Happy 13th Birthday Ayren

Wanting wish my eldest grandchild, Ayren,  a Happy 13th Birthday!! We all met at Hibachi restaurant and then off to DQ for ice cream. Great time.

Emotions Gone Wild

Wow are the emotions gone wild. How can something so great cause such mixed emotions? This is our dream to travel and see the “Lower 48” and Alaska . We are so blessed to be able to travel for 6 or 7 months and I am so grateful, truly I am,  but I feel like I am loosing my mind. My heart is hurting missing my daughter, grandchildren, and my Mom. She just turned 80 in February, and without sounding macabre, I just realized I may have hugged her for the last time today. Now I do hope her health maintains and she is up to no good, running around tormenting people when we get back, but she is 80. My grand daughter told me today that she cried herself to sleep the other night, and my daughter wanted to know if the kids “ratted” her out because she had her meltdown yesterday. I know that 7 months isn’t forever but, as I have said before, I have never been away from home for more than 2 weeks and we are all feeling it.  Tommy and I have plucked each others last nerve. I think I am getting on my own nerves! We leave in 35 hours and I know we are really pretty prepared. There are the last few errands to run in the am, a pot of chili to make, and few more things to load. Will go watch the grandkids roller skate in the evening. We anticipate to head out at 8 am on St. Patrick’s Day.

Big Family Dinner

The turkey is roasted, the aroma of apple pie is filling the air, and the family is piling in. Everyone is coming for a Bon Voyage dinner. Eleven of us in total. Daughters, Erica and Kerry, their husbands Joe and Todd, and all 5 grandkids will hang out, play, and eat themselves silly. Ayren’s 13th birthday is tomorrow and he will get his new bicycle tonight. He needed it since he is getting so tall that his knees are hitting his old bikes handlebars.

Everyone wants us to have a great time while we are gone but there is an unspoken uneasiness that you can just feel. It’s strange. No one likes to talk about it, but the kids hate the idea that we will be so far away for so long and in the same breath they are tickled for us to be able to see the country.

Lunch with Mom and a Night with the Grand Kids

With less than a week before we leave on our trip, I wanted to have some one on one time with both my Mom and daughter Erica. I was able to meet Erica on Tuesday for lunch and I met Mom today. We went to Firebirds. This is the restaurant my co-workers took me to when I left my job and I loved it. Mom loved it too. We were able to just relax and reminisce. The food is great, the atmosphere is beautiful, and the company was the best.

After leaving Mom I needed to get ready. Two grandchildren are spending the night tonight. A school night! They think that is great. They are not able to spend the night tomorrow night with 2 other grandkids since they will be going to the beach to participate in a polar bear plunge for charity. I wanted the grandkids to spend the night one more time before we leave. We played games, did a school project, and had a milk shake. Big breakfast in the morning. Then taking them to school. Wow am I going to miss the kids.

Another great day!

Recalls and Wheels

The part is in for the recall repair on the refrig. We brought the RV over to Slicers in New Castle. While on the way there we stopped at Diamond State tire on Wrangle Hill Rd in DE to see how much they would charge for a wheel and tire. We asked if they had any used. Let me tell you, Go There. Dave hooked us up! He had a wheel and a tire that are in great shape. All for $100. Yes! We saved $450. Yeah baby. We always had good luck on getting tires for our cars there. Now we will go there for the RV.

When the repair on the refrig is complete, we will fill out a voucher to receive a $50 gas card from Norcold for our trouble.

Before we left to bring the RV over to be repaired we brought our clothes, toiletries, sheets, blankets, pantry items, DVDs, and books out to the RV and put that all away. Re-organized the compartments under the coach and finished sewing the screens I made for the driver side window so we can leave the window rolled down and bugs won’t get in, and an additional screen for the passenger window to help block the sun. Also made a cover for the skylight that is in the bedroom. When we get to Alaska there will be 24 hours of daylight. So we need to be able to darken the bedroom to sleep. Thanks to a friend who reminded us of this.

Wow what a busy day!! It feels great to have gotten so much done.

Hurry up, Get That Cover Off. Now What?!

Funny how we were feeling stuck in getting ready when we had the RV cover on. Now that it is off, we are running around like chickens with their heads cut off and we still don’t know what to do. Can’t pack our clothes, we still need them, can’t pack toiletries, we still need them, can’t pack the refrig, we have to bring the RV to the shop to take care of a recall on the refrigerator when the part comes in. So, since it was so beautiful outside the last 2 days, the RV, truck, and car got a bath and the RV got a partial wax job. Put landscaping paper down and mulched the front flower bed. Been looking for a used wheel as a spare. Who would have thought this would have been a big deal? But it is. No junk yards have one and a new wheel will cost over $350. That is just the wheel, the tire is additional $200. We knew there would be expenses prior to leaving but we have spent more than we would have ever dreamed of. Tommy says we are hemorrhaging. Between roadside assistance plans, extended warranties, boat storage, taxes, wheels, and tires. Oh yeah my computer died. We just purchased a new computer, previously written about, so we would have his and hers. I continued to use the old one and Tommy took the new one. Now that mine died, yes you got it…. Another expense. Now we need to find someone who can extract our info off the dead computer.

Finally Some Snow has Melted!

Enough snow has melted to get the cover off the ol girl this coming weekend. The date is drawing near when we leave and we are feeling stuck since we cannot get into the RV very easily.

                                                                                                                       

This is how much snow we had just a few short weeks ago. The driveway had been shoveled several times where Tommy is standing, so you cannot tell just how deep it was, but it is still up to his knees in this picture.

Anxiety is creeping up. Tommy told me this morning that he did not sleep much last night, and this wasn’t the first night. He kept going over and over in his mind on what he needs to do. He said he packed his clothes, got valve stem extenders on, evaluated his tool box, does he take a drill or not, put the cover on the vent, got the RV weighed, got gas for lawnmower, sharpened the lawnmower blade, brought the RV to the repair shop to get the refrigerator recall repaired. This was all happening while he was laying in bed.  And there was more, soooo much more. He said his mind just would not stop. I said “Welcome to my world!”