The end of our winter playtime..

22-June-2012
WOW Did I really leave you hanging this long Dear Reader!!??!! I do apologise… It seems like we just chatted but I guess I was wrong.
So, looks like I have to scrape thru my memory banks to fill you in on the last couple of months. When we last met, we were in Yuma at some BLM, well, from there we headed into town and stayed with the lovely Joy, her hubby Mel and papa Charlie. We meant to just stay for a week and pick up some parcels and mail and get more stuff added to Steves trailer… well hehe that proved to be a very very long week! We spent just over a month with them but not just sitting around being lazy. The boys enjoyed the first week just sitting around entertaining Charlie then as the weather got warmer and warmer, the pool started looking like a nice idea. However, the solar heating for it needed some tlc and the cover for it as well. The only ones enjoying the pool was Mel and Jack. Mel loved that Jack is a huge fan of any kind of water and was forever getting him to go in the pool… the poor cleaner thingy really paid for itself then, and I got really good at using the scoopy strainer thing to collect the fur… Meanwhile, Mel talked to me about the cover and I got out the sewing machine and was busy trying to get that fixed. It seemed to be going ok, but I really wasn’t happy with how it was looking. Mel seemed ok with it, as it actually would open and close (ish) so he left it at that and merrily went back to work up in WA state. Well, needless to say Da Boys and me decided that it wasn’t quite right and got some other parts ordered. While we were waiting for that, they decided to go ahead and fix all the leaks in the solar heating thingy too. Needless to say this took well over a week lol. We did a lot of happy hours and group meals and alone time. Joy and their other guest, Sharon, and myself did a lot of crafting. The girls beaded and I stitched. We had a BBQ one night and invited some of our Canadian friends over for the evening as well. What a treat that was. We enjoyed some wonderful times with them all and really look forward to seeing them again this winter!
So, after a good month in town, we decided it was time to head back out to the BLM west of town. We packed up and us and Steve moved on. A couple of days later our other friends Bev and Max showed up and more fun was had! Da Boys got new toys and were busy racing cars and trucks and planes all over the place. Bev and me sat back and relaxed and did a whole lot of nothing! It was awesome! hehe. We spent a couple weeks there and then decided it was time to start our trip north. We parted ways with Steve and kept moving with Bev and Max. We stopped for a couple of nights near Blythe to clean up and restock a bit. At the last minute we decided to head up to Laughlin, NV with them and stay a week and relax some more! I know Dear Reader, it sounds like we do ALOT of relaxing but I tell ya, driving 2 or 3 hours to your next destination is tiring!! So, a week in Laughlin it was. We did get a good deal at the park and it was close to everything. So we did a lot of eating out and touring around and gambling. One night there was a Randy Travis concert at the casino the park is attached to and to our surprise it was at the amphitheatre that was right next to the park. We sat outside and enjoyed listening to the show. We did look into tickets but there was only a couple of single seats let. Oh well, I wasn’t too disappointed about seeing not him and the sound was actually decent where we were. All was good.
After Laughlin we decided we would all head up to the Valley of Fire for a few days. We have been there before but we were anxious to return. It would be fun to be the ones who knew the place for a change! So off we all went. We spent a couple days showing Bev all we loved there and pretty much broke her one day! I know they want to go back and spend more time there. It truly is a beautiful place.
We spent a couple extra days then headed out of the park to the BLM spot we found the other year. We figgered we would just hang out and enjoy the amazing weather till we knew the north roads were good. Needless to say the weather soon got a bit warm to be parked in with no power, the poor genny could barely keep the AC running! But it did and we decided after the 3rd day of over 100F it was time to move on. We slowly took the familiar trail home, one little storm that lasted about 10 minutes was the only interruption on the drive. We didn’t go far on any given day and stayed a couple days if the weather looked ok. By the 29th of April we were in Gibbons and Gary was busy looking for work. We stayed there for a week then headed out to the farm to repack for the summer. Grab the fishing gear and work clothes and then wait for just the right job to come up! While we were there I had to take a mini vacation and head to Hinton to spend the annual sister weekend with 3 of the loveliest women I know! It was fun, we behaved…
We finally ended up in Sundre, AB where Gary makes the commute to Shell-Caroline and I spend time walking Jack, stitching and the usual mundane household chores. We will be here for a bit more and are meeting up with our friends Steve and Jeanne next week. We finally convinced some of our southern friends to come on up and see some of our favourite places to go. Also, some touristy things that you can’t avoid, like Jasper and maybe Banff…
Until we meet again Dear Reader, and I promise I’ll try to be better again at this whole blog thingie! Love you and miss you as always!!