Oh how time flies! I can’t believe we’ve been to Ohio and back and now are on our way south. We always think we have so much time to do this or that or see friends/family and soon the time has passed and we haven’t done what we wanted to. It just reminds us not to put things off.
Ohio was great as always. This time was a little different because our nephew got married to his beautiful bride on Sept 14th. They had a perfect day at a perfect location. The day couldn’t have been better.
We spent about two weeks with Zach and Lauren doing some fun things and Joe and Zach got a new storm door hung on the front of his house. The kitchen is done and looks absolutely beautiful. The kids had talked about putting their house on the market this fall but decided to stay in it over the winter so they could enjoy that new kitchen. We didn’t blame them. Joe and I are such big fans of the TV show ‘Shark Tank’ and watched an episode about a restaurant called Tom and Chee that started in Cincinnati. Laruen and Zach took us to the second restaurant they opened across the river in Newport, KY to have a Grilled Cheese Donut sandwich. Oh my gosh was that good! Not something you would want to have often but it was a treat. It is always hard to leave Ohio not knowing when we will get back again to see the kids. We know for sure they are going back to MN for Christmas so we will see them there.
On our way back to MN we stayed at two nice state parks, Kickapoo in Oakwood, IL and Mirror Lake in Baraboo, WI. Both we would go back to but really liked Kickapoo. We then settled in for a 16 day stay at Lebanon Hills in Apple Valley, MN before we moved back to Dakotah Meadows in Prior Lake. We had a great time at Lebanon. Cate spent a couple of nights with us which is always fun and Joe’s sister Bonnie, her husband Tim, their son Jeremy along with his wife, Teri and new baby Annabelle came and camped a weekend with us. There oldest son Chris came on Saturday to enjoy the campfire. We all had a fabulous time.
We also spent a week at our daughter Cassie’s house to watch baby Alex while Aaron was out of town and Cassie went back to work. It was a great bonding time for Alex and grandma and in the evenings I got to spend time with Cate. It was a tremendous week. Joe had bonding time with Lily who is so attached to me and is still not too sure of him. She showed him just how unsure she is of him when she bit him the first day. We keep saying it’s getting better when she doesn’t bite him for a week or more (we are now looking at over 3 weeks).
Joe and I got in time with our friends, Sharon and John, lunch with old co-workers, time with our kids and a few days before we took off we spent time again with granddaughter Cate. Time goes by so fast and because of the cold Minnesota weather moving in we were looking forward to going south.
So we left MN on Oct 23rd, our 43rd wedding anniversary, and drove through a mixture of rain and snow in Iowa, stayed at a nice state park in Nebraska, stayed in a not so nice private campground in Rawlins, WY and are now in Utah at a beautiful state park in Peoa, Rockport State Park. Of course it has been cold every day and we have even seen snowflakes more than we care to admit. But we are heading somewhat south with our aim at California by Nov 24th. We will not complain about the weather because we know how fortunate we are to be able to go where it is warm during the winter.
The biggest reasons to be full-timers is the freedom and flexibility because we can move where we want, when we want and stay as long as we want. Sometimes there comes along a factor that might make us change one of those. Like our kids needing us or missing our grandkids or a kitchen that needs to be torn apart or someone getting sick. A few days before our nephew’s wedding Joe’s mom had a mild stroke (and is doing really well now) and my dad was diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer. My dad, who lives in CA, will be 92 yrs old the day after Christmas and we haven’t seen him since our daughter’s wedding last Nov. We loved the last time we were in CA so we thought this is where we will head now to spend time with dad, see my sister and her family and just hang out. We are not making plans for how long we will stay but we do know that we will be flying back to MN for Christmas to be with our kids and grandbabies.
As you saw in my last post with the capsized canoe life is full of adventures, as granddaughter Cate would say “let’s go on an adventure”. So Joe and I are going on this winter’s adventure to CA and maybe Arizona and New Mexico or maybe just CA. But where ever we go we do know it will be an ‘adventure’.
Stay warm you Minnesotans! Love to all! Stay safe!