Weekend Fun!

I had a houseful this last weekend - Jaime, Jessi and their 4 kids along with Robby and Jill were here so we could all do Jill's baby shower!

Thursday night found me frantically cleaning and child-proofing the house - this does take a while, putting up all the things you don't want the little boys to run off with and actually taking some things into the storage room - it's just easier than saying "no" all the time!

We had a great weekend - the boys loved playing outside when it wasn't raining and Rayna discovered she COULD actually jump rope and spent a lot of time doing just that - but after a while, the thump-thump-thump of the jump rope hitting the wood floor just got to be a little much and we had to move her out to the deck!

Kylan's and Papa's birthday were celebrated - Kylan wasn't much interested in the gift we got him at first - but the next day after we put it together, he really got into the hang of it! His favorite toy though was the "ocean" and he spent a long time just staring at those fish that would go by!

Coffee on the deck was fun - it was a glorious day out and we just enjoyed sitting around the table while Papa was busy swinging the kids! Mackenzie loved being outdoors and I spent a lot of time just walking outside with her. And since Rayna didn't get to do her scavenger hunt during the shower (it rained), her and I did it on Sunday and walked the property at least a couple of times trying to find all the items!

Was I tired by the time they all left on Sunday - exhausted was more like it! But I loved every minute of having them here and am already looking forward to the next time!

Sunsets and Boat Rides

One evening Glenn took me for a sunset cruise - how romantic! We cruised up and down the lake and I found out how the lake got its' name! The bluffs were beautiful, and varied in color so they were fun to see!

By that time of night, there weren't a lot of boats on the water so it was nice and peaceful - I enjoyed just floating along and enjoying the scenary! The sunsets were beautiful on the lake - hard to capture in a picture but I tried at least!

Unfortunately, camping trips always come to an end - we packed up Monday and headed for home - in the pouring rain - all the way home!! But come to find out, it had rained every day at home while we were enjoying sunshine in Kansas!! And once again, we unpacked in the pouring rain! Who cared though - we'd had a great extended weekend and a little rain wasn't going to dampen our spirits!!

Happy Birthday Greetings to Kylan who turned 2 on Monday - pictures to come this weekend when we celebrate Glenn's and Kylan's birthdays!!

Here, Fishy Fishy!

I didn't see a lot of Glenn during the day - he was up at the crack of dawn to go fishing - and he spent hours and hours on the boat doing JUST that!! I've always admired how much patience Glenn has, especially when he's fishing - he can fish forever without even getting a bite and yet he still continues doing it! He's extremely passionate about the sport!

So his typical day would be to get up about 5:30 and fish till about 9:00 - come in and we'd fix some breakfast and then he would be back at it till about 1:00 - naptime - back out to fish awhile and then in to grill dinner about 6:00 - and maybe fishing in the evening!

But he did catch a lot of fish - crappie - (pronounced like croppie) and the limit in Ks. was 50 a day!! 50 of those critters!! He had to settle for bringing a total of about 30 of them home! And we ate the first batch for dinner tonight - delicious!

When we were driving around looking for a camping spot, I noticed they had a nature trail - so bright and early on Sat. morning I decided to check it out! It was actually done by the local boy scouts which I found kind of neat and the pathway was actually hard-surfaced so it was great to walk on! All along the trail there were signs you could stop and read about the local wildlife and plants so it was interesting! The trail was probably about 3/4 to a mile long so I enjoyed getting my exercise and then walking back to the campsite! Here's a picture of part of the trail which ran along the end of the lake

I spent my days reading and reading and reading - actually I brought 4 books to read, along with the one I was already reading! And Sunday I panicked because I thought I was going to run out of books to read - but I didn't - I finished the last one about an hour before we left on Monday! Even though this is Glenn sitting in the chair, it's the view I had daily!

When I wasn't reading, I was working on my Swedish Weaving - I only had 14 rows left on the blanket but they were the long rows and take almost an hour apiece to do! So I would do some weaving in the morning and again in the afternoon, inbetween all of the reading!

I had a nice view of the lake so I'd prop my chair under the shelter if I didn't want to be in the sun and it was enjoyable just watching the boats and jet skis go by too! The Kansas weather was marvelous every day - lots of sunshine and just enough of a breeze to keep you cool! I took a couple of evening pictures which I thought were kind of cool - the lake had all kinds of trees sticking out of it and it looked really eerie in the evenings!

Of course one night we had a fire so I could roast marshmellows - I grabbed the bag and brought it outside, opened it and couldn't believe my eyes!! The company had shrunk the marshmellows!! Instead of nice, fat, fluffy marshmellows, I had a cross between a miniature and a regular one!! They looked absolutely hideous on the end of the sticks so we put 2 on a time but still............ Make sure you check the SIZE of your next marshmellows before you buy them!

Happy Birthday Glenn!

Yes, I know I'm late in writing this! But better late than never! So Happy 57th Birthday to my wonderful husband!

Did we celebrate? Of course - we got up at 3:30 am on Friday - that way we didn't waste any birthday time! Actually, we got up that early because we were heading on our camping trip and Glenn wanted to get a REALLY early start! After packing in the pouring rain on Thursday night, we were glad to see it was only misting when we took the final items out to the truck and headed out around 4:00am!

Me - I slept - I'd had a tough work week - Glenn got to drive-and once I woke up for good, I took control of the CD's and we soon were cruising along Highway 94 (I think) - I'm not good at maps!

Glenn wanted to take the back roads through eastern Colorado and western Kansas so that's what we did - it was still a highway, just not the interstate, and we went through one tiny town after another! It was kind of sad to sometimes see just 1 or 2 buildings in these so called towns and most of the time they were empty! But every town had a grain elevator - I've never seen so many grain elevators!

I was beginning to think that breakfast wasn't even going to be an option but then we went through a town that actually had a small restaurant! The 50 cent coffee I had there was lousy but the ham & cheese omelet and hash browns were the best I've had in a long, long time!

We meandered our way through Kansas and finally arrived at Cedar Bluff Lake! Of course the first thing we had to do was to fill out the day pass and camping pass papers - we were both surprised that the little building was NOT occupied, even though it was the start of Memorial Day Weekend - so we grabbed a pen and started filling out the paperwork - now you would have thought that would have been an easy assignment but we were on vacation and somehow the brain just doesn't work when it knows it doesn't have to! With no calculator in my purse, we had to hand figure the fees, $4.20 per day for the park pass and $8.50 a day to camp - now who in their right mind set that day pass fee at $4.20???? Why not $4.00 or even $5.00?? Oh no, they wanted us to HAVE to do that addition thing! After I totalled up on a piece of scratch paper, 3 days of park passes and 3 days of camping for the total amount, we FINALLY got it finished, attached the appropriate papers to our windshield and headed in to find the boat dock and a camping spot.

The first dock we went too had posts in front of it and the dock was sitting out of the water - hmmmmmm, not a good sign! But since we were on the right side of the lake for the wilderness camping, we decided to try and find a spot to camp and then check out another dock area. We found a great spot to camp and then it was off to find another dock! Mission accomplished - we put the boat in the water and Glenn motored over to the camping spot while I drove the truck and trailer over. It worked out perfectly as our camp site was up on a small bluff and Glenn could bring the boat up to the shore, tie it up, and leave it in the water all weekend!

We cranked up the camper and set up quickly so Glenn could fish and I could start my weekend in the lounge chair! It was heavenly - raspberry tea and goldfish and Danielle Steele! A great view of the lake and nice warm sunshine - what a deal! To be continued......

Its' Been ONE WHOLE YEAR!

Can you believe it?? On Sat., May 23rd, I will have been blogging for an entire year! I started last year on Memorial Day Weekend - and since I will be gone this weekend, I decided to do an "early" blog to celebrate my one year anniversary!

I have SO enjoyed writing and posting pictures - and I REALLY enjoy my book of blogs that Jessi had printed for my Mother's Day gift! It's adorning my coffee table and just fun to pick up and randomly read!

As I talked to Jessi this morning, we were reminiscing about LAST Memorial Day Weekend - while the guys all went fishing up in Wyoming and not only got rained on but about froze to death, we girls were enjoying all kinds of yummy food, shopping, garage saling and watching movies, all in the comfort of Jaime's home!

But since I don't have a broken leg this year, Glenn and I are camping! I'm taking Friday off to have a 4 day weekend! And I'm SO EXCITED to go camping, even if it's not in the mountains!

Glenn always picks where we go on our first camping trip because it's the BEST fishing for walleye and crappies (I THINK that's how you spell it) and this year we are heading to Kansas - yes, KANSAS - to Cedar Bluff Lake. It's about a 5 hour drive from here so we're getting up about 4:00am and heading out tomorrow morning!

The camper is cleaned and will be packed tonight - the boat is ready to go - and my stack of books are ready to be read! 4 whole days of reading and swedish weaving - I can hardly wait!

So while you are enjoying your weekend, just picture me in my lounger lawn chair, raspberry tea and goldfish crackers by my side, sunning myself in the Kansas sun, reading away..............

I'm A Hard Workin' Man!

You're probably thinking that all we do around this place is work! Well, you're right! We're trying to get all of our projects done before summer really arrives so we can do some serious camping this year!

I posted pictures of our new deck a few weeks ago - and now it's time for the railing! Glenn decided he better get the one side put up before Evan and Kylan arrive in a couple of weeks! Cause it's a steep fall if one of them decides to walk too close to the edge!

Glenn had the small posts left over from doing the deck last year, but he didn't have the long poles - a simple solution for him - get a wood cutting permit, cut down some straight trees, shave the bark off and presto - poles!! Then there's cutting all those notches to fit the small poles into - not an easy task!

So he's been hard at work all day building the railing - I, on the other hand, have also been busy all day washing windows! Glenn did get the upper windows washed on the outside and I did the rest of the house so our windows are all sparkling clean! And it was so nice out today that I left the door open - and that wasn't smart - I forgot the flies were out! So then I had flies in all of my nice, clean windows! Luckily the vaccum sucks them up quite nice and those that didn't have the pleasure of mingling with the dust in the vaccum, were swatted at and promptly put in the wastebasket! How dare they make marks on my clean windows!

Is It Too Early?

I love the 4th of July - especially decorating for it! So last week I put up my decorations - I didn't have a lot, but after 2 separate trips to Hobby Lobby, now I do! (And every time I go, they're always 50% off!)


I guess it's the colors that I like to work with the most - who can go wrong with red, white and blue! And I figured it would be fun to have the decorations out for the rest of May and all of June since once July comes, the 4th is here!

I really must CELEBRATE the 4th this year as I have the cutest scrapbooking paper to use - which means taking some photos wherever I might be! But I see the 4th is on a Thursday this year so that doesn't make for much fun unless we close the office for Friday - chances are we won't do that! But a 4 day weekend would sure be nice.................