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!

Family Time Before Graduation

 The day before graduation, Jessi's and Jill's family arrived along with Gale and Kris from Iowa - they had booked the rental through VRBO which is right across our back property - we can see the house from ours through the trees!!

Jessi got here first with Gwyn and Kenzie - Gary and Evan were on a motorcycle trip and arrived that evening.  I had Gwyn's birthday present to give her so they stopped here for a while so she could open her present!

I think she was surprised!!

Gwyn is into the jellycat soft stuffed animals!!  And Jessi had told me she really wanted this elephant so that's what we got her and she was certainly happy with it!

We visited for awhile and then I went over with her to the house to help unload and check the house out - it is really suited well with 4 bedrooms and 2 living room areas!  And of course beautiful views of Pikes Peak so all were happy with the house!

Kylan was over working on Irene's car (with Papa's help) and he had the dirtiest hands I think I've seen!

Gwyn brought a friend with her (being the youngest she NEVER has anyone to hang out with) so Jessi told her she could bring a friend!!  But since there were only so many beds in the rental, they asked if they could stay here so I had Gwyn and Jasmine for the next 4 nights!

Kylan's Capping

 A tradition at Woodland Park High School is the "Capping and Tea Ceremony"  My girls all got capped when they graduated and they still do this tradition!

The capping was held in the gym - the students who participated brought it their graduation caps and could bring up to 3 people to stand on the riser behind them and officially "cap" them!  It's a fun ceremony and we were glad to be a part of it!

The madrigals sang a song and then a slide show was shown - a picture of each graduate with some having their baby pics on it too, along with what the graduate was planning for the future!  It was very well done!

The graduates came up in groups of 5 or more and it was fun to watch the people try to get the caps put on - a lot of laughs!

After the ceremony they served drinks and cake in the lunch room and there was a great spot to take pics!

It was a great evening!