Florida Flamingo

Kari took a picture of flamingos at the Honolulu Zoo for me because they remind me of her. Way back in the 80's she brought me a ceramic flamingo with a thermometer on it which she got while visiting her Grandma Lee in Florida. I kept it, of course. Here it is, just a special reminder of her travels as a kid. Thank You, Kari!

Jacob and Nathan video 2

Well, here is the other video from Sunday, I never get tired of watching these little guys. Jody came out to visit today, so if the videos I took are good ones, I'll try to post them later. ttfn

Video of Jacob & Nathan

I could not get the video to embed, maybe I will figure it out and put the next video on the right way? ...Thank you Kari, for figuring out this mystery!

Our northern MN family

Finally on Sunday afternoon we were able to leave the house long enough to see Jody, Dave, Kaleb, Makayla, Jacob & Nathan. Jody invited us for delicious dinner, and we got to 'catch up'. Greeted first by Jack and Jenna, they remembered me for sure. Kaleb and Mak have grown so much it is unbelievable, makes me feel shorter than usual. The twins have changed so much, it was great to see their new 'talents'. They are both standing, moving very quickly across a room to find something to chew on, and they can make noise, Jacob especially. Here is grandma with Nathan, Jacob and Kaleb. Next time I'll try to get pictures of them standing. More to come...

The Trip

We got to spend some time with Kevin and Wendey the weekend before leaving. We discovered how much you can stuff in the trunk of our Bonneville. There were 10 Rubbermaid totes to return because we no longer needed them. A valiant attempt was made to place them in the trunk of their Prius, and most fit, but not all. Then they were able to pack them tightly into the Bonneville trunk. But they do have us beat hands down in the mileage department. I enjoyed the day, we had a good visit. Then the day before leaving Oregon, Judi, granddaughter Bettina and great-granddaughter Rayven came to visit. I got to see her for the first time, she is one year old. It was not a good day for the little one, she had stomach upset, so the day ended with them leaving to visit the doctor. I'm glad they could give her something to settle her system.

Our trip started at 3:38 a.m. the next day when we left Willamina. Our first night was spent at a Missoula campground.

We were blessed with beautiful weather over all the mountain passes, the scenery is so gorgeous.

It gets a little monotous after the mountains, when you have about 800 miles of high plains and prairie through eastern Montana and through most of North Dakota.

At the begining of North Dakota we see the badlands, that provides a break in the scenery for a while.

Finally on the third day we came to our own driveway, filled with snow, which is no surprise. Thanks to Dave and Jess, the end of the driveway was cleared out so Art had very little plowing before he could back the Rockwood alongside the house.

It's good to get home, especially Monday afternoon, when all our utilities were working again.

March 5, Jo & Gary, Kevin & Wendey and Doreen took Art & I out for dinner, since they knew we were leaving soon and we hadn't gotten all together yet. Art was finishing up his fifth wheel frame to take, and I was packing things up to bring back to MN because we were leaving our fifth wheel behind in Oregon. The Rockwood needed some warranty repairs done, and the manufacturer wanted to do it in Elkhart, Indiana, and it needs to be emptied before this work can be done. Sooooo.... homemade trailer stays behind in Oregon, and the Rockwood will be going home with us so we can unload the contents at home. This is not what we planned. Well...we had to re-plan our trip home. Meanwhile, Judi and I got to have our annual beach trip: shopping at the Tanger Outlet, on to Depoe Bay and a little sight seeing.

Let's see, where was I? We were in Oregon, I was about to post a picture of my flower bed, but I did not get it fully weeded before things got crazy. I'll try to get things caught up to here and now. First, the flower bed on March 2nd: There are crocus, narcissus, tulips, daffodils, poppies and more I don't know the names of, plus shells and artificial flowers to fill in. Next year I'll try to finish it, if anything survived after the fifth wheel ran over it.