Tuesday, June 9, 2020 - Busy, Busy, Day

Tuesday, June 9, 2020 - Busy, Busy, Day 

I was awake minutes before 5:30.  It was already 72 outside, but it's supposed to be another 90F day, before the weather a big change to cool weather tomorrow, expecting mid-70 temperatures as our high.  I will not complain about that, especially since there is no significant rain in the forecast.  Rain is fine, its the storms that are concerning.

After going through my morning routine, I noticed Dean was up moving around earlier than normal.  I was reminded he was leaving for Brett's to help him work on his small cabin.  He's trying to get everything done before his brother and family arrive in a few weeks, as that is where they will be sleeping.  I quickly made our shakes, and it was only a short time later he was out the door and will be gone all day.

Laundry was at the top of my list today, but there were many other things on it too.  I started the first load, washed dishes, and made a few phone calls.  First to the Cherokee Health Center to leave a message for my doctor with her nurse.  (Wed:  I didn't get a call back, so hopefully I'll get one later this morning)

I had a nice visit with my son Marc as he was driving to the hardware store here in Oswego to purchase things he needs for whatever project he is currently working on.  I had planned to get Jaxson tomorrow afternoon so he could spend the night with us.  Kamron and I made a date to do some shopping on Thursday, so my plan was to take him home when I picked her up.  Unbeknowest to him, Jen made dentist appointments Thursday morning, so now I will pick her up at the dentist office.  When I take her home Thursday evening, Jaxson will come home with me to spend the night and most of the day Friday.  It all works out with a few adjustments!

Dean and I purchased an extended warranty on our RV a short time before our one year warranty ran out.  I could not remember when it ended so I contacted Wholesale Warranties this morning to find out when it was - July 1, 2020?  I didn't realize it was that soon!  We need to decide if we want to extend it or not.  I know we've used it enough it has paid for itself, plus some.  With it now 7 years old, we have the option to extend it another 4 years at what seems to be a resonable price.  I will talk to Dean tonight and we'll decide. 

I'm going to try a different recipe for dinner this evening that my sister gave me - Tamale Pie.  I laid hamburger out around noon to thaw.  I'm anxious to try it out.

I drove to our property to check on the trees that my friend Peggy gave me a couple of weeks ago.  As I pulled around the corner from the highway I noticed my yucca plant was blooming.

Tomorrow my friends Peggy and Linda made a date to meet up again.  They will meet me at our lot.  I may have mentioned they both are great gardeners and I am hoping to get a few tips from them on ideas of things to plant on our property.  I visited with Peggy but was unable to reach Linda.  (I received a note late in the day that her phone had not been working, but she will be there.)  I enjoy these two ladies and our time together.

I sent some information about Treasure Lake RV Resort to Matt/Megan and Jarred listing the various things available to do since some of the top attractions may not be open, or limit us with their restrictions (especially for small children).  

I had pretty much finished all of the things I needed to do by 2, so I called my granddaughter Haleigh to see if she wanted to come out and we would play cards.  Growing up my mom and Aunt Lil used to play Nerts - a card game where several can play together - as long as there is room at the table.  She said sure, so we spent the next 2.5+ hours playing.  Our scores were close, with each of us being up, then down.  I finally won when Papa Dean returned with only 40pts between us.  It was fun and I really enjoyed spending the afternoon with her.

For Mother's Day she gave me a cute present - a block of wood painted, with a heart and words "Best Grandma Ever".  It has a little metal double heart on the top, that will hold a picture.  Not too long ago I looked through all of the pictures of Haleigh in Google photos.  I discovered that not only am I not in hardly any pictures, but there are only a few with us together - and, they are several years old.  I guess that's because I'm the one who takes most of the pictures.  I told her we need to be sure and have someone take pictures of us on her graduation day, next weekend, so I can have one printed to put in the stand.   

Dean returned around 6.  Haleigh headed home and I started our dinner.  It was about 7 when we ate.  I thought it was pretty good and Dean thought it was okay.  It may not be something we have often, but once in awhile would be okay.

Looking over the car - what a beautiful blue sky.

As we are leaving the park.

After our dinner, we drove to our property.  It's supposed to be really windy tomorrow, so in case we need to sit inside for awhile I swept the floor while Dean put a few things away.  He has a rolling table he uses often.  He cleaned the top off for me, so I would have a place to set the cookies I'm making, and we set up a couple of chairs inside as well.  I'll take my chair down there with me when I go tomorrow.  

By the time we returned it was 8:30 or later.  We were both tired after working all day.  It was a great day.....any day you can get much accomplished and spend time with a granddaughter is a GREAT day! 

Thanks again for following along on our blog.  I love hearing from you, so don't be shy in commenting!  

Saturday, June 6; Sunday June 7 & Monday June 8 - Playing Catch Up

Saturday, June 6; Sunday June 7 & Monday June 8, 2020 - Playing Catch Up

Saturday, June 6, 2020

It seems whenever we visit family in Wichita we get very little done in the RV - I'm not complaining - they are our priority since we don't see them often.  So when we returned to Oswego, we needed to catch up.

Beautiful wood carving at the RV Park where we stayed

Saturday, June 6 - We left Wichita at 10:15 and by the time we stopped once for a break, and then pulled into Hillside RV Park in Oswego and was parked it was 1:41 or so.  Of course the next 30 minutes or so was getting the slides open, turning on the air, putting things in their place, etc.  It was already getting warm outside and it was pretty warm inside already.  I know we talked about going somewhere to eat, but we ended up eating a sandwich and chips instead.  We still had almost a whole loaf of bread that we bought when Emerson came to visit.... so she could enjoy a PB&J sandwich...and of course, we used it too.  

A few pictures on our way home - as we passed through the Flint Hills!

Joyce, I forgot to take a picture on our way to Wichita - I remembered on the way back!

After lunch we took a ride to let the RV cool down.  

Oswego's pool was BUSY!!!  

 We drove to Chetopa and around town.

As we drove through the East Riverside Park, this shot was looking to the northwest.

If you can enlarge this - you can see the far side of Riverside Park where we usually park and enjoy our ice cream when we are in Chetopa.

After we had been gone long enough for it to have cooled down some, I spent time putting things away.  Later we went to the garage to get my car and check on the trees my friend gave me.  The trees looked fantastic - they are thriving!  I left and went to the grocery store to get a few things we needed and then headed back to the RV Park.  While we were in Wichita I bought a package of 4 premade hamburger patties at Dillon's.  Tonight Dean grilled those.  I added cheese and we are slowly finishing the chips we bought for lunch a day or so ago as well.

Dean stayed at the garage for awhile after I left.  He came back in time to eat, OF COURSE! We were both tired.  After dinner, we watched TV most of the evening and rested.


Sunday, June 7, 2020

My sisters and I have been wanting to go visit our Aunt Wilma (my mom's sister).  Crystal talked to her granddaughter Tracy and she said this Sunday would be great.  Since the first Sunday is mine to host, I told my sisters I'd make the dessert.  I was up at 5:30 and after turning the coffee pot on, I immediately started the a cake making process.  I had laid most of the ingredients out the night before just to speed it up.  I decided to make oatmeal cake - one of my very favorites.  My mom always made it and I think she probably got it from my Grandma Stapleton (her mom), so I thought everyone would enjoy having it.  

The idea was great but I learned something new about convection ovens - heavy, dense cakes do not do well, at least in mine.   All four corners of the cake were hard, the middle did not set up and I was SICK!  Now what?  Cindy and I visited about it.  I finally decided I would cut and remove all of the pieces around the sides, see how many there would be, and if there is enough I'll take the best part of the cake and pray for the best.  Fortunately only the corners were a problem.  The rest of the cake wasn't bad.  However, I will not make it again in the convection oven.  I've made it numerous times in our oven here in the RV, but it's just too hot to turn it on right now.

After the cake was done, I showered then got ready for church.  Today was our first day back in church since March.  It was great to be back and surprisingly we had a really great turnout.  I think we all missed it.  Jim had a great sermon and even though we still did our social distancing (every other pew was roped off), it felt great to be with our church family.

I drove back to Bentley.  Dean and I had a light lunch.  At 12:45 I left to pick up my sisters, then we drove the 12-15 miles to my Aunt's house.  Aunt Wilma's oldest daughter and her daughter Tracy, live with her.  In addition my Aunt's youngest daughter Patty joined us.  We had so much fun, and laughed about many different things.  I just love this family so much.  We need to do this more often.  

By the time we left and I dropped everyone back at home it was near 4:00 p.m.  I warmed up the other two hamburgers Dean cooked last night for dinner.  I was too tired to cook.  I was going to do laundry, but I decided it could wait until tomorrow. 

The A/C has been working hard to keep up since the temperatures have soared the past week or two.  Of course the humidity is really high as well, which doesn't help, and we do not have much tree cover at all - certainly none that is high enough to cover any part of the RV roof.  Between 1:30-4:30 it can get pretty warm. 

After cleaning up supper dishes, and getting all of our "stuff" put away from working on the vents, etc. for the A/C, we were both worn out.  


Monday, June 8

I was up at 4:15 this morning - wide awake and could not go back to sleep.  I imagine that was because I knew I had a fasting blood test this morning at 8.  Now that I've finally been able to convert myself from sugar/creamer in my coffee to black, I really enjoyed those cups this morning - since it was all I could have.

I read everyone's blog posts this morning and thoroughly enjoyed each and everyone.  I told Dean he could go eat breakfast at Lacy's if he wanted since we were out of milk to make a shake.  I've got to go to the grocery store!

I have a stack of things that need to be taken care of this week and I sorted through those to make sure I had things in order, so I can work on those later today and tomorrow.  

I arrived early at the Cherokee Health Center so I could go to the pharmacy and order a prescription, with the hope it would be ready by the time I was ready to leave, or at least after I ran some errands, and could come back to get it before I left Vinita, OK.  I never thought about not being able to walk to the pharmacy inside, so I had to wait until I had my lab work done, then drive around to the pharmacy window to order the script.  I tried calling from inside while waiting to be called for my labs, but it wouldn't go through.  It might just have been because I was inside the building.  The young lady in the lab was great - just a prick and it was done in less than a minute.  I went to the pharmacy window afterwards and ordered my script.  If they don't have it done today I told them I would pick it up Friday when I come back to see the physician.  I asked her to be sure they DO NOT MAIL IT.  I need it on Sunday!  I wasn't able to get it, but hopefully it will be ready for me on Friday.  That works just fine!

On my way back I stopped at my cousin's to visit with her a bit.  She gave me an old suitcase that she thought came from her Mom's house (my Great Aunt).  It's kind of beat up and dirty, but I plan to clean it up, and maybe use it on a stand for a table by a chair with a decoration of some kind in it someday.  I like old things - and especially if it belonged to a family member.  I enjoyed visiting with Martha.

I had stopped at Walmart in Vinita to pick up some almond milk and coffee.  After putting them away I started getting some things done inside.  I left without making the bed - only because the bed linens needed to be changed.  I put them in to wash, then did the dishes.  I washed two more loads of clothes throughout the day.

Dean's son, Matt and his family are going to be here in July.  They want to go back to Branson the last three days of their visit.  I told them we would take our RV to Treasure Lake, a membership park that we belong to, and they can rent a cabin there.  This morning and into the afternoon I worked on that, talking and texting Megan while trying to work out details.  We finally got an RV rented (all of the cabins were reserved) and they will pull it in to the lot next to us if Dean and I can be there by 10 the morning of July 9.  We will be in Lamar, MO at Brett's, an hour closer than the drive from Oswego, so I don't think that will be a problem.  It will be great being right beside them.  Next was figuring out what we can do in Branson, due to the pandemic.  Apparently Silver Dollar City and White Water require everyone over the age of 3 to wear a mask (except for WW which does not require it if you are on a water ride).  With 90-100 temperatures I'm not sure how you would ever get young children to keep a mask on - so we will most likely not be visiting either place this year.  Frotunately, there are many other things to do in and around the area.  Treasure Lake has a REALLY nice large pool that we can take the kids to, so I think it will be just fine.  They have minature golf, basketball, tennis, etc., plus a movie room with popcorn and activities for kids, so I'm sure we will stay busy over the two full days we will spend there together.  Megan told me no matter what she wanted to make sure we made it to Cakes and Creams!  It's one of my favorite places and has been for 40+ years!  She was very disappointed we didn't make it there last year.  We will make it happen this year - even if we have to leave the guys at the RV!  Lol!

Once we had that taken care of I called to cancel our reservation at the RV Park we planned to stay at in Grand Island, NY.  With Matt coming here, we are not going to make the drive out there this year.  If things were different we might, but we aren't sure what we could do and where, so we'll just visit our four state area this year.

For dinner I Iaid out some chicken breasts wrapped in bacon that I had frozen a week or so ago.  Dean grilled them outside, while I made Herb rice to go with it.  We really love this rice.  I haven't made it in quite awhile, along with buttered peas.  It was just delicious.  The chicken was PERFECT!  What a great meal.  It was another busy day, and we were both tired.  He played golf this morning, then mowed the lot this afternoon.  He came home with a big are with several scratches on his leg.  It looked pretty nasty, so I made him put some antiseptic on it and we covered it for the night.  My eyes were heavy most of the evening.  I was really glad when it was time to go to bed.

Friday, June 5, 2020 - Emmy Comes to Visit; Swimming & Visiting; Freddy's

Friday, June 5, 2020 - Emmy Comes to Visit; Swimming & Visiting; Freddy's


It was 5:00am when I woke this Friday morning and headed downstairs to turn the coffee on.  It was 72 outside, while inside 69, with humidity of 35%.  Our outside thermometer does not have the humidity reading.  I don't know what the official high temperature was yesterday but it was supposed to reach 94.  I can just tell you it was hot and VERY humid.

It was at least 5:30-5:45 when I set down to finish yesterday's blog post.  It's now 7.  I have been researching how to post a video to the blog.  I've found some good videos on U Tube, so hopefully I'll figure that out when I have a little more time to experiment.  

Hayden has to visit the doctor's office every morning until she returns to her birth weight, so Jarred will be taking her to the doctor this morning.  Andrea had a c-section, so she's still pretty uncomfortable.  Fortunately, Jarred has a few weeks off that he can stay home and help out, and of course Emmy is a big helper at 5 years old.

One thing we always do in Wichita before going home is head to Lamar's Donuts, and that is where we headed this morning.  I was good today and only ordered a sour cream donut, versus the apple fritter I typically order.  Dean still had his fritter, and since it was National Doughnut Day, we had a choice of a free doughnut.  I told them to give us a glazed one.  I let Dean have it as I'm trying to keep my carbs down as much as I can.  I'm not sure if it was the free doughnuts or people just wanting to get out.  It's always busy, but I've never seen the lines like they were today.

Lamar's is the place for donuts!

The line stayed like this most of the time we were there.

I've always bought Dean the same sized shirts since we've been married, but the ones I bought yesterday at Kohl's must have been for young guys because they did not fit him.  We drove to Kohl's so I could exchange them, forgetting they are not opening until 11am now.  I'm not sure why.  Dean decided he wanted to stop at Lowe's and since it was nearby that is where we headed next.  We've been looking for a product to spray the yard with to eliminate ticks, flies, etc. and we finally found it.  He wanted to look at guttering products for both the garage and a project he is thinking about. 

Looking while in the store.

Jarred sent a text earlier that he needed to pick up their dog at 1, so we stopped by their house to pick up Emmy and take her back with us.  Since it was now after 12, we went back to Kohl's so I could exchange the shirts we bought Dean.  When I walked in and saw the line with returns, I just turned around and went back to the truck.  I'll return them in Joplin next week sometime.  They are not allowing anyone to try clothes on in the dressing rooms, so I imagine the return lines will be long for awhile.  We made a quick stop at Dillon's so I could grab a loaf of bread and some chips.  At Bentley, I made Emmy a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  Dean and I had our leftovers from the meal we got at Rib Crib last night.  Emmy enjoyed herself coloring while we were here.    

After lunch we headed to Heath's.  Their pool is open and Emmy was excited to swim.  They had a good time in the water while Heath, Casey, Dean and I visited on the deck.  Jarred stopped by and he was in and out of the water.  He is still a big kid!  A good thing!  He was always fun loving and still is today.  

Kids swimming.

After swim snack.

We left around 3-3:30.  After setting outside in the heat for that long, we needed to go home and shower; and get ready to go eat dinner with Heath, Casey and the boys.  The boys had told us we were going to Freddy's for dinner.  When Dean mentioned that; Heath said he told the boys they would probably not do Freddy's tonight, since it is a hamburger place.  Dean said, But I like Freddy's!  So that is where we went.  We drive to their house, then all rode together in their car.  

Dean loves their burgers, skinny fries and custard desserts.  I had the hardest time ordering our food, but probably better than Dean would have.  All of the employees had masks on.  I could not hear anything the young lady at the register was saying to me, I had to stand to the side of the clear plastic panel between us and turn my ear toward her to have her repeat it.  It was so noisy in there!  Between the mask, the panel and the roar of people talking and laughing, calling out numbers, etc it was difficult to hear anything the young lady said.  But the food was good as usual.  After we finished our meals, we ordered custard desserts.  It was great but I really blew my diet today.  Oh well, back on it tomorrow!

We stayed and visited for an hour or two.  I'm not really sure how long we stayed.  Gideon is a lego master.  He loves them and asks for them at Christmas and on his birthday - except when he is wanting a really expensive one - then he prefers money so he can purchase the one he wants.  He makes up his own stuff and is very, very good at it.  They have a new puppy Gemma, and we enjoyed the antics of her and their other older dog Jewel.  It was fun to relax and visit with them all for the evening.  

Once we returned home I set down.  I like to play Free Cell sometimes in the evening when I'm tired.  I think I slept more than I played.  We were both tired from our busy, but fun day.  We will head back to Oswego tomorrow morning.

Thursday, June 4, 2020 - Morning Shopping Spree; Ice Cream for Five; Hanging out with Emerson, Hayden and Daddy

Thursday, June 4, 2020 - Morning Shopping Spree; Ice Cream for Five; Hanging out with Emerson, Hayden and Daddy

It was right around 5:30 when I woke this morning.  I made my way downstairs to get the coffee started, then washed a load of clothes.  While waiting for the coffee to finish perking, I caught up on my devotionals, since I missed yesterdays.  

Next, I opened Blogger to finish Wednesday's post.  There is something about a travel day that just wears us out.  I wrote most of it last night, but by the time I went through the pictures, I was too tired to proof it, or post the pictures.  After posting it this morning, I made our shakes.  Dean went outside to hook up to the sewer, (I had washed a load of clothes as soon as I got up), while I washed the dishes.  I wanted to get around so we could do a little shopping this morning.  

We left shortly after 10.  Our first stop was at Academy.  I was looking for a new pair of walking shoes, as well as some clothing items.  They didn't have any shoes in my size, but I did find a nice pair of shorts and a couple pair of capris I can wear when we walk in the mornings.  Our next stop was at Sam's, where we purchased 2 bags of frozen triberry fruit for our shakes, cashews, canned chicken, red pepper flakes and Minute rice.  I used my Sam's app that allows us to scan the barcode, and pay on line with my credit card.  When we reached the exit door, the lady looked at the barcode like she didn't know what it was.  I told her I had scanned the items in with the app.  Oh, she said, I think I must need to take a break.  I know the feeling of zoning out sometime - and I think she was there.  She scanned the bar code, then one item.  As we were putting the items in the truck, I realized we had 6 items, instead of 5.  We had forgotten to scan the cashews and she didn't catch it.  I scanned it in my app, paid for it with our credit card on file, then took it back in to have it scanned that I had paid.  The lady who helped me was no longer there, so I guess she really did need a break. 

Since we had frozen food, we headed back to Bentley to put the groceries away.  I made lunch, followed by apples with peanut butter.  We left a short time later for Kohl's.  I found a pair of shoes at Kohl's along with a couple pair of capris and another top, plus two polo shirts for Dean.  We should be good for quite awhile.  I have a few things that will come out of our closet and drawers, when I add these.

We called Abram (Heath's son) to see if he and his brothers could go have ice cream with us.  Heath and Casey are still working at home, so we didn't want to interrupt their day.  He okayed it with his parents.  When we arrived to pick them up, they were outside with their new puppy and Jewel, their older dog.  We played with them for a bit before they took them back in the house.  Then we all loaded up and headed to Braum's.  After choosing our ice cream, we headed to a large booth so we could set and visit.  We sure had a good time with them.  Tomorrow night we are going to have dinner with them and their parents.  

Front Left then clockwise:  Roman, Gideon, Abram and Papa

After dropping them off at home, we headed to Jarred's.  Andrea was resting, so Jarred, Emerson, Hayden, Dean and I headed to the basement.  Emerson showed me several more of her gymnastic moves. then she introduced me to all of her dolls, and I watched her as she put on her "fake" makeup.  This young lady is quite the conversationalist!  

Putting on her makeup!

The finished project!  What a little beauty!

While we were in the basement visiting, Emerson had a clicker and she would hit it so her dad "was frozen" until she clicked it again.

Frozen in Time!

Jarred took Hayden in to Andrea, then we went outside to watch Emerson ride her bicycle, play hopscoth, skate, etc.  She is a determined little girl for 5 years old, so much like her daddy was.  With 3 older brothers, he always thought he could do everything they did, and he usually did!

Learnig to skate, with a little help from Dad!

It was getting close to dinnertime, so we all worked together to put the toys away.  Inside Jarred prepared an online order for our meal at Rib Crib.  Jarred and Dean drove the short distance to pick up the food.  I visited with Andrea while they were gone.  

One last picture of the new babe and her big sister:

Emerson & Hayden

After dinner, we headed back to Bentley.  We will probably see them for a short while tomorrow before we leave Saturday morning.

Dean watched TV while I started preparing this post.  I was almost done when I fell asleep in my chair.  I woke up between 9-9:30 and worked on it again until 10, then we headed to bed.

Wednesday, June 3, 2020 - Happy Birthday to my Dad; Moving Day; Meeting Hayden Grace

Wednesday, June 3, 2020 - Happy Birthday to my Dad; Moving Day; Meeting Hayden Grace

It was 4:15 when I woke up this morning.  Checking the thermometer is was 70 outside and 72 inside.  That's the warmest morning we've had this year.  Our humidity is at 59% with our dehumidifer running.  

I was unable to get my devotional to come up this morning - a message indicated their server may be down, so I'll try again later.

It was nice to read everyone's blog posts this morning.  I do enjoy them so much.  Even though I haven't met several of you, I feel like I know you from your daily comments.  

At 6:00 we got around to go to the park and walk.  I took several pictures today:

No rain, but the humidity was high this morning and this is what the front window of the car looked like when we walked outside.

What a beautiful sunrise we enjoyed this morning.

Pretty colors.  There was a slight wind - a perfect morning to walk in the coolness of the day.

When Cindy and I were at my friend Renee's house the other day, I mentioned this tree to her.  She told me what it was....a  Gold Tree Lilac.  Sadly the blooms are now gone.

This is a baby robin who was evidently learning to fly.  As we approached he did try to fly, but he didn't make it far.  We kept an eye on him as we walked around the park.  By the time we made our last lap we could no longer see or find him, so I hope he was able to figure it out.

The sun was shining through and brightening our morning!

So pretty!

I love this little evergreen bush.  It looks like falling branches.  Just click to enlarge it for a better view.

My Dad would have been 84 today.  We lost him in May 2008, the day after Mother's Day.  I sure miss him (and my mom).  I miss his laugh most of all.  He really enjoyed a good laugh and it always made me smile.  I'm sad this year as this will be the first year in many (around 40+ years) we haven't celebrated his birthday together with family on or near his birthday.  It started when Cindy and I were first married and Crystal and Jody were still in High School.  Over time, Daddy started to invite various family members and close friends.  We would all go to his house south of Chetopa.  Later he suggested we move it to Oswego Riverside Park as a family reunion, and finally inside at the Oswego Community Center.  He invited family members from both the Blackledge and Duncan sides (his dad and mom's families).  Had we had known our Governor would end up giving the decision making to our individual counties on how they chose to handle any Covid-19 restrictions, we might have gone forward with it.  Unfortunately, that was not the case.  At the time the decision was made by my sisters and I, we made the decsion to cancel it a few weeks ago.  It is what it is, but we will have it next year.

We had to take the car to the garage while we are gone and I took a few pictures there.

The trees my friend gave me.

 I was concerned about the trees while we were gone.  We put a little gravel in two buckets, (like the blue one shown) then put water in it just slightly covereing it.  We left the dogwood tree in one, and we put both the red bud and the Japenese Maple in the other.  We will only be gone 3 nights, so hopefully they will do fine while we are gone.  


Dean mowed yesterday and everything looks so nice.   

If you enlarge the picture below, you can see how far back he has been mowing.  He is working on clearing this area so it will be a nice grassy area to our property line.

From the garge to the street.  I hope someday we can eliminate this pole in the yard.

Today is moving day, from Oswego to Wichita - about a 3 hour drive for us.  It's a drive I never tire of as we pass through the Flint Hills between Severy and Beaumont, KS.  We left Oswego right at 10am, stopping only once at Fredonia, KS.  It was kind of strange, as we neared the roundabout south of town, I noticed the city entrance sign, which very nice.  I told Dean I should take a picture of that sign and send it to Joyce, one of our RV friends.  (She grew up in Fredonia).  There is a gas station, hotel and Subway on the east side of the roundabout, and as we turned in there to grab something to eat I received a text - from Joyce!  Talk about thinking of each other at the same time!!  I missed the sign coming in, so intended to take one as we left, but guess who forgot!

If you enlarge this you can see the LARGE flag Fredonia flys on a high spot of their community.  I always love seeing this flag as we drive by.

Bacani Plaza where we stopped on our way to Wichita.

We used our own restroom facilities before heading into Subway.  We both ordered wraps to go, eating them on the way.  It seemed like the drive just flew by today as we were both chatterboxes.  While we talked about lots of things the excitment of meeting our newest granddaughter was evident in our giddiness!  There is just something so special about new birth - a child is one of God's greatest gifts to us.

Random pictures of the Flint Hill area:

This is such a beautiful drive.  

These cows were on the move....must be lunch time.

The grass was such a beautiful deep green!

 As we were near Andover we saw the road work has now neared the I-35 interchange west of Wichita.

It was great to see this road nearing completion!

It was 1:24 when we arrived.  It didn't take us long to set up.  We turned on both air conditioners, then left to drive the short distance to Jarred and Andrea's.  Andrea's parents have had Emerson the past few days.  She was so excited to meet her new baby sister, and she told us all about her.  She is so proud to be a big sister!

Sweet Emmy and her new baby sister Hayden!

Papa holding Hayden.

Dad, Emmy and Hayden

Earlier, Jarred had brought in their mail.  He was looking through it, and told Emerson there is a package for you.  It was from someone Andrea knew through her work.  Here she is modeling her present!

Reading the card that was included

Such a cute jean jacket, with her name!
If you enlarge this picture, take a look at Jarred's shirt - "GIRL DAD"

Modeling the jacket for us.

We stayed for a few hours, taking turns holding sweet Hayden Grace!  She is such a good baby.  After visiting for an hour or so, Andrea went in to lay down and rest for awhile.  Hayden was up quite a bit the night before, so I'm sure she will need it.  We visited with her parents Bill and Diane, Jarred, and of course Emmy.  

Emmy took me downstairs to show me all of her gymnastic moves.  She is doing well and is anxious to go back to her gymnastic classes at the Y.  I didn't think to take my phone downstairs with me, so no pictures of those.

Dad turned on the water sprinklers for the yard, and let her go out and run through the spray.  She had a great time and we enjoyed sitting outside for awhile watching her.  It was very warm and humid today, so we didn't stay out there too long.

Cool and fun time for Emmy in the sprinklers!

Emerson drew pictures for Papa and Nana.  Papa asked her to write her name on it.  It will go on the refrigerator door at the garage.  He has several displays from the kids over the years.  I'm going to hang mine here in the RV on my magnetic wall.  I only put up two panels.  I should have put up four.  What was I thinking; with 16 grandchildren, space is at a premium! 

We were getting ready to leave just as Andrea's sister Kelly and her husband Chris arrived with their 7 month old son, Colin.  That little guy is so happy.  He kind of looked at us at first but in no time he was grinning from ear to ear.  What a cutie!

We returned to Bentley at 5:30.  I warmed up the ribs from yesterday, and we enjoyed them as much as we did the night before.  I think Dean wanted ice cream but I wanted to hold off until tomorrow, and maybe Emerson would like to go with us too.

As much as I wanted to finish the blog last night, I was just worn out between the early morning, the heat and the excitment of the new baby.  It felt good to just set down and rest before going to bed.

We have a few things we want to do tomorrow, so we will get out early to take care of those, then visit Hayden and family again later in the day.