Sunday, April 24, 2011

What Fun...and more to come...

If you haven't figured out by now, our Caden

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is a real hockey fan and loves to ice skate.  This weekend, he celebrated his "big" 4th birthday.  His request was to have his party at the Dallas Stars Dr. Pepper Arena.

Everyone had a great time

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ice skating.

However, the highlight of the party was the appearance of

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Stanley the Polar Bear.

After skating, there was

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cake and the official

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Happy Birthday Song, and of course, you can't forget all the

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great presents you get when you are 4.

The party wrapped up with one last picture with

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Stanley.

What fun...thanks, Caden for sharing your "big" birthday with Poppa and I,  We love you and are very proud of you!

After the party, Mark and I headed out to make a few stops in preparation for today's travel.  There was dinner, and a stop by Wal-Mart, Albertson's, and Kroger's.  LOL, can't believe we couldn't find everything we thought we needed at one stop.  By the time we got home, storms had begun to form out west of Fort Worth.  As the night progressed, thankfully the heavy rains stayed away, but the winds blew and blew.  Somewhere around midnight, the winds knocked out our electricity, which didn't come back on until early this morning. We found that the wind also

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split this big limb from one of our trees

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landing on the electric lines.  I reported it to Encore and they said they would be out to clear it from the lines as soon as they could, but there were 15,000 customers without power.  Not much more I could do and...

By this time, Mark had the jacks up and the slides in with the diesel running.  With more storms in the forecast, we decided to get an early start...our destination, San Saba for the annual Fort Worth Fireman's Spring Campout.

We traveled south out Hwy 377 through Granbury.  On down the road we passed through Dublin

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home of the original Dr. Pepper Bottling Company.

At Comanche, we turned

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on to Hwy 16, looking out across the hills, and wishing

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the wild flowers had been a little more plentiful this year.  I have always heard that Texas wildflowers, especially our bluebonnets, were nourished and determined by our November rains...if that is true, I guess there wasn't much rain in November.

Not

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too far from our destination, we caught up with

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Donnie and Karen.  We followed them on to the

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San Saba RV Park, located just off County Road 104.

Once parked and checked in, we spent the rest of the afternoon visiting.  Tonight the guys grilled hamburgers followed by more visiting.  Several other couples came in today and the rest of the group will be here tomorrow...

more fun to come!

Monday, April 18, 2011

It's Time...

Again, yesterday, Andrew, our 13 year old grandson, reminded me...Moppa, your last blog was February 26.  With that, I decided I better try to catch up...so here goes...

When I last posted, we were in the middle of having fun at Retama.  There was the

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Sock Hop where we enjoyed doing the "Stroll", and seeing who could

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still hula-hoop, and the weather was beginning to warm and the signs of winter were beginning to disappear.

It was then that  I received a phone call from my sister, that my Mom had fallen.  She was not seriously hurt and she hadn't broken anything, but it was decided that I should come home for a few days.  So, I packed a bag,

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caught a plane, and in about an hour I was at DFW.

Over the next few days, mom's doctor determined that her fall hadn't caused any problem, but, in trying to regulate her blood pressure, he changed her meds.  However, after about a week, that didn't seem to do the job and she ended up in the hospital for several days.  By the time she got home, it was almost Spring Break time and my brother, sister-in-law, and niece were planning a visit from Birmingham to Texas.  So, with that in mind, I decided to stay on for another week.

We had a great visit...

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Danielle had a great time feeding the chickens while

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mom even got out and about for a little while...enjoying her backyard which was

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in full bloom and the

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chickens were enjoying scratching around in the soon to be garden.

The week passed by all too fast and it was time for Dan and family to head east back to Birmingham and I was making plans to head south back to Mark and the RGV.

However, on the night before I was to fly out, I had to call 911 for Mom...and, again we found ourselves in the hospital.  This time, a cardiologist along with her primary doctor consulted and lots of tests were scheduled...all of which at 82 years of age, she passed with flying colors.  So, once again, they made med changes and sent us home after a few days.  I am glad to report that she is feeling good, expect that now, her blood pressure has taken a swing to the low end resulting in a little dizziness for part of the day.  She says if the day could start with the afternoon, she would be great.

We are still tracking her blood pressure and will see the doctor next week...who knows...maybe another change.  We are just thankful that there were no heart related problems and hoping they are on the right track to the right combination of meds.

At the time we had to put Mom in the hospital the second time, I decided it was time to tell Mark...pack up, close up the coach house, and bring yourself, my house, and my clothes to Fort Worth.  He laughed and said, it was my house and my clothes I needed, not him.  Well, not true, but, don't tell him...however, I was tired of the four changes of clothes I brought home for a week's stay that had turned into three going on four.  LOL

Once he was home and

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we were settled in, everyday life with all of the family picked right up.  Along with daily trips to check on Mom, there have been weekend activities with all the grandkids.

Andrew's

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Hockey team made the playoffs and played two weekends before being eliminated.  Congratulations, Brahmas on a great season.

Lauren

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is loving Spring Volleyball and doing great.

Zachary is

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pitching for his team and enjoys every minute of baseball season!

Kourtney and Caden are both

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playing soccer and have a great time running up and down the field.

In addition to playing soccer, Caden thinks he is as

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big as his big brother Andrew...and is

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learning to play hockey.  Oh, my gosh...he eats and sleeps it.

Kourtney has also been busy helping her mom and dad get everything ready for the arrival of her baby sister in a few weeks.  She is excited about her

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big girl room, but has been very interested in what's going on in getting

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Kinley's nursery set up.

Along with

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Ashley, Karen's best friend, Kourtney helped host a baby shower this past weekend for her new baby sister.  What a great party it was.

Caden even wants in on the action...and although his official title is cousin, he thinks he is going to be a

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big brother like Kourtney is going to be a big sister.  What a mess these two are...Kinley won't have a chance.

This past week, we were delighted to have a stop over visit with my niece

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Megan...She was on her way to San Diego to start her new career as a Navy Nurse.  Congratulations, Megan...enjoy your adventure.

There was also a day, we worked in a field trip for Kourtney and Caden.  Poppa took them to see

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the fire trucks at one of the stations where he used to work.  They enjoyed driving and playing on the trucks, while Poppa enjoyed visiting.  Afterwards, we went to the park for a leisure

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train ride along the Trinity River giving us a great view of

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downtown Fort Worth.

Then, this weekend, we celebrated an early Easter with all the kids and grandkids.  They all had a fun time in the backyard going through several dozen

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confetti eggs,

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hunting eggs, and eating lots of

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pop rocks.

Now, as things settle down with mom, and before Miss Kinley decides to make her appearance into this world, Mark and I are looking forward to making a trip to San Saba for the annual Spring Fireman's Campout and Retreat.  I am sure that it will be an adventure in the making!

And...yes, it really was time for me to catch up on the blog!  Thanks, Andrew for the constant reminder that I wasn't taking care of business!