas is, then just look at this!

The famous sleigh that we always take pictures at!!  This year was no exception!

Aleah and Parker thoroughly enjoyed the North Pole - I have a feeling they'll want to go back next year!!

Alpine Music Festival

The Alpine Music Festival is held once a year and it's the only major fund raiser for the Food Pantry in Divide.  This is the pantry that I volunteer at and we hand out boxes of food twice a month - sometimes totaling 300 boxes per time!

It's a fun place to volunteer at and to give a donation - and what better way to help out than to head to the fund raiser!!

The music festival was an all day event with groups and bands playing on the 1/2 hour - Jaime's and us decided to wait till later afternoon to go to it as we wanted to stay for the last act!  Glenn and I got there before they did and listened to a band right before it started pouring rain - I had brought an umbrella but we still got pretty wet as the rain was coming down sideways!!  Oh well, we dried!!

After Jaime's arrived, we ate some dinner and then listened to the groups play!!  One of our favorites is the Flying W!

We sat on straw bales - they were wet from the rain so turned them over!

Of course as evening approached it got cooler and cooler!   The headliner of the show was Brandon Heath, a Christian artist and he was great!!

After freezing for a while, Glenn and Rayna walked back to our car as we remembered we had the heavy quilt in the back - gosh did that help!!

All in all a great time at the festival - hopefully next year it won't rain!!

Outdoor Symphony

We no sooner got home than Jaime texted that they wanted to go to the symphony and would we go with them?  Glenn decided to pass but I was up for it - I always enjoy going to it and it's been hit and miss the last few years!

So we packed up lawn chairs, blankets and lots of food and headed over - only to realize we should have been there a whole lot sooner!!  I have never SEEN so many people at one of these!!  It was packed and later I read there were about 4000 people packed onto that football field!!

We found a spot way to the side of the stage which was fine except for the fact since we weren't straight on from the stage, we couldn't hear quite as well - live and learn!!

 The sky was beautiful when the sun started to set!  We all enjoyed the concert!

Of course the best part of the evening is the last song - the 1812 Overture - complete with cannons booming brought up from Ft. Carson!   And even fireworks!!  What a great evening!

 The next day Jan and I headed down to Manitou Springs for wine tasting!!  We sat outside and enjoyed 5 different tastings with a full glass of our favorite, along with cheese and crackers!!  What a great way to spend the afternoon!!

4th of July - 2017

Red, white and blue - how I love the colors associated with the 4th of July!!

Before we headed home to Colorado that evening, we had a boating day planned with Patty and Leonard!  We stopped in Onawa to grab sub sandwiches and frappes at McDonald's before putting the boat in the water at Decatur!

What a great day - cruising up the river and then floating back down............ah - such fun!!

We took silly pictures - relaxed - ate - and enjoyed each other's company!!

A great time on the river - but then it was time to head back to the dock so we could head to Omaha and fly on home...............

Our trip home was uneventful - that's a GOOD thing!!  And it's always great to be back home!

Thanks to Patty and Leonard for the awesome hospitality!!  You two are the best!!

Iowa Relatives

It's standard procedure when we are back in Iowa to go for a drive and see the farm and also head to the South Church!  The 4 of us crawled in Leonard's pickup and he took us for a nice tour to see the farms (the crops look great!!), the dam (which I hadn't seen in years) and the house where we grew up (which looks awful and needs to be bulldozed - mighty sad to see this!)

I had forgotten how pretty our dam is - and it's a great place to fish too!

 We had a nice visit out to the South Church also and walked a little bit of the cemetery - always such a pretty place!

And then Glenn and I headed to Onawa to meet at Geri and Carl's place - we picked up Glenn's mom and were also glad to see his other two sisters and their spouses!  There's always a GREAT meal served!!  Those 3 sisters know how to cook and we stuffed ourselves!!

Somehow no pictures were taken.................but we had a great afternoon and then ended up playing Mexican Train for a LONG time - all the rounds!!  By that time it was getting late so we headed over to the park before heading back to Soldier so I could see the Freedom Rock in Monona County - the county that I was born and raised in!!

I love these Freedom Rocks - and how fun it would be another time to go to a few more counties and see their rocks!!

Patty had a great meal waiting for us and we just hung out the rest of that evening!!

Monday morning we headed out to Gorhams Dam where Todd and Neal and family were all camping for the 4th!  I hadn't been out there in years - but had spent many many hours out there growing up, swimming and meeting friends!!

The 3 grand kids were all cute as can be - they've grown since the last time we've seen them!!

Todd and Nedelle

 Neal and Jen - must have snapped the picture a hair too soon as they were trying to smile at least!

 Glenn spent the afternoon with them fishing and had a fun time!!

Early evening we headed out to Jim's for another fantastic meal!!  Isn't that what Iowa is all about?  Nephew Josh and his family were also there and the guys had fun playing games!

And then Jim and Josh did an impressive fireworks display!!  The rest of us sat in chairs and did all the "ooh's" and "ahh's" - it was so fun!

 Another couple of great days in Iowa!!

Our Journey Back To Soldier

Breakfast was much more relaxed than yesterday!!  We checked out of the motel with plans to see the last bridge on our list and the outside Francesca's house where the movie was filmed - the inside is no longer open to the public due to a fire - what is it about all these fires around Winterset????

The Imes covered bridge is the oldest bridge - it actually sets in an extremely small town called St. Charles.  It was built in 1870.

After seeing the bridge, we had high hopes of driving past "Francesca's Home" where the movie was filmed.   We drove for several miles on a gravel road (which wasn't well marked at all) and finally gave up and headed back to Winterset.  Oh well..............

And then we started the journey back to Soldier - we took a different route than when we came out (and again stayed off the interstate) and in Guthrie Center saw another Freedom Rock!

There was a map of Iowa listing the counties that already had Freedom Rocks and ones that are being commissioned.

This Freedom Rock was in the town of Kimballton!

It was set in a lovely park with a beautiful fountain!

Also surrounding the fountain were statues depicting books written by Hans Christian Anderson!  I remember reading this book as a child.

Stopped and ate lunch at the Flour Mill - it was a cute place and we talked to a gentleman eating there that has travelled all over the world - very interesting!!

And a stop in Earling to see their Freedom Rock - they're all so unique!

We laughed and sang and had a great time together traveling home!!  It was a great "road trip" and our only regret was that Teri (our other sister) wasn't there to enjoy it with us!!

That evening the 4 of us joined Jim and Brenda for a fantastic meal over at Woodbine - we had eaten there last year and were so impressed with it that we decided to eat there again!!  Wonderful drinks, food and dessert!!  After that we headed back to Patty's for our annual farm meeting!  This was a super exciting meeting as this November, our farm will be completely paid off!!  We've waited many many years for this to happen and we are almost to that point!!  How fun it will be to burn that final mortgage paper that we've paid on all this time!!