Vacation !

Fun is over now it's time to get back in the real world!

I could spend hours on this blog but I will keep it short and sweet. We went to New York to visit Ricks mom & stepdad, went camping at Wellesley Island State park ( 1,000 Islands) and got to tour 2 castles. We had a great time. I took over 1500 pictures, I know, that alot!! Well, when you have scenery that breath taking you have to shoot away.

Mary Ann and I went for a little antiquing before headed out for our camping trip. We didn't find any bargains but I did get a nice shot of her while we were out and about.

I have posted over 400 pictures on my flickr if you are interested in looking.

I do have to point out that while on the boat headed to Singer Castle, a man wearing.....womens clothing was the talk of the ride. Not only was he wearing womens clothing but he decided to lay down across from us, on his wives lap, with his legs spread eagle! YUCK!!! Old men in white, Levis short-shorts should not do that! The couple ( I didn't get their names) sitting behind us was funny. She said to me, get a picture, well I didn't want to at first but then I thought what the heck, it's something to blog about ! So I did. Sorry for the disturbing shot but if I had to look at it, so do you.

The castles were fantastic, camping was great and John & Mary Ann were sweet as pie, as usual. Well, John did tell a little lie to get me going at first but later gave in. ( ha- so much for not smoking on the campgrounds)

Rick and I both had a great time. He got in a little fishing and I, well, you can see I enjoyed taking tons of pictures.

Happy Monday everyone!!

Well, it was a hot weekend here. Temps were in the mid 90’s with heat indexes reaching up to 110. Gotta love Iowa in August.

The week/weekend has been filled with several activities and great bargains. This was my agenda for the weekend.

Friday- work, home and clean, bed! Going to have a busy day on Saturday

Saturday –

· 6:00am - up early (had to be at my nieces bridal shower/breakfast)
· 9:00am - arrive at shower shot lots of pictures.
· 10:30am - moms to change into river clothes , snap a picture of her flowers and load up the car for the bachelorette party and “Rip It Up’ session ( in case you are wondering, this is the same as a Trash The Dress session. I just wanted my name to be more unique.
· Noon – Rome Bar for the meet up of the bachelorette party. While we were there we did our Rip It Up session. What a hoot! Here’s a sneak peek at our fun.. New brides or soon to be brides - if you are interested in a fun session of destruction, let me know by visiting my web site . I actually have a couple extra dresses if you don’t have your own.
· 2:00pm - head down to the river for more of the “Rip It Up” session and a few shots of the bachelorette party hitting the river for a float trip. Not this gal, I had my camera and plans for later in the evening.
· 4:00pm – Down to Ketchum (this is where we camp) load up in the boat to get some on the water pictures of the gals.
· 4:15PM – BOAT IS DEAD!! Mom gets on the phone to call for help, Trent (soon to be groom) jumped onto our boat for some repairs, running again! Start it up and gets some air flowing. Finally back up the river. By this time it is over 100 degrees, get me back to the AC!
· 5:00pm – headed to the house to get ready for the races.
· 5:10 – passed a sign that said FREE JUNK! Of course I turned around. I was almost done loading my car when Rick pulled in. The first thing out of his mouth was, I knew when I saw the sign that you would be here. He loaded a few more things for me.
· 6:00 arrive at home in time to grab a sandwich clean up a bit the off to the races.
· 10:00pm – back at home, shower and hit the bed! I have to get up tomorrow and edit some pictures.

Sunday was not as bad. It was pretty much laid back, time in the pool and unload the car. Snap a picture for Jess to check out. I’ve been thinking of some crafty ideas to do with my “junk”. She has a great idea so I think for this I will steal her chalkboard idea. (sorry) Also wait to see what I have in store for the picture frames. You will be shocked. Martha look out here comes Tina !! Then I ended my day with a storm!


Until next time- stay cool!

Vacation Time!!!!

Rick and I took off for our yearly vacation back home to Tennessee ! Y’all know that’s where I’m from right? The place that we use buggies at Wal-Mart, wear toboggans in the winter instead of a stocking hat and have no clue on directions that say go North 2 miles then turn West, heck tell us to go to the big Oak tree and turn right then at the pond go left , we'll find you'ens then !!

We had a blast! Visited a friend on the way in Indiana, stayed at my dads, went to the zoo in Knoxville, went to Paint Creek in the Cherokee National Forest, ( so Rick could get in a little trout fishing ) went to a HUGE flea market (Lana you would have loved it, lots of antiques) and stopped at Cumberland Falls in Kentucky on the way back. While at the zoo dad was buzzing along on his scooter while Kassidi set back for the ride in the stroller. I’m thinking about getting me one of those segways that way I can save the soles of my shoes!! We did get to see a lot of animals but about all of the big cats were sleeping so no good shots of them. I think we got the best shot on the ride through Paint Creek. A timber rattlesnake!!!!! Yikes, I was not going to walk around in the woods after seeing that monster. The bad or I should say STUPID thing about this was that there were a couple teenagers poking around at it with a stick !! Can you say moroooooon!! I too would have liked to had the rattlers but no way would I have poked it with a stick, I would have backed up and tire mashed that sucker, over and over again !

I did get to see most of my family but no time for friends on this trip we stayed pretty busy.

Dad has made some Dulcimers and is learning to play. So what did I do, got back home, signed into EBay, and bought one! Dang it dad, my trip cost me extra money! I think hobbies are hereditary. I may post some videos of me trying it out when I get a little better than dad, gotta try to out do him right? You can see some of dad playing if you go here - www.youtube.com/harleypass

My nephew Eli rode back with us to stay for a couple months, we didn’t talk much since he IS the quietest 13 year old I have ever seen. We did stop in Kentucky at Cumberland Falls, just outside of Corbin. They call this “Little Niagara” , it was very nice. During a full moon this is the only place in the Western Hemisphere that puts off a moonbow, interesting. I did get a nice shot of the rainbow.

Well we get back home and it’s welcome to the real world – cook, clean, laundry and mow the yard or should I say the hay field !! Now I’m working on getting the pool ready so I can kick back and enjoy. If only I didn’t have pool guests all night!!






Maryann we are coming to see you next!!