Quote of The Week:

"Retirement life is a game. Happy people are the players. Unhappy people are the spectators. Which would you like to be?
from Ernie Zelinski's How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free"

— Ernie J. Zelinski

Last night, Friday, March 3rd, we went out to dinner with the kids to the restaurant at the golf course. We had an absolutely fabulous meal. Everybody else had prime rib, and I had a filet. Boy, was it good!

Once we got home, Teagan decided that she wanted to wear Poppy's jacket. She didn't quite fill it out, but it sure provided an opportunity for a cute picture!

Teagan decided that she wanted to wear Poppy's coat. I think she looks very fashionable.

Well, we took Bailey in to the vet for her three week evaluation. We didn't hear the good news we were hoping to hear. He did say that he could tell that the injections had helped some, but that the problem with her leg will ALWAYS be there. It's a problem with the size of small dogs bones. Surgery would improve things, but would not make her 100%. And, there would be no guarantee that she wouldn't get worse even after surgery. One thing that makes us feel better is the fact that this vet does not do surgery, so he has no "interest" in recommending something that may not be completely necessary. So we at least feel that his recommendation is based on what's best for Bailey.

We can get an over the counter oral version of the medication that she's been getting, so we'll continue to get that for her.

So, as we see it, we have three options to consider:

1) Do nothing at all. This is NOT a real option.
2) Continue to give her this medication for the rest of her life, with the understanding that her condition will continue to degrade
as time goes by. As explained to us, eventually, it would be so painful for her to walk that she wouldn't even use her leg when she
did try to walk.
3) Continue to give her this medication until we can have the surgery performed. The surgery will not totally fix the problem, and
there is a chance that the problem could return. There would be a 2 - 3 month rehabilitation period after the surgery. The surgery
would probably cost somewhere between $1,500 - $1,700.

I believe we will be going with option #3. Since we'll be in Washington state (near Tacoma) for 3 months, we're going to try to do some research on orthopedic veterinary surgeons in that area and also to find out more about this particular type of surgery.

So if any of you have had a pet that has gone through this, please let us know what it was like.

One of the reasons that we came out to visit the kids was because of Teagan's birthday. But it works out just great because Tom's birthday happens to be on February 25th! So we can celebrate 2 birthdays when we're here.

The kids wanted to go out to dinner at a hotel called the Overland. They serve family style meals there that are supposed to be absolutely wonderful. So they told us about their plans and asked if we could stay with Teagan when they went out. Oh gee, no I don't think we want to stay with her anymore! DOH! Of course we would stay with her.

So we came over around 9:30 this morning because Dani had a class until 2:00 p.m. and Tom had a meeting with the high school golf team at 10:00. Once they'd left, Jenny stayed inside with Teagan and I went outside to clean the bed of our pick up truck out. It hadn't been cleaned since we'd left Janesville last September. I emptied eveything out, washed out the bed and cleaned all of the windows in the cap and the truck, and then reloaded the stuff we haul around with us. I did do alittle creative rearranging which resulted in some additional storage space.

After working on this for about 2 hours, I was sweating pretty good. After all, it was 61 degrees here today! So once I was finished, I went back to the MH and took a shower and threw on some clean jeans and a golf shirt. Later that afternoon, the kids were getting ready to go out, and Jenny and I were discussing what we wanted to do for dinner. Even Tom got in the act and told us about some things they had in the freezer and suggested a few ideas. Then Jenny went in to talk with Teagan and Dani, and a few minutes later she came out and said that they expected us to go along. All along, we thought they wanted to go out with their friends, which was certainly fine by us, and they thought that maybe we didn't want to go with them. What we finally realized was that they had never said anything about us going along to us. Oh well, it all worked out just fine because we went along and had a very nice dinner and when we were finished, we took Teagan home so that the kids could have an evening out with their friends.

I've attached pictures from Tom's birthday evening.


( Birthday Pictures )

I have to brag, at least a little bit!

Tom and I played in a golf tournament on the 12th, and we came in second place. Below is a picture of our awards. This is probably no big thing to Tom (or most anybody else), as he's use to winning tournaments. But I've never been a part of a winning golf team in this kind of tournament before. We actually took second with a combined score of 4 under. You have to understand that Tom is such a good golfer, that it's an extremely rare occasion for me to even win one hole from him when we play. But in this tournament, there were actually 2 holes that I flat out won the hole on my own, and at least 3 holes that one of my shots saved the hole for us as a team. But even more importantly, I didn't totally embarrass Tom in front of his friends. You see, he works part time at this course as the Assitant Pro and the Tournament Director. It was clear from the way everybody kidded with him and made comments about his golf game that these fellows not only respected him for his skills as a golfer, but they genuinely like Tom as a person.

I haven't figured out what I'll get with the certificate, but I'll let you know.

Proof positive that I was involved in winning a prize in a golf tournament!

We had a milestone event occur today.

Most of you have seen pictures and posts about our Yorkie, Bailey. She's the sweetest dog anybody could know, right Lori and Rachael? But we've never considered her much of a guard dog. I've always said that if a burglar ever broke in, Bailey would walk up and sniff at him, then just walk away.

Well today, Tom was sitting at his computer in the living room and I was at the dining room table working on my computer when I heard Tom say something that I didn't catch. I asked him what he had said, and then I heard Bailey making her I want to go out nosies. But she was standing by the front door, when she usually goes out the patio door in the back of the house. So Tom got up and picked her up and opened the front door. There was a big dog trying to get into a bag of trash that Tom had put outside. As soon as he opened the door, the dog ran off. But it was the first time Bailey's EVER even remotely acted like a watch dog of any kind. We all got excited and were giving her big hugs and pats. She even got a treat!

A good part of our time is spent chasing after Teagan. She's got an awful lot of energy, and trying to keep up with her is a challenge. But a lot of our time we spend playing games and just playing with each other.

Jenny got some pictures of Teagan and I tracing our hands on paper. It was her idea, and she clearly wanted me to trace her hand. Then she wanted to trace my hand. We went through a couple of pieces of paper, and I'm not all together convinced that anyone could figure out which hand was mine and which hand was Teagan's. But we had fun, and she got to practice her skills with a pen.

Later was lunch time, and Dani fixed her one of her favorite lunches - noodles. As the pictures show, she's equally adept at using a spoon as she is at using her hand. I guess it really doesn't matter which she uses, as long as it all gets into the same place. another nice thing is that whenever she eats anything, she wants to do the cleanup. So we give her a dish rag and she wipes her hands, her face, and the table. Once she's finished, she very neatly folds the dish rag and gives it back to us.

She's fun to have a meal with.


( Drawings & Noodles )

The big day finally arrived. One of the main reasons that we came here was to be with Teagan on her 2nd birthday. We were here last year on her 1st birthday, and we'd like to try to make it every year for her birthday. It's been great, but we really miss Deb and Duane, Dani's parents. They came out last year too. In fact, we all met at O'hare airport and flew to Reno together and then rented a van together. We had a great time, and we surely missed them.

Teagan's birthday is the 13th, so the party was planned for Sunday the 12th. Of course that means that most of the work comes on the day before. Tom and I went off to get the bounce house (you'll see pictures of this thing!) and a table and chairs for the garage. The Navy has all kinds of stuff that military members can rent very inexpensively. But the bounce house was on a trailer, and Tom doesn't have a hitch on either of their vehicles, so we took my truck to use to pull the trailer. But since the bed of my truck was full of our stuff, he took his SUV to haul the chairs in. It worked out just fine, and we got everything home and set up. Meanwhile, Jenny was preparing the barbecue for the sandwiches and making some of her world famous potato salad. Dani had a class until 2:00 p.m., and once she got home, she started on the making of the cake.

On Sunday, Tom and I had to play in a golf tournament at the local golf course. Tom works part-time there, and this year he's the tournament director. So he had to be there because it was the February members tournament. But he set everything up so that as soon as we finished we could leave. Normally he would have had to stay to record all of the scores, but he wasn't going to be late for Teagan's party. By the time we got back to his house, which was only about a half later than we thought we'd be, most of the folks had arrived.

Things hadn't really gotten started yet. Most of the kids were out in the bounce house, but the adults seemed to be just sitting around looking at each other. All of these folks are people that Tom and Dani work with, so they know each other well and do a lot of things together. So maybe this was normal, but I thought things needed to get going. So I grabbed a plate and announced that no one could eat before the grandparents did, and I was eating now! So both Jenny and I got some food and went out to the garage where there was the table and chairs set up. This area kind of turned in to the "quiet" zone for the adults. Well, it wasn't too many minutes before the other adults started showing up with plates of food and having conversations. The rest of the day went just great! All of the kids seemed to have fun, we talked with most of T&D's friends, and of course everybody pampered Teagan. By the end of the day, I think almost all of the adults at some point during the day ended up in the bounce house. Teagan received some wonderful gifts and seemed to have a grand time all day. By the time everyone had left and we started doing some of the cleanup, she was so tired (and hungry) she was having a real crying jag going on. Once we finally realized that she was hungry and got some food into her, she settled down and was fine. We left a short time later after Jenny gave her a tubby so that she could go to bed and get rested.

It was a wonderful day, and we are so happy we were able to be here to help celebrate it with her. We sure hope we'll be able to do this every year!


( Teagan's Birthday Party )

Well, we had some good news and some not so good news after Bailey's checkup yesterday. The good news is that her limp is not the result of her luxated patellas. Also, she's lost 1 1/2 pounds and the vet said she was in great shape. I guess retired life agrees with her too!

The not so good news was that her limp is the result of damage to her miniscus in her left knee. You may recall that we mentioned that she had slipped on the ice back in December and kind of did a spread eagle. Well, that slip tore her miniscus, which are ligamnets around the knee. The vet was absolutely terrific with her, and took the time to explain all of the options. The first thing we'll be doing is having Bailey get a shot twice a week for 4 weeks. The vet will inject glucose amine into the damaged area. He said that after 3 weeks, we'll know if this treatment is working. It is the prefered method of treatment, but if this doesn't work, then she might need surgery.

Other than that, she's doing great. She's been having a ball with Gabbey and the cat.

We'll keep you updated about how Bailey's treatments are going.

We've been here since last Wednesday, and we're having a great time. Tom and I have played golf twice, with a few more rounds planned in the next couple of weeks. We've been able to see Teagan everyday, and we're getting some good pictures thatI've added to this update.

Jenny and I are wondering how we ever survived bringing up two kids, because Teagan is wearing us out. We keep reminding ourselves that we're grandparents now, not regular parents. We've earned the right to take it a little more easily. But we don't want to miss a minute of time with Teagan. At least we'll be here for her 2nd birthday, and we're planning on swinging back down through here in the early fall and then come back again to spend Christmas with them.

Hope you enjoy the pictures as much as we did taking them.


( More Teagan Antics )

We left Vegas on February 1st headed for Fallon, Nevada and our son, daughter-in-law and grandaughter. For the benefit of our friend Greg, who's trying to follow where we're going and how we're getting there, we took state highway 95 all the way from Las Vegas to Fallon. It was about a 5 1/2 hour drive. It really was uneventful, except maybe for my brief encounter with a Nevada State Partolman. We were coming in to Topongah, and we were going to be looking for a place to eat lunch and to get some diesel fuel. As you enter the town, the speed limit drops quickly from 70 mph to 55 mph, and then to 45 mph, and then down to 25 mph. And while all this is going on, you're also coming down about a 5% grade.

Now I'm not making excuses, because I was definitely going faster than I should have been going. But there was a lot going on at the same time, what with slowing down safely, watching for gas stations and restaurants, and watching traffic.

Anyway, the officer was very nice and polite. He explained that I was doing about 40 mph in a 25 zone. I remarked that I didn't doubt that at all, and commented that I didn't realize I was still going that fast as I was coming down the hill. He said that he was late for a court appointment (for a brief instant, I thought he meant he was taking me to court!), and then "suggested" that I watch it more closely next time. I assured him that I would, and I thanked him for his consideration and watching out for my safety. THAT surprised him, but I always said that people should thank police officers when they are stopped, because it's very likey that the officer might have saved them from being in an accident.

Other than that, the trip was uneventful. We arrived around 4:15 p.m. and we went to the RV park to get situated. Then we came over to the kids house. These pictures are the first pictures I took. There will be MANY more in the next few weeks!


( Our Grandaughter (and her parents too!) )

We (Jenny, our daughter Lori, and I) were supposed to have dinner with my sister and brother-in-law last Friday, but thanks to some lovely Wisconsin weather (slush, freezing rain, ice), we had to postpone it until Sunday afternoon.

We went over after the Packers won - YES, THERE ARE MIRACLES! - and had a wonderful time. My sister prepared our mother's spagehtti recipe, which was a real treat. Very pleasant company and conversation. I've had a running joke with my sister about her fireplace, which I reference in one of the pictures. You see, we had an absolutely pathetic looking fireplace in the house we sold. Well, it wasn't the fireplace that was pathetic, it was the fire that was IN the fireplace that was pathetic. It was a gas fireplace, and I used to tell Jenny that it'd look better with two Bic lighters. Then my sister and BIL built their new home, and we went over to visit. We walk into the living room, and here's this GORGEOUS roaring fire in the fireplace. I even had to ask if it was gas, because it looked SOOOO good. When my sister told me it was a gas fireplace, I kind of lost it and yelled "That's a F _ _ _ ing GAS fire????" You have to understand, I NEVER use the "F" word. Ever since that day, they make it a point to have the F _ _ _ ing fire going whenever I walk in the door, regardless of how warm it is outside. And I always walk by and mumble, "There's that F _ _ _ ing fireplace!" Actually, I've toned it down to "There's that F'ing fireplace!"

Anyway, Dewey said that we had to make sure to have the F'ing fire in the pictures, and that's why the picture is kind of dark.

Here are a few pictures that we took during the evening. It might be awhile before we see them again, so we wanted to get some good shots of them........and the F'ing fireplace!

( One Final Dinner With My Sister )


After we got back to the MH, Jenny went in to the building to take a shower, and I changed my clothes. After I had changed, I was getting ready to do some work on the computer when I heard a strange noise. I looked around, and realized that the switch for the water pump was turned on. I looked down and saw this pink colored water seeping out from under the cabinet in the kitchen. I quickly turned off the switch, and figured that I must have bumped it on when I walked by to change. The pink water was the anti-freeze that had been put in the system to protect it from freezing. Somehow, the anti-freeze was leaking out of the water lines when the pump was on, which meant there was a busted line somewhere. About this time, Jenny got back from her shower, and while she quickly turned the pump on and off, I inspected under the cabinet and found the leaking line. Anti-freeze was squirting out of the end of what looked like a broken fitting every time the switch was turned on. We started cleaning things up, and now we're going to have see about getting this fixed by the time we leave on Wednesday. I guess we could be delayed a day or two, but we'd much rather stick to our schedule. So we'll have to see if we can get in to the shop tomorrow or Tuesday.

What a bummer!

Lori arrived safely in Janesville around 5:00 p.m. on Christmas Eve. As we don't have the room in the MH for her, she'll be staying with her grandparents (Jenny's parents). We spent a few hours with her before we headed off to Christmas Eve church, where I had to Lector. We just went back to the MH after the service, as it was almost 10:30 by then.

Lori came over around 9:30 a.m. Christmas morning so that we could have our "family" Christmas. It was really nice, except that Tom, Dani, and Teagan weren't here. Lori pulled another fantastic surprise on us. She exclaimed that all the years that she and Tom were growing up, Jenny and I always gave them Christmas stockings on Christmas morning with little stocking stuffers. She said that because now we were the ones who were "jobless and free wheeling", she was going to give us stockings. It was really neat. She had all kinds of little things in each of our stockings that were special to each of us.

So after exchanging gifts, and letting her get on the computer to update her journal, she left to go back to the grandparents house, and Jenny and I started getting ready to go over a little later.

Jenny's brother and sister, along with their children (youngest are 15), Jenny's folks and her aunt were all there. We all had a pleasant afternoon, an absolutely dynamite dinner, a lot of good conversation, watched a lousy football game (the Packers lost), and then came home.

It was a wonderful Christmas, and we hope you all had as a wonderful day as we did. I've attached just a few pictures to help document the day.


( Christmas Day )

Today was an awesome day, because I went over to my sister's house and helped make lefse! For those of you who are uninformed as to what lefse is, it is a Norwegian traditional treat made from potatoes.

I've attached a number of pictures that documents the process that we used in making the lefse. This is an annual thing that my sister, brother-in-law, his mother, and anyone else who they can get there to help. We have a good time, as there is a lot of joking around, friendly kidding about someone elses's results, and usually some good snacking.

Hope you enjoy the pictures, and don't blame me if they make you hungry!


( Lefse Making 101 )

After some discussion yesterday, we decided to come back out to the coach and stay here for the rest of our time here. Clearly we were upsetting Jenny's Mom. It's not that she didn't want us there, or that she didn't appreciate what we were trying to do to help. It's just that having "other" people around, disrupting your normal routines, can be very upsetting. We remember when our kids came home. We love them dearly, and we ALWAYS want to spend time with them. But after they (either one mind you!) had been there for a week or so, it started to wear on us. Our routines were not routine anymore. Our reasonably neat house wasn't anymore. All those little things that a person typically ignores begins to seem more irritating than you ever thought they could be.

Once we realized that that was how she was feeling, it was an easy decision. So, we packed up our stuff and came home. and you know what? It felt good! Even Bailey seemed to be happy to be back to her snuggle down spots. Of course, we can't really use any water out of our tanks, because there isn't any. The dealer did put some RV anti-freeze in all 3 tanks, so we can add some liquid if we need to. But we have a wonderful bathroom with shower in the building we're parked right next to, so there really will be little need to add anything into the tanks. We'll buy some bottled water for drinking purposes (especially coffee!) for us and for Bailey. We'll have to get a little inventive with meal preparations, but it should be fun to find things that we don't need water for.

So all in all, things are O.K. And since it means that there are no hard feelings between Jenny and her mom, then it's all worth it!

We were going to see the Rotary Gardens Enchanted Walk tonight, but it's gotten so cold that neither of us wanted to go. We were going to go with one our dearest friends, Diane. But when we called her to talk about not going, she almost cried she was so happy. She's one of those poor folks that always seems to be cold. It became a running gag at our house that whenever Diane came over, we always offered her a sweater because we always kept the inside temperature very cool. So, we're all going out to dinner instead. If she'll let me, I'll snap a picture of her this evening. We still want to do the Enchanted Walk, so hopefully it will moderate a bit so that it won't be so cold.

Well, we rolled into Janesville around 4:30 p.m. on Friday the 9th. we were beginning to wonder if we'd ever get here!

We'd made arrangements to park the coach by a friends maintenance facility so that we'd have 30 amp service, so we drove straight there and hooked up. Then, because we had no water in the coach, we packed up a few things and went to Jenny's folks house. We'll stay there for the weekend.

Today (Saturday), we went out and bought the work lights that we HOPE will get things thawed in the coach. The temperatures are supposed to moderate some, so I'm hoping that the combination of the two will do the trick. Regardless, we'll take the coach to the dealer next week to have them look it over and to see if there's something that we can do to avoid similar problems in the future.

In the meantime, we're enjoying the time with Jenny's folks. We put up their Christmas tree for them (see a couple of pics) and helped out with some other decorations. I'll check back in over the next day or two with the results of our thawing efforts.

( Deck The Halls )

With tonight being the last night we might have internet access for awhile, I thought I should get caught up on some of the things I wanted to post here.

We have to go backward for just a moment to Elkhart, IN. While we were there, I had an opportun ity to meet a couple of fellows that I've gotten to know through a different internet discussion forum. I may have mentioned (or may have not) that I'm a moderator at a site called TractorByNet.com. Here's a link if you're interested in checking it out:

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/index.php

Anyway, I met 2 of the other moderators for breakfast that happen to live close to Elkhart. It was great to finally meet some people that I'd gotten to know over the last couple of years but had never even heard their voices! The fellow on the left is Dave, a.k.a. MossRoad. The fellow in the middle is Rob, a.k.a. RobS. And the fellow on the right is......well, let's just by pass him for now.

On to Columbus! Here's a picture of the entrance to the campground we stayed at while we were in Columbus. It's the Cross Creek Campground, and they received Campground of the Year for 2004. It's very nice, although I think we got the one site that has a bit of a drainage problem. There are actually concrete blocks placed from the road back to the concrete patio because it's so muddy. We didn't see any other sites like that. But other than that, it's a nice site.

I've included a couple of other pictures of the campground just a give a better idea of what it looks like.

We decided that we needed to some "fun" stuff on the one day we had in Columbus. Remember, the first day (yesterday) we did laundry all day and fixed dinner for Lori, Rachael, and their friend The Wonderful Nancy (and she is too! We had a great time talking with all of them!) So today we went down to the OSU campus and took Bailey for a nice walk around a beautiful little lake right in the middle of the campus. I posted some pictures of that activity.

Later in the day, we met up with Lori and went to the Easton Town Center to have dinner. We thought that this was "just a mall". Wrong! This place is a WHOLE city!! It is awesome! We ate dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. Yes, they have regular food too, but boy, do they have the cheesecake too! Umm, Umm, good!! Anyway, I snapped a few pictures of some of the things that I thought were interesting. If you ever get near Columbus, you HAVE to spend some time at Easton Town Center. It's like it's own little town.

We head out tomorrow for North Carolina. We're going to take 3 days to get there, as we don't want to rush. We may not have internet access for awhile, so bear with the lack of updates. We'll get on line just as soon as we can!

TBN Moderators These are 2 other molderators from TBN. On left is Dave (MossRoad) and in the middle is Rob (RobS). We met at a Cracker Barrel restaurant for breakfast.	Cross Creek Campground Entrance This is the entrance to Cross Creek campground that we stayed at in Columbus, OH.
Main Drive Into Campground This is the main drive into the Cross Creek campground.	Cross Creek Camping area this is one of the camping areas at Cross Creek.
OSU Lake Walkway The entrance stairs to the OSU lake.	Jenny & Bailey at OSU Lake Here is Jenny and Bailey sitting alongside the OSU lake.
Bailey Resting Here is Bailey resting after chasing some ducks.	Jenny & Lori Together Here are Jenny and Lori at Easton Center.
Easton Town Center Some of the gardens at Easton Town Center.	Easton Signs Some of the Easton Town center banners.
McDonald's at Easton This is the most awesome McDonald's I've ever seen!	Easton Train They have a wonderful G scale train running through some gardens at Easton.
Easton Train Bridge A picture of a great model train bridge.

Well, it's Friday September 30th, the evening before we leave.

I had the opportunity to play golf with some friends and Dewey, my brother-in-law. We had a great time, and had beautiful weather. It was a nice way to say goodbye to some good friends. Jenny had her friend Connie Dregne come for a visit and go to lunch. She said they spent about 2.5 hours just talking, and had a great time. Once I got back, I installed our tow bar and hooked up the truck so I won't have to do any heavy manual labor early in the morning. We've got it planned that while I unhook from the electrical, water, and sewer connections, and take care of the outside stuff, Jenny will go through the MH and stow things away and check to make sure all items are properly secured. I'm sure we'll both miss a few things, just because we're so new at this yet. We still have to put together checklists that we can use so we don't forget things.

Once we leave here, we'll stop in Janesville to say goodbye to Jenny's folks. I think that will be a bit emotional. Then we'll head down to Rockford to have a new engine air filter installed on the coach and 2 vent covers that will allow us to keep our roof vents open even when it's raining. Once we're done there, we'll head out to Elkhart, Indiana. We'll spend Saturday and Sunday nights there, and head to Columbus to see Lori for about 4 days. After that, off to North Carolina.

We're excited, apprehensive, wary, determined, jubilant, cautious, and committed to making this all work. It might be difficult at times, but we think we'll get through it just fine. And we're looking forward to sharing the adventures with all of you! So please make frequent stops along the way with us. We'll appreciate the comments, and hopefully, the encouragement that we'll be receiving. In return, we promise to try to make your visits entertaining and informative.

See you on the road!

Jenny did a nice job commenting on the activities of our "quick" trip to Columbus. We always love going there. Certainly because Lori is there, but also because we've just fallen in love with the community (even though they are big Wisconsin opponents!). It doesn't matter how long we're there, it's always too short.

Yes, I was very hesitant about going to the restaurant Jenny mentioned. When she described it to me, all it sounded like was stir fry heaven. I've never been a big fan of stir fry, so I was less than enthusiastic. However, I really have been trying to expand my experiences, especially when it comes to trying new foods. And Jenny is right (so what else is new??) when she reminds me that in almost every case, I find that I really do enjoy the new experiences. Soooooo, we went. And as usual, she was right! It was VERY good, and I might add that it is very reasonable considering that they charge one price and you can load up your bowl with as much as you can carry. I went with the New York strip meat, and added some broccoli, sliced potatoes, water chestnuts, and some pasta. Then I used teriyaki sauce on it. When you mix it with the rice they bring, there was almost too much to eat. So the next time we go back, I'll try something else and Jenny will get to say I told you so again!

It was wonderful that Lori had hired some movers to take care of hauling everything in. Sure made our work easier! Of course, when it was time to hook up the trailer to the truck and take it back to the motel to park it, it started raining real hard. And it rained the entire time I was hooking up the trailer and unhooking it. So I got absolutely drenched! I was able to go inside and change at the motel, so at least I didn't need to wear wet clothes all afternoon.

I did accompany the ladies on their little shopping trip. And that's all I'm going to say about that!

Dinner was wonderful, as Jenny mentioned. Since we were at Martini's, we all had to try different martini's. See, I told you I was trying to expand my experiences! Jenny had some kind of Mango fruity kind of drink, Lori had a yellow cake martini, which did smell and taste a bit like yellow cake, and I had a Key Lime martini. We all tried each others drinks, and I think I liked Jenny's the best. The Key Lime martini had too much of a bite to it. Later, Lori had a Grapetini, which was very good too. The restaurant serves Italian cuisine, and it was all very good.

Lori's gift that Jenny described is absolutely unbelievable! She's always been so good at thinking of very unusual and thoughtful gifts. But this really topped them all! It certainly isn't because of the cost, although clearly it cost a bit. It's just that Lori thought of this and put it all together the way she did. THAT is what is truly amazing. She's always so busy and involved with so many things. That's one of the reasons we're so proud of her. She never stops looking for new things to participate in or to use to expand herself. This gift was one of the most memorable that we've ever received or in all probablity will receive. Thanks again Lori! It was awesome, just like you!