Visiting the Grandchildren

Today we were going to see Ian (Gordon's son), his wife, Tracy and their three kids, Caden, Lilly and Iris. They live in Dayton. We were on our way when we came across this accident and had to take a detour along with a few large semis and various other vehicles.

We had a nice visit for a couple of hours and got to see the kids. This is the newest member of the family, Iris, now 2 1/2 months old with her Daddy.

Here's Lilly and Caden with Grandpa shortly after we arrived.

And here's Grammy with all three grandkids.


Lilly wearing the necklace that Grammy made for her - it's orange, her favourite colour!


And here's Iris wearing her necklace. She doesn't seem impressed.

Caden holding Iris
On our way back there were several hot air balloons in the sky. Here's two of them.


We were out chasing the hot air balloons when we saw this parachutist. There were lots of others too and the plane that was carrying them came in as we watched.

And that's it for today! We'll be staying here another day to rest up.

Happy Hallowe'en!

I don't consider Hallowe'en to be a holiday nor have I celebrated it since I was a kid and could do trick or treating. Gordon and I usually went out for dinner on Hallowe'en when we had the house. There were a couple of years where we gave out candy but we never had many visitors so stopped doing it.

Tonight we'll be at Gordon's sister, Carol's house for dinner. I don't think she has many visitors either. It will be good to see Carol and Rick. It's been a year since we saw them last. As I mentioned earlier in the week Rick had a heart attack last week but is now home and is doing well.

This morning when I got up it was 36F (2C) but by noon it was 60F (16C) and very nice, bright and sunny. I went for my walk/run around the campground. Gordon had been out at sunrise and announced that they have put in some new sites at the back that might be good for our satellites. They're pull thrus too so he's going to check them out before we leave. I managed to cover all of the campground while I was out.

Photos from around the park






After breakfast I changed the bed (with a little help), got the laundry together and got that out of the way. They have a basic laundry room here but it has 3 large gas dryers which dry really quickly so it didn't take long. I love those big gas dryers!

I had found a campground listed on freecampgrounds.com called Excello Mobile Homes Park that is in Middletown, OH and quite close to Carol. It's not an RV park but an old mobile home park with a lot of seniors. We wanted to check it out but it turned out not to be somewhere Gordon wanted to stay and most of the sites we couldn't see the satellites.

On to try to find a Walmart but wound up going to a Meijer instead. Meijer is similar to Walmart but I like Walmart better. Got most of what I needed.

We arrived at Carol and Rick's a little early and had a nice chat with them. Carol prepared a lovely chicken dinner with rice and broccoli and fruit for dessert. Gordon was feeling tired by then so we left for home.

Here's Carol and Rick. He sure looks great for just having had a heart attack and of course, Carol always looks great.



We got to a respectable 72F (22C) today. Just a beautiful day!

We Arrive in Lebanon, OH - Leg 4 of our Southern Journey

We weren't in a hurry this morning as we only had a two hour drive and check-in at our campground at our destination is after 12 noon.

It was very cold last night 25F (-4C). When I got up there was a lot of fog but it burned off quickly and we got to a respectable 58F (14C) by the time we reached Lebanon, OH. It's not supposed to be as cold as it has been, thank goodness. I can stand some warmer weather!


We left Cross Creek Camping Resort at 11:30 a.m. and arrived at Cedarbrook Campground at 1:30 p.m. We were setting up both satellite dishes here as their wifi doesn't reach out site and we're bored with the regular channels. We're also paying for them so we might as well use them!

Miss Pinky did a good job getting us through Columbus on I-71, there was a fair amount of traffic but it is the most direct route for where we were going.

Part of the Columbus skyline

We were on our site by 1:55 p.m. People kept stopping by to chat so it took a while to complete our setup but we were dont by 4 p.m.

Our site

A campground photo


Leaf on the tree


We've made arrangements to go to Gordon's sister's house for dinner tomorrow night and have made arrangements to see his son and family on Saturday. Then we're outta here on Sunday!

Our Last Day in Delaware, OH

The sun was just peeking out through the trees when I got up this morning. Nice to see it again! I had lots to do this morning before meeting RVing friends, Kris and Mike Ward from Medway, OH at Taco Bell for lunch. I had to have a shower, find cookbooks for Michelle, pick a spot at our next campground so we can see the satellites, call them and reserve (hate doing that), find some calcium pills in our pill container for Gordon and a myriad of other little tasks. At least I managed to find the cookbooks for Michelle and have a shower! The showers here aren't particularly wonderful but they heat their washroom which is wonderful in this weather!

Oh, and it snowed in Ottawa last night. Makes the cold here seem not quite so bad!

We met Kris (Sassy on rv-dreams chatroom) and Mike, fellow RVers at Taco Bell for lunch and had a nice chat with them. It was great to finally meet them. We had set it up to meet in the spring but then Gordon got sick and we wound up not being able to get together. They are staying across the road from us at the Alum Creek State Park campground so we just had to make arrangements to meet for a few minutes at least. Sure glad we did!

Kris & Mike



After that we had to make a couple of stops to get some gluten free flour and some crimp beads, then on to Michelle and Eric's house to see them and the kids. Michelle cooked up a storm again and made a really yummy stir fry for dinner. She also had baked and bought a bunch of gluten free things for her father so we came home with lots of goodies.

Luke & Grandpa



We left their place a little earlier this time as it was still light out. Neither Gordon nor I can see that well at night to drive so we like to get home early.

Resting in Delaware, OH

Today was another cold, gray day. It was 33F (.5C) when I got up. I layered my clothes and went for my walk. Today I just did my walk/run around the park and did my exercises inside. We didn't have anything planned for today as Gordon needed to get some rest.

I did some internet surfing this morning while Gordon went to the office to pay for another couple of days. We'll be leaving here to head to Lebanon, OH on Thursday.

Last night I was very tired so forgot to mention what a lot of trouble Michelle went to yesterday to prepare a lovely meal for us. She made a yummy beef stew and also made gluten free biscuits. I contributed a small amount by chopping up veggies for a salad. She also had a gluten free cherry crumble and some gluten free cookies as well as birthday cake and ice cream. Both Michelle and her father have celiac disease, Michelle was only diagnosed last year so she's always trying new recipes. Luckily there are quite a few stores in the Columbus area that sell gluten free foods.

This afternoon I read, had a nap, packaged up the meat that I bought yesterday to put in the freezer, updated my expenses spreadsheet and generally relaxed. Gordon slept most of the afternoon as he felt like he was coming down with a cold overnight. He says he thinks he beat it.

I also found out that Sassy (Kris) from the rv-dreams chatroom is across the road at Alum Creek State Park. Hope we can find time to get together even for a few minutes but it all depends on when we'll be going to see family tomorrow.

Gordon took the above photo of Grace icing her birthday cake.

Grace's 8th Birthday!

It was cold and wet this morning and 10 degrees warmer in Ottawa than it was here! Why does that always happen to us?

Anyway I had a nice walk around the park today. There is a trail that goes to Alum Creek and I walked a ways on it but didn't have my camera with me.

After breakfast we drove over to Alum Creek State Park. Here's a photo of one of the sites there. We looked at sites and we could probably get satellite at some of them but the sites don't have water and I'm spoiled so I guess we're staying here even though with exchange it's over $40/night.

After that I went to the closest SuperWalmart to get some groceries, got them put away and then it was time to get ready to go to Gordon's daughter's house. Our oldest granddaughter, Grace is 8 years old today.

Here's a photo of the birthday girl just getting home from school. Her mother, Michelle and her little brother, Luke are walking with her.


And here she is doing some homework.

This is Luke trying to lock his mother in the garage.

Luke wanted to play horsey with Grandpa.

Here are Grace and Faith with the necklaces that I made for them.

Faith is the 'icing monster'
And this is Michelle
Grace iced her cake and put her candles on it. I was standing by helping her ice it.

We're both tired out!

Leg 3 of our Southern Journey - Sherkston Shores, ON to Delaware, OH

We've arrived in Delaware, OH. We left at 9:20 this morning and arrived here at about 3:45. Except for the wind it was a good trip. We had to stop once to get some fuel that we probably wouldn't have needed if we weren't driving into the wind.

We started out with sun, after crossing into Ohio it got cloudy and started to rain. It rained for a while and that eventually turned in to sun so we arrived here in sun but it's still windy. We reached a high of 63F (17C).

It's a pretty boring drive. The trees are pretty much past their prime but here's a few shots I took.

Fields of grape vines in NY state - lots of wineries there


We cross from PA into OH around noon


Here's our site

One of the rows in the park

An empty site with a few trees behind it


This morning we got a shocking email from Gordon's sister in Cincinnati. Her husband Rick had a heart attack yesterday morning and had to have 3 angioplasties with 2 stents. She expects he will be home on Monday. They sure don't keep you in the hospital long anymore for any reason!

Gordon is very tired after the long trip and needs to rest so we'll spend a relaxing evening with me watching Desperate Housewives.