Monday, July 1, 2019 - Early Golf; Playing in the Park; Breakfast for Lunch; Bowling; Grilling; and T-Ball - A Very Full Day!
Jarred reserved a T-time for Matt, Megan, Dean and himself for 6:30am - yes that is really 6:30 (in the morning). I told them I would watch the kids. Matt & Megan are staying with Jarred and Andrea. When I arrived only Sarah was awake. It was a gradual wakeup for the rest of them, with Josh next, followed by Sam, then Emerson. Megan had their milk ready for them in the refrigerator and some donuts to eat. They were all so good and the morning flew by. I couldn't believe it when Dean sent a text saying they were on their way home around 9.
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| Matt Peine family waiting to go to the park |
The plan after golf was to take the kids to the Sedgwick County Park, have breakfast for lunch then go bowling afterwards. Jarred called to see if Heath's boys could go with us. Unfortunately Roman was a little under the weather, but Abram and Gideon wanted to go. Dean and I picked them up and joined the rest of the crew at the Park. It was awful hot outside today but we still managed to play for 30 minutes or so. There is little shade at the playground, so we moved on to what Jarred called The Hill. We all climbed the hill - even this old Nana and Papa. Gideon turned his ankle a little but he was tough and hung along with us for the rest of the day.
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| Gideon at the Park |
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| Faces are a little hidden with a few hands, but this is everyone who climbed the hill, well except Jarred who took the picture! Back: Papa Dean, Matt (and Sam in his arms) Middle: Me, Abram, Gideon and Megan Bottom: Josh, Emerson and Sarah (standing) |
Our next stop was Cracker Barrel where we had a mixture of breakfast and lunch specials. I think everyone enjoyed their meal. It was quite a group!
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| Our group at Cracker Barrell |
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| Josh was enjoying the kids page of activities while waiting on his lunch. |
From there, we just kept going and headed to the bowling alley. The adults bowled on one team and the kids on the other. We all took turns trying to entertain little Sam. While we signed up to play two games, Dean and I needed to get Abram and Gideon home by 3. I asked about a refund and they were so nice about it and gave it to us. Again, I think everyone had a really good time.
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| Shirts I had my niece Melissa make for Matt's kids. Josh - I'm the oldest child - I make the rules. Sarah - I'm the middle child - I'm the reason we have rules. Sam- I'm the littlest child - The rules don't apply to me. |
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| Sarah wanted to wear her "Dorothy" dress to Emerson's game - we didn't think she would last long - it was VERY hot out, and no it wasn't long and she wanted out of it. Lol! |
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| Emerson had a good game. She played well and ran hard to make it home. |
I'm thankful for the energy needed to keep up with everyone and the special times we get to spend with all of our family.
Tuesday, July 2, 2019 - Laundry, Shopping, Lunch at Cheddar's, Travel Plans Changed, Swimming, Sandwiches and Late Father's Day for Daddy Dean.
I started laundry as soon as I got up this morning. We will not have sewer hookups when we move to Brett's, where we will be staying until Sunday afternoon.
I planned to do some shopping today. I really needed to get a few "grocery" items (Sam's, Walmart's), I wanted to go to Khol's for a few things I needed, and to look for some birthday presents. Dean left to go to Jarred's to spend the morning with him, Matt, Megan and the grandkids. I headed to Sam's first. Dean loves the Nature Valley Sweet & Salty Almond Bars they have in bulk. Today they were marked down $3.00 per box, so I bought two boxes. I think I mentioned we love the Diet Lipton Green Citrus Tea (lime & lemon). 24 bottles at Sam's were $8 - I've been paying around $6 for 12 bottles, so I bought two of the 24 packs; and since we are moving to Brett's tomorrow where we'll be having a big 4th of July meal - I grabbed a big box of assorted cookies. Next stop at Walmart. I only needed some face cream and some clips for my hair. With that done, I decided to go back to the RV and drop those items off. I called Dean and told him I was going on to Khol's (which is not far from Jarred's house). I asked him to call me when they decided to go eat. I will either meet them at the house or the restaurant. They decided on Cheddar's, located only a few blocks from Khol's. I think that was the longest wait for food we've ever had at a Cheddar's and with four hungry children it began to be a very long wait! However, when it arrived the food was good. There was a couple sitting across from our table with a baby and a toddler. I noticed he looked over at us several times. About the time we were finished with our meal, he walked over to me and said how are you doing young lady? I really looked closely wondering if I should know him. I finally said I'm sorry but I'm not sure I know you. He said at Pizza Hut? I told him I'd never worked at Pizza Hut - then he realized he had the wrong person and was clearly embarrassed. He apologized but I told him it was fine.
When we left the restaurant, I took Dean by Jarred's to get his truck and we both returned to Bentley. He was getting his swimming trunks and a towel, as he was headed back to Heath's to swim with Matt, Megan and family and Heath's boys. I stayed to work on our travel plans. They have changed - almost completely from our original plan. We are disappointed but things happen, and fortunately we can adjust our plans. Not everyone can do that when their travel plans change so we are blessed in that way.
After making calls for camping sites in Colorado and other close areas, I could not find a park with any openings. We knew there was the chance this could happen - the west is heavily traveled through the summer months. We were hoping for the best, however, we realized it might not work out. All in all the timing worked well, since we were able to be here during Matt & Megan's visit.
So our new travel plans are now - via northern KS/MO, South Dakota, then head north to Minnesota, North Dakota, and Wyoming (new states). We will still visit Yellowstone because that is one reservation we made really early and this route will still work perfectly with the revised plan. (I knew I could cancel Yellowstone up until 24 hours prior to our arrival date - so I held on to that one) We have also chosen to slow down and cover less distance between stops. Even if we can't see everything originally planned, we think we'll enjoy the trip more this way.
By 3:30 I had only made three reservations after researching campgrounds for only the first three stops. I look for best prices so I search a number of sites to find the best price and campsite available. Today I was fortunate that all of them will be $25 or less a night. I'd prefer $20 a night everywhere - but that is getting harder to find.
I put away my laptop and paperwork, so I could stop at Dillon's (just a short distance away) for lunchmeat, bread and chips. That's what we'll have for dinner tonight at Heath & Casey's. They had small tubs of mini cookies (Vanilla Wafers, Oreos, etc.) so I bought several for the kids to have after dinner tonight or tomorrow.
Casey was working from home today, so everyone was in the basement to keep the noise level down. We played games on Jackbox.tv. It's a lot of fun. Roman was my partner and out of the 4 games we played - we won first place once, second once and third two times. I'd say he was a pretty good partner. The smaller kids were having a good time playing with a variety of toys.
We were making sandwiches when Heath walked in from his first day of work as Executive Director of Student Support Services for the Wichita Public Schools. After everyone had ate and things were cleaned up Jarred went home. When he returned a short time later he came back with a late Father's Day gift for Dean from his boys. It is a Flame Genie Wood Pellet Fire Pit that we can use when we are camping. We have really enjoyed the ones our friends have at our Escapees camp-outs. Now we can enjoy one wherever we are when it's just the two of us, or with family and friends. We enjoy sitting out by the fire in the evenings. You don't have to worry about them getting out of hand, and they burn out pretty quickly if you do not add pellets too often.
We left soon after the gift giving, with goodbyes to everyone, as tomorrow, along with Matt's family we will be heading to Dean's son, Brett's house near Liberal, MO where we will spend several days.
Tuesday, July 3, 2019 - Travel Day to Liberal, MO; Dinner at Chicken Annie's
Dean and I went over to tell Jarred and Emerson goodbye before leaving this morning. Before we left we had everything ready to go except pulling in the slides and hitching up. We told Andrea (Jarred's wife) and Heath's family goodbye last night. Matt, Megan and family will be following us a short time later.
It was a warm 81 degrees when we left but the wind came up and the temperature dropped to a windy and cool 71 degrees when we made our first stop east of Wichita at the Beaumont Rest Stop. I wished I had a jacket! It was at that point Dean told me the trailer brakes were acting up again. We made it to Brett's with no issues but Dean will be looking at them again while we are there to try and determine what the problem is. We are getting pretty frustrated with this problem since we are only days away from leaving on our summer trip.
We ran into some rain in the area I love the most in the Flint Hills on Highway 400. Off to the south you could see a rainstorm that was just a gray shadow across that valley. I was hoping it would not get to us before we made it through. While we did get rain it was not too bad and I was very thankful for that. It was enough rain to wash my car off where a dirty old bird evidently loved the passenger doors!
At Fredonia, we took Hwy 47 until we hit Hwy 59 South, then turned back east on Hwy 47, eventually traveling through Girard, KS to Hwy 69. North of Frontenac, KS we turned on Hwy 160 headed east to Hwy W and it wasn't long until we pulled up in front of Brett's house. Typically we pull on past his house into the entrance of a field of the farmer's north of him, but the grass hasn't been cut all year and it was too high to take a chance trying to drive through with the RV. Dean pulled it up Brett's drive, then backed it in to the spot he has for us when we visit. In no time we were parked, and getting set up. We weren't quite through setting up when Matt & family pulled in.
Soon we were all inside enjoying the air conditioning. It was well 81 when we arrived, and it was a regular humid Kansas afternoon! The kids were glad to be out of the car and have the chance to run around, and we were glad to be stopped and set up for a few days to spend more time with family. We visited inside until about 6, then left to meet Emilee's parents and sister at Pichler's Chicken Annie's at the south side of Pittsburg for dinner. Emilee is Brett's girlfriend, and she has a sweet daughter, who is almost 4 years old, named Logen. Despite the fact that Chicken Mary's is Dean's and my favorite chicken place in the Pittsburg area, I have to admit that the meal tonight at Annie's was quite good. I still don't think their German slaw and potato salad is as good as Mary's though.
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| The Story of Chicken Annie's |
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| From left to right: Brett, Emilee, Emilee's Dad Tim holding Emilee's daughter Logen, Emilee's sister and mother - Jordan and Shiela, Megan, Sarah, Josh and Matt. |
After returning to Brett's where we all visited and enjoyed sitting outside on Brett's back porch. We broke open the large container of cookies I bought at Sam's for a little snack. There was a nice breeze which really helped keep the flies and bugs at bay this evening. The kids were having a great time chasing lightening bugs and managed to catch a few. It was a great evening.
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| We did get a little excited when we saw this far behind Brett's house. |
Thursday, July 4, 2019 - Happy 4th of July
Dean and I had our breakfast at Bentley and then we ran into Walmart in Lamar to pick up some milk for the kids, bottled water and stuff to make a dessert for lunch. The kids played outside this morning. It was great for them to run off some of their energy. They were just having a good time with each other. Brett left to pick up Dacy and Tucker while we were gone, and it was good to see them again. It was just a nice day for hanging out.
We had sandwiches for lunch. Afterwards, we played some online games via our cellphones - Fibbage and Whiplash. They are just fun games - similar to what we played at Heath's with the kids.
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| Dacy |
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| Sarah |
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| Tucker |
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| Josh was lucky - no Pie in the Face for him! |
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| Emilee - someone gave her twice the whipped cream!! |
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| It was fun watching to see who would get Pie In The Face! |
For dinner Brett grilled hamburgers, brats and hot dogs. In addition to the fixings, we had pasta salad, cucumber/onion salad, and sliced potatoes/onions/cheese in foil packages. A delicious meal, topped off with the strawberry dessert I made and a few more of those cookies.
After dinner the guys (Brett & Matt) went into town to buy some fireworks for the kids to set off. Dacy and Tucker along with Matt & Brett did most of that, but the smaller kids enjoyed sparklers, snakes and the little snap-its you throw on the ground. Of course they really enjoyed chasing the parachutes that fell from the sky and the colored smoke bombs. What a fun evening.
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| From left: Sarah, Megan with Sam, Matt, Papa Dean, Joshua Dean, Tucker, Brett, Emilee with Logen and Dacy. |
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| Sarah (with her biggest smile), Josh and Logen. |
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| Sam |
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| Beautiful sunset from Brett's front yard |
As the sun started to set, everyone (except Dean and I) loaded up and drove to Pittsburg to watch their firework display. Dean and I had no problem falling asleep. I wore my ear plugs because I could hear fireworks from Brett's neighbors. It was a good decision as I slept very well.
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