May Photo Dump

 Just a few pics for the May Photo Dump!

We went out to eat at the Ute Inn one evening with the neighbors - I had ordered a hamburger and was so surprised to see their logo branded into the bun!!

I do believe this was National Taco Day as I remember making tacos!!

It was cold out in early May and snowing lightly so I turned the fireplace on and got my coffee and enjoyed watching it snow!

Here's my two little coffee gnomes that now sit together on my kitchen window ledge!

We had a pretty good storm mid-May - a lot of the snow melted as it hit the ground but some stuck, especially on the trees!!  We welcomed the snow as it's been so dry and it all melted basically the next day!

I have 2 of these black frames that I love but was ready for another picture in there - I LOVED this pic I took last fall so had it blown up and I put it in - I was very happy with the results!!

And that's a wrap for the month of May!!

Hot and Humid Oklahoma!

 Day 2 of the games was upon us!  I woke up early again and walked outside for a while but was soon hot so that meant it was time to come into the a/c and get some juice - also a great time to do my wordle and connections!

I wanted special coffee that morning so I had found a spot to get it - and after that we stopped at Dunkin' Donuts as Aleah wanted a drink and then we were off to the ballfield!  The girls have to be there 1 1/2 hours early so there is a lot of down time!

Jill and I had seen this large building that said coliseum and decided to walk up to see what it was - little did we know that this was the HIGH SCHOOL which happens to be right on Route 66!  What a cool looking school - and the coliseum building must have held the volleyball and basketball courts!

Jill posing with a nice view of the ballfields!  Parking was easy although sometimes you had to walk a ways to get over there!  But we sure appreciated Jill's wagon during those times!!

The girls had 2 games that day, which unfortunately were a ways apart from each other!  Here's Aleah getting ready to bat!

She did get a couple of nice hits during the games but once again, they lost both of them which was disappointing!

Relaxing with lunch - we were all hot!

Early evening was the team dinner in the town where the girls played ball - it was a huge Mexican restaurant and the girls had to sit all together with the parents just finding their own seating!  Again, a real struggle with the waiters with Jill's gluten free - we both REALLY wanted another margarita to split but they just couldn't understand this term and there was no way Jill was going to order a drink, not knowing if the mix was gluten free or not!!  So we both just ate and the food was OK!

Aleah would hang with her friends during the evening - Jill and I would read after our showers and just relax!!

Oh and I almost forgot to mention that on the trip to the ballfield, we would see TURTLES on the highway - I think we saw 4 one day!!  They weren't the tiny ones nor were they the huge ones - just medium size ones crossing the country highway!!!  WEIRD!!!

Monday was bracket play day - single elimination - we figured they would lose and unfortunately they did........but we had already decided to just spend one more night at the hotel and then get up early to drive back home!

Here's Aleah with her hat that she decorated!   

Waiting around for the final game - same heat, same humidity!!

You can see my kindle sitting on the ice chest and I would bring it every day to read during the down time!

After the game, it was back to the hotel for showers and then out to dinner at a steak house!  We had a nice young waiter wait on us and he was new but he did just fine!!  Aleah had her steak and enjoyed it!  My hamburger and potato salad was really good so it was a nice evening together!  The other 2 wanted ice cream at Braum's - I was just too full to eat any but could hardly believe the prices!!  Aleah had a one scoop (very large scoop) on a waffle cone and Jill had a sundae - $2.00 for each!!  WOW!!

We were up early on Tuesday morning to eat breakfast at 6 when it opened and then we loaded up and hit the road!!  It was a good but long trip back but it felt great to get into Colorado with lower temps!!  Glenn met us in Limon to pick me up so they could get back on I-70 and head to Ft. Collins!

All in all, a great trip and I'm so glad I was invited to go!!

Oklahoma City Bound

 Once again, Aleah had a softball tournament in the Oklahoma City area - Jill and Aleah were driving out for it and asked if I would go again and I decideded sure, why not?  It's always fun to spend time with your daughter and granddaughter, especially on a road trip!

Glenn took me down to Co. Springs where we met Jill and Aleah at this crappy gas station - oh my!!  There was construction all over and really not a great place to meet but we got my stuff loaded and headed out!  A quick stop in Limon for gas and Aleah wanted something from Taco Bell so we went over there - Jill and I decided to just eat lunch from our ice chests so I went to the back of the van to fix it while Jill went in with Aleah - I opened the back of her van and my suitcase was leaning against the door and promply fell out and hit my shin bone - BAD!!!  Oh my gosh it hurt - so you can bet I packed it more carefully once I got lunch made for the road!

And we're off to Salina,KS for the night to spend it with Joleen!

We got into Joleen's about 6:00pm - the drive was fine but it always feels good to get out of the car!  The girls took a tour of Joleen's house and we were all happy we each had our own room and bed!!  Joleen has a new dog which is a handful for her - she's a Boston terrier mix but was found on the streets and went to the pound - she loves to jump on you and as most people know, I'm NOT a dog lover!!  After a while she finally left me alone but would soon come back and jump!!  

We had a nice dinner and just visited till bedtime - the next morning Becca came over to the house and it was SO fun to see her - Jill and her hadn't seen each other in a very long time!

Then we all headed out for coffee and enjoyed visiting!

I made up a 4th of July basket for Joleen and she loved it!

Then it was time to hit the road!!  It was only 3 hours till we got to the town of Cushing where our hotel was - but along the way we got on the turnpike and check out the speed limit!!  We were flying!!

Our hotel was a Holiday Inn Express and very nice - with a couch in our suite, it made for a lot of room and we quickly unpacked and grabbed food out of the ice chest as Aleah was heading to a World Series game with some of the players!

Aleah had a great time at the game - Jill and I went out to a local Mexican restaurant to eat - the food was delicious but our raspberry margarita that we split was even better - YUM!  I should have take a picture of it!!!

The Holiday Inn has a nice breakfast bar - plenty to choose from for everyone and Aleah and I LOVED the fact they had warm cinnamon rolls EVERY DAY!!!  They went excellent with a cup of coffee!!  I tend to get up earlier than Jill so I would sneak out of the room and walk for a while and then just wait in the breakfast area till Jill came down - worked out great!!

Next day the games started - and it was HOT!!!!  Luckily the field they played on all 3 days was in a small town about 25 minutes away - the road we took was in the "country" so it was a nice drive!  There were 4 fields in the complex and lots of seating under a roof on each one - but because it was so hot, the hard chairs got sticky and hot so we would go between them and our camp chairs!

The girls played 2 games that day and unfortunately lost both - bummer!

There was a covered picnic area so we went over there for lunch - luckily there was a nice breeze that day but between the heat and the humidity, we were sure hot!

After the games all the girls were told by their coach to pick up fast food and take it back to the hotel so we could all eat together! We had looked earlier at a place to do this so had our order all ready to call in on the drive back to our hotel - it's always a little more difficult with Jill being gluten free but she was just getting a club salad with no croutons so we thought that would work!  Jill ran into get the order (which took forever!!) and I told Aleah in the car that I bet they screwed up her salad and had to redo it!!  But about then she came out and I'm thinking in my head we should check the order but I didn't follow through on it!  We got back to the hotel, opened up our boxes and sure enough Jill's was WRONG!!  They gave her a regular salad with ceasar dressing AND croutons on top - no meat, eggs or veggies!!!  OMG!!  So she had to get back into the car and drive back to the place for them to redo it - what a hassle!!

The softball team stayed after we all ate and decorated ball caps - Jill and I escaped to our hotel room to shower and relax........

To Be Cont'd.....

Random Pics

 Just a few pictures from the fun weekend - we sure enjoyed having Gwyn and Jasmine stay at our house!  Glenn cooked them pancakes one morning!

And took them for a ride and over to the rental one day!

Evan and Parker walked over one day to visit - of course you can walk right by the swing so Parker decided to try it out - oops - the rope was VERY worn and busted the seat right off - probably a good thing he did it and not Gwyn!!  But that old rope has done MANY MANY rides over the past 10 years!!

A bunch went over to Cripple Creek to see Rita the troll and found that the skating rink was open so a few of them skated and had a great time!

Rayna and her boyfriend Jarod getting ice cream over there!

Glenn also took the girls to the NEW Florissant playground - they had a great time!!  Now just so you don't think I didn't do anything with the girls, well I sure did as we played lots of cards!!

A great weekend for all!

Cornhole Fun!

 It was sure nice having 2 of the families right across the meadow in the rental - there was a LOT of back and forth between everyone!

Sunday we had a cornhole tournament over at the rental!  The weather was perfect (at least for a while!)

Jessi and Jaime

We were all inside when it started raining like crazy!!  But just for a short time and then a beautiful rainbow came out!

Whoops - this picture got out of place - but it's just a bunch of us sitting around after the tournament!

We had an excellent dinner all together and then celebrated Kylans' birthday!

The kids had found a jigsaw puzzle so really tried hard to finish it but that didn't happen!

Robby, Aleah and Parker had left Saturday night because the kids needed to study for finals (they weren't out of school yet!!)  Kenzie had to leave that night also because she had to work on Sunday morning!

But the rest of them left early Monday morning - Jessi's stopped over at our house of course to pick up the two girls and they all had a safe trip home!

Kylan's House Party

 After graduation we all headed out to Jaime and Brad's place for lunch and the afternoon!!

Lunch was served and it was great!!  But the cake was even better!!  YUM!

And of course we took all the mandatory graduation pictures!

Enjoying the cake and punch!

It's always fun to get an updated cousin picture!

The cousins were all downstairs playing a game so I snuck down and snapped a couple of pictures!  This is Brad's daughter Shannon and her husband Robby from New York - we so enjoyed meeting him and catching up with Shannon!

A perfect graduation day!!  And the fun continues.......

Kylan's Graduation

 Kylan's graduation day dawned cool but sunny!!  For a while there, we all thought they may have to move it inside due to a rainy forescast (which meant each graduate only got 6 tickets so none of us would be going, just watching it online) but the school made the decision to have it outside and it was a GREAT decision!

We all brought our camp chairs and set up in the grass - we did wear coats most of the time as it was chilly but the sun was bright so it was a wonderful service!

The graduates marched in while the band played!

Kylan receiving his diploma!

The graduates are all ready to move their tassels on their caps!

One smiling graduate with beautiful Pikes Peak in the distance!

And a picture of a few of us as we were all heading to our cars!

Onward to Jaime and Brad's house for lunch and the afternoon!