Saturday May 30, 2009

The Big A Bus is back in the barn and will stay there until the third weekend in June when we go out with our ODC Group. Madie, our 10 yr.old grandaughter, will be going with us on that trip. She loves to go with us and enjoys swimming and just hanging out with all of us "old folks". They all love her too.
Now it is on to the garden, getting the weeds out of the flower beds and just doing things around here that need attention.
We have company right now until Monday. Doug and Judy Key from California. They worked with us on the Habitat Build in Preston Georgia and we going to be in the area so we invited them to stay here in their "MH".
I got a text from our 15 yr old grandaughter, Taylor, last night and she had tried out for the dance team at the high school she attends and was chosen for the team. She was plenty excited and I was so happy for her as it has been a rough first year of high school for her. Maybe this will make things look a little better for her as she does love dance. Being a teenager is very hard.

Update on activities in Indianapolis 2009

Friday found us trying to make the decision whether or not to go to the "Lake House" on Saturday or Sunday. Finally the choice was Saturday so we set things in motion to "git it done". Ally and I went grocery shopping, filled the refrigerator in the "MH" with all the food we needed for the weekend adventure and went from there. Clothes, toys, etc had to be packed. It took the "MH" , her van, our tow car and we finally got it all together and off we went with Ally and her three kids in the "MH" to the Lake. When we arrived everyone was boating so first things first we got the kids ready for the water. They went tubing behind John and Jodi Leepers ski boat, rode on the pontoon boat, played, played somemore. Doug & Ally went to the "race party" at his cousins house for a while and returned around 10pm and then it was f bedtime.Ally, Kate and Bella slept in the "MH" with us and Doug & Noah were in the bunkhouse.The Lake House belongs to Ally's neighbors, Mark and Debbie Leeper(Nana and Papa Mark to our grandkids) and they invite whomever from the neighborhood to come out. The house has 4 bedrooms and a bunkhouse that sleeps lots of people. I think at one time we had about 30 people total.
Sunday Ally and Doug took Noah 7years old) to the Indy 500 for the first time and we kept the girls with us. Doug has been going to the race for many years. With the help of everyone Larry, Kate, Bella and I enjoyed a day on the lake in the boats. All the people who went to the race got back around 7 pm and of course the kids wanted to go swimming and tubing again so off they went. They came back around 9pm and of course the kids were hungry AGAIN.Seems we did a lot of "feeding people" this weekend. Parents started getting kids ready for bed and I HIT A BRICK WALL. It was time for me to go to the motorhome to bed. Between the fresh air and sun I was "Done IN".
Monday the weather started out a bit wet but cleared and they got to go out in the boat again. We left the lake house around 3pm, stopped along the way to let Noahs friend Christan in the motorhome so they could ride together and arrived back at Ally and Doug's house with everyone tired and hungry. Pizza was on order and then bed. Tuesday I took Noah shopping for some clothes and then in the afternoon both of the girls started running a fever. Noah wanted to sleep in the "MH" so we had him for the night. Wednesday finds us on the road back to Virginia and stopped in Cross Lanes, W. Va. for the night.

Tuesday May 19th 6 pm

For some unknown reason Larry decided that we would pack the MH and head to Indianpolis tonight instead of driving the car on Wednesday. We quickly got things moving.
After packing the motorhome we left our house around 10pm and drove until 2:30 a.m. We slept for about 4 hours and were on the road again by 7:30 and arrived in Indy around 4 pm. Now personally I am not sure we were too smart as I was really tired yesterday due to LACK of sleep. I guess I am getting way to old to survive on that little sleep.
Today we took Kate and Bella to have pictures taken at Sears while Ally was on a trip to The Zoo with Noah's class. I had kept a dress that Ally had when she was 4 years old and had her portrait done in it and wanted one of Kate in the dress. I have a wait a couple of years for Bella but would like to get one of her at 4 years also. However we might have to do her early as she is growing so much and is going to be taller then Kate. She is only 4 inches shorter then Kate now. Kate got some of the Halstead/McKown genes for little people.

Tomorrow is Noah's last day of school so we have to go to his Field Day. Larry and Doug are putting together a trampoline for the kids and I am sure that is going to take some time.

Catch up more later.

Virginia State Good Sam Samboree 5-2009

There is nothing to say but that we had a great time and were VERY tired when this adventure was over.
Larry and I had volunteered to be on the State Staff of the Va. Good Sams and we got put to work in a big way on our first time on Staff. We had planned to go down to Urbanna, Va. on Wed (13th) but received a call on Sunday asking if we could go a day early. Well we did and from the time we arrived until we left on Sunday around 2 pm we were BUSY, There were 239 "rigs" that arrived for the Samboree and I personally met all but 3 of them. We were on the parking group and I stood in the middle of the road and greeted all these people and Larry and 2 other guys drove golf carts and showed them where to park. Belive me by Friday night at 9 pm this old gal was about dead on her feet but I kept going. On Saturday we helped our Club, The Old Dominion Cardinals with a food sale of hamburgers and then participated in the "theme parade" which was about summer and beaches. We were equipped with water guns, Beach Boy Music, and lots of other toys. A good time was had by all.
Back home on Sunday and getting ready to go to Indianapolis.

Visit from our Texas friends May 2009

This has nothing to do with the motorhome but I thought that I should record this in our blog for a couple of reasons. I don't want to foget this visit and thought some of you might enjoy it.
On Tuesday May 5th Mary Jane(being from Texas) and Larry)from Bainbridge, Ga.) Phillips, our friends from Texas, arrived at our house in Virginia. Now you might remember seeing something in an earlier blog about them. Larry and Larry worked together back in the 60's and we had lost touch until 2 years ago. Boy have we done some catching up since then. They had never been to Virginia so we have been trying to get them here. Well, they decided to do a "Bucket List Trip" and visit all the people they had been promising to visit for the last 20 years. Larry Phillips and I did a lot of bowling on the Wii and they also taught so how to play a dice game called Farkel. Of course Larry P and I enjoyed talking about different people from Bainbridge that we both grew up with. He is one year younger than my Brother was which means he is 8 years older than me. We also discovered that we are related to the same person from Cairo Georgia, he from his Mothers side of the family and me from my grandmother on my Dads side plus the lady taught Larry Halstead in 5th grade. Small small world. We have been having lots of rain in Virginia but the weather turned nice for most of their visit. We went to Thomas Jeffersons home at Monticello on Thursday and then to Fredericksburg to meet Bryant and his family for dinner at the new Pub in Fredericksburg. Madie was so excited since they have fish and chips that she really loves. Friday we took them to a couple of winerys in this area which they enjoyed. Saturday morning they left on another leg of the journey to North Carolina to visit another cousin who just happened to teach school in Bainbridge with my Mother. I could go on and on but just wanted to share a little of their visit.
Now Larry and I are off to Urbanna Virginia for the Virginia State Good Sams Samboree.More later