December 1st or so...

We drove over the hill to San Diego. We spent a few days at Nana's.  Had a rousing game night at John's.  Saturday, we had the family Thanksgiving dinner.  Too much food, but it was all great. 

That night, after everybody else went home, Seth and Gabriel stayed around and we played Magic with them.   Great kids.

On the third, my sister had yet another birthday, so Happy Birthday to her. 

The weather was bad this weekend.  San Diego got a lot of rain.  None fell in the desert.  After all was done, we drove home and got settled in.  Laurie had work and then we got our rain.  Everything became a mess out here.

I walked around the park the day before and took pictures mostly in areas I hadn't gone to before..  Then I took some in between the two big showers we had. The golf course was really green and the lighting due to the rain clouds was great.

Canyon between the park and the New River. I-8 in the distance.

Helicopters

The pond from the west end

Historic farm equipment on display

The New River

Quack

There used to be a bridge here.

Storm clouds

Morning rainbow

July 2018 - How I Spent My Summer Vacation

When we last saw our stalwart heroe, they had landed in Moorhead, MN and welcomed a new family member.  Then they seem to fall off the face of the Earth.  Yeah.

, While we were gone for the winter, our house suffered significant weather related damage.  Once we got home, we both started our local jobs and started to work towards opening the house and trying to get a handle on the future.

A lot has happened, and there is little photo record of most of it.  I was torn between a number of posts without pictures and then just being busy all the time.  I finally broke my blog inaction by deciding to just talk about all that has happened and what all we've been doing.

Just after we got home, Eliza and her family came to stay for a few weeks. They were moving into a new house, but the timing left them without a residence for a bit.  It was really nice to have them here and we put both sets of bunk beds into Eliza's old room.  The kids had a small pool in the yard to play in, Brett had the four-wheeler running and there are lots and lots of LEGOs.  Alexander even came up from Texas for a bit.  "Uncle Alex!!, Uncle Alex!!"  Part of all that was us helping them move out of their old place and then into their new one.

Devils Lake High School had it's graduation and we attended the graduation party for Micah Cox whose parents helped us raise our kids as well.

There were a few events that we participated in this summer.  We participated in a Flag Day ceremony at Roosevelt Park in Devils Lake put on by the local VFW.  We both became honorary lifetime members.  You don't have to be and old guy to be in the VFW....

Memorial Day found us home instead of in Arlington, VA for a change, and we attended a program at the Memorial building in Devils Lake and helped laying wreaths at the cemetery in honor of the fallen.

A third event we participated in, was the Independence Day Parade as we often do.  We had work looming over us so we were unable to stay for the night at the Lake that we normally get to do. 

Family in June, including Laurie's birthday.  Patriotic and personal events in July, including my birthday and Eliza and Brett's anniversary.

Now it's August.  we've been working on the house and watching and following the Boston Red Sox who are having one of their best years ever.  More work on the house hangs over us and there is still the possibility Laurie will take a short travel assignment between now and when we leave for our October assignment back in Imperial County, CA.

For me, I always define The end of a blog season as when we hook up the fifth-wheel and hit the road.  Hopefully, between now and then, i'll be a little more attentive here.

December 20th - We fly to Minnesota

We made the decision back before we left North Dakota, that we would fly back for Christmas with our Daughter and her family. Imagine getting on a plane with temps in the 70s and flying to a place where the temp is 20 degrees.  Now imagine that an unexpected cold snap hits the entire eastern US that puts local temps around 20 to 30 degrees below. 

Poor little Gypsy, our travel cat, was not to be left home.  We purchased a soft cat carrier.  It was designed to fit under the seats like a carry-on bag.  We put it opened on the floor a few days before we left so she would get comfortable with it.  She did.  She even slept in it at times.  We drove the truck to San Diego and left it in her sister's care as we got a ride to the airport.  Gypsy did really well on the flight. 

We flew Frontier Airlines.  Cut rate, but the flight out wasn't too bad.  The plane had video screens on the back of each seat and you could pull up many TV stations or movies to watch.  It also had a section for kids that showed a map of the land below us and where we were.  It was cool looking out the window and having the screen tell us what we were looking at. 

Then we land in Minneapolis.  Mama!!! it was cold.  nasty, snow, tired, etc. etc.  A couple of kids with us, Eliza and Brett.  We stopped at a noodle place for a bite and then took the long drive across Minnesota to Moorhead, across the river from Fargo.  For being nighttime, it was typically light.  This is normal, when there are a few street lights, and the snow, overcast, and ice crystals in the air spread the light everywhere.  It's beautiful, but cold. 

Did I mention it was cold???

Time to snuggle in, get ready for Corbin's birthday, Christmas, and New Years.

Nothing but family and grandkids could have gotten us to forsake our warm camper for a place where the air hurts your face.  Soon, we would go to our house and get her Jeep so we would have a car to drive of our own.

Gypsy's first flight.

Arizona, or Colorado, or....

The view after leaving the airport

Someone is not happy

Evening

The next morning

August 7th - Jeremiah and Kalliope have a party.

As usual, since Eliza's two oldest were born a year and two days apart, they celebrated with a joint birthday party.  Glydon, MN out at Brett's place, we met many members of Brett's family.  Typical summer party, kids ran around squabbled, played, and generally had lots of fun.  As they started to wind down it was time for cake and treats to apply that sugar rush just before J&K tore into the swag. Great weather and a fun time.  Eliza made cute cupcakes for the kids and special cakes for the birthday guys.  The kids are blessed to have such a talented mommy.

SIDE NOTE: This is my 100th posting.  Hard to believe.  Thank you all for your support.