North To Alaska...

Before we start North, let me take you back a couple of weeks when

the 54th Escapde was under way, and we were living life in the fast lane...

Our office

was set up. Wallace

 

was checking out all the radios while

Wanda was making a plan for how to direct everyone to the Rise n' Rolls Donuts.  Good job Wan!  According to my scales, I think we found them!

With the help of Greg and his fancy fork lift, Bob and Mark

hung all the sponsor signs...looking good guys!

And, before we knew it, things were in full swing.  There was

registration,

meetings, and

seminars.

Thanks Sharon and Don for recruiting 250 to 300

wonderful volunteers that

helped throughout the week.

And, wow....

look at all these first timers.  They were anxious to hear what

Molly, Wanda, and Susie had to say!

Of course, we don't want to forget the

socials, happy hours, and

absolute craziness that goes on!

But, like every other Escapade, the week was soon over,

Big Red was packed and on the way back to Texas.  We hope you are making your plans to join us in 2015 in Tucson!  We look forward to seeing you there.

But...in the meantime, we are packed up and headed

North To Alaska!

We left Goshen this past Sunday, danced around Chicago and landed at

Camp Wal-Mart in Iowa City for the night.

Monday, we traveled the

scenic route through Iowa to Austin, Minnesota.

This stop

was a must!

Tuesday, we traveled on to Mitchell, SD, home of the

Corn Palace.  The outside of the building is decorated with 12 kinds of corn!

This morning, we were up with

sun, and after a fuel stop, the gang was

 

on the move.  Next stop...Rapid City, SD for our next adventure!

Life is Good!

Time Moves On...

While spending time in Fort Worth with family, we were able to enjoy the kids and grandkids.  And, as usual, they kept us hopping!  There were

cooking classes and

gymnastics classes with Kourtney.

And,

Kinley, trying to convince her mom she is ready for gymnastics.  Or, that she is old enough

to join in with her friends at the 50's dance at Kourtney's school.

Then there were lots of baseball games for

 

Caden and

Zachary.

Caden likes getting to try out a

new position.

And, Zachary's team

while playing really hard, had to learn the agony of defeat.

Andrew is growing up...and at almost 17 he is busy with school and working.  He has a job at the Dr. Pepper Center where he drives the Zamboni.  And, now that he is driving, we enjoy him dropping in now and then for an unexpected visit.

Lauren too is growing up and is always surrounded with lots of girl friends.  We did however, have the change to have an

early birthday party for these four before leaving town.  They even agreed that they could

share their cake! 

And,  then, and still, the hardest part of this RVing lifestyle is when we leave them all behind.  I don't know that that part will ever be easy for me.

But, time moves on, and Pop had the

new refrigerator/freezer in place and the motor home

shining!  Time to head for

Goshen, Indiana to help prepare for the 2014 Escapade.  And, over the past few weeks, we have all worked hard.  But, we have left time to play, and, what a great place to play.  I love being in the middle of the

Amish country.  I love their homes and barns, and seeing them

parked in the same parking lots where we park our cars, and

.

shop in the stores...what a treat!

We had the opportunity to enjoy a real Amish meal prepared and served by Levi and Ester in their home.  What a beautiful home they have and what beautiful people they are.  Our dinner started out with fresh baked rolls served with homemade butter and jams.  Next came a wonderful slaw salad followed by baked chicken, baked steak, stuffing, corn, and mashed potatoes.  Of, course, there was lots of chicken gravy to top off that stuffing and those potatoes!  And, just when you thought you would pop, Ester came back with seconds.  And, for sure, when you thought you couldn't hold one more bite...yes...Ester was returning!  But, this time she came bearing chocolate cream pie, rhubarb cream pie, and a dish of ice cream topped with chocolate sauce.

The food is not the only thing around here that is good in Amish country.  There are also lots of great craftsmen in the area.  And, ever since our last visit here in 2010, Mark knew that someday he would be back, and when he came back, he was getting himself a new

 

chair.  And, it could come from nowhere, but Lambright's.  And, another item on his list was to look up Carlyle at Focal Wood Products and have a

support leg made for our free standing table.

Lots of fun days, but, then it was back to work...

And, even the light dusting of snow, the still cool temperatures, and some pretty grey drizzly days, time has moved on, and now we find ourselves almost at the end of time.  The weather is promising to warm up and the Escapade staff will start arriving this week and by this time next week, our general attendees will be arriving, and Escapade 2014 will be underway.  And, we look forward to the time we spend with old friends and the chance that we will make a new friend or two.

So, for now, as time moves on, I must go.  But, check in over the next two weeks and enjoy the fun we will be having here in Goshen, Indiana.  Wishing you were all here with us!

Spring!

Wow...I am not sure where the time has gone.  But, I am sure, that somewhere in this crazy winter, we have all suffered through, we have been lost in time...or maybe, we have just been in hibernation. But, non the less, I have been off the grid with not much to blog about!

So, with Spring in the air...it makes me feel like new beginnings...so I thought this would be a good time to find my way back on the grid. But, while there is no way I could even begin to remember everything that has happened since my last post...and, even if I could, I think all you would hear about is how we tried to stay warm...yes even in South Texas. So, maybe, we can hit a couple of high points of past, present, and future.

Time in the past...and the spot where I last blogged!

We, returned to Texas after our great summer vacation with the grandkids in Colorado where we hung out for the remainder of the summer and early fall.  We always enjoy the family time at home!

And, talk about where does time go, in September, we celebrated Andrew's 16th birthday.  Oh, my, how he has grown up...all the way to 6'5".

All the grandkids are growing up right in front of me...In October, we celebrated Zachary's 13th birthday.

By this time, Poppa decided it was time for us to head to South Texas for the winter...little did he know, that to be warm, the Rio Grande Valley was not going to be quite far enough South!  But, if I had gone any further South, I would have had to use my passport to get there!  But, we survived, and it was a lot better than any point to the north!!

Once we were there and settled in, it seemed like we had arrived home.  Catching up with friends and neighbors at Retama is like catching up with family. Mark and the guys picked up right where they left off.  And, they already had lots of projects in mind to spruce up the gun range.  They made some new target stands and did some general maintenance to the grounds.  In spite of the weather, they found lots of nice days to spend at the range!  Then, on those not so nice days, they always seemed to arrange for a day trip to a gun store, pawn shop, or a trip to Bass Pro or Academy...and it always included a trip to Rudy's, Willies, or Firehouse Subs.

Mark took on the project of draining and replacing the antifreeze in the motor home.  After recovering from that little job, he decided it was time to replace all six house batteries and the two start batteries.  Think we should be good to go!!

I kept busy with a few projects of my own...

I taught a generic Weight Watchers type class.  We call it WOW for watching our weight.  It kept me on my toes preparing lessons for our weekly meetings.  We took a look at the approach of Clean Eating.  As a lifetime Weight Watcher, I was surprised to see just how close the clean eating plan is to WW program.  My Fitness Pal, an app for your smart phone or computer is a great way to journal.  It has a great food database, and is super easy to use.  The class became a great support group and we were able to congratulate one of the members for a 50lb weight loss!  And, as you all know, when you put a bunch of RVer's together, all socializing is surrounded by food.  So, a weekly meeting to help keep us on track was a welcome addition to our activities.

Leaving the motor home in Mission, we traveled home for Christmas and New Year's, and, again enjoyed sharing time with the family.

After returning to Mission, we were in for a real taste of winter.  It seemed there were more not nice days than the usual beautiful warm winter days we go there for!  In fact,  I think I could count on one hand the number of days I actually got in the pool and enjoyed it!  So, we found other ways to pass the time.  There were always the afternoon games of Rummikub with the girls, a few shopping trips, and like the guys, we could always stop for lunch.

One of the highlights of our girl time, was the day we went to the club house kitchen to make Potica.  This pastry was a favorite of Sue's when she was growing up.  So, she had the recipe and we tried to duplicate it...

There was close measuring of all the ingredients...

lots of hands on mixing and

letting the dough rise!

Once the dough was risen, we

got to work rolling, and

rolling, and

rolling!  Then came the

filling...yummy honey, and sugar, and pecans, and more pecans!

Once the filling was spread, the dough was

 

rolled up like cinnamon rolls and placed in a pan to rise one more time.  Then it was off to the oven.  The final product

was then ready to enjoy!  Yummy!!!  But, caution, don't try this by yourself...it is definitely a group project.  But, just for fun...Goggle, Potica!

Thanks Sue for sharing both your recipe and your memories...so much fun!

Before we knew it, days and weeks had passed us by.  It was early, but, with other obligations in our future, we had to start thinking about leaving Retama behind us.  And, shortly after the first of March, we were heading back to Fort Worth. And,

 

this is where you find us today...parked in the barn at Karen's.

But, don't get me wrong...things are never dull here and we are busy every day.  We had a great spring break with all the grandkids except Zachary, who was having a great time at baseball spring training in Arizona.  While most of the family is Texas Ranger fans, Zachary is a diehard Angels fan and loves every minute he spends with the team during spring training.

Now, that everyone is back to school and work, we are busy unloading all the unnecessary items from the motor home and reloading and rearranging for the next several months.  We have just a few weeks until we head out and will be gone for the next several months.  First, we will make our way to Goshen, Indiana for the the 54th Escapades.

In fact, Mark has been busy getting ahead on a few

 

of the decorations that we will use for Escapades.  We are looking forward to a great time there and seeing lots of old friends and making new ones along the way.  Hope we see you there!

After Escapades, we are looking forward to spending the summer in Alaska.

So, now that

Spring has officially sprung, and, we are officially out of hibernation!  We are looking forward to the next adventure and the places it will take us!!  Hope to see you somewhere along the way.

Up, Up, and Away!

Today was a day for Andrew, Lauren, and Zachary, and they chose to go to the Cave of The Winds and do the

Wind Walker Challenge.

They didn't want to waste any time, so, it was on with the

harness, and with a little instruction, they were

off.  It took them all a little while to gain some courage

and get the feel of the course, but, first thing I knew, Lauren

was way up in the air and out over the canyon some 600 feet from the bottom.

Now, the boys were still

being a little

cautious about their footing, and neither one was too anxious about going out over the overhang.  I somehow think they kept avoiding it.  But, not Lauren...every time I looked she was

up and out or

swinging on a rope...she was being a real monkey girl today.  In fact, she told Poppa she wanted him to come to Colorado for the whole summer next year...just so she could come and get her a job here.

Now, I know the boys

had fun

too, but...Lauren is one that got her money's worth of entertainment today.

The little ones were really disappointed that they weren't big enough...oh, excuse me...they weren't tall enough to do the Wind Walker, so we had to settle for taking a tour of the cave.  Not quite as impressive, but they had a good time. This might mean, I have to come back when they grow taller!

This day like all the others was priceless!