May and June

Well, this will all be backwards...stating at the end of the trip

as we have just returned from 6 weeks away.

We drove the rv to Ohio in May to spend

time with Cameron, Tina and family

and to help them fix up their old house

ready to sell. Kelly and Bixby joined us for the ride home. 

It was a great opportunity to play tourists, 

stopping at all the sites,

National parks and visitors centers.

Zion and Bryce on our last day before heading

home from a very hot St George, Utah

Camping at Bryce Horse Ranch .

Escalante

Anastasi village and archeological site

A forest in the middle of Utah ..

and cows in the road

Its so nice to travel in the rv

Fun eating salami !!!

Old school house in Fruita

Petroglyphs

And an old abandoned homestead site.

We all are comfy sleeping in the rv

 

Green River, I think

And a favorite of ours, Rifle Falls Colorado

The Colorado river is flowing swiftly

And of course, its always

a wonderful drive through

the Rockies

And staying at KOA campground is an experience

This is Strasburg Colorado, where we stopped

on our way to Ohio and on our way back.

On our way there they had just

experienced a storm with 6inch hail

that left dents in so many rvs.

The day after we left on our return

they had another hailstorm...we just missed them both.

Travelling cross-country you run into 

wild weather.

Bixby is happy with his new red slippers.

Following a bill board on the side of the hwy 

we found the Wizard of Oz museum in Kansas

we followed the yellow brick road

with toto as our guide

We met Mr Lincoln in Illinois

And stopped at the St Louis 

Archway National Park in Missouri.

We have driven past it a few times

but thanks to Kelly's planning

she talked her dad into being

tourists this trip

and of course, we had to show Bixby

the sites and buy some treats along the way.

The view from the top of the arch. 

I am pointing to where the rv is parked.

We didn't actually go up because

 you had to reserve tickets, but the web cam 

 provided a live view.

Our first night after leaving Cameron's

we stayed in Okaw Valley at another great campground 

that we had discovered on our way out to Ohio

right on a small lake with fishing and boating

We experienced it all !!

In Illinois we discovered the small town of Casey.

Its claim to fame: the worlds largest collection of big things.

Worlds largest rocking chair, pencil, antlers

 windchime, mailbox, piggy bank   etc, etc    

We really do have some fun travelling in the rv

We were sad to leave Ohio and Cameron, Tina, 

Arlo and Jack and Aislinn and Dani

The day before we left was filled 

with cooking a big breakfast together

Planting a hydrangea bush 

in honor of my mom and dad 

A visit to the Englewood metro park

near Cameron house. Dayton

 has these wonderful outdoor areas. We collected fossils.

Fun with sparklers and light sticks in the evening.

A truly memorable visit for our whole family.

Jack dug the hole for the bush

And we had a nice little ceremony

Some of mom and dads mixed ashes

were added

We played games and had fun

to celebrate this day.

Jack dried his hair with the air conditioner.

  He is a character and very entertaining

Our first trip to the metro park

we hiked and Bixby made a sculpture 

out of clay that he found in the creek bed

Its a beautiful area.

Cameron and fam are lucky to have it close by

Mike taught everyone how to blow grass

which ended in lots of strange sounds and laughter

We found the waterfall

And the nature building area

We even had fun hanging Mom and Dads artwork

and choosing that special plant.

It was hard to make a decision, 

but Dani made it final when she chose the

plant thats flowers change color saying 

"Nanny Gwen and Grandad Oscar

 liked to paint colorful paintings"

Lots of good times 

playing games and cooking together.

End of Part 2...now....

Part 1 ..before Kelly and Bixby arrived...

wild weather with the tornado sirens 

going off...but then a lovely sunset

One last day finishing up our work at Tinas 

1894 ish house. Jack became expert at installing molding

Mike mowed the grass in the rain

That was Monday,,

,the weekend before we went camping

 at a lake about 30 minutes away.

Jack and Aislinn navigated while Dani read

We enjoyed lots of fires 

and times by the lake

Jack caught "something"

Dani and Aislinn looked for fossils 

and pretty rocks

 This was our favorite game.

Lots of pretty walks

and lots and lots of hot dogs.

Arlo is Mr Cool

Lots of wood to be chopped

More fun navigating our way home

before that...back at the old house. ..

we spent 3 weeks as a family

doing what we could to restore

the original beauty of the old house

Arlo ...in his new hat !!!, has a summer job at Lowes 

in the paint department, even though he has never painted.

We made him paint....

His friend Rdwan helped clean up the yard

We hired painters to restore

 the beautiful scallop

decoration

Here is the screenshot 

of the radar for the tornado

Dani and I danced in the rain....

untill the sirens went off.

Then off to the basement...but also

peeking at the wrath of nature. 

Snacks in the basement...

and a nice fire upstairs

Back to scraping and painting.

 Everyone worked hard

We decided to pull up the carpet

 in the upstairs bedrooms.

The original hardwood floors

 underneath are beautiful

Lots of good conversations when Arlo came to visit. 

At almost 20 now he shares 

 an apartment with friends near the university

More cooking and eating.

We enjoyed the outdoor kitchen and patio

torching the meat after souis vieing?

Mikes sister Sharons son Steven, 

visits to pick up a play kitchen we 

passed on to his daughter.

And more painting....

We have dinner with Arlos friends 

who share his apartment

Cameron fixes the ceiling

Camerons model plane collection 

as we tidy his garage

We have trips to Lowes for paint

 and Arlo waits on us

We fix the front porch

We garden

We take things apart

And return to our home in the Davis driveway

Playing badminton

planting around the old pump. 

The property behind their house is the 

original farm and barn before it was subdivided 

and built on in the 60"s. Their garden 

has some origial fruit trees and this pump.

Meanwhile, back in Atascadero,

Bixby gets ready for his

graduation from middle school

Taking a break from the painting

 Jacks graduation from high school

Graduating with honors and a nice scholarship.

He is following in the engineering path

following Cameron and Arlo.

This was before the ceremony with Tina 

trying to teach him how to iron his gown.

And our trip out to Ohio

Colorado river almoat overflowing

The Rockies in May

Below is hail damage on a poor airstream.

 We just missed the hail both coming and going.

Our arrival in Ohio after 6 day of driving

With family again. A good feeling

Mike has his son...

I have my boys...

and the fun begins