Jill and the Kids

Somehow I forgot to post this blog after the North Pole blog!!

Aleah always get up early when she stays with us - and Tuesday morning she woke up in time to see the deer that arrived wanting some food!  She had no qualms about walking out there and feeding them!

After a while I looked outside as I heard the skidsteer running - Papa had taught Parker how to drive it and he LOVED driving it around!

Not to be outdone, Aleah got in there too and had her turn!!

Perhaps I should learn to run it?   Anyway, the kids had a great time here - Jill and I did some more Disneyworld planning and they headed home after lunch!

Tea Time at Glen Eyrie Castle

What a beautiful setting for a summertime tea - Glen Eyrie Castle!  The choir girls decided to have tea there last week - we had a beautiful day (except for the horrible traffic coming down as road crews are working on the pass) and the grounds looked exquisite as we drove in!

We arrived plenty early so had someone take our picture!!

The tables were beautifully decorated!  One thing about the tea at the castle is it's NOT about quantity but quality!  We had a very small salad like dish and this came next!  It's capressa  - wasn't my favorite but it sure was fun to look at!! 

We had tuna with smashed black olives for our tea sandwich and of course our favorites were the desserts!  Naturally I forgot to take a picture of that but there was a lavender glaze shortbread, a scone, and a lemon, blueberry cream possit!!  The tea and desserts were excellent!

We stopped down at the welcome place and I had forgotten these red rocks were there so snapped a picture!

We sure live in a beautiful state with SO many fun things to do!

Summertime At The North Pole

For their birthdays, I gave Aleah and Parker a trip to the North Pole and money to spend there!  The forecast first said rain all day so we were hoping it would change by morning and it did!!  We had a gorgeous day to enjoy Santa Claus Land!!

We were one of the first ones through the gate and it really wasn't that busy all day long!  The kids had a ball riding every ride they wanted to and some of them twice!!  (I kept wondering how they would compare these rides to the ones they will ride at Disneyworld this fall!!!)

I LOVE this huge polar bear!!  And it's a perfect photo place!

We decided the train ride isn't all that exciting - ha!  Or maybe that was Parker who decided that!!

Santa and Mrs. Claus were on the bridge when we walked in - don't they look cute?

When we walked in, I noticed the sleigh was missing from the front of the park and I was so disappointed because we always take pictures there!  But we found it - over by the polar bear!  And the back drop is MUCH better!

Everyone DOES know that the bottom of this statue is solid ice, don't they?

The kids had fun looking through the "boy" store and the "girl" store to pick out what they wanted to buy!

And there's a new fire pit area where you can actually roast marshmallows and make s'mores!  Of course with the fire ban on that wasn't an option but I'm sure it's more for the fall and winter months anyway!

We had packed a picnic lunch and thoroughly enjoyed the entire day!  No rain either - just nice sunny skies!

The Deer Are Back

It seems like most of the deer disappeared for a couple of months but now they're back in full force!  Glenn isn't so thrilled since they eat everything green in sight but I love to watch them!  We've only seen one little fawn around and him and his mom hang out in our back yard!

All the bucks are in velvet and look pretty darn good!!  Glenn took some feed out to this one and I just had to catch this shot!

Birthdays!!

July is birthday month!  Aleah's 4th of July birthday was spent in Iowa - she turned 9 and sure loved being able to do fireworks back there!!  Jessi's birthday was on the 10th  - her and Gary enjoyed The Melting Pot together!!  Jill's and my birthday were on Friday the 13th this year!!  Jill spent hers camping and I spent mine with Glenn - seeing a movie and eating out at Texas Roadhouse!

When Jill's came down on Sunday, her and I decided to go out for dinner while Glenn watched the kids!  We had a nice dinner at Carmen's and enjoyed our chocolate cake for dessert!

We always try to take a picture together so I have one to put on our annual calendar!

Jill also brought my gift down from the 3 girls - a new game which I can't wait to play AND the device that goes on the back of your phone plus a phone holder for the car!  It's nice to put my phone in the holder so I can see it as I'm driving!

We're all another year older - and YES, I am on Medicare!

High Chateau Fire

Although the High Chateau Fire is completely contained at this point, we are still very low in moisture and fire danger is still extreme!!

The fire started on June 27th while we were in Iowa - we received notification through our phone that subdivisions were being evacuated and we were anxious to get home on Saturday night!  For the next few days, we were on pins and needles not knowing if the fire would spread enough to evacuate us or not!  Smoke was in the air as there was another fire over by Fairplay and the windows needed to be shut during the day to keep the smell out!

Our county and the county next to us went to a Stage III Fire Ban - we've never been on that in all the years we've lived here!  Basically it means no outdoor fires, no charcoal OR propane grills, no ATV's or chainsaws or lawn mowers and no smoking outside.  The 4th was in the middle of the fire and I'm sure people were disappointed that they couldn't grill outside but the oven worked just as well for our ribs that day!

The morning of the 4th we went into Florissant to eat breakfast - the news channel was parked in the parking lot and as soon as we got out of the car, they came over and asked if they could interview us - we said yes and the gal asked us a lot of questions about the fire.  I taped the news that day as we had friends coming over for dinner and later on we watched the taped news to see if we were on.  Yes - 3 different times!  It's sure weird seeing yourself on TV!!

The night of the 5th Woodland Park got a great rain and we got a shower which was nice - the annual outdoor symphony was cancelled due to the weather - which was fine with us!!  We were relieved a few days later when we found out the fire was 100% contained!

We're not out of the woods yet - we still remain on a Stage III fire ban but are getting short showers in the afternoon - let's hope this rain continues!!

Destination - Soldier!!

We decided to do one quick side trip besides all of the Freedom Rocks so we stopped in Kalona - what a cute town!!  Of course we HAD to stop at the Kalona Chocolate place so we could buy some chocolate for the road - and yes, samples were given!!  I bought some dark chocolate caramels - they were delicious!!  And we had some fun with the frames!

We were fortunate to see a horse and buggy parked on a side street!  It's definitely an Amish community!

We had a long list of freedom rocks to check out on the way home.  First we headed to What Cheer (I  have never heard of this town before!) which is in Keokuk County.

Our next stop was Oskaloosa which is in Mahaska County. 

Next on the list was Knoxville which is in Marion County!

The sky in Knoxville got really dark and we knew there was a storm coming!  We parked the car for a few minutes by a park and then decided to go for it!  WOW - what a storm that had went through!  For the next 30 miles there were trees and branches down everywhere you looked!!  Debris and leaves and plants on the highway and just a lot of damage!!  We did hit some rain but luckily the wind was ahead of us!!  One town was dark as the electric poles were down and everywhere you looked there were uprooted trees and broken branches!

We were glad to get to Winterset where we had went last year but the freedom rock wasn't painted at that time.  This year it was done and we were excited to see John Wayne on it, even though he wasn't a veteran!  The rock sits on a corner where the John Wayne museum is.

We decided to eat lunch in Winterset and we ate at the same place we did last year!  The food was just as good too!

 Our next freedom rock said it was in Menlo but we searched the tiny town and it wasn't there - so we plugged it in our phone and sure enough it was one that is out in the country!  Unfortunately there was a closed road so we had to take the LONG way around on gravel roads!  This rock is the ORIGINAL freedom rock painted in Adair County.  It is repainted with a different scene every Memorial Day!!  All the previous pictures of the rocks were displayed in an area where you could read about the artist and sign your name!  We were surprised that since June 1st, there were 6 pages of names!!  WOW!!!

Our final rock was in Manilla, Crawford County!  So we knew we were getting close to home!

It felt good to be back in Soldier and connect with the guys!!  Glenn had a good time fishing and camping with his boys but they sure didn't catch many fish so that was disappointing!  He was itching like crazy as the chiggers got to him once again.....................

Friday morning Patty and I headed up to Charter Oak to see Don and Nadine - always fun to do when we're back!!  We had a great visit and also got to see Becky and Craig as they arrived from Des Moines!

We relaxed in the afternoon and Patty fixed a great dinner for us that evening!  Glenn and I headed out early the next morning for home!  I think the highlight of the way home was finding Caribou Coffee in Kearney!!

Friday we had got notification that a fire had broken out near us!  It was between Florissant and Cripple Creek but until we got home, we didn't really know how close the fire was...................I had Brad on stand-by to get into our house and get things in case we got word of an evacuation!  But the fire was about 9 miles away so we were fine...............and the fire is another blog!