Here's To Life!

So many of the trips that we have taken have been east coast oriented or perhaps south or southeastern. So at the end of this summer, Paul and I decided it was time to travel west - and enjoyed a week in Colorado! And if you read all the way through, you will find a link to many of our pictures of our trip. We drove through Iowa and Nebraska - parts of the country we hadn't driven through since we were kids. We spent the first night in Council Bluffs, IA after stopping in Rock Island for Whitey's shakes. We stopped at a Danish Winery and did a little wine tasting and buying and drove through the Danish town of Elk Horn, IA but were too late to visit the windmill and Danish museum. Having been watching the show, "Hell on Wheels" on Netflix which is a drama about the building of the Transcontinental Railroad, we were interested in visiting the spot of the eastern terminus. Driving through Nebraska the next day, we decided to see if there were any wineries near where we ...

  John, Xochitl and I went to Brookfield Zoo last Thursday. We saw wombats, goats, a tiger and giraffes among other animals but Xochitl's favorite was the animatronic dinosaurs situated throughout the zoo. They roared - and she roared back. She showed her dinosaur to the dinosaur at the zoo.  We had a fun day and Xochitl was a happy little girl.

  Enjoyed a very pleasant few days with Joy and Dan at their Michigan house in August. The weather was cooperative - no rain except on the drive up. We enjoyed eating out on their deck and being near the water. A little closer to the water than before since most of their beach has eroded and the stairs from their house stop at water's edge. We took a walk through a sculpture garden in Elk Rapids on Sunday afternoon. On Monday, we explored Mission Peninsula, finding a restaurant with outdoor seating for lunch and a vineyard where we could sample a wine flight and sit among the vines. And of course, I took photos of the great sunsets taken from their deck. Thanks Joy and Dan for your hospitality! We enjoyed our getaway Photos!

Celebrated my mother's 90th birthday on July 11 (her actual birthday is July 12) with a family gathering in her backyard. We wore masks, socially distanced - even for the photo and enjoyed being together. Congratulations Mom on being 90 years young! Here are a few more  photos  from the party. Other Cape 2020  Photos

Kristin and Scott got engaged in March, 2019. They had planned an October 10, 2020 wedding. They are still going to be married on that date but we will have the big wedding celebration on October 15, 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic. Another in the change of plans for this year. We look forward to celebrating their marriage on 10/10/2020.

We have probably spent more time so far this summer sitting on our patio or the deck and enjoying our backyard than we have in previous summers. The biggest reason for this is that we have been home much more with nowhere to go. Both Paul and I have been enjoying watching the different birds that come to feed at the bird feeders. We have also watched a couple of rabbits and lots of squirrels. We have added more flowers to the yard and flowering bushes. It has changed quite a bit in the seven years we have lived in the house.     Backyard Photos

This has certainly turned out to be Not the Year I Expected. Last year was full of travel and special events. We traveled both to Hawaii and Greece as well as several places in the states. We celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary by taking our kids to Hawaii for a week. We all had a great time. Paul and I did a group tour of Greece through our church following in the Steps of St. Paul which was inspiring and educational. We also took a trip to St. Louis, Cape Cod to visit my mother and returned to where we started our marriage in Oklahoma City. Traveled on to San Antonio and New Braunfels, TX as well. Enjoyable. We celebrated our granddaughter’s first birthday in May. I retired in June from over 20 years of working part-time at Beye School. Paul made the decision to retire at the end of July 2020. It was a pretty good year. Travel was supposed to continue this year - and we did take a trip to Destin, FL and New Orleans in January which was great - nice to spend a week in w...