The PERFECT Camping Trip

 There's 3 things I always want when we go camping but I rarely get all 3 of them and usually it's just one - I love to camp among the trees (aspens or pines), near a creek or water, and to see a moose in the wild!  That's all I ask!

We almost ALWAYS get to camp in the trees since we wilderness camp but not always by a stream - and we are always on the lookout for moose!!!  Well this trip proved AWESOME for the moose!

Glenn and I headed towards Poncha Pass which only takes a couple of hours so that's nice!  I have a favorite spot over there now since we found it last year but unfortunately it was already taken - our next choice had a ranchers' skidster sitting there so that one was out!  SO we pulled back up on the main road and unloaded the razor to drive around and find a spot - and we DID find a really nice one!!  High enough that we even had cell service which is nice!!

What a beautiful evening - nice and cool with a warm fire!

This teepee like structure was on the other side of our toy hauler!  

And check out the inside!  Cute as can be!

Not much of a sunset but it did get better!

There were a few pink clouds but it was hazy from smoke!

We headed out the next morning - the mountains were pretty and we had a great ride!

We met some people on top of Marshall Pass and visited with them for a while - then headed down the road where we could see a couple of atvs stopped - and guess what??  MOOSE!!!  BULL MOOSE!!  And there were TWO  of them!!  OH my gosh - I was SO excited!!!

We stood and watched them for quite a while and then went back a mile or so to tell the people we had just met to come down and see them - we were both taking lots of pictures!

O'Haver Lake on the way back to our campsite - there were several paddle boarders out there!

It was pretty windy that evening so didn't make a fire - we headed out the next morning for a couple of hours ride - stopped by a stream and I was down by the willows and heard sounds - sure enough, this yearling moose stepped out of the willows!!!!  OH MY GOSH!  I was thrilled I got to see another one and a young one at that!

One last picture by a stream - I'm usually behind the phone camera documenting everything so decided to have Glenn take my picture!

SO a great camping trip - and now soon into SEPTEMBER - my all time favorite month AND my favorite time to camp and see the leaves!

Back To School

 It's back to school time for the grandkids!  Here's a rundown!

Evan is a junior

Kylan is a sophomore

Kenzie is a freshman

Aleah is a freshman

Parker is in 7th grade

Gwyn is in 3rd grade

Back in Iowa, Chance is in 6th grade and Maggie is in 5th grade.  Nedelle is a sophomore at Wayne State College!     It'll be a busy year keeping up with all of their activities!

On The Road Again

 Isn't that what life is all about???  But just to Denver this time - but as far north as you can get in Denver without being in Longmont!

My friend Joyce from Tx. was here to help babysit her grandchild for a couple of weeks and asked if I could come up and see her - because Glenn knows how much I despise driving in Denver, he said he would go too and drive!   (but the best news was that Kenzie had a volleyball game and Evan had a cross country meet that same day - win, win)

We headed to north Denver on a Thursday to see Joyce - it was so good to catch up with her and to see her grandson!  Glenn went to Home Depot while we visited and then came back so the 3 of us could go to lunch!

Joyce's daughter Stephanie and husband Michael - Lucas is the baby!

After a great lunch, we said our goodbyes and headed to Jessi's place, just in time for me to walk with Jessi to pick up Gwyn at school!  Then it was a rush to get out the door to head to Evan's cross country meet!   It was HOT out but luckily there was a great breeze!  Here's Gwyn relaxing under a shade tree!

It was fun to see Evan run - he didn't do as great as he wanted to though!

Yup - that's our tall grandson towering over BOTH of us!!  And check out that wind on our hair!

Just as soon as Evan was done running, we raced back to the car and headed to the high school where Kenzie had a volleyball game - she is on the sophomore team and played so well!

Not sure what Glenn was doing here but we all got a laugh when we saw the picture!

We had a nice evening together and after walking Gwyn to school in the morning, Jessi and I headed off for an early coffee together before she had to go to work - and then it was homeward bound before the traffic got TOO crazy !!

Relatives and Rain

 Sleeping well at a hotel is a PLUS in my book!  Glenn met Jim for coffee in the lobby and soon Brenda and I joined them for breakfast -  we packed the car in the pouring rain and headed to the local Scooters so I could get coffee!

Glenn had wanted to drive by Shawn and Kristy's house who live in Webster City - Shawn had told Glenn they lived by the high school - so we headed over that way!  We figured we would see their large camper in their yard!  Since we didn't see anything at the front of the school, Glenn pulled over to a gravel area so we could turn around and a car did go by - a minute later my phone rings and even though I didn't recognize the number, Glenn said you better answer it as it was local from that area!

Good thing I did - it was Kristie - they were in the car that had went by and recognized us!!  We told them we were just trying to drive by their house so they gave us directions and soon we drove by - they were headed back to Eagle Grove for wedding present opening so wouldn't be around but it was still fun to see their place - and we had to get going to Onawa for Glenn's family reunion anyway!

Had a nice drive through the countryside - the corn was looking fantastic and we saw areas we had never been to before!  (Although I did recognize a Freedom Rock that Patty and I had seen on our Iowa journey one year!)

It rained off and on the entire time - good thing Glenn's sister had rented the shelter house at Blue Lake because it was kind of a miserable afternoon!!  We enjoyed seeing Maggie and Chance and Neal and visiting with them while we ate!

Gosh there was a lot of wonderful food!  AND PIE - EVEN PEACH!!  YUMMY!

Most of the group that were there!

Glenn and 3 of his sisters

Nedelle had to work till 4:00 so she arrived as soon as she could!  We hung out there for awhile and then took the 3 grandkids out for ice cream!

We headed back to Soldier early evening - Patty and Leonard were back home from Eagle Grove with their 5th wheel which is basically what they had been living out of for over a month!  I helped Patty get it cleaned out on Monday and besides a few other things she needed done, we basically just sat and talked and talked and cried together!  It was a special time to be with her and I'm so glad we could spend that time together!

Wednesday morning we headed back home - another long drive but between coffee at Scooters again and yummy chocolate shakes at Arby's, we weren't lacking for our chocolate!!

Iowa Bound

 I have a journal where I write notes I need to remember and one of the notes reads:  Don't go to Iowa in August - it's hot and humid and there are chiggers!    And yet - here we go!  But the weather was very cooperative this time - mid 80's and the humidity was tolerable - HOORAY!  Glenn did NOT go fishing but he still ended up with 1 chigger bite on his backside - HA!

Jill decided to ride out with us so we met her at the Denver airport where she parked her car (she was flying back on Monday night) and we had a nice trip to Iowa - it was great having 3 drivers but despite the fact we made quick stops for breakfast and lunch, it still took us a LONG time to get there as we hit construction on I80 and an accident - oh well.

We dropped Jill off at her dad's place and we headed up to Soldier and stayed with Jim and Brenda for 2 nights!  It was great to eat some fresh sweet corn and BLT's that evening for dinner!  And there was even a fantastic sunset!  Love that tall corn!

Brenda and I headed down to the Speede Stop that evening on the golf cart to pick up a couple of lottery tickets!  I never play but the take was up to a billion I think!!  WOW!  Neither one of us won though.....

Friday morning Brenda and I took a long walk around town which was nice and then visited with her daughter Jordan for quite a while!  Mid-afternoon we all went to the burial service and then back to the town church for a luncheon.  There were lots of people I knew so it was nice getting to visit with them!

Patty's family and Jason's family from New York all went down to the Midway to eat and we were to come down later which we did!   The place was packed and they hadn't even got their food yet!  We checked with the waitress and she said it would probably be an hour and a half to 2 hours to get a meal so we just had a drink and then went to Ute and picked up broasted chicken to take back to their house!  Oh and eclair dessert - yummy!

Glenn and I headed out for the wedding late morning - it was a 2 1/2 hours drive over there and we had to stop at Webster City to check into our hotel first - the hotel in Eagle Grove was full when I called to make reservations as that is where the wedding was.  We found the church and I took Patty's phone to take pictures up until wedding time!

Lots of emotions that day!

Patty and Leonards' family

After the wedding, the reception was held downstairs - Maia and Russell cut their cake while the rest of us had yummy cupcakes!  A meal was served and soon the dancing started!

We all had a fun time laughing and talking and dancing!  They had a cute backdrop to take pictures in front of and Patty and I had fun goofing off!

After all the traditional dances, we helped clean up and then headed back to our hotel for the night!

Amy

 My niece Amy (Patty's daughter) had fought cancer for 5 1/2 years - what an inspiration she was as she  went through radiation, chemo and many trips to Mayo Clinic - she was in the hospital several times also and throughout her cancer journey, she almost always had a smile!

Amy documented her journey on Facebook, always looking on the bright side, even when the diagnosis wasn't good!  It was incredibly sad when she passed on July 14th but she had fought the brave fight and it was time to go.

Although we didn't make it back for the actual funeral service, we were there for the burial service at the South Church in Soldier!  Her plot is almost straight across from my parents' graves so that makes it really special!

Amy - you will be missed by so many people who loved you and cared about you.

July Photo Dump

 It's August - and I am MORE than ready for the tourists to GO HOME!  Oh my gosh, the traffic is insane these days - and it doesn't help that there are 2 road construction projects going on between Divide and Florissant - luckily just one of them affects us, but it's one way traffic so ultimately you end up in line! And many times, the traffic is backed up where we get on and off the highway so you have to wait until the traffic goes by unless some kind soul lets you through!

The ENTIRE highway is going to be shut down this Thursday, Friday, and next Monday, Tueday and Wednesday with highway traffic being diverted to Jaime's road to get home, Twin Rocks!  I just smile because those are the EXACT days that we will be in Iowa so we won't have to deal with it - HOORAY!

Just a cool picture of a cloud within a cloud!

I spent many days typing the 98 bills for the homeowners association - and then the folding and stamping and all that stuff!   A great job to be done - now I'm busy picking up the checks from the PO box and updating records!

We went to a birthday party one evening in town and these were the desserts being served - yum!

My long time great friend Jo sent a package to me right around my birthday - oh gosh, what a surprise when I opened it and found this DARLING apron that she had sewed - and the pattern on the material is COFFEE - how perfect!   I just had to model it and send her a picture!

Along with the apron were a table runner, short runner and hot pads - a perfect gift that I already use often!

After I found out Jessi didn't have the game Sorry, I ordered it on Amazon and it was delivered the next day!  (Now that's service!  Ours always takes 4 to 5 days)   She LOVED it!

My friend Amy from Kansas has retired and just moved to Co. Springs - she was thrilled to find out that I enjoy musicals, plays and concerts so even though she's only been here a week, we got tickets to see Footloose! The great part was her apartment is right across the street from the Fine Arts Center!  It was performed by the Jr. Theater so probably a lot of high schoolers but it was well done and we loved hearing all those great songs!

Along with sheetrocking the shop, another friend told Glenn that he could get FREE crushed up asphalt from the dept of transporation that is redoing the highway to Co. Springs - he just had to haul it!  So 7 loads later, he is finally done!  He used a dump trailer and then packed it down with his skidster - it's great to walk on now and he had enough to put down in front of the shop and also the garage!  WOW!  I was impressed!

And that's a wrap for July!

Glenn's Shop

 At our Dumpster Days the end of June, Glenn was visiting with one of our neighbors who has a house on an acreage, but also 2 other lots.  And he is selling soon to move to Oklahoma!  Anyway, this guy mentioned that there was an older house on one of the lots that was going to be demolished and if there was anything in the place that Glenn wanted, he was more than welcome to it!  

Of course Glenn headed over there with the neighbor and found out there was a HUGE stack of sheetrock, never used and in great shape - just sitting there in a pile!  The guy didn't want ANY money for it, just haul it away!  And that's what Glenn did - he made several trips over there and brought home all the sheetrock so he could hang it in his shop!

I had NO idea how much it would change the looks inside - so much brighter!!  But what a job!  Glenn worked many, many hours installing it, with the help of Aaron who he trades work with and another neighbor Jack.

In the meantime, I get SO tired of Glenn not knowing what time it is as he doesn't wear a watch, so I ordered him this cute shop clock!  I'm not sure it actually helps much but at least he knows what the time is!

Here is the finished shop - Glenn had fun hanging all his stuff up!

And another view looking towards the back, where his workshop is behind the door!

A great project to get done!