Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Time Marches on

I was reading a few blogs the other day and looked at the last time I posted. I was a bit shocked that it has been a month and a half. I expected to write much less while we were staying at the ranch for a few months, but time kind of got away from me. I could say that there has not been much happening, but that would not be true. I think the reality is that I have been keeping very busy. It has almost been like work, but much more enjoyable and at my own pace. Here are a few highlights of the past couple of months:

Easter - We enjoyed having Michael and Audrey here for Easter. Here is a picture of Connor hunting eggs and Grandma holding little Cameron in the background.

Cameron is growing by the day and we will have to get down to see him soon. 

We sold the Toyhauler - As I posted in an earlier entry, we had a problem with one of the slides in the Ti. The damage was going to take a few bucks to fix. As luck would have it, I got a call from a friend in Tulsa that was looking for a Toyhauler. I agreed to sell him mine and it looks like it will work out perfect for both of us. The money was timely, but when they drove away it felt like a chapter of my life was ending. I put many miles on that trailer going to races all over the central US. We had some great times and now I hope the young couple from Tulsa can have some more great times. Here is a last picture for posterity:


That trailer taught me how to RV and led me to live the lifestyle that I do now. Thanks ole girl.

We had a beautiful spring. The dogwoods were very nice this year:


This is why we come to the ranch each spring. We love it here during the spring. As I write this now, all has changed. It looks like a tropical rain forest. Everything is green and you can't see very far through the woods. 

Shannon's kids are playing Spring sports. Isabella is playing soccer:




Shannon is coaching the team and her Brian is helping.

Good coaches have many duties. William is also playing soccer. Jacob is playing baseball.

Isabella had her first communion. Here is a great shot of three generations:


It was getting about time to take the boat out. The water was too cold to swim or ski, but it was good getting it out.

I love my boat!

We put on the race on May 4. It went very well and we were all quite pleased with the turnout and the overall race. We now have the makeup race on June 15 for the one we cancelled in March. It will be hotter than I like, but much of the course is done from the previous race.

We took the trailer in around the first of May and were without it for two weeks. That is when it is nice to have the ranch. We can just stay in the lodge or rock house. Here is a shot of the repair. It looks good. Now I just have to finish the inside of the slide.


I asked them to add the stainless steel plates to prevent this from happening again.

We had the opportunity to take all 5 kids (Shannon's 3 and her Brian's 2) to Silver Dollar City for a day. It was a bit cool, which was nice. We rode roller coasters and had a blast. Here are a couple shots of our new grand children. Here is Hannah, she is 14:


She is a very talented young lady. I am sure I will write more about her in coming entries.

Here is Eve, she is 6, almost 7:


Jacob got picked to be the assistant in the magic show:


Hannah and I rode "Outlaw Run". It is one of the top roller coasters in the country.



It was a very wild coaster. I really enjoyed it. Hannah is an old pro and has done it 10 times in a row. Once was enough for me.

The kids have just 3 days of school left. It is that very busy and exciting time of year for them. 

Our Plans (subject to change):

We are going to stay here at HHR until the June 15th race is over. We are then going to go down to Bull Shoals for the rest of June into early July. We will then go to Florida for Brian and Shannon's wedding the second week of July. When we get back, we will make a decision if we want more lake time, or if we are ready to move on to the mountains. We are heading to Colorado for much of August and September. We are expecting to be back to Missouri around October 15. We have a race at HHR just after Thanksgiving. We will then head south to Texas for the winter. That is about as planned as we get. 

Thanks for reading this very long entry.