Gulf Shores AL

Just a few more days left here and I hate to leave. I love it here it is so beautiful. We got here around Nov. 4th and stay at an RV park just a couple of blocks off of the beach. Mom and Dad were here already and they stay at Phoenix on the Bay. Stacey and Dave were here for almost 2 weeks and we had a great time. Also friends from Florissant when we were growing up. Scott and Wyn Hull came to spend a few days and the beach. Their daughter Scotti is Brandi's godmother. It was the Songwriters Festival and songwriters were everywhere. So many that had written top hits for top artists. So we did a lot of bar and restaurant hopping to see these great artists and of course ate way too much. Bill Whyte came down and he and Brent Burns played at LuLu's, a show not easily forgotten. They have written some hysterical songs and it was a blast spending the day with them.

On the way down here we got a call from the Manager up at Mark Twain Lake and it seems that our condo flooded. The hot water heater upstairs sprung a leak and saturated both units. We had just been there 3 days earlier so it had just happened. It should be almost back to normal when we get home. Thank goodness for insurance companies and Servpro. I can't wait to get home and see my girls, Kaili and Erin. And of course the big kids too.

Here are some pics, Brent Burns, Bill Whyte and mom. Stacey and I with Ann Tant,

Ann is a forever friend of mom and dads and she was here with a group of women for Atlanta and Nashville. One of which was Brenda DeGarmo, her daughter was on American Idol, Diana DeGarmo. We all had a blast.

Another pic I took with my phone while sitting down on the beach reading and listening to the waves.

Happy Birthday Aunt Shirley

Stacey, Mom and I went to Piedmont to spend the day with my Aunt Shirley for her birthday. It turned out to be a beautiful day weather wise and the same weekend as Piedmont's Fall Festival. We enjoyed the town parade and seeing Caleb's wife Amanda and his two children Michael and Lily. Caleb is the son of Mike and Kristi and he and his family have been stationed over seas for several years now. Caleb is currently deployed so Amanda brought the kids home for a few months.

Trip to San Fran

The end of Oct. we went to San Fran for see Cathy, Scott and the boys. As usual it was a great trip. The boys have both grown so much and they just aren't little boys anymore. I have pics of the boys, of Jackson at Ice Hockey practice and Cody dressed as a Pimp ( yes that is right) for Halloween.

Baby Oakley

Here is our 2nd baby. David and Heather are due the end of May and these are the first pics of our new baby. This is so much fun.

Grandbaby time again

No, I didn't make a mistake and duplicate a previous posting.

We are going to have another grandbaby. David and Heather are expecting! We will be cutting our winter short and staying home most if not all of the summer.
Can you believe it 2 babies in what, about 2 months.

Progress reports on both of our babies to follow.

End of September

We finished our September trip with a stop in Hot Springs AK. We visited a bath house and enjoyed the history BUT next time I want to try out the mineral baths.

We spent some time with Sandy and Carl, Jack's sister. They are the one that lived in Arizona by the Lazy J. This was our first trip to the new place in AK. We had a great time as usual and loved the new place. The horses sure like having all that green grass to graze on. And check out Little Bit, boy has she grown. Sophi and Thumber ( Jenna's rabbit) don't know they are not supposed to be friendly with each other, they would visit every day.

Another Grandchild

Well since Andrea made her announcement I thought to would be safe to add it to our site. We are excited at becoming grandparents again. Andrea and Dave are expecting their first child. They just had their 12 week appt and the pics are at 8 weeks. They grow up so fast, Cody is now 14, Jackson soon to be 9, Kaili is 9 and Erin will be 4 on Christmas day. It is a wonderful thing to be Meme and the more the merrier.

Oklahoma

We headed to Texhoma State Park. My cousin Greg and his wife Susie live in the park and they were on the board of the Striper Festival being held in Kingston. We had a great time. For those of you who know Katie Willis she performed on Friday night. Mom has been working with Katie for some 5 years now and she is soon to move to Nashville. Katie has a voice that is wonderful and we look forward to her getting the big break one day. On Saturday I remembered my camera and were treated to an amazing show put on by an artist friend of my cousins. He did the attached in chalk and finished in the course of 3 songs. It was amazing and the piece sold for $1,000. We then saw a great show put on by Narvel Felts. Narvel is a friend of mom and dads and we have seen him several times. He performed at dad's retirement party and at mom and dad's 50th anniversary party. His voice send chills through you. We had stopped to visit Herb and Mary Joplin in Oklahoma City and talked them in to coming down and my cousin Charlie called and he and his wife Penny came up from TX. We ate too much and had a really great time. Family and Friends what more do you need.

Warrenton, MO

We found a place called Dogwoods Lake and bought a camping lot. It puts us so much closer to St. Charles, about 35 miles. We will stay in the Motorhome on the lot when not traveling, except during the winter. We were very excited to find the lot however it was such a mess and we had a lot of work to do. It is 1 1/2 lots and there was a 20 year old camper on the lot along with an old metal awning, refrigerator, cabinet, bike and lots of junk. We gave the camper away and were able to close just prior to Labor Day. The community was having a major clean up day and we had so many volunteers to haul off the trash and help out that we were able to get the job done in 2 days with no problem. Mom and dad came out on Saturday, dad cut down a tree and took off several low hanging limbs. Mom and I raked and burned all day. I didn't get a pic before the trash was hauled off but did get one prior to the camper being hauled off. We also got the shrubs across the front pulled out and we contracted to have it turned into a pull through lot.

Andrea's graduation party

Dave throws a great party. He had a picnic/party in honor of Andrea's graduation. The last 2 years of this program have taken a lot of love and understanding and Andrea gave Dave a certificate of appreciation for his support throughout the program. Her are pics of the party.

1) Andrea with Ida ( a Boeing colleague)

2) Teresa and Ally

3) Family

Andrea Graduates

Andrea completed her Master in Business at the University of Missouri St. Louis and graduated Sat. Aug 4th. She had her last classes that weekend so the whole class decided to attend the ceremony. They didn't know they were going to be sitting on the stage but that is were the Master graduates were put. It was a nice ceremony and Jack and I are both so proud of her. She has worked really hard to get to this point and it was a proud moment for all of us.

Aunt Kay turns 60

Well after two birthday parties I think she is finished celebrating. It was really great to surprise her not once but twice. We had a party for her at the Snider Family Reunion where we gave her a roast in her benefit. Boy some of the stories that were told on her were great. This pic is the second party and again another fun time.

A day in Hannibal

We were at the lake over my birthday so cousin Vicki drove up to spend the day with me. We spent the day in Hannibal checking out the fun shops and having lunch. It was really special to me that she came all that way to spend the day with me. Here we are during our shopping.

Back home

Yeah, we made it home. By the time we set the return date I started to get anxious. The trip was great and I am ready to go again. It was good to see the family and find out our granddaughters still remembered us.

In early June Monroe City, by Mark Twain Lake, where we officially reside, had their sesquicentennial. On the last day we went into town for breakfast and decided to go see the
Clydesdale's. When we turned the corner here they came. They had them out exercising them. They had them in two groups and the were walking through the streets of town with Bud, the dog, running in and out. They are huge and absolutely beautiful. They kept them out of about an hour then brought them back and started to pack things up. The horses are very tame and super spoiled. I was talking to one of them and he was trying to get as close to the side of the pen so I could scratch his head. I fell in love with these magnificent animal.

Kansas, MO

We stopped at the site of the Sante Fe Trail on our way into Dodge City. You can still see the faint ridges in the hillside where the wagon trains use to travel. I am really glad we were in our nice big comfortable RV. We had a full kitchen, bath and of course take our bed everywhere we go. I guess they did the same back then only not with the comfort we have today. On to Dodge City where we did the touristy stuff and learned about the city along the Sante Fe Trail and the cattle drives that came through town. Along with the corruption and outlaws.

Juanta, Colo

We decided to check out Bent's Old Fort on our way home. Jack's sister told us about it and she thought is was worth the trip. We really enjoyed it. It had been rebuilt and furnished to period. There was lots to see and it was very educational.

Durango Colo

We went into Durango and took the train that goes to Silverton. Only, it was still to early in the year so we only went half way and came back. It was a long day on a rickety train but well worth the trip.

Four Corners

We left San Fran and started towards Four Corners, that is where Arizona, Utah, Colorado and New Mexico all meet. Jack started noticing that our batteries weren't taking a charge so we stopped in Seligman AZ for the night. When you plug in the electricity at the RV Park it charges your batteries. Seligman is a little town on old Route 66. It was nostalgic and old cool cars everywhere. We ate dinner at the Roadkill Cafe and yes all of the items on the menu were roadkill. It was interesting, at least the food was good. We checked around town the next morning and couldn't get it fixed there. We headed on to Flagstaff. We really like it there and were able to get the alternator changed. We stayed 3 days due to the wind. They have red flag wind days here. They actually will gust as high as 50 to 75 mile an hour. They have blown 18 wheelers over on the interstates. Since we are not on a schedule it was better to stay put than drive in it. We are staying at Ute Mtn., CO.. We are facing some small Mtns. and it is raining on and off here but snowing on the Mtns. in front of us. Very pretty. We went to Mesa Verde this week. I am enclosing pics of the cliff dwelling. It is amazing how the Native Americans built and lived in the sides of these cliffs. We will be leaving here by weeks end and should be home by end of next week, early May.

San Fran

We couldn't find an RV park around the kids, I guess Real Estate is so expensive they don't have many. The ones we found were full. So we decided to stay over the Mtns. in Pleasanton,CA. It was better for me as we didn't get all of the fog over there which seems to bother me. The first day we drove straight to the ice rink to see Cody play Ice Hockey, it was the championship game. Of course in CA your dogs go everywhere you go except restaurants. The boys were excited to see Sophi oh and MeMe and PawPaw. CODY'S TEAM WON. It was a great game and Cody even scored a goal. His Aunt Stacey spent her High School days at the schools hockey games and she is excited that Cody shares her love for it. Unfortunately while we were there John had a really bad spell. John is the neighbor that took us flying and has been so good to help Cathy out with the boys and carpooling. John has cancer and it is getting the best of him. He is now on hospice and it is most important that he stay comfortable. Please keep him in your prayers, he is a dear person. I went to the hospital most days with Cathy. Scott had business in Boston over Easter break and took Cody with him. Cody was able to catch up with his buddies and dad took him to the Red Socks home opener. This is his 8th grade graduation gift. Can you believe my boogs is going to high school??? OH I feel old. We brought Jackson home to the Motor home with us one night and he loved it. The only pic I have is of him and Sophi in bed. He has been getting special help to deal with his dyslexia and he is reading at grade level now. His self esteem has greatly improved. It was a great visit and as usual it was so hard to leave.

Death Valley

When we left Eddie and Sue's we headed toward Death Valley on our way to Cathy and Scott's. Of course by then we had been in CA long enough for me to be sick. Thank goodness I picked up some antibiotics in Mexico and started on them immediately. As usual Death Valley is awesome. Pics are of the mountains on the way to the park and of my favorite hike the Mosaic Canyon, the walls are marble. We only stayed a few days then on to San Fransisco to see the kids.