Summer 2013

Our summer was busy this year.  Bob decided that the old hog shed needed to be refurbished.  No, we’re not getting hogs, but it’s a nice shed and we hated to see it fall down, so we replaced the siding and the roof.  Fortunately, Jaime and Ron came to visit and Ron helped Bob with the hard part:  the roof.


Some of Jaime’s friends from high school and college came to say Hi when she was home, and it was like old times again. It was great seeing Hilde, Alex, and Holly again, but we all missed Missy.  Maybe next year Missy?


Jaime found her old prom dress and modeled it for us.  Or is this Hermione Granger??


The old roof was cedar shake, but Bob decided to replace it with a steel roof.   It was a hot, heavy job.


Jaime and Katie watched what everyone was doing, but Conner was  excited this day!  Really excited!


What five year old boy wouldn't be excited to see this bulldozer come to work on his Pappy’s farm?


Billy Smith came to do some work with his bulldozer and backhoe, and Conner kept a close eye on everything he did.


Billy asked Conner if he wanted to ride in the backhoe, and he didn't have to ask twice!


It was a dream come true for Conner.




He loved every second of the time he spend in that backhoe.  I think it was better than a trip to Disneyworld.


He stayed in there all day and he’s hoping he can do it again next year.  


Billy and Conner emptied the pond.  We'll let it drain, and next summer Billy will take more of the ground out and we’ll refill it, add some fish, and we’ll have a nice pond again.  We hope! 


After Conner was finished helping Billy he decided that his Pappy needs some help on the tractor. 


Katie preferred riding in Grammy’s jogging stroller, and Grammy was glad she did.


There they go again.  They did this every day and they were both very happy.


Katie liked the little table and chairs her mommy and Aunt Beth had when they were little, and she asked her Pappy to keep her company.


I got the old dollhouse down from the attic for Katie, and she liked her mommy’s old Barbies too. 


Bob and Ron are starting to put the roof on the back of the hog shed.  If Ron wouldn't have come it would have been my job to help.  I’m SO glad Ron came!


Conner is in every picture I took of the guys at work.  He didn't want to miss any of the action.

 
We made ice cream and both Conner and Katie really liked helping Pappy with this job!


Katie loves her Pappy, and she showed him all her little animals. 


Pappy took Conner to see Logan’s calves and he wasn't afraid of them at all. 



He really liked letting the calves suck his finger!


Logan asked if Conner wanted a ride on his big tractor, and you know what the answer was:  YES!!!


It’s a big tractor, and Conner was thrilled with the ride.  He asked if he could go back to see Logan every day.


Conner and Katie love their mommy almost as much as I do!


Katie likes to play the games on her daddy’s laptop.


I love her blond, curly hair.


Grammy time!


I forget what I was baking, but it must have been good!


Katie liked to ride on Pappy's tractor too.


Pappy had to leave for a while, but the kids wanted him to stay home with them.


Conner and Pappy together again.


There was a parade in Blain for the 250th celebration, and Conner really like the tractors in the parade.




It was a fun parade.


Before they left for home Conner had to run through the flower bed one more time.  The hog shed got a new roof, Conner and Katie had lots of fun on the farm, and Grammy and Pappy can’t wait to see them again .

Goodbye Disney Hello Hidden River

We love Fort Wilderness, and we stayed at the Fort for the month of January, but all good things must end (I guess), and it was time to leave.  
      

From Fort Wilderness we headed to Hidden River RV Resort in Riverview, which is only six miles from Jaime’s house, and that’s good news.  Conner turned 5 on December 31 and we told him we’d buy him a brand new bike for his birthday.  It’s much bigger than his old bike, but he still rides two speeds:  stop and FAST, only now with his big bike he rides faster!  


Conner loves to ride with his Pappy, and Pappy has to hustle to keep up with the little boy!


Our friends at Hidden River like to ride bikes, and plan fun rides on the many trails in the area.  This time our ride was on the Pinellas Trail.


The Pinellas Trail is a rail trail in Pinellas County, Florida.  It stretches from Tarpon Springs in the north to St. Petersburg in the south. We got on the trail in Dunedin and rode north to Tarpon Springs.


The trail is currently 38.2 miles long, but we didn’t ride the entire trail and I forget how far we rode.  I was counting on Bob to remember the details and he forgot too!


You can see the trail ahead,and it’s a nice, paved trail.

When we got to Tarpon Springs we had lunch at a Greek restaurant and Bob finally agreed that Gyros taste pretty darn good! It was a windy day for our ride, but we made it back safely and were all ready to go again.

Bob was the camera man for this picture, but I can assure you that he made it back safely too!

A Surprise Visit!!

Beth’s job requires a good bit of travel, and we always hope to get a call asking us to come and pick her up at the airport when we're in our camper.  Well, we were at Fort Wilderness when we got the call this time, so we drove to near Tampa to pick her up after her meeting.  After we picked Beth up we met Jaime, Conner, and Katie for an ice cream treat, and I had my camera with me so I’d have a chance to take some pictures of all of us together.  Unfortunately, my camera stayed in the truck, and even Jaime, who’s always taking pictures with her phone, forgot the photo op!!   Next time.


We decided it would be fun to visit Hollywood Studios with Beth. 


Here we are with my camera, now safely strapped to my body so I don’t forget it again.


Bob and Beth went on The Tower of Terror, and Rockin’ Roller Coaster, but I volunteered to wait.  Nope, I’m not afraid!  Someone has to take the pictures.  Honest!


After we saw everything we wanted to see at Hollywood Studios we headed over to Epcot where Beth and I went on Mission to Mars, twice.  Bob waited and had some ice cream (his excuse), while we rode both the tamed down version of the ride and the real thing.  It was great!


Soarin’ was really busy so we got fast passes and had dinner at the Moroccan Pavilion.  The food was delicious and the dancer was very entertaining.

Beth stayed two nights and we tried to do as much as we could while she was there.  We went to two parks, rode our bikes, went to the campfire, walked, talked, and packed as much as we could into her short stay.  We hated to take her to the airport, but she promised she’d give us another call to pick her up again, and we can’t wait!  We know you’d love Maine, and Acadia National Park, Beth!

Conner Comes For a Visit

Conner was our next visitor, and he’s such a nice little guy.  Of course, any Pappy and Grammy would say that, but this time it’s true!


Conner  is in his Spiderman jacket and ready to see Animal Kingdom.


He wore his little Mickey cap and kept watching out the bus window to find the Mouse.


He’s still talking about “It’s a Bug’s Life” and claims that’s what make his pants so wet.  It was rainy day, and there were puddles to jump over into, but he insists that the bugs spit all over him.


Get used to it Conner, even now that Pappy’s retired we still have to wait for him to finish his “important” phone calls.


The Bone Yard was definitely planned for a five year old boy.


He loved climbing over everything!


He loved the slides too, and tried every one.  We stayed in there a long, long time.




OK, Grammy liked this slide too!


Pappy helped him climb this rope thing, and they liked it a lot.


Conner drove the dinosaur and made it go up and down, and up and down.


They touched the alligator and told me it felt like leather, not creepy.


When we picked Conner up we brought his bike too.  No training wheels anymore for this big kid, and he rides two speeds: stop and FAST!


Jaime and Ron came for Conner so Katie could visit us at Fort Wilderness and ride one of Cinderella’s ponies.


They loved the pool at Fort Wilderness and Conner had another slide to try out.  We could tell when he was coming down because he always let out a loud whoop.  He’s a little guy and the lifeguard kept watching him, but he swims like a fish. 


Before they left for home we took Katie for her pony ride, but Cinderella’s ponies couldn’t take her for a ride that day.  They were working on the stables, and there were no rides for our little princess.  Next year, Katie!

We had fun with Conner and Katie, but stay tuned because we had one more visitor, and we had a another great weekend.