Summer in Minnesota!!

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We are still hanging out at home - working and playing and getting the yard in shape.

Got flowers planted, sprayed for spiders, weeds and poison ivy so we should be set for a while. Need to get the cedar fence replaced in front of the house and a couple service doors replaced on the garage, along with wrapping the project on the inside of the garage - epoxy the floor and get the walls sprayed and painted. We got the sheetrock up about a year ago so need to get that finished. Will be getting the main bathroom re tiled along with the backsplash in the kitchen and new carpeting in before we get serious about putting the house on the market.

Memorial weekend we spent with a bunch of our TX friends (all from MN) at the Polkafest in Clarissa MN. Did some boondocking camping and lotsa dancing and had a great time. Weather was perfect and Jim and Becky had another great crowd.

Some of the bunch is pretty mellow and then there's this crew!!

Laurita, Gayle and Lloyd

On the 1st Vicky had CMR board meeting in Park Rapids, she had an early morning as she had to be there by 8:00 - about a 2.5hr drive. She got to catch up with our old resorter friends and hear about their preparations for spring opening, reservation issues, etc. She stopped to see her sister in Wadena on the way home, getting back around 5:00pm.

This past weekend Darin & Bethany and the boys were camping at Cedar Lake near Upsala, we drove up Saturday for the day, had a couple hours of light rain but the late afternoon was quite nice. We need to get a wheel bearing and/or a brake checked on the 5er next Friday so we decided not to pull it up north in case we would have issues. We have the boys here today and staying over night, D & B have a funeral to go to in Salem, SD on Monday. Kari will be bringing Rya over this afternoon to play with the boys so hope to get some pics of the three of them to post with this.

Have a busy week of birthday parties, church meetings, brat and burger sales for church at the grocery store Friday and Saturday and then getting the bathroom and kitchen measured for the tile on Friday afternoon. Another week will fly by.

So, I guess that's it for now! Thanks for stopping by>

Mothers Day and First Camping Trip

Vicky and our children
Been a while since our last post but haven't had to much to post about except work and cold weather. The first couple of weeks after returning from Texas the weather was great - 70's and 80's (warm for Mn this time of year)but the temps are barely making 50 the last couple weeks - along with rain and drizzle - it's getting old!

We did take care of the hitch itch a bit as we camped Friday and Saturday night at Sibley State Park. Well I guess we weren't hitched up very long because the park is only 2 miles down the road!! But we got to spend a couple nights in the 5-er and spent the weekend with our family. Our son Darin and his family wanted to camp somewhere so we decided on someplace close - that way the girls could join us for Saturday. We had big camp fire all day, potluck the food, had a few refreshments and really had a good time with everyone.

OK - A few had too many refreshments!!

Everybody had refreshments!

And one just wanted to give grandma some flowers for Mother's Day!

The weekend started off very wet but Saturday was OK, but cooled off later in the afternoon so Kristin headed back to St Cloud and Kari, Rya and Bryan headed their 1 mile down the road too to their warm home. Kelly and Blake stayed with us and Darin, Bethany and the boys had their camper.

Mom says THANKS everyone for a great time!!

Time Flies By!!

Where does time go?? The last three weeks have really zipped by.

Kelly and Blake were married on April 10th - weather was perfect with temps near 70 all weekend with lotsa sun and a light breeze. All went off without a hitch - beautiful wedding and a fun reception.







Besides Kelly and Blake the other stars of the wedding were the 3 ring bearers and flower girl. The ring bearers were our grandson Caleb, Blakes nephew Gavin and their friends son Ethen, the flower girl was Blakes grand niece Rylee.






Gift opening was at our house on Sunday, so by noon we had close to 40 people here for lunch and fun and laughing. The last ones left about 4:00 and we were ready to have some peace and quiet - we were in bed by 7:30 and that was after a couple late afternoon naps on the couch.
Kelly and Blake honeymooned in Cancuun for a week and are now back home - back at work - like the rest of us.

For now we are at home working about 4 days a week. Hope to take the 5er to New Prague on the 14-16 to meet some friends at a Polka Fest and then to Clarrisa over Memorial Weekend for another.

Getting hitch itch so can't wait to get on the road again.

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Getting Caught up

Where does time go?!!!! These last couple weeks have been busy since we got home. After getting home on the 18th we checked out the camping show in Willmar, Rebel Camper out of Clara City puts on their annual show and since this is where we have purchased our last couple of fifth wheels, we like to see whats new. Saw some in interesting models/floor plans but I guess our Cedar Creek will serve the purpose for now.
On Sunday the 21st, we spent the day in Sauk Rapids celebrating our grandson Grant's 1st birthday (was also grandma Vicky's 60th) so we celebrated them both. This was the first we had seen the boys since January (other than on Skype) so it was fun to see how much they have grown and how they are becoming little boys with vocabularies, and how they notice things such as pappa's car, etc.
The following week we both worked four days, it really wasn't too bad since are both able to work remotely from TX.


On Saturday the 27 I flew to Orlando for a bank software conference and a little bit or R & R. Did a side trip to Epcot on Sunday before conference registration and reception at 3:00. Was somewhat disappointed in the few changes since we were last there in 2002.

Excellent conference - got to see a lot of new things coming out in the bank software arena - evening entertainment with Jeff Foxworth and "Are you Smarter Than A 5th Grade Banker" was great.




While I was in Florida Vicky was busy as well. Kelly's bridal shower and bachelorette party was on the 27th - I hear they all had a pretty good time!! Haven't seen any picures yet - maybe I won't either!! On Monday she headed for Grand Rapids, MN to assist with the Resorters spring conference and board meeting. From there she spent the night with her sister in Wadena and then they went to Fargo for the funeral of their aunt Rose Kingzett. 680 miles later she made it home safe and sound Wednesday evening. I got home Thursday afternoon and we attended Holy Thursday church services. Friday we got wedding haircuts and got groceries in the house for Easter Sunday and food for lunch after Kelly and Blakes wedding dance next Saturday night. Saturday evening we had all three grandkids at the house so the easter bunny hid some eggs for the kids, we had a big dinner, sat around for a while and then most of them had to head our for another meal at their other families. The afternoon and evening we had some much need quiet time after a busy couple weeks - but life is good.

So we are finishing up what we need to do for Kelly and Blakes wedding next Saturday and hopefully we are rested up for a whole new batch of activities and excitement!!

Back in MN

3/16/10
We had planned on heading home on the 17th, but with the weather forecast for Tuesday being cool and rainy we decided to head out. So we picked the grapefruit to bring home, finished packing and said goodby to the neighbors till next fall. Got the house closed up and we were on the road by 7:15. Rain most of the day, had a couple traffic slow downs just south of Waco because of an accident. We pulled into Ardmore, OK, about 5:30, checked into the motel, took care of a few work items and emails, got something to eat and hit the bed about 8:30. We were back on the road by 6:45 the next morning. Wednesday was great day for driving and we got home about 7:30.

Kari and Rya were there to greet us - Rya had really grown! Kari hung around for about an hour and then I think she sensed our tired we were and Rya was ready for bed too so she gathered up her grapefruit and onions and heading home. Will be seeing the other grandsons on Sunday when we go to St Cloud for Grants 1st birthday.

Kelly and Blake got the hot tub going Monday evening - that felt so good Thursday morning!!!

So I guess we are back in the work routine for about a week. On the 27th I fly to Florida for work for a week and Vicky will be helping Kelly wrap up wedding plans and her shower and stag party is next Saturday.

Sure is brown and cold here!!

Monday night parties at the Palms II come to an end!

The Congo Line Begins!
The birthday people sporting their birthday attire!! Hey Gary - how much money did you make?


The crew having the Monday nite fun - congo line and all!
3/15/10
Our Monday night routine while in the valley has been gathering at the 'Palms II', a little bar in Mission. It's a group of mostly MN people and few couples from Ohio, and of course a few of the locals who sit back and shake their heads saying 'these old people from the north really get goofy from the sun'!! A group from MN plays, so of course the music is mostly old time and country, the dance floor is about 12 x 12 with a post in the middle and the menu on Mondays is Hamburger or Cheeseburger basket, chicken wings or pizza! We celebrate birthdays, give each other a bad time and just have a lot of fun.