Family Get Together

Lilly giving Grace a big hug

Caden telling me with a look that he's tired of having his picture taken

Grace poses for the camera

Ian and Lilly

Today we headed over to Michelle and Eric’s for 2:00 p.m. Ian, Tracy and their kids arrived about 2:45 p.m. for our family get together. It was quite something to get everyone together and we got a family photo which I don’t have but Gordon will probably be posting on his pbase gallery.

It was quite a day watching the cousins playing together and good to see Ian as he was at work when we were at his house on Thursday.

It’s hard to imagine that both Michelle and Ian have grown up and have families of their own. When I first met them, they were teenagers. I remember when Ian and Michelle flew to Ottawa to be with us for Christmas one year and Michelle said it was so cold there her nose hairs froze. She was probably about 15 yrs old then.

We had a great Mexican meal with tacos and tostadas and all kids of fixings and beans.

Gordon and I are both really tired so I’ll close with photos…..

A Slow and Rainy Day!

Caden, Tracy & Lillian (Daddy's at work)

A little redhead with her prayer bunny

Lillian

Grandpa and his girls-Faith & Grace

Grace and her prayer bunny

Faith and Grace on their front porch

Faith and Grace in the top bunk

Faith riding her new bike

It was supposed to rain today but remained sunny until shortly after noon. It started raining around 4 p.m. and the temperature fell a bit. We didn’t need the electric heater at all last night and the temperature inside the RV didn’t go below about 67F.

The plan today had been to take the laundry over to Michelle’s and make my Refried Beans recipe at her house for tomorrow’s family gathering. However, yesterday being a very long day I had decided that I would stay home and then Gordon also decided that he didn’t want to go out today either so we spent the day napping and computering and generally trying to get ourselves rested up for tomorrow.

We finished off the butterscotch pie today too! Always a sad moment!

Not much to say for today so I’ve uploaded several photos that I’ve taken over the last three days.

A Full Day!

Caden and Lillian playing

Caden just woke up from a nap

Lillian stole Grandpa's hat

Grandpa and Lillian

Janice and Mel at The Grille

This morning was bright and sunny and the high where we were which was around Dayton, OH was about 81F. However in the afternoon, it clouded over and got cooler so that by the time we got back to the RV Park it was about 74F at 7:15 p.m.

We left at 10:00 a.m. to head to Lake Loramie State Park to join friends, Mel and Janice for lunch. They are camped there in their new Jayco trailer for four days just trying it out to be sure everything works. Lake Loramie is north of Dayton, Ohio about 45 minutes near the town of Fort Loramie. We arrived around noon and Mel and Janice announced that they were taking us out for lunch in a little town called New Bremen. First we had a tour of their trailer and then we took two vehicles as we had brought Bib with us and couldn’t just leave him in the truck at the campsite and didn’t want to take the chance of leaving him in their new trailer so we headed to a really nice restaurant called, The Grille in New Bremen. New Bremen is a very clean, pretty little town and after our tasty lunch we walked around a bit and took some photos. There’s not much in the downtown anymore. Most of the shops are empty. By the time we finished lunch and our walkabout it was 3:00 p.m. so we headed south to Dayton to see our Dayton grandchildren. Our youngest grandchild, Lillian will be a year old next week and we had not seen her yet.

We arrived there around 5:00 p.m. after stopping to take some photos here and there on our way back on SR66 to Piqua then picking up I-75 out of Piqua. Caden was asleep so we got about ½ hour getting to know Lillian. What a cutie! She has bright blue eyes and strawberry blonde hair and was a little shy at first but after about 10 minutes, warmed up to both of us.

Caden then woke up and we all went outside for a while. Caden has grown very tall. He has very long legs and is talking a blue streak.

Not long after Caden woke up we had to leave as it was over an hour to get home and Bib didn’t want to eat in the truck and besides we had had a very long day. It was nice to spend time with Tracy and the family.

We’re looking forward to getting everyone together at Michelle and Eric’s on Saturday.

We Visit the Grandchildren Again!

Faith riding her new bike with Grandpa and Big Larry in the background

Faith in the lawn chair on their front porch

Grace posed for this one

Michelle (and Luke), Grace and Faith sitting on their front steps

Faith, Grammy and the Prayer Bunny (photo by Grandpa)

Grammy and Faith make smoochie faces (photo by Grandpa)

Today started out cloudy but got sunnier and 80F as the afternoon progressed.

This morning was very laid back and then around 2:00 p.m. we went over to see the family again. This time we took Bib with us but as always when around kids, he stays in the truck. He doesn’t mind, he loves the truck! We took a roundabout way of getting to our destination and stayed off the interstate completely. It’s interesting to find different ways of getting to a place that we go to all the time.

Faith got a new bicycle today, an early birthday present from her parents and she’s already riding it quite well albeit with training wheels, she will only be 3 on her birthday. She enjoyed showing her Grandpa and Grammy how she can ride.

I need to get more photos of Grace!

We only stayed a couple of hours. The girls tired Grandpa out, then we stopped on the way home at Dollar Tree to get some stuff, then came back on the Interstate and went past our usual exit to see where the next closest one is to the campground but had to go a fair drive west of here and then come back.

Tomorrow we’re planning a trip into Dayton. Gordon’s friend, Mel and his wife, Janice are camping at Fort Loramie State Park north of Dayton and then we’re going to stop and see Tracy and the kids later in the day. Ian will probably still be at work. So, my posting tomorrow may be late!

Getting Reacquainted

Sandra at Whetstone Rose Park

Faith on the left, Grace on the right in the top bunk

Grandpa, Faith and Grace

Today was a beautiful sunny day and about 75F. This morning we didn’t do much. This afternoon we left the RV at about 2:00 p.m. and drove east on US Route 40 to downtown Columbus. We hadn’t been there since Michelle was going to Ohio State and she’s been married 10 years now. We drove by Ohio State going north on High Street and stopped at Whetstone Rose Park where Michelle and Eric had their wedding photos taken. Not much happening there yet. The spring flowers were about finished and it’s too early for roses so we took a few photos of some of the trees and headed to Michelle and Eric’s.

When we arrived I was immediately asked by Faith to go up to see the bunkbeds. They had been separate on the floor before but this weekend Eric stacked them and the girls are very excited. You can hardly get Grace out of her bed. She has the top bunk. The photo above shows them both on the top bunk.

After that I pretty much had Faith on my lap the whole afternoon. She is very cuddly and affectionate. Grace is old enough now to do her own thing so at one point I watched TV with both girls. We gave them each a prayer bunny that says the “Now I lay me down to sleep” prayer and they seemed to be a big hit.

Michelle prepared a great meal complete with butterscotch pie for her father. She spoils him! Eric got back from his flight in time for dinner so we got to see him too.

They have done a lot of work on their house and it looks really good. I love the outside paint job. The house is a taupe color with mulberry colored shutters. They had redone the kitchen and now have a new table and chairs and they have redone the upstairs bathroom. We saw the kitchen and bathroom last spring but it looks so much different with the new table and chairs.

Arrangements have been made for Ian, Tracy, Caden and Lillian to come to Columbus on Saturday so we’ll get photos of the whole family!

We Move to Columbus, Ohio Area

We had quite a thunderstorm early this morning. The power went out twice. We started to pack up when it stopped raining and then it started again so we went into town to warm up the truck and get diesel fuel. By the time we got back it had pretty much stopped again so we were on our way to Columbus at about 10:30 a.m. As we drove north the sun came out and the only fly in the ointment was as we were approaching I-270 which is the loop around Columbus the exit to go west was closed and traffic was backing up. Gordon did some quick thinking and got off at Grove City so we took a detour and got on I-270 at SR62 so we arrived around 12:30 p.m. at the Alton RV Park.

As an RV park it’s not much but it’s as close to Michelle and Eric as we’re going to get and the owner is very friendly and helpful. The sites are long and narrow but they have 50 amp and free wireless internet but no cable and it has a clear view of the southern sky. I guess I’m out of luck for cable until we’re in the south again next year unless we ante up for satellite. We’ll see.

We were set up by about 1:45 p.m.

For those of you that are interested in mileage that we have driven with Big Harv in tow, the total since we left Carleton Place on September 9, 2005 is 11477.1 miles added to the mileage since we started fulltiming in August 2004, the total is 20727.6 miles. Of course we’ve put a lot more miles on the truck, we’re now over 86,000 km.

After we got set up, Gordon went in to Michelle & Eric’s for a couple of hours. I stayed behind as I was tired but did manage to do a vacuum job and wiped up the floors, then I watched Desperate Housewives that we had taped from last night and had a nap. It was bright and sunny and reached about 70F with a light breeze.

Gordon got home about 5:00 p.m. and had a good time with his granddaughters. He took lots of photos. Hopefully I’ll have some for tomorrow’s blog.

My photo for today is of our site here at Alton RV Park.

Happy Easter!

Today was really lazy. I got up at 7:30 a.m. and Bib didn’t want to go out so I went back to bed and got up about 9:15 a.m. when he did want to go out. Then I read and went back to sleep on the couch.

This afternoon I spent reading both inside and outside and interneting before starting to get ready to go to Rick’s brother’s (Gordon’s sister’s husband) house for Easter dinner.

We left about 5:20 p.m. and went to the bank and then headed to Jim’s (Rick’s brother). We were early so we drove in to Mason, the small town where Jim lives and looked around there, then we drove to Jim’s. Lots of people there. Jim’s girlfriend, Nancy, Carla, (Jim and Rick’s sister), her husband, Ed, two daughters, Emily and Olivia and their two dogs were there as well as Jim’s son, Ryan and his fiancée, Christine, (Jim, Rick & Carla’s mother), Mary and then Carol and Rick arrived with Jim, (Rick, Jim & Carla’s father). There were also Nancy's two elderly daschunds and Jim's dog. Glad we didn't take Bib! It’s all too confusing! Anyway, we had a nice chat and a great meal, said our goodbyes and were home by 10:00 p.m. as we have to get ready to leave for Columbus in the morning.

I took some photos but none of them turned out that well so instead I’m posting a daffodil that I took the other day.