Home Again - and up to the SAME OLD TRICKS!

While I was gone - David did a lot of canoeing on his own in the little red canoe (Grace has named her Fulton's Otter). He found some beautiful spots we can't wait to explore. This one was taken at LENS lake up in the Adirondacks. This is just a perfect picture. David has surgery tomorrow to repair the miniscus in his knee. Sadly, it'll be a few weeks before we can enjoy this as a family with the two canoes out together.... I think he wanted to OD on peaceful places before being laid up for awhile.
Do question the concept of HOME SWEET HOME - OK? Naturally, there were a few heavy chores to finish up here pre-surgery. Namely - finishing the unsplitable firewood chunks. So - not 24 hours off the road we launched into THIS! David does 5 cords by hand with a splitting-maul every year. These large pieces WOULD NOT SPLIT, and he doesn't really care for tearing into them with a chain saw. Usually there are not so many and we chuck them in a campfire. For the first time we borrowed a power splitter and did this 'the easy way'. HA - it's 86F and humid. This is work for April - NOT JULY! In not too much more than an hour - we have the 30 odd chunks all split up and ready for SOMEONE to stack!

So - while I did the bending over part (gee Ingrid - thanks for the oh-so-flattering pic of Mom!) David lugged chunks around. We switched off, but found these to be good 'assignments'. Meanwhile our two little worker bees moved the split wood over to nearer the woodshed for stacking.... SO - ITS DONE! We're ready for winter to come back. ESP after the last 10 days of unusually hot and humid stuff up here!

Happy Birthday to Grace - on the road

After the AMAZING Rolla reunion weekend it was back to Grandma's for a couple of days before heading back East. Here (I later realized I repeated the picture - sorry!) we are just before our last minutes with her - enjoying some frozen custard... Everyone agreed - YUM! We had spent the day with Aunt Searle - going thru the Nelson Atkins Art Museum. A perfect day.
Then we left Kansas City on Thursday - setting out to drive over 500 miles to Indianapolis. Arriving in the rain spoiled the girls swimming plans - but we survived. Then Friday - a mere 620 miles to David's Aunt Sugars in Rochester, NY. Friday found us all in need of a 12-hour night - and then it was GRACE's BIRTHDAY. We celebrated in GRAND style. THANKS AUNT SUGAR & UNCLE JACK!

Grace and I made a quick trip to Walmart for new Red BOx movies for the trip home and a few birthday gifts. AND - a few flowers for the Phelans. Doesn't Jack look cute??? :-)

Sugar had the requisite birthday cake. Grace enjoyed this - her second on the trip!

Then we decided to leave early - I was refreshed, fed, and simply ready for the last 200 miles to be over with. THANKS FOR UNDERSTANDING SUGAR. We were too close to home to wait until Sunday. So - we left at 4:30. David called on my cell when we were about in Syracuse. I told him - yup - we'll be home by 2pm SUnday! HA - boy was he surprised when we showed up just at dusk! He was out back putting the chickens to bed! So - 3700 miles safely behind us. Many thanks to all family and friends. Thanks for the beds, thanks for the meals, and thanks for your prayers as we did this great trip and made it safely home. g

A Visit with Grandma

Well, most of the visiting is done. I've put 2400 miles on he car - SO FAR!

I've said my goodbye's to Susan and all the fella's from Rolla. What a great 2 weeks it's been. Now time to spend a couple of days visiting my Mom before we start the trek home.

The first order of business was to take Grace to Build-a-Bear for her birthday present. She really wanted a Giraffe - but, of course, this was a limited edition, and was sold out in 10 days NATIONWIDE. She settled for a Jack Russell Terrier - and, given input from the staff, named it for one in a book called Wishbone. Here, HE is getting stuffed with Grandma looking on.
After stuffing, and hearting, and putting in an audible bark ($5 please) then its on to washing and fluffing HIM out. This was some fun - and VERY SERIOUS BUSINESS!Then we made a birth certificate, made the name WISHBONE OFFICIAL and gave him some patriotic bows. Tell me, why does a male dog need bows? Grace will have to tell me that.After this stop we went to Barnes & Noble and Ingrid got a couple of pre-birthday gifts too. Everyone was happy. We went to lunch - took grandma home to nap and went swimming in the very neat hotel pool. An indoor/outdoor one. Dinner was our favorite flavor - FREE at the hotel happy hour. We brought in Grandma too. Mommy shared one of her 3/day free drinks with G'ma - and all was fine. Ice cream on thhe way home and we called it a day. Well - not until Grace had some computer time ....... Ingrid snugled down - an watching some TV in Kansas City.

Wednesday - our last in KC. Searle (my SIL) called last night and had the day off to share with us. We went to the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art. one of the finest in the country and browsed arround the galleries. I spent a lot of hours there as a kid - lots of good memories. We had lunch with Searle and then went to visit grandma again.

THANKS FOR A GREAT DAY SEARLE!!

Mom wanted to see the girls swim - so we brought her back to the hotel. Then back to her apartment for a nap . The girls finished their swim and after another FREE happy hour (LOVE DRURY INNS!), we met Roger, Searle & David for dinner. Then the final stop in KC - ice cream.... YUM! Tomorrow (Thursday) we'll be heading out super EARLY for aother Drury in Indianapolis - and then to Rochester for a visit with Aunt Sugar and to celebrate Grace's birthday. I think then we'll be more than ready for home.

Rolla Reunion - Sunday July 4th -- - BOOM!

Another great day with the Rolla 'room-mates' having a good time in KC. These shots are a bit MORTON heavy - sorry Rolla folks. David wants to see what we've been up to also! We met at Legends outdoor mall in KC, Kansas for a late lunch. Fun for the littles.... and good company for all.
Grace, in particular, LOVED this. thanks for the suggestion Andy.

The girls and I went to see the new Avatar movie at a really new and neat theater. It was good, albiet I think I snoozed thru a few minutes near the middle. The ladies and older girls went shopping - and the guys hit Cabelas. I'll admit, the girls and I stopped there on our way out too. Hey - David - check this out - it's a little bigger than a 12-gauge! Wonder what our mail-b**** would think of this..... HA!A re-do of the shot 10-years ago. Everyone take your positions please! And - as usual, Mr. Jorge is not there, but kind of replaced with, well........ He's looking a bit pale. And a bit shorter - -- maybe osteoporosis has set in already. sheisch - hope your doing ok YORTCH!

Oh - and there was one other minor change this time around. There is an extra 'room-mate'! MOI - thanks for including me guys. It has really been fun to hear about the last 25 years, and meet your spouses and kids. I'll have to bring David next time around!

Another heavenly feed at Bales. Then everyone TAKE YOUR PLACES - the show is about to begin - - fireworks that is! And, ole Roger is still doing that 2-fisted trick....and with a Mickey's no less! nice...

The kids all had fun. Here is Kelly, Grace and Amanda - - -looks like they might be destined for room-mate-hood too someday!

And - here are Diane and Donna are all fired up in their 4th of July attire. Nice spirit ladies!

Look Daddy - two fisted! The Morton girls seriously enjoyed this outlawed tradition in our neck of the woods. The fellas set off HUNDREDS of great fireworks - and the kids made their share of noise with poppers, and added their fair share of smoke to the air with the sparklers! Nice......

And um - it started to rain quite a lot Dad! Grace was a little bit soaked when she started to consume dessert at 10pm! Hey - one more piece of that birthday cake can't hurt - right? I'll let ya know tomorrow.....

Kansas City Reunion - Friday & Saturday

So - we were early to Mom's Friday. I had 20 minutes to burn, so drove by the High School. The girls were unimpressed, but it looks the same as ever.
Then I got brave and went by my folks house. It looks pathetically small. The Magnolia tree is huge, the yard has been reduced by 1/2 for sidewalks, curbs, and to eliminate the ditch. It is not white anymore, and where the hell did that white fence come from? Still a nice looking neighborhood - it just looks like everything shrunk.

Friday night the Bales hosted a marvelous get-together at their home. Steaks, lots of home-brew, and memories from days gone by.... It was a great start to the weekend. Saturday we all met at lunchtime at Longview Lake. Here are Andy and Tina - - - he is keeping close watch on his Wave-Runner..... So am I. Ingrid went out tubing - with Roger at the helm. What WAS i thinking? Well - she had a great time. Thanks Roger!

The whole gang under some shade by the beach. We lounged around for 5, yes FIVE hours. It was a great day.

Then we all headed to Mark & Michele's for dinner and more beer! NOTHING has changed! Here is Mark cooking up some chicken and really hoping that the rain holds off... Save for a few sprinkles here and there - it did, and it was another perfect evening.. Thanks Mark & Michele.......

The Morton & Warnecke kids enjoy dinner on the deck.

The kids, from 8-17 yrs, still LOVE BUBBLES!Kathy McCormick & Grace Morton both have birthdays NEXT weekend. We had a bit of a pre-celebration tonight with a very festive crowd. One will be 17, the other 10,. There were a LOT of candles on that cake!

And....... what would the 3rd of July in Lee's Summit, MO be without fireworks. The neighborhood had more than it's fare share of boomers tonight!

Wednesday - BRANSON, MO

Well, Susan outdid herself today. She planned a HUGE day in Branson for the girls upcoming birthdays. We kept it all a big surprise. The first stop was the new Titanic Museum. This was really something else. All the staff dress in costume, and there were several live dogs - just like on the real ship - musing about. Grace petted both of them.
Then we headed up the road just West of town to Table Rock Dam. This was a flood control project on the White River in the 1950's. A series of dams makes Table Rock, Taneycomo, and Bull Shoals Lakes (the last of which is where Aasby's have their camp). The damn is very impressive. a mile from end-to-end, much of it earthen dam, and then this concrete monolyth and power station.

Below the dam is a fish hatchery.... We toured this and it was a lot of fun. They hatch, and grow a MILLION rainbow trout each year to be released for sport fishing. The MO DEC permits at $7/day pay for most of the operation. These are NOT indigineous to MO, but love the 46F water that comes frm the bottom of the lake. They do not live in Tablerock Lake above the dam - but below in Taneycomo. We used to come here on fishing vacaions when I was a kid.

A beautiful view of Lake Taneycomo...... COLD water. Some of the old retired spawn fish - 8 years old so. Grandma's and just a FEW Grandpas.

Theese are the old dirt trench hatchery areas. I CLEARLY remember falling in one of these full of 8" trout when I was about 6 years old. A horrifying experience.

Ingrid feeding a bunch of the smaller trout.

Then we got on the Branson Belle Showboat. We boarded around 4pm - had dinner in the THEATER, and watched a very entertaining variety show. I forgot to take a picture of the BOAT in all our excitement. Here is a link that shows all about it. http://www.showboatbransonbelle.com/photo-video-gallery/

In between dinner and the show, we went out on the deck and enjoyed cooler air and beautiful views on a beautiful day.....

Here we are in the boat-theater...... And, another HUGE surprise. Sarah came up from Fayetteville, AK to join in on the fun at the Branson Belle.

The show even included Todd Oliver's ventriliquist act with two talking dogs. I don't think I have ever seen Grace laugh SO HARD!

Here are Sarah, Ingrid, Grace and Molly. How did Susan and I spawn such a beautiful brood!!!!

We stopped at thhe neighbors on the way home to visit their baby minature mules... There are two babies here and he Mama of the gray one is on the right. They are darling..

Tuesday in Springfield, MO

NO miles today... Just relaxing and enjoying Susan..

We started out doing some errrands. We needed Aqua Socks for activity planned later in the day. Here we are at BASS PRO SHOP - next to a black bear - like Max that lives with us!
Then we went down to the Finley River. This beautiful swimming hole is about 10 minutes from Susan's house. It is a gorgeous 85F day - not humid at all. The water is very pleasant. Shallow - and VERY slippery. It is LEGAL to do this - and there are cars and people all over. Above the dam it is deeper and older 'kids' are swimming and floatiing all over. We stayed downstream as we had forgotten the girls live preservers.

The girls had so much fun. Once we floated all together from the dam to where we parked about 1/2 mile downstream.

Grace relaxing whle Susan & Ingrid floated down again. Then it was Grace's turn!

Grandma Mary went along to photograph! it is a LOT of fun to stand under the falls.

....... and float under the falls.....

Here is a Missoura fisherwoman.....with her fishin' pole, little sister, and bait bucket roped to her bikini bottom. Have you ever seen this in NY? I think it's probably illegal up there!