The Summer of 2010, July

This is a wonderful summer here in MN.  getting lots of use of our pool, swimming each day, in the evening.  Birthdays seem to be increasing in this family as it grows.  Allison, -18. Nevie-5, Rose-2, Liam-1, Earl-66, Chris-40.  I can't keep up with them, as much as I try.  Our gardens are growing with flowers, and vegetables, and look pretty good this year.  I got to spend some one on one time with Alaina, thanks to her mom, by signing us up for a community ed class together.  We had a "Spa Day" together.  We painted our nails, made some facial stuff for our faces, made some bath crystals, tried hand lotions, and massaged them, and made a sign for our own retreat for do not disturb time.  We both had a good time together.  I loved it.

Nevie is FIVE!

I also was busy finishing another quilt for fellow retiree, Barb Prow, who worked on our floor for 35 yrs.  We share birthdays only a day apart.  No one was going to give her a quilt, as they couldn't find anyone willing to put  one together.  I felt she deserved one, too, so I volunteered.  Each co-worker made a square, with the theme of camping, and cats.  Joanne Versteeg offered to have a party @her home, so we all brought food, and had a nice time together.

Funny thing is  she doesn't particularly like cats, and the quilt was full of them.  Oops!

She also got fishing equipment from the staff.

Ah, here comes June!

The end of school, warm breezes, smell of summer, graduations, birthdays, anniversaries, visitors, trips.

Let's start with Allison's graduation, from Willlmar Sr. High:

The party started out drizzling, so all the festivities were held inside.  I gave her the quilt I made.  I think she likes it.

Continuing in May. 2010

After our trip, I buckled down to finish a full sized quilt for our #2 granddaughter, Allison, who is graduating from high school next month.  During this month, she and two of her friends performed a piano concert @ Vinje Church in Willmar, and Earl and I, and Lorrie, represented the family, and listened to her performance.  What a wonderful talent she has, and we were so proud of her recital.   It was so enjoyable.  We stayed for cookies, and punch afterwards, and met her piano teacher.  Chries's sister-in-law, Lynn, recorded it for the family back in Colorado.

Mother's Day with Lorrie.

The end of May, Chris and the family arrived in Minnesota, to plan, and prepare for Alli's graduation.  They stayed @ Chuck's sister's home in Willmar.  That's also where the graduation party would be. 

Memorial Day we got together with the family, and their friends, the Gundersons @ Green Lake in Spicer, for a picnic, and swimming.

April-May, 2010

The end of April took Earl and I traveling south. First, we planned a weekend in Brandon, Mo. for the annual wine festival, they have.  We were invited to go with Steve and Kory, and stay @ their time-share condo.  We decided to take our time, so stayed overnight in Kansas City @ a motel for one night before arriving in Brandon.

The Wine Festival was held @ The Chateau Hotel, on a hill, overlooking a lake.  It had a waterfall, and huge tree in the middle of the lounge area.  We were given complimentary wine glasses to keep, and used them to taste all kinds of wines from different wineries.  They also had beer tasting, too.  It was also Veterans weekend, and many disabled vets were @ the festival.  Earl make some friends there, and enjoyed talking with many of them.  Also, Andy Williams made a appearance, promoting his new book, "Wine and Roses."

We all had a goood time tasting, and tasting and tasting, and snacking.
Then, we visited downtown Branson.
There is all kinds of shops to browse in, and a beautiful fountain, and flower arrangements to view.  We got caught in a brief rainshower while there

We then decided to go visit a local winery in town, that gave tours of how their wine is made, so we headed there, and tasted some more wine.

While on the way there, a storm came up, and this rainbow, followed.

Fun @ the Winery!

We were getting along so well, that we decided to continue our trip by going down to Arizona.

Earl and Steve took turns driving thru Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, and finally Arizona.

Some of the views we saw on the way!

These are the condos we stayed @ in Sedona, AZ.  The views were breathtaking.

Our condos were beautiful.  We each had our own bedroom with shower and whirlpool tubs, a shared living room, and dining area, and kitdhen, washer and dryer, and two patios off our bedrooms.  There was a community pool and spa, and many walking paths, which we used to see the area.  The weather was great, in the 70's, and sunny most days.  We also visited downtown Sedona, and an old mining town up in the elevation of 5200 fr. called Jerome.

We started to feel some tension while @ the condosos, some of it our fault, some theirs, but we shugged it off as different ways of doing things.  Also, we had some financial issues, and for a while, were short of cash, which added to the tension.  I esp. felt so bad for Earl, when he had planned to treat his brother to dinner, and we found out there wasn't sufficient funds to cover it.  How humiliating.  It took a few days to get that straightened out.  We tried to make up for it by paying for groceries, and gas.  The problem seemed to grow as the trip ended, because there was no communication between us as to what was the problem.                    

Sedona was truly a beautiful place.

We stayed a week, heard about dust storms so bad north of us that the highways were closed briefly.  We decided to head up thru Colorado, Nebraska, South Dakota, Minnesota home.

As we were going through Colrado, we called Chris, and asked her if she could meet us for lunch, as it would be too far, and too late to drive to her house.  We found a place just outside of Denver, where we met, along with Mitch, and enjoyed a wonderful lunch.  It was so great to see them.

We ended our trip with Steve and Kory on a sour note.  He was angry with us about ??who knows, for sure, 'cause he never spoke to us the rest of the way home, not even to say good-bye.  What a way to end a wonderful trup.  I hope it can be repaired