Finally "Up North"

We had a great time at the Monaco North Central Rally in St. Cloud despite the chilly weather.








On Sunday Mitch drove the coach Up North (McGregor, MN) and I went to Stephanie's baby shower. Colleen was there with almost five month old Kyle and along with Jo, we all had a good time.







With Sarah out of town for the week, Shayne decided to get some extra work time in if we (the four grandparents) kept the girls with us. What a fun time. Addy and Macy spent two nights with us in the motorhome and they loved their special beds--one on the couch with her new Princess sleeping bag, and the other in her special pack and play crib in our bedroom. We all did pretty well. Macy enjoyed eating at Grampa's house too!

Thrill On--There is a new web site just getting started that gives discounts on outdoor adventures, hiking, camping, fishing, and sporting activities and products. If you go to thrillon.com and register you will see what we mean.
One of the outdoor adventures that is being offered starting on May 23 is a full day salmon fishing charter on Lake Michigan. We are very interested in doing this after the Monaco International Rally in Manitowoc. We are looking for people who would like to go with us. The boat is limited to six people. Let us know if you are interested and we will make the charter.
If you like the outdoors, hiking, camping, driving race cars, fishing, canoeing, etc. go to thrillon.com and register. The things that are offered change often, because they are making deals with different companies all the time.
If there is something you are interested in doing you can e-mail them and they will try to make a deal with a company to get it done.


PS Since the owner of the company is our son, you know you can trust it.

Barb & Mitch

Happy Birthday, Addy!!

We made it back to Minnesota and got to spend some good quality time with the girls. The weather finally warmed up and Addy and Macy decided to spend some time in the boat before they got "Up North"!

But today was a big day--Addy turned 4! Happy Birthday, Addy!!

On our way back to Minnesota

We left the Smokey Mountains with the intention of staying at Harrah's Casino in Metropolis, IL on our way to St. Louis, but the weather channel said the casino looked like it was floating in the Ohio River. We decided to keep driving.

We had a nice visit with my dad. He moved into a nursing home just after his 90th birthday in February. It's a little different for him, but he seems to be getting along well.





We went for dinner with by brother, Larry Vern, and his wife, Jan, and we were joined by our nephew, Nick, and his three year old daughter, Alyssa. What a nice surprise to see them!










A little farther north we stopped in northern Iowa to visit with Mitch's mom who has just moved into a nursing home there. She seems to like it and is happy there.

Happy Mother's Day, Mom!

What to do at Online Campers Rally

This rally is so different from any others because it brings together so many different people who all have to work together to make it work. Don and Jackie bring the shrimp, and Mitch cooks the ribs, but everyone chips in to help cook, bring food, clean up, and create fun things to do in the gorgeous Smokey Mountains.

Sally thought we should go zip lining...





so we did!!

Ten of us got up the courage to try this crazy sport, only Susan and Mitch had had any zip line experience.

Once we got decked out, I wasn't sure I really wanted to go through with it. Our outfits didn't make for a glamorous picture!

We had a couple of great guides who made the trip exciting and fun and totally unscary (kind of).








Here's Mitch is a favorite position. Look at Grampa kids!!! Wahoo!!!!

Tennessee

We have left Orlando and traveled to just north of Chattanooga, TN to spend some time with friends Jackie and Jerry. We did a lot of eating, drinking, and having a good time. Nancy and Gary are building a new house (Caryn designed the floorplan) just up the hill. It's off to a good start.

We left between storms and missed the tornados that peppered southern Tennessee between Chattanoogo and Knoxville.





We safely arrived in Sevierville for our Online Campers Rally and have had a great time since we got here. Don and Jackie from New Orleans brought the "just off the boat" shrimp for the shrimp boil the second night for dinner and guess who showed up? What a pleasant surprise! Our niece Mindi, and kids Masayda, Cassian, and Joakim who live in the Knoxville area and came over to visit Mom and Dad (Dan and Cari) who are also at the rally. Gunnar even showed up a little late after a hard day at med school.

Orlando Wild Life

You saw our backyard turtle, meet the front yard sand hill crane and baby. We've watched the little guy for the last three weeks when he started out with fluffy fluffy yellow feathers.











These are the wild pickleball players. We have had a lot of fun playing.











The pickleball players cleaned up pretty well! Matt organized an evening out. We went to Capone's Dinner Theater for a little 1930s Speakeasy comedy, a buffet dinner, and all the coke and rum I could drink.










Miss Jewel chose Matt to help her onstage, and he played his part very well!!











We spent our last day in Orlando visiting the hotels and resort areas of Disney, riding the monorail, the buses, and the ferries--and it didn't cost a cent! A fun afternoon.

TT Orlando Update!

We are still having fun!

Pickleball friends Kim and Mike (they left before I got their picture!) gave us a bag of fresh Florida grapefruit that made the best grapefruit juice. Thanks, Kim!

Each day we play more pickleball, Mitch had to buy a new paddle, and usually hit the pool. The weather has been in the 90s so it is plenty warm.

We had a great farewell dinner for Judy and Dennis (the red boots gal) that they made: grilled mahi mahi on a fresh grilled pineapple round, herbed sauted green beans, a beautiful lettuce salad, and a wild rice sidedish. Yum, yum, yum. Of course, we had wine with the scallop appetizer that Mitch made, and wine with dinner and for dessert we had frozen White Russians, and then some more frozen White Russians while we played Eucher. We all enjoyed the evening very much!!


We share our campsite with this guy. He has a hole in the ground close to the back of our coach and he comes out every other day or so to munch on the grass--and to take a walk.