Feb 2009

After leaving Big Bend we headed to Benson AZ. We planned to stay overnight in Las Cruses N.M. on the way. If you are ever there you need to go to Las Mesillas and eat at La Posta. It is the old Butterfield Stagecoach stop converted to a Mexican restaurant. It is the best Mexican food we have found (even in Mexico). We were only able to stay in Benson one week so we have packed in all we can. We hiked the San Pedro River/Fairbanks Township 4 miles. We rode over to the Chiricahua Mtns. and then checked out the Lazy J. We walked the 30 acres looking for each of the property posts. Thank goodness it was too cold for rattle snakes and taranchula's. We had Valentines dinner with Don and Avis and it was a lovely evening. Tomorrow on to Yuma, AZ for 3 weeks and no Internet boohoo. Yuma is where I got my tattoo last year, I wonder what kind of trouble I can get into this year ;)

Harlingen and Big Bend

Well we spent the month of Jan. in Harlingen TX again and the weather was great. I had several days at the pool and Jack was playing golf twice a week. Of course we went to the dentist in Progresso again and yeah no cavities. I lived on Rio Red Grapefruit, they grow them in the valley and they are the best. I found out about this hamburger place so we had to check it out. It is Gonzales Market (market because that way they save on taxes or something). Anyway they own their own processing plant and patty up the fresh burgers daily. When they sell them all they lock up. In the winter ( snowbird season) they sell about 300 lbs. of meat a day and in the summer only 30 - 60 lbs a day. The burgers are huge, larger around than a whopper and thicker. The meat is lean and very good. They cook them as you order but the line is usually out the door. They cost a whopping $3.45 and .40 to add cheese, for an extra buck you get another patty of meat. You can get fries and onion rings and that is the extent of the menu.

We left Harlingen on Jan. 31 and headed to Big Bend Nat'l Park. We did a little back and forth when we had engine trouble but it turned out to be minor and we made it to the park anyway. I am glad we did as it turned out to be a good trip. We did a bit of hiking and lots of sightseeing.

Parker

Wed. night is family night for dinner. We all meet at Culver's for burgers and ice cream. Jack and I go into St. Charles early in the afternoon to pick up our mail, go to the bank etc., so we usually pick up Mr. Parker at school early to save mom and dad the stop and gives us time with the sweet boy.

He loves his jumper.

Big Springs - Van Buren

We spent the month of September parked on the Current River. That has to be one of the prettiest, clearest rivers I have ever seen. We also had to make our way down to Big Springs, if you haven't seen it you really should. Sandy and Carl met us there for one week and we also met up with Herb and Mary Joplin while we were in the area.

25th Anniversary

Here are some pics from our Family Photos taken for our anniversary. We had such a great time.

time to catch up

Parker
Kaili Eva


Cody and Parker

Well we love our new Motor home, it has so much room. We have been in Warrenton most of the summer and have been loving the time with everyone. The babies are getting so big I can't imagine how fast they will grow when we hit the road this winter. Jack and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary and the kids gave us a surprise party. What a shock, we had no idea. Cathy and Jackson were in town for 10 days and we enjoyed having Jackson out at the campground with us for several days. Cody and Scott came in on the weekend of the party and it was so much fun to have all of our kids together. Life is good and we still love the travel.

Where does time go to

Parker snoozing with his Paw Paw
2000 Fleetwood Discovery 37' 2 slides, diesel I sure hope it works out

I can't believe how fast time flies. We are staying really busy trying to get the camping lot fixed up, just had a new shed built, and of course spending time with Parker and Andrea. He is growing really fast and they change so quickly. I was in Kansas City MO over the weekend for the wedding of Daniel and Anna Blew, my cousins son. It was a really great wedding and definitely reflected the personalities of the bride and groom. Then I went to Linwood Kansas to look and a motor home we have been watching on Craig's list for a while. Keep your fingers crossed we might be getting a newer and nicer rig!!! We still have to get back up to Mark Twain to pack up our personal things so we can put the condo on the rental plan again. So much to do, but I don't dare mention that to Andrea she just rolls her eyes and asked what else would we be doing and that we now have all the time in the world. ( we really do stay busy)

Welcome Baby Nelson

hospital pic
opening day

Well we got back to St. Charles in time for our new baby. We went to Warrenton to the campground to find no water yet. We stayed in town and dry camped (no water or sewer) for 2 days and then went to Mark Twain to the condo. We were going to start packing our personal things so we can put the condo back on the rental plan. Good thing we have until Memorial Day, we didn't' get anything done. We relaxed caught up on rest and then received a call on Monday morning March 24th that Andrea was in labor and headed to the hospital. We packed the car and started the two hour trip in. We stopped by their house to drop off Sophi and then headed to St. Lukes (the same hospital Andrea was born in). Andrea had a long labor and a tough time at the end but at 12:42 am Tues. March 25th we welcomed Parker David Nelson into the world. 7lb 9oz at 19 1/2 inches. He is such a cutie and are very proud of our new little guy.

Carlsbad New Mexico

Jack at the opening of Carlsbad Caverns

Lions tail

On our way home we stopped at Carlsbad Caverns and were really glad we did.
We walked down into the cavern instead of riding the elevator, but we were glad to ride them back. It was 750 ft. down to the Big Room where we took the self guided tour. If you ever get the chance to go it is worth the trip. But I will warn you there is absolutely nothing else around the area.

Yuma, AZ

Castle Dome
Castle Dome
Oh Yeah, check out the Corvette
His and Her Thunderbirds

After coming back to Yuma we went to Castle Dome. Castle Dome is an old mining town that has been rebuilt and it is full of period stuff. I have not seen a collection like this before. It was really interesting.

We were also in town for the Midnight and the Oasis. There were over 900 classic cars in town.

We spent over 2 hours looking at cars and enjoying the beautiful cars.

Andrea's Baby Shower

Mary's daughter makes these and had one sent for the shower, it is made of baby diapers
How many squares of toilet paper does it take to go around moms baby belly

The last day of Feb. I took a shuttle from Yuma to Phoenix to catch a flight home for the weekend. I went home for Andrea's baby shower. Mom and Stacey gave her a really nice shower and I was glad I got to go home and check on her. She is doing really great and we are getting excited for the baby to come.

Yuma, AZ

My tattoo! Herb and Mary Joplin
Jack and I at Texas

Roadhouse for his birthday

The RV park in Yuma, the caretakers had a few animals and the turkeys were so cool.
There were ducks, geese turkeys, roosters and chickens.

We had a really hard time finding a place to stay in Yuma. We later heard that the valley RV parks where 98% full. We did finally find a place, not one I ever would have stopped at if I was just driving by, but it turned out just fine. Someone knew someone staying there and said it was a good place. We ended up staying for a month and met some really nice people. We met up with Herb and Mary Joplin. They were staying at the Yuma Army Proving Ground RV camp. They were there for a week while we were there and we had a really good time with them. Mary and I went shopping, we hit old ladies day (Monday morning) at Bealls Outlet. What a hoot. We got some really good buys and had a blast. We went over to Mexico and out to eat. They went out to dinner with us to celebrate Jack's 60th birthday. After they left we went back to Mexico and got our new eye glasses at 50% the U.S. cost and they were ready in 2 hours. We also picked up some of our meds and a huge discount.

Oh and I got a tattoo! There was a place in town and I saw some the work and I really liked the detail. It is on my ankle and the pic is the day after I got it so it was a little swollen.

Jack's brother Eddie and Sue came for a weekend. They brought their camper and we spent the weekend playing. Sue and I went to Mexico and the flea market. We went out to eat, Eddie likes to try and find authentic Mexican restaurants.

Benson, AZ

Cochise Stronghold
Fort Bowie

San Pedro River

We did get in some hiking and saw several beautiful sunsets. We also met up with my cousin Don again. We went out to his place and really enjoyed seeing his place and hearing about the tranformation he put it through. It is really a great place. We stayed here for about a week then moved on to Yuma AZ

Benson, AZ

On to Benson AZ where we always love to hike. Our car broke down right before we were to leave TX and we were afraid to take it to the shop and not have it ready to go when we were. We ran into problems finding places to stay this year. All the RV parks have been full, due to the

Canadian dollar being strong there are a lot of visitors here from Canada. We pulled our sick car all the way to Benson and dropped it off at the garage. It was still 4 more days until we had the car back. We walked to the Donut Shop in the morning, 3 miles round trip. Sometimes we would then walk 3 miles to lunch. Once we got the car back we went to check out the Lazy J., Jack's 30 acres of desert. Here are a couple of pics I took from the property. You can see snow on the Mtns.

Harlingen TX

We headed back to Harlingen. TX in Jan. and again we had a really good time. We only stayed 3 weeks since we are cutting our winter short this year to get home in time for babies. These are our friends Earl and LaNiece and Dale and Judy. We play pegs and jokers with them and have a blast. We also enjoyed a few great meals at Chiquita's with them.

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.