Saddness and Happiness

One morning last week we received a call from our cousin June in Houston. She called to tell us cousin Bob (her husband) had passed away. We were heart broken. He had seemed to be getting better when we last saw them in April. We are so glad that we made time to visit them while we were at the CARE Center last fall, and in April on the way home. He was so happy to have us there. His funeral was on Saturday, and because June and the family had brought him home to upstate New York, we were able to attend. It was a beautiful service and a fond farewell. May he rest in peace.
Our happiness is that we picked up Connor on the way back to Emily. We also picked up Jax because he had stayed will Robin and George. Connor stayed till Monday night. Both Mom and Dad are teachers, and he doesn't start school till today. Of course he was excited to be going back. He is in 1st grade now. He is quick to tell you. We all had lots of fun. We made som'mores and had a colored fire. I will explain in another post. He is a great card player. He loves to play Uno Attack. He can beat us both. We also played games of Wack A Mole. We all love that one. I took him up to the pool for some swimming. We spent the better part of the afternoon up there. We had a very good time. Tom and Connor took some nice long walks around the camp ground with Jax. He said he went to places he never went to before. I think he just forgot.
Connor spotted a downy woodpecker at the suet we have hanging from our tree. He came and went all day. Our neighbor Joan has lots of titmouses over at her feeder. Or is it titmice? I think I'll take some pictures. They were around ours one day and never came back. The chippies have a grand old time at our feeder. Stuffing their little cheeks full of the stuff and hustling off to store it away.
We took Connor down the mountain last night. We know he probably won't be back up to stay again before we leave for the south. He has so much fun here. Now he has school, soccer and practice. He'll be too busy to even think about coming up. We'll catch a couple of soccer games before we go, and that will make him happy.
Jax is looking very fuzzy and nice nice now that his hair is all back. He's cute as a button. We are training him to stay home alone without much noise. WE HOPE!!!! I gathered the info on how to do it from the computer. He seems to be doing OK. We don't want to get kicked out of campgrounds because of a barking dog. We go out for a walk every night and leave him home. We hope to graduate to taking the car soon. We wish we knew his history. He must have been left alone for an extended periods of time. That is the only fault he has. He is your typical lap dog. He doesn't beg for food, and is great with kids of all ages, and loves to play with other dogs. He just wants to be loved. Well, he has that.
Only a few weeks till we get going. We want to take the Natchez Trace on thr way. We hope the darn hurricanes stop. We'll be back in Texas in October. Can't wait.

Pirate Days at A Bay

On Friday we took off early in the morning for the 1000 Islands on the St Lawerence River. When we go there we stay at Merry Knoll Campground in Clayton, N.Y. It's a really nice place to stay if you want a view of the river. The showers and game room aren't the best we've seen, but we don't use them, so I can't say anything bad about them. The pool is nice, as is the playground, with it's pirate ship play house. Connor had lots of fun there. We were there for Pirate Days.
Pirate Days is a big event at Alexandria Bay. We didn't realise how many people would be there. Connor was invited to join the large group of kids who had come. We all were given goodie bags with all kinds of great stuff. The kids were all given a paper plate with different things to make a craft. They could make a pirate ship or anything they wanted. It all started with a shoe box. They had glue and straws and pirated flags and all kids of crafty things to make it with. Connor made a little park with his stuff. You have to use your imagination as he explains about it. It was pretty cool, actually.
After that we went down to see the pirate ships. They were docked at the village docks. Connor was asked if he wanted to sit at the wheel for a picture. He was thrilled. Some of the pleasure boats at the docks were decorated, and the owners were all dressed up. One had a big treasure chest of "treasure" that the kids could chose from. We thought it was great that they would all get into the day just for the kids. Connor chose some chocolate doubloons.
In the afternoon came the pirate invasion. The big ships came into the bay, and tried to take over the bay. The villagers fought them off, with lots of cannon fire and sword fights. There were so many people there. We never expected it to be such a well attended event. Traffic getting out of town was busy, but not to bad.
In the evening after supper, we went into town for ice cream. In Clayton is this little store called What's the Scoop. When you ask for a small cone you better be ready to eat what you would normally get in a large in other places. I had this really delicious oatmeal cookie dough that was soooo good. Connor had play dough, which he thought was neat. Tom had moose tracks. We would have sat by the river to eat it, but it was rainy and cool.
Anyway, our trip was cut short. Connor woke me up at 3 in the morning. "Honey, I just threw up!" I was changing sheets and helping the poor kid get through the night. So instead of going to visit my Mom for a couple of days, we had to bring him home. He wanted to stay, and keep going on with our plans, but he belonged at home. He is fine now, but had to travel home with a bucket as his best friend. I felt so bad for him. Well, he had a good time for 3 days, and that is what he will remember.
Today we slept late, as did Jax. He had a really busy week-end. All the kids wanted to pet him, and he was eager to comply. It was kust a day to catch our breath. It sure was nice to be on the road again. Not moving since the beginning of May is getting to us a little. We have set a date of October 1 to be on the road back south. That gives us about 6 weeks. We'll be ready. Nothing like being on the move.

Busy Day

Today we were at the house again. Tom had to change the oil in the Tracker, and he usually cuts the grass when we are there. I help Robin pull up carpeting in one of the bedrooms. What a job. Then we took up all of those pesky little staples that hold down that yucky padding. We rolled up the carpet and put it in the hallway. Next it goes up to the attic. It's a nice carpet, only a few years old. We have a place for it to go when we have a chance.
We have been doing some yearly maintenance on Emily. Things like cleaning the fans, checking inside all the equipment for leaks and making sure there are no nests of any sort in there. You folks that are RVers know what I mean. Today on the way home we got new filters for the generator. Tomorrow that gets done. When we get back from up north, I will give Emily a good cleaning.
We took the camera with us today when we left. Of course the hawk wasn't there. Neither were the swallows. We'll keep trying till we get some pics. We have the rest of the summer.
We expect it to get a little cooler by the end of the week. Maybe even some rain. Just what we need for the trip. We'll just have to make sure we have umbrellas. The sun can't shine 365. We'll make the best of it and still have fun.

Summer Days

Well folks, the last time I wrote the blog was some weeks ago. Our daughter always puts a bug in my ear to update. She mentioned it a couple of days ago, so here I am.
We've been pretty busy going down to the house a couple of days a week to help Robin do some work. While we are there, I do laundry and Tom helps paint or other manly stuff. On Thursday we cleared out the china closet and buffet. There are some things I just can not part with. My Mom has given us some nice pieces and so had Tom's Mom. Up to the attic with the lot of them. We have been really good at throwing things away. It is so much easier when we realize we haven't missed it in the passed year.
Connor was also with us for a couple of days. We gave him a treasure hunt kit at Christmas time, and I made treasure hunt maps and Tom and I hid some coins that come with it. It has an invisible marker to mark the "X" on the map. There is also a special compass with a special light on it that when you shine it on the map you can find the invisible "X". Really cool. He just loved it. We went on 2 treasure hunts. While we were out hunting,we met some folks coming the other way. He told them we weren't really pirates, we were just pretending so we could find the treasure.
He will so love our trip next week. We will be taking him up to the Thousand Islands in upstate New York. In Alexandria Bay, on the St Lawrence River, they have Pirate Days. The children fight off the river pirates that try to invade the town. Then they have a big festival. We'll stay in Clayton at Merry Knoll Campground. It's right on the river, and you can watch the big tankers that use the St. Lawrence Seaway. It's one of our favorite place to go. The area is really so lovely. We've never been there for Pirates Days, so it will be a first for all of us.
Yesterday here at camp they had the annual fishing derby. All the kids register, and the horn blows at 12:00. They fish in the big pond. At 2:00 it blows to signal times up. Several prizes are given out. I was able to get a picture of Kyle, who was the winner for the biggest fish. He caught a 21 inch catfish. He is the grandson of our neighbors Dave and Bev. They were all so excited and proud of him. All of the kids had a great time fishing, whether they caught fish or not. The adults had fun watching and advising.
To finish, I have to say something about birds. Robin picks on us because we think it's so cool when we see a bird for the first time. Well, on the way out of the campground the other day I saw a magnificent red tailed hawk. He was sitting on a bale of hay like he was the king of the hay field. Of course he was. I hope we get some pictures of him for the blog. We have also seen some really nice swallows . Pictures will come tomorrow....we hope. Sorry they can't be in today. We had forgotten our camera when we went out. Check back tomorrow to see if they are in.
That's all for tonight. We'll be back tomorrow.