On the road again

We left the ranch in Missouri on December 21, 2017. We were very ready to move. We only went 60 miles to Ozark, Missouri. We invited ourselves to our daughter and SIL's house to moochdock in their driveway and enjoy the Christmas holiday with the family.

Our son Mark came down from KC on the 22^nd. It was great to see him. We were sad to hear that our son Michael's youngest son, Cameron was sick and they were not able to make the trip. I also got a call from our son Scott. He was replacing the water pump in his truck and was having problems. I headed down to his place near Branson to give him a hand. We got it done and we also got to spend some quality time together. That worked out just fine. That night it got cold and we got a little bit of snow, so we can say we had a white Christmas.

Kim's sister's oldest son was on his way to Oklahoma for Christmas and stopped in Ozark for a night. It was great to see Ryan and his girl friend Cherida and daughter Cienna. We really enjoyed our time together.

Shannon, Amelia, Jake, Isabella, Will Cherida and Ryan playing spoons at Shannon's huge dinner table.

Kim, Mark and I decided to make the drive down to see Michael and his family. We went down on the 23^rd and just stayed one night. Michael just moved into a new house a few weeks before. We had gone down to help him move, so we had seen the new house, but Mark had not seen it yet. Michael's wife Audrey did a great job with the decorating and the place looked great.

Michael and Cameron cutting loose his new tractor

Connor and Cameron opening presents

We arrived back at Shannon's on Christmas eve just in time to make the Christmas Vigil mass. After church, Brian, Mark, Brian's BIL Jimmie and I read Christmas stories to the kids. 

Me reading to the group. I chose the original Christmas story.

Me and Will. I just like this shot by Mark.

Isabella and Amelia

We all went to bed and waited for the kids to wake us up on Christmas morning. We had a very traditional Christmas day of opening presents and playing games. It was great to be part of it this year. We missed it last year.

Chaos on Christmas morning. Just the way we like it.

We played a crazy game where you wrap up prizes in celophane wrap and try to unwrap it. It got a bit wild.

The kids then played with all of the new toys.

Will playing with his new BB gun out in the snow. 

We were never able to get all of our kids in one place, but we did get to see all of our kids and grand kids and that is what it is all about. 

We left Shannon's on the 26^th and headed south. Jake, Isabella and Will were going to spend some time with their father in Texas, so we decided to take them as far as Dallas. It was the first time we have traveled with the grand kids. It was fun and a little challenging. We made one stop in Eufaula, Oklahoma. We stayed at the Terra Starr RV park. It is very nice and with our Passport America discount was only $13 for full hook ups.

And then we made the drive through Fort Worth to Benbrook, Texas. We like to stay at the COE park called Holiday (Texas). It is a bit pricey at $28 per night with W/E, but the location is perfect to see all of the family. 

Huge site in Benbrook, TX in a grove of Live Oaks. The only problem is that we were frozen up most of the time we were there. Oh well, all part of the adventure. 

We had a very eventful time in the DFW area. I will write about it in my next entry.