Miss Madison / Flu Shots

Today my time with Miss Madison started at 8:30am, although I was at the house about 7:20, so Danny could get ready for work, but low and behold Danny and Miss Madison were still sleeping. Danny was really awake but since Madison hadn't gotten up yet why should he? I sat in the living room and read my book until he was up changing Madison, he called me in so I could see you smiling and stretching, boy she is a happy baby, it must be the good genes she got from me. :)
Madison and I went into the living room and started playing and before Danny left he made her morning bottle. Yesterday she slept just about all day, it seemed, but today was different, no sleeping. She took 20 to 30 min. naps but that was it. When I put her in her crib at 10am for her 2 hour nap, I went in the other room and started working out. I was watching her on the monitor then the next thing I know the dogs were barking like crazy, which of course woke her up. It was a fellow student of Danny's dropping off some xtra credit work for school. Miss Madison had her little nap and wanted to go back to playing and me reading her nursery rhymes. Kim called and said if she didn't get her morning nap she will take a long one in the afternoon. (I should have asked her what time in the afternoon) Anyway, around 11:30 she fell asleep again, so I put her in her crib and set up the monitor. I'm in there working out and again at noon she woke up again, here we go back to playing and reading. When she gets a little fuzzy I give her a bottle then she is wide awake again, she really is a good baby, always smiles and can entertain herself with her moving her arms and legs, she loves doing that and talking the whole time. She's a good story telling as Great Nana Tomaselli would say, she just talks and talks.(just like great Nana)
Dave rode the bike over in the afternoon and hung out the rest of the day with us. At 2:30pm Miss Madison fell asleep again so back to her crib, which lasted almost an hour this time. I got her up changed her and just stood in the living room and rocked her in my arms and back to sleep she went. This time I didn't put her in the crib and just put her on the couch and that's where she still laid sound asleep when Dave and I left at 7pm. Danny had gotten home at 5:30pm, Dave had fixed dinner, we all talked and ate then Dave and I left at 7pm to go to Kim's work to get our Flu Shots.
It really has been fun the last 2 days, it's been 26 yrs and 3 months since I've done this and I'm sure back then it was a lot easier on the arms and back. :)

1st Real Day of Babysitting Miss Madison

I say 1st real day only because Dave and I went over last night, Wednesday night, to watch Miss Madison because Kim started giving out flu shots last night. Danny was going to go somewhere for xtra credit for school but since he had a anatomy test, today, he stayed in the spare bedroom and studied until Kim got back. So even though we watched Miss Madison for 2 hours it didn't really count because Danny was in the next room. OK that's out of the way.
Oh, before I forget, Dave was helping me and going to make Miss Madison's bottle and as he was putting the water in he kept spilling. He did it again over the sink as Madison and I are watching and he spilled again, he said he couldn't see out of his glasses plus the bottle had a curve to it. Anyway, he poured again, and we both watched carefully and as he spilled again we realized the bottom of the bottle was missing. It was one of those curved bottles that both ends twist off, too funny, I'm sure you would have had to be there, but we sure got a good laugh.

Thursday:

Kim called me this morning at 5:30am, I asked her to, but of course I kept waking up every hour on the hour so I wouldn't miss my 1st day with Madison. Kim called, right when I was getting out of bed because Dave had just woke me up, the only hour on the hour I didn't wake up. The day did really go good, it was my 1st day so I have to get my own routine going. Kim called 4 times and texted once, Danny came by after school and before going to work then he called about 4 times too. 2 calls were because of Miss Madison's eye and he had called the doctor about it and called me back to let me know what the doctor had said. Her eye we just need to watch and keep putting the medicine in it that Kim and Danny already had. Dave rode the bike over to Kim's, because I took the car and the dog with me, and watched Madison sleep while I worked out a little bit. Dave had stayed at the RV to clean the carpets and couch, which turned out great, he said they were really dirty. With all the travels since we had the new carpet put in a year and a half ago I'm sure was really dirty.
Anyway, Miss Madison would eat some, play some, talk a lot, then sleep a lot, which made it for an easy time. As she gets older I know it is going to be more of a challenge, heck, it's a challenge trying to hold her in my arms anymore, she is getting bigger everyday, I can't wait until she can hold her head up by herself without moving, that way she won't look like a drunken sailor. :)
Tomorrow's a short day, 7:30am to 5:30pm unless Danny has to stay late at work.
Saturday we are driving down to Simi to go with David Jr. and Jodi to go see 9 to 5, this is the closing weekend, then on Sunday Miss Madison is being blessed here in Bakersfield. Another 2 days of long drives, I thought we were retired and suppose to take it easy??

New Pictures Posted

I don't know how but I now have my own picture album, so if you look to the left and click on Jeri's picture album (I think that's what it says) you can see all the pictures I was behind in on posting. They are pictures from the beginning of July until we got back on Oct. 10th, sorry I got so far behind.

Anyway, Miss Madison showed me a welcome home Nana surprise. On Kim's blog she has been reporting how she is having a hard time going poo poo. Kim went and got prune concentrate and started giving it to her on Friday night. She gave it to her 3 times on Saturday too and she was finally able to go. Sunday night Miss Madison woke up after we were done with dinner and I was walking her around the house. She started to get a little fussy, so Kim was getting the prune juice and bottle ready. When I held Miss Madison a little bit away from me, Kim points down to the front of Madison and it is a real dark mess. We went running to the changing table and she had poop everywhere, she had so much it came out the front of her diaper. Danny was in studying so we yelled for him to come and help. Kim ran to the bath tub and started the water. Danny striped Miss Madison and gave her to Kim who was waiting in the bath tub with the water running. Kim held Madison and Danny helped rinse her off, Madison wasn't happy at 1st but then loved the warm water. Too darn funny, I wish I had gotten a picture. I start my baby sitting duties this Thursday so I told Kim "NO MORE PRUNE JUICE" I sure hope I don't get a mess like that, but I'm sure I will.

Back in Bakersfield, California-Happy Bday Dezira

Got back to Bakersfield yesterday afternoon around 2:30pm and the RV Park was pretty full on the side we park on. Low and behold there is a RV Rally going on here. It's the Van Nuys Traveler's, the one's we met last year and Kim, Danny, Dave and I hung with them and had some fun. This year they have a lot more rigs here, and last night when we got back from dinner with Miss Madison and parents :) they were very quiet and we didn't see anything going on. Dave and I were pretty tired from driving from New Mexico in 2 days, anyway, so there was no way we could have joined them.
We got to Kim's about 4:30pm yesterday and were blown away to see how big Miss Madison was. She is 12lbs now and boy sure can't hold her as long as I use to in my right arm, walking around the house with her my right arm is going to look like one of Popeye's pretty soon. What a happy little angel she is, beautiful too, but Nana Alton has the touch still, when the hot flash hit Miss Madison went to sleep. While we were at dinner she slept and when dinner was over she woke up, boy, Kim has her trained right. :)
Kim did give me the scary news, her 1st day back at work, which is this Thursday, I will be baby sitting from 6:30am until Danny gets home from work. If everything goes OK for Danny at work he should be home by 8:30pm if he has to stay then Kim should be home by 9:30pm. She has to work past 7pm because of giving flu shots from 7pm to 9pm. Let's hope she doesn't cure me from baby sitting again, just kidding, I hope.
Today we went to the house about 1:30pm after cleaning our RV, it had so much dirt because of all the dry camping we have been doing. Driving thru Arizona was like being in a wind tunnel the hole time, I even helped driving both days because Dave's arms needed a break.

I have more on the end of our Rally to post, mainly so I can look back years from now and remember what had happened so if you don't read the next blog, you will miss out on some of the funny stuff.
Sorry we couldn't drive down to Simi for Dezira's 17th bday party, but way too tired.
Happy Birthday Dezira.

Staying Another Night

We are suppose to leave by 10am tomorrow morning, we all want to stay one more day because Thursday they are bringing out the character and odd shape balloons and we want to see that. What we will do is get going on Thursday late morning instead of Wednesday, still should be home by Sunday.

The guys didn't get to work on the balloons Sunday morning because Saturday night we had a monsoon that hit here, it rained, I mean poured all night long. This RV Park was a mess some people that had to leave had to have tow trucks get them out of the mud. Around 8am it had pretty much quit raining so I could walk Valley around but in the afternoon it was sprinkling here and there. We went to the Balloon Museum then managed to walk around the Balloon Park without the big crowds. Sunday night it was clear so the balloons were brought out and they managed to do the Balloon Glow Show which was great to see then more fireworks.

Monday it was too windy for any balloons to fly and it was tour day anyway with our caravan. We went to El Pinto Restaurant, this place seats over a thousand people, very popular place, anyway they gave us a pepper cooking demonstration, boring. The lunch was great then we went to an Indian place, then on to Old Town Albuquerque to do shopping. Boring, boring, boring we decided to take our own car today and follow the bus to Sandia Peak and Tram ride. After we have lunch up there the buses are then going to a Turquoise Museum and Bob, Jackie, Dave and I have no desire to do that so we will do running around on our own.

This morning we didn't get a chance to go to the Balloon Field so they came to us. The balloons were landing all around our RV Park, pretty neat. Will have tons of pictures to post when we get a chance.
Bye for now.

Rain did Come

By the way, Dave and Bob took naps in their own rigs, just to clear up that last blog comment. After they woke up we all decided to walk to the Balloon Museum and check it out because tomorrow it is suppose to rain. The museum was OK, after that Dave and I decided to walk to the balloon field and see all the both stuff. Bob and Jackie were still enjoying the museum, or at least Bob was, and said they would walk down after they were done looking around. Boy the wind was sure picking up and as we walked around you saw the clouds rolling in, the wind picking up and within a few minutes the rain drops started. It never got going hard with the rain, it would start then stop, but Dave and I walked the whole thing and made it back in time for the bus ride back to the rig, never did see Bob and Jackie. When the bus dropped us off Dave went to Bob's and they had taken the bus back when the rain drops 1st started, that's why we didn't see them. It was a good thing they did because where we are parked it is nothing but dirt and the wind got going so bad, Bob had managed to reach up and close all of our windows from the outside so all that sand did not get in the coach. Needless to say we weren't able to BBQ outside, so Dave made a wonderful dinner of Sausage, peppers and onions over pasta. The 6pm balloon show was cancelled because of the winds, for 1 thing, the other was the rains that would come and go. While we were having dinner the Fireworks show did go on and we could sit right in our rig and see the whole thing without getting wet, it was a really nice evening. Bob and Jackie left about 9pm because, if it isn't raining in the morning, they still have to be on the balloon field by 5:30am, Bob said I'm going home and going to bed, it's been a long day.

Hell of a Balloon Show this morning

Jackie did get up and we took the guys to the gate at 5:30am. We then came back walked Valley around, watched the Dawn Patrol show, that was neat, it was still dark and they were making their balloons glow, then at 7am headed for the balloon field. We found where the guys were and they hadn't even started setting up yet. When they did get going Bob got to go in the Balloon with the owner and Dave was in the chase vehicle. What a hell of a show seeing hundreds of balloons take off, different shapes, colors ect. now we know what we missed 2 years ago when it got rained out. Thousands and thousands of people walking around the food and vendors booths, will wait until Monday or Tuesday to check out the stuff, when everyone has gone back to work.
We got back to the rigs by 11am, had lunch and Bob and Dave went to sleep. Starting at 6pm tonight is more balloon activities and fireworks, if it doesn't rain.

Albuquerque New Mexico

We landed at the Adventure Caravan RV parking space about 10am. I would guess most of the RV's came in last night, oh well. When we were 1st pulling in we saw Nancy and Dan from our Mexico trip and once we got parked we were parked next too Troy and Mary Ann from our Mexico trip too, what a small world. At 2pm we had a meeting with the caravan telling us what will be happening for the next 5 days then later on someone showed up to show us how hot air balloons work, no big deal.

We had heard the balloon crews were looking for volunteers with the balloons and the chase vehicles, so Dave and Bob rode down, on the bikes, to the fields and signed up. Starting tomorrow, Saturday, then again on Sunday we have to drive them to the fields at 5:30am so they can be part of the balloon crew, I should say I will be driving them, I don't think Jackie can be ready that early. (ha ha)
I haven't been able to take time to have my nails done since Oregon, so needless to say I'm down to 1 and 1/2 left. But might as well leave them off because when I start baby sitting Miss Madison I don't want poop getting under the nails. :) Plus, with the way the market is going I just can't afford it anymore.
Love ya
More updates later.

Have Arrived in Santa Fe, New Mexico

We landed finally this afternoon in the Elks Lodge in Santa Fe, NM and what a nightmare finding the place. Dave was leading, of course with the GPS, and Bob ended up getting stopped by a red light. We slowed down trying to wait for them but nowhere to pull over to, so Jackie and I kept talking on the walkie talkies because Bob's CB Radio isn't that good when you get to far away. Anyway, Dave missed the right turn and we had to go up to the next block so we were trying to tell them to stay to the right and follow the road but cars were backed up and they couldn't get over. Once we got back on the road we should have been on all of a sudden we saw the Elks sign and there was no way we could make the turn into the driveway. We turned at the next street and pulled over when we could, I got out and ran back down to the street to see if I could see Bob and Jackie and talk to them on the walkie talkie. I got a few words in and then the radio went dead. Dave called Bob on the cell phone and told him what he had to do and what the cross streets were. We had an open street on our left so Dave said he was going to back a u-turn and I asked are you are sure you can make one and he said NO but would try and if he couldn't he would just go straight down the street on our left. Well, he couldn't make the u-turn when we were 1/2 way thru and turned real hard to the right to go down that street on our left, which now is on our right. We made the right but it ended up being a cul-de-sac, Dave drove very slow and got very close to the mail boxes, even a guy up on his roof had to stop and watch this move, but we managed to make it thru the cul-de-sac, get back up on the tiny road and made a left into the Elks which was on top of a hill. I ran to the back of the hill, were you could see the road to watch for Bob and Jackie and I kept trying the walkie talkie. Next thing I know I see them coming down the road, they passed the Elks driveway and I'm yelling and trying to get there attention, even the cars that were driving by that saw me trying to get their attention started honking and them and pointing to me. They finally saw me and said they had to turn around again, when they came back by they managed to get to the driveway and get parked. They said they drove right on by and never saw the Elks sign and ended up in Mexico, actually what looked like Mexico, small streets, houses right on the road, hanging trees ect. What they had done was drive down to Old Town Santa Fe, too funny. Then Jackie said their bedroom slide was coming out when they turned corners, NOT FUNNY, but sure enough Bob had to re-insert a pin into his slide, thank goodness it never came all the way out.
After the guys got the coach fixed, oh by the way, we found out what was wrong with the lights on our car not working. One thing was Dave when we 1st got to the State Park in Littleton had by mistake let the electric cord hang down and that shorted the wires out. Then we ended up calling Monaco and they helped with which spark plug was out on the RV to make the car lights work.
Anyway, we drove down into down town Santa Fe, really neat town tons of things to see, it is a artsy crafty place and lots of sculptures.
Tomorrow we head out to the Balloon Festival in Albuquerque and hopefully the weather stays warm like it has, pray for no rain.

Good and Bad News

We got to talking and planning out our trip back to California with Bob and Jackie and had planned on stopping in St. George Utah to visit with Larry, Linda and my Aunt Evelyn but no go.
The senior Olympics are going on in St. George starting on the 7th and going on for 2 weeks and all campgrounds are full, Elks too. So Dave and I decided to just start heading back home and just make a stop in Sedona for a couple days. Bob and Jackie and going to hang out at different places until the Olympics are over then go to Linda and Larry. We will just have to go to St. George later on, maybe in a couple months when we need a break from baby sitting. That's the bad news, but the good news is we should be getting home now on the 11th or 12th, 3 days earlier then we planned.

Now in Aguilar, CO but were in Littleton, CO

I'll do a quick update of the last couple days. When I last wrote, on Sunday, we ended up going to Fruita for a couple hours because they had their 7th annual street fair.
Monday we headed for Littleton, CO to visit Marisa and family. We made a few stops on the way because the scenery was just so beautiful. The hills with the changing of the colors was amazing to see. We tried to stop in Veil but couldn't find a big enough place for the rigs and tows, but we did drive thru town.
Monday we got to Marisa's a little after 5pm and got a tour of the house. What a great place they have, the basement is going to be a lot of fun for them to get it arranged just the way they want it. The rest of the house was great too, hell of a deal they got, Dave said to many stairs for him. I can't believe how much stuff they have gotten done in only 7 weeks being there. I told her everyone is visiting almost back to back of each other, and after October it will probably be really quite for a while and then she will get home sick again for everyone. They did very well for themselves and they did what they had to do, I don't know what I'm going to do when Kim moves away from me, it will be hard. Anyway, we went out to dinner with Marisa, Shawn and Inara which was a very nice dinner, it was too bad the day we arrived and saw what the stock market had done, dropped 777 points, none of us were too happy. We even thought about just going to Costco for a hot dog dinner since that's all we could afford, just kidding. The state park we stayed in was a big rip off, we not only paid for camping but then they made us pay for tags for our rigs and our cars, it ended up being $36 a night, which is very high so needless to say that didn't add to our moods either.
Tuesday Marisa and Inara came over to the park because they had never seen the rig, so we had a nice visit then, plus, Marisa got to pick up her house warming gift, and Inara's bday present from Kim and Danny, that we had been travelling with. After Marisa left we drove to Red Rock Amphitheatre, hell of a nice place to visit. We must have been there for 2 hours, very famous place to see, almost every performer has been there, that includes singers and comedians, I believe they started using it in 1910. After that we had to do some shopping then back to the state park.
Wednesday morning after Dave and I took Valley for a walk we decided to ride our bikes around, well, Dave fell again. It seems to happen every time we are stopping, this time he put his right leg down his tires sunk into the sand and down he went. It was almost like in Thousand Trails when I thought he faked the fall. He took all the skin off his right knee and some off his arm and pulled a muscle in his left thigh. Needless to say we have to get him a bike that when he puts his legs down he can touch the ground, he just doesn't have the balance like he use to.
We started to leave at 9am but when the car was hooked up to the rig the lights didn't work, lights blinkers ect. Bob and Dave worked for 1 1/2 hours to get it to work and no go so we left anyway and Bob and Jackie just stayed close to us while driving.
We are now stopped for the night in a place called Aguilar, CO. it is an RV Park on the top of a hill over looking the freeway but a hell of a view all around us. The town we were going to stop in the RV Park was trash, the office wasn't even open it said "Park and pay later" don't think so. We then were headed for Trinidad but lucked out on this RV Park.
We head out tomorrow for Santa Fe New Mexico, wish us luck.

This town is a little strange

Walking Valley around this morning you could see how a little scary this area is, Elks Lodges are 95% of the time not in the nicest parts of town. Some guy was walking down the street talking to himself and saw me and Valley are came over to us. He asked it that was my dog, who's would it be?, then tried to pet her, Valley started sneezing like crazy, snot flying so the guy took off. Good girl Valley. I spotted a park and came back and got Dave to walk with us, as we headed that way you could see the homeless sitting around a table in the middle of the park. Dave said if you see a group of folks sitting in a park before 8am you really don't want to walk around there. Sitting back in the rig writing this I am seeing the strangest people walk around, luckily for us there is a Wells Fargo Bank near us and they have 24 hour security, so our rigs are being watched. The weather is hot here too, plus, the bugs are loving me. Lots going on around town so will check it out today.

Grand Junction Colorado

We have arrived in Grand Junction Colorado and are parked in the closed Elks parking lot. They had a car show, Greek Festival, Air show and something else going on so we couldn't get any camp ground parks to stay in. It works out fine at the Elks, we don't have to pay anything we have electric but that's it, thank goodness they are closed. We are going to hang out here for 2 nights and check out some of the area before heading for Marisa's.

Springville, Utah now

We left Baker City Oregon at 7am this morning and decided to drive to Springville, Utah which is right outside of Provo to meet up with our friends a day early. I did most of the driving today, about 7 to 8 hours, thru Oregon, Idaho then almost to Ogdon Utah. The only reason I started driving was because as we were leaving the RV Park this morning, we hadn't reached the highway yet, Dave jumped up because he had forgotten to take his pills before we left. Once he jumped up and ran to the back, the coach was still moving, I jumped into the drivers seat and started driving. He said "are you going to drive" and I said "yes" he left the drivers seat so I might as well take over. (when I say this we weren't in any danger of crashing, we really weren't moving that fast and it was kind of an open area) It was a long boring drive thru Idaho, flat lands and really nothing to see, my kind of driving, Dave got to read and and relax until Ogden, then the construction started and the traffic picked up. I was a nervous wreck thank god he was driving.
Anyway, we are 1 day ahead of schedule now so we are going to plan on heading to Colorado tomorrow and stop and do some touring around before we go to visit my niece in Littleton Colorado on Monday, I believe, so Marisa don't expect us any earlier.

Baker City, Oregon

Before I start our update let me wish Kelli and Rob a belated Happy 7th Anniversary. So sorry I forgot to mention it on my blog from the 22nd.

OK, now we are at Oregon Trails West RV Park in Baker City Oregon, we left the Rally 1 day early because we need to be in Provo Utah on Saturday to meet up with some friends that are going to the Balloon Festival with us. (We didn’t want to kill ourselves driving)

We had a lot of fun at the rally, hard not to, when they feed you with appetizers, ice cream, wine, beer, hard stuff, breakfast and dinner every night. They had tons of RV’s to walk thru, and boy they sure were hoping you were buying. There were only about 50, if that, vendors to sell you things. It was just enough because Dave and I donated on stuff I’m sure we could have done without. Really thank goodness there weren’t more vendors because the way the market is going we sure didn’t need to spend more money. Dogs everywhere so Valley made lots of friends never saw one mean dog except those little yapper ones. The very 1st day the vendors opened up we kind of strolled thru and just so happen to by past one of the vendors. As we were leaving, the guy runs after us as we are going out the door and ask if we were too good for him for not stopping at his booth. Ends up being a couple we played Pickle Ball with in Soledad Canyon Thousand Trails, too funny, Larry and Dottie. I had mentioned before that I saw a coach that we had met the people in Florida, anyway, we walked up to their coach and introduced ourselves again, John and Barb, who are fulltime too. At our table for dinner it ended up being Dave, Jeri, Stan, Ginger, Joe, Lynda, John, Barb, then this weird couple joined us, Clark and Mary Ann were suppose to join us but I never saw them again after the 1st day. (so maybe they really weren’t friends from Camp Monaco L) Stan and Ginger had to leave Wednesday morning so Larry and Dottie joined us for dinner on Wednesday night, plus, that weird couple again.
Tuesday night after dinner as we all sat there talking, the singer they had hired to entertain us started singing. He wasn’t very good, so Ginger and I were in deep conversation as were John and Dave. Next thing I know a man from the other table leans over and was saying something to John and Dave, and I had a feeling it wasn’t good. Next thing John is asking this guy to step outside and they will settle it. It ended up this man was telling Dave and John to hold it down and tempers were flying, we then decided the singer was no good so we all left, except the weird couple, and went back to Ginger and Lynda’s rigs sat outside and talked until late. We did that about every night and sure did have a lot of fun; it was a great group to be with. Last night they had a comedian, singer, songwriter and he was good, at the beginning, after awhile he was telling longer stories and I was getting bored, plus, since Dave and I had to leave early we decided to turn in early, no late night get together for us.

We should be at my niece’s house, Marisa, on Monday and will be staying 2 nights, I believe, before heading to New Mexico.

One last thing, on our drive here, again in Oregon, a rock was thrown at us by a big rig and we have another chip in our windshield. We have 3 chips and all have come from Oregon, we might just have to write this state off for visiting.

Salem Oregon Fair Grounds

We arrived yesterday morning at the Fairgrounds here where the Rally will get started at noon today. I believe they have about 500 rigs coming and about 400 showed up yesterday so it took awhile for everyone to get parked.
Short recap of the last couple days.

Friday Dave, Stan and Joe went and checked out the Spruce Goose and Air Museum in McMinnville while us ladies went to some wineries. Friday night we BBQ'd Salmon and Halibut and the guys started drinking scotch and kept on drinking. While the ladies went back to our rigs to do dishes the guys decided to go to the Elks lodge and have a night cap. Well, luckily the 3 of them had each other to lean on to make it home. The bartender wasn't even going to let them leave unless they were camping in the parking lot, boy they tied on good ones.

Saturday night we were all having dinner in our coach when I went to check on the dogs, Valley and Ginger's dog Katie, and Katie was throwing up. Stan and Ginger took her home where then she started foaming out her mouth and nose. They rushed her to the vet where she stayed over night, they took xrays but didn't know what was wrong with her. She had a big knot in her stomach so they thought she might had eaten a plastic bag. When we got settled yesterday at the fairgrounds they went and picked her up. The vet said it was a reaction from what they don't know, spider bite, food she may have picked up but she looks fine and acts like nothing was ever wrong so that's good.
Forgot to mention, Stan and Joe are retired Airline pilots and the stories they tell, it just scares the hell out of you about what pilots do.

Went walking around the rigs yesterday and ran into a couple we met 2 years ago when we 1st went to Camp Monaco repair facility in Harrisburg Oregon, Clark and Mary Ann, so they are going to join with the rest of us.
This morning walking around saw a rig of some people we met in Wildwood Florida at the Monaco facility there.

Still in Keizer

On Tuesday mid-morning we did get a spot so we have full hookup now, around 5pm another RV pulled in and Dave went out to tell them what spots were open (I guess he turned into camp host) and it ended up being friends of ours, Stan and Ginger, from Camarillo. We knew we were going to see them at the Rally but had no idea they were going to be parking at the Elks too. Stan hadn't realized that Dave had rejoined the Elks again, Dave fixed a pasta and shrimp dinner for all of us. Wednesday, Stan and Ginger had friends coming in so we blocked off one of the open sites so when they come in they would have somewhere to park. In the afternoon we went visiting Vineyards for wine sampling around 3 we stopped at Costco for hot dog lunches. (that's all we could afford after buying so much wine :) )
Linda and Joe arrived around 6pm and we ate pizza and sat around and visited and drank wine.

Keizer, Oregon

We have arrived at the Elks Lodge in Keizer, Oregon. They had no open spots for camping so we just kind of squeezed into a non spot and hopefully tomorrow someone will pull out. The camp host isn't here and hasn't been for a couple days so he can't kick us out, cross your fingers for a site tomorrow.

Happy Birthday Kelli and Inara

Wanted to wish Kelli Miller and Inara Tomlinson

HAPPY BIRTHDAY


Dinner was great last night with Monaco Mama and we will head out this morning for Salem

Eugene Oregon

Thursday night Marty came over to the coach after work and visited for awhile. Friday morning we went to the restaurant for breakfast and then around 3pm our friends, Linda and Larry, arrived at the RV Park. We sat around and visited then walked the Umqua River a little bit, at 6pm we had reservations for dinner at Marty's, Chicken Cordon Bleu, very tasty meal, of course. Saturday morning we went walking around and spotted deer, which Valley was really happy seeing, and wild turkeys too. We went to Marty's for breakfast, Dana came down so we got to visit with her then went back hooked up the rigs and hit the road for Eugene. Once we got to the RV Park and got set-up we hit the road for the Eugene Celebration. They had streets roped off and there was a farmer's market and street vendors, to go into the Eugene Celebration they charged 12 per person and we didn't feel like paying for that since there were so many strange looking people walking around it was just as entertaining just people watching. They had a car show going on that was free so we walked around that too. Saturday night Linda fixed dinner then after that we played card and domino games.
Today we went to the mall so Linda and I could have our nails and toes done then we all went to the movies and saw "The House Bunny" then did lunch at Chili's. Linda and Larry then headed out to Junction City because they are having their rig worked on. Dave and I went back to the coach and relaxed and will be headed out tomorrow for Salem Oregon.
Tonight's dinner is at Monaco Mama's, which is a lady 3 rigs from us that writes on the Monaco Blogs that Dave reads, it's us and another couple for dinner and they are all going to the Monaco Rally in Salem like we are. Will let you know how it turns out.

Gold Beach/Florence/ now in Elkton Oregon

Yesterday we left Brookings, Oregon and headed for Florence, Oregon but we did make a stop in Gold Beach, Oregon to do a Boat Trip on the White Water Thrills. They have 2 company's that do this, one is Jerry's Rogue Jets or Rogue River Mail Boat. We went with the Rogue River Mail Boat and they do still carry the mail up the river as you go. We didn't want to pay the higher price so we picked the 64 mile ride, they also have an 80 and 104 mile ride. Needless to say we paid for the 64 mile one but got the 80 mile ride. The driver of the boat didn't pay too much attention to the tickets he took from everyone so needless to say to do the xtra 16 miles, which we shouldn't have gotten, he just took everyone, yea lucky us. The ride was great, weather very hot in the afternoon thank goodness we dressed in layers, we saw bald eagles and other kinds of birds, different nests but no bear. We heard on the 104 mile trip they did see a bear, oh well. We had left on the boat at 8:30am and didn't get back until 2:30pm which was a long enough time to leave Valley in a closed up RV, but she did do fine. The coach was left on the ocean side so it stayed cool and the boat ride up the Rogue River went into the Canyon's so it was hot. Plus, on that day it was Sheriff training day, we must had seen every sheriff boat from every county in Oregon. We were told it was training for the new hires on the force so they know how to assist on any of the water ways in Oregon. This training day was for the Rogue River, next month they will do another river, could be Umpqua River ect. Anyway, when we got back we drove to Florence and stopped off at the Florence Elks Lodge. We got there about 5:30pm and started setting up, Dave found out dinner stopped at 6:30pm so we then rushed to dinner. When we got back I had mentioned to Dave that I was hearing some different noises in the coach, he thought it was the hot water heater because it had started dripping water, something about a valve or something. Anyway, he goes into the bathroom and the next thing I see is him running out of the coach, what the hell is going on now? When he got back, of course I asked him, he had said when we first pulled in he always runs the water hookup thru the black tank 1st, just in case there is dirt in the line we hook up to, anyway , he had done that BUT had never switched it back to the coach line, so needless to say our black tank was full. Thank goodness we got back in time and it didn't over flow into the coach again, but now our black tank was full and the Elks, or at least this Elks didn't have a dump. Luckily when it says it is full it really isn't, so we didn't have to do anything last night.
This morning Dave drove out to the Elks RV Park and they had no openings so we decided to go ahead and drive up to Elkton and visit with Marty sooner then we had planned. So a long story short that's why we are here in Elkton now, plus by the time we got here and we were hungry so we went and had a free lunch on Marty's :) The RV Park here in Elkton is pretty full and walking around this afternoon I found out why, the Roseburg Elks are here, the only reason I knew was because it was before 4pm and I saw them all drinking, that's the Elks for you.
P.S. we did get to dump our black tank when we got to the Elkton RV Park, yea we can shit again.
oops sorry Danny, we can go poopies again.

Brookings and Miss Madison 2 months old now

We made it here to Brookings Oregon yesterday early afternoon, no problems with the drive. When we got here it was sunny but soon the fog rolled in, we are just right down the street from the ocean. The Elks Lodge here has the Brookings Police dept. on one side and the Mormon Church on the other side. Elks Lodge right next to a Police dept. is scary enough with the way they drink.
Will head out tomorrow for Florence Oregon, but might stop on the way and do some white water rafting, will let you know tomorrow night.
Happy 2nd month to you Miss Madison.

Heading out to Brookings Oregon tomorrow

Yesterday we went to Old Town Eureka to see the car show, which was put on for The Make a Wish Foundation. They had so many cars there that they went every which way, we walked around and checked them all out. After that we came back to the coach to relax a little before the car races that night. The car racing was on a 3/8's of a mile track, black asphalt, they had modified stocks, street stocks, mini stocks and roadsters. It was a nice night, but it seems it doesn't matter where we go and see car racing the people in the stands are more interesting to watch. Some are real trailer trash and some inbreds, maybe that's why we like going to the races. :)
Today, after breakfast at the Elks, we drove to Ladybird Johnson Grove which is in the Redwoods. We took the mile loop and walked among the towering old redwoods, goose pens, nurse logs and fern-covered glades. Beautiful walking trail and perfect weather.
We got back in the afternoon and starting getting ready to head out tomorrow for Brookings Oregon at another Elks Lodge.

Eureka - We have arrived

We have arrived in Eureka, Calif. in another Elks parking lot, at least this one has full hook-up for the rigs which is really nice. The ride over here was beautiful but very winding roads plus road construction, Dave was tired from driving because you can never relax on roads like that. Valley couldn't even fall asleep but that was probably because I never relaxed. Forgot to mention yesterday before our trip with Bob and Jackie, Dave and I had gone to Costco and got another GPS for the car and we tried it out on our drive today. It didn't agree with the computer one that Dave managed to get working again. These damn computers, where would we be without them?:)

Long Walk for Valley / Site Seeing Day

Today Valley and I left at 6:30am and started on the walking trail that is right here where we are staying. Jackie had told me that on some of the trails they have water fountains for people and dogs, but it was my luck this trail didn't have one and I hadn't brought water. Needless to say Valley and I ended up walking almost 5 miles without water and boy she wasn't a happy camper. There was finally a water stop about 1 1/2 miles before we got back to the Elks Lodge and I didn't think Valley would ever stop drinking. Dave had met us 1/2 way thru the walk so it was one hell of a walk for him too with that bad knee.
Then this afternoon, with Jackie and Bob, we drove to McArthur-Burney Falls Memorial State Park, about 50 miles away, and there we walked to the bottom and top of the Falls, which were beautiful, but it was another 2 miles of walking. Good thing we get back on the road again tomorrow because Dave probably won't be able to walk at all, but he can drive.
Bob and Jackie tonight had come over and we had dinner at the Elks Lodge then hit the road to their local Indian Casino. I lost $13, Dave lost $32, Bob lost $8 and Jackie lost $50, can't say we really lost it because we know exactly where it went to. Contributions to the Indians, they need it.(ha ha)
That's it for now, back on the road in the morning and will stop at Eureka, another Elks Lodge tomorrow.

CORRECTION ON MISS MADISON

OK I had a blond moment, actually I have a lot of those or it's just I'm a moron.
Miss Madison was 8 weeks old yesterday which does not make it 2 months, I was going by weeks but as Dave said that doesn't work out right, if so we would only have 48 weeks in a year and we have 52. OK so I'm a moron, which I'm sure everyone agrees, Miss Madison will be 2 months old next Tuesday, Sept. 9th.

Miss Madison

Today Miss Madison is 2 months old, Happy 2 month old b/day today. Tell mom and dad it's time to post pictures of you on your dog today.
Love you and miss you

Redding Calif. visiting friends

We landed yesterday in Redding Calif. staying at the Elks Lodge parking lot, they have electric and water, we will have to use the dump station they have here when we leave. When we left Susanville yesterday all 3 of our GPS's decided to take a dump on us, the 2 on Dave's computer wouldn't work and the one from my car wouldn't work either. The computer ones kept saying they couldn't find a satellite, so Dave figures the blue tooth thing must be bad, then the one from the car kept saying the battery was low, even though we had it plugged in, but if you held the cord just right it would work. That darn thing worked the whole way until we got to Redding and it said battery low and went out, great just when we needed it. I got it working again and held the cord in place until we got to the Elk's Lodge.
Anyway, after we got set-up we went over to Bob and Jackie's house, with Valley, and sat in their backyard and visited. Bob BBQ'd steaks for dinner then about 8:30 we took off for Turtle Bay to walk on the Sundial Bridge. Pretty neat bridge, goes right over the Sacramento River, even Valley liked it.
Today we are all going to Lassen Volcanic National Park to check it out, it's after the Holiday so hopefully there should be much traffic.

Susanville

After breakfast at Caryn's yesterday we got back on the road around 11:30am. Had planned on stopping in Tahoe but when we came to our turn off we hadn't seen a gas station, we could fit into, so we kept going. Finally found one and then saw a sign that said Reno 48 miles so we decide to stay at the casino we stayed at last time. Going thru Reno we couldn't remember where the casino was so we decided to go ahead and drive to Susanville, where we also stayed at before with Lee and Vicki, friends of ours. In Susanville we knew where that RV Park was, we arrived around 5pm and relaxed the rest of the night. Had to put the heater on because it was pretty cool here and this morning, when I was taking Valley out it was 40 degrees. Man, that cool weather felt good but I know it won't last, we head out this morning for Redding and it's suppose to be 91 there.

demolition derby / back on the road

Yesterday we went to Caryn and Joe's shop around noon and they worked on the website. Everyone, but me, is working hard on getting it up and running, I just stand around because there is nothing I can do. Next time I'll just stay at the coach and keep the dog company maybe that way she won't have accidents when we are gone so long. Yep, you heard me right, accidents. Before we left Bakersfield she was put back on prednisone and with that drug she drinks a lot and pees a lot. Needless to say, which I forgot to mention the other day, when we left her on Friday night for the truck pull she had an accident, I had forgotten to put her diaper on when we left. Well, last night we left at 5pm and didn't get home until 1am which was way too long for her even with a diaper on. It wasn't as bad as Friday, because of the diaper, but the diaper can only hold so much. Luckily she drinks so much water that her pee doesn't have the strong smell, but when we get to a place where we will be staying at again for a few days we will be cleaning the carpet. The towel and her bed cover are in the wash right now getting cleaned up, if she should keep this up her days are numbered though. She is off the prednisone now so hopefully things will get better, but we do have to remember she is going to be 12 yrs old soon, that's pretty old for a big dog.
The demolition derby was a lot of fun, did a lot of yelling and cheering. The ugly truck competition was fun, they ended up have 8 entries and Joe and Caryn came in second, Caryn rode on top of the truck which was pretty funny to see.
This morning Caryn is fixing breakfast for us around 10am then we will get back on the road again for Tahoe. Tomorrow we will be headed for Redding, following the hot heat, Bishop has been really hot but watching the weather Redding is even hotter, I think we are doing something wrong here.

Kim and Danny love the new pictures you posted on your website. Miss Madison is growing so fast. Mike or Spanky please show them to Trini. Mike, haven't heard back from Shawn yet but since they are on vacation probably won't hear from him until they get back.
Love you all

Touring Mammoth Lakes - Black Bear Spotted

Yesterday late morning we got on the road with Caryn and Joe and took off for Mammoth Lakes. What a beautiful drive, we made a stop on the way to see Convict Lake, there is a fishing tournament going on around this area so many fishermen and women around. Mammoth Lakes was really packed with fishing people and bike riders. The ski slopes turn into bike trails in the summer months, the ski lifts even were taking the bike riders to the top so they could ride down. We drove around to more lakes and I believe it was Lake Mamie were we saw the Black Bear. We were walking around taking pictures when you saw some fishermen leave their poles and climb up the hill, then we looked and saw why. The bears, Caryn said, always come out to steal the fisherman's catch, and that is exactly what that bear was doing. He walked up and down the fishing poles and if the fish were there he stole them. After he walked away the fishermen climbed back down to their sites, pretty neat to see, hopefully Dave's pictures will come out. (he needs a zoom lens though, so don't know how well they will come out)
One funny thing that happened, don't ask me why but Dave was doing the driving, he got a little too much on the wrong side of the road and a car was coming at us, Caryn was sitting behind Dave and she said "boy, that was a Butt Pucker" I started laughing, I had never heard that saying before. Dave said sorry and stayed on his side of the road after that.
After a long day of touring around we went to Caryn and Joe's for dinner, I had been teasing her about knowing how to cook, since we always go out or Dave cooks, so she had to prove to me she did know how to cook.
Tomorrow is the demolition Derby, at night, and Joe is entering one of his trucks into the ugly truck contest at the fair, at night. During the day might help Joe decorate his truck and do some more touring around Bishop, plus, Dave is trying to finish up their website before we go.

Website work for Dave / Tri County Fair

Yesterday when Joe and Caryn closed up the shop and picked up Carlee they came by the coach. We sat and talked awhile but it was so darn hot we decided to go back to Caryn and Joe's house, much cooler in the air conditioning, plus Carlee had on her Volley Ball outfit and hadn't had a chance to go home and change.
We sat and visited more, after a couple hours Dave and I came back home. This morning Dave got hot and heavy on the website for Joe and Caryn's business, did updates and some changes that they wanted done. They keep telling everyone to watch for the website so they really want to get it done, plus, the new phone book comes out in November and they put in there that they have a website. We got together with them in the late morning and looked over the changes Dave had done, then went to lunch. They said that Uncle Mike had said he was going to come out and check out the shop and work being done, but he hasn't showed up yet, hint hint Mike. They do one hell of a business here, they even just hired an office girl to help Caryn out with the phones, filing ect.
After lunch back to the coach then went back to Caryn's at 5pm. We left for the County Fair and the Tracker Pulls which start at 7:30pm. We got there a little early and did some walking around the fair, don't get to walk much because Caryn and Joe, but mainly Caryn, knows everyone in town and she stops to talk to all of them. I would love to live in a community like that, where you know almost everyone, to me it just seems safer. Anyway, the tractor pulls were really neat to see and we got back to the coach at 10pm and boy was Valley glad to see us.

Kim and Danny texted me a picture of Kim and Miss Madison sitting at a Mexican Restaurant while they were all having dinner. (well not Miss Madison, just Mommy and Daddy) I was hoping they were missing us but it seems like they have moved on. :(

Back on the road again arrived in Bishop, Calif.

We left Kim's at 8am this morning and arrived in Bishop, Calif. with no problems happening on our drive. We got to the RV Park and set-up then went to Caryn and Joe's shop to meet them for lunch. We walked to a little Mexican Restaurant 3 doors down from them, nice lunch. It's 101 degrees here, even hotter then Bakersfield but this Sunday a cold front is suppose to hit here. It's a Holiday Weekend so Bishop has the County Fair going on so will have to check that out. We will stay here until Monday then make a stop in Tahoe for the night, we plan on taking our time going to Redding which is the next stop for visiting friends.

Before we left we took the Motor home in on Wednesday morning to have the tires rotated and balanced. Then we went and picked up the truck and took my car into have the new tow bar installed. Dave's chair, in the motor home, that he sits in had kind of given way and the stuffing was flat so he had taken that in to have it repaired. Needless to say Wednesday was a very expensive day but hopefully everything is fixed now. We spent the night at Kim and Danny's Wednesday night before getting on the road this morning.

Miss Madison was in bed by 12:30am and was still sleeping at 6:30am, boy her mom and dad are sure lucky, will see how long this will last.

Back in Bakersfield Again

We left the Elks around 9:30am and headed back to Bakersfield, Dave in the motor home and Valley and I in the Envoy. When we stopped at the Flying J outside of Bakersfield so Dave could fill up I went on ahead to Kim's to say "Hi" see Miss Madison and drop Valley off. When Dave got close to Kim's I jumped in the car and met him at the RV Park so we could get all hooked up. Dave flushed out the tank and had to go get another water filter because ours was full of mud. Yea, good water again, well as good as we could get it anyway in Bakersfield.
Went back over to Kim's at 3 and she and Miss Madison were home but Danny was out car shopping, or actually just looking and talking to the BMW Dealer. Miss Madison was awake for awhile and played with Grandpa, then it was my turn. We played for a little bit then I did my walking around the house with her explaining what each room is and as usual she fell asleep, I must be that boring or it's the hot flashes that just instantly put her to sleep. Kim cooked dinner,(thank you because we were tired) which was really good but by 5:30 Dave and I were really hungry, hadn't eaten lunch today, so we started without Danny. Danny then comes home around 6, I'm folding my laundry in the garage and I hear Miss Madison. I walk back in the house and Kim had taken her into the room to breast feed, she and Danny had just started to eat dinner, figures, Dave had said to her she should have eaten with us. We talked to Danny for a little while then hit the road for home, we were tired after this little camping trip.
You know in Edna Calif. we had our heater on at one point and I even had a sweat shirt on, but back in Bakersfield and it's 105 again.

GOOD THING FOR THIS MINI CAMPING TRIP/Happy B/Day Marisa

We got on the road about 12:30 Thursday afternoon. Right before starting out the computer GPS quit working so we got the one out of the car to use. The one from the car has never even heard of Edna Calif. so we put in Pismo Beach. Once on the road the GPS would say turn and Dave wouldn't, because he didn't believe it. Honestly I don't know why we even plugged it in, anyway within an hour we got lost, kind of. We were suppose to stay on 58 but somehow it turned into 33, there was a little road that turned off and we noticed after we went by it. We were on a 2 lane road and could not turn around, after 2 miles we finally came into a wide spot in the road and pulled into it. We got the map out then backed tracked for 2 miles and got back on 58. After the turn we noticed a sign that said "Semis from Kingpin to rear axle over 30 feet not recommended on this road.(we are 60 ft long) Dave said we aren't a Semi so we should be OK, well let me tell you what this road was like, winding and very turny and I mean sharp turns. Luckily no one was coming the opposite way, now we know why, because we needed both lanes to make these turns, it was a long drop off if you missed one, not fun at all. We were driving 5 to 15 mph on this road, it was a long 3 hour drive, not all was curvy so that was good, still a long drive. We got to Edna about 4pm, and then when Dave unhooked the car he noticed the pins the car hooks into were leaning down towards the ground, he said "that don't look right to me" so he looked up under the car and noticed a bolt loose on the Base Plate. He did some more looking and noticed the whole plate was leaning downward and was breaking the grill on the front of our car. Too late to do anything about it now would have to start making calls in the morning so we joined the Elks for Happy Hour. Now before we left the coach I was giving Valley food and water but I noticed the water was yellow, so I said I wasn't going to give Valley that shit so I gave her Dave's bottled water. Later on when Dave saw the water he went "oh shit". Before we had left to go on this trip the RV Park we are staying at had broken a water line and had shut down the water. Well, when it was fixed Dave hurried and filled up the 100 gallon tank for this dry camping trip. We should have let the water in the park run for awhile to get all the dirt out of the lines but we didn't so now we have 100 gallons of muddy water that is unusable. The guy here in charge said we could go ahead and dump our tank and refill with the water here at the place we are camping at, thank goodness because we were going to have to drive to the Elks Lodge in Pismo to get fresh water if not.
Friday morning after refilling the water tank we drove into Pismo to have my car looked at. It ends up we need a new Base Plate, we thought we broke it driving the 58 but it ends up this plate has slowly been working its way off for awhile. Dave is thinking it was probably from the Mexico trip because of those roads. Anyway, one place wouldn't have time to fix it on Monday so he sent us to another place that could fix it on Monday if he could find one. Ends up he didn't find one in time so Dave called Rosedale RV in Bakersfield and they are having one shipped out and will receive it on Wednesday and will fix the car then. We were suppose to leave on Wednesday but now won't leave until Thursday or Friday, will see when the car is done. So thank goodness we found this problem now or else we could have been driving down the road and watched the Envoy pass us up one of these days. When we leave here tomorrow I will follow Dave in the car because, although he thinks we would be OK to tow it, I said NO WAY!
We are having fun here with the Elks, Dave is with his people, it's funny watching Dave walk with a cane and him and the others discussing hip and knee replacement. I would say 75% of the campers here are in their 70's some in there 80's but a lot of fun. There is one guy here that looks just like Harold, if you remember Ruthie (the stutterer) and Harold File, Mom and Pop's best friends and his name is Harold too!
Today Dave and I went driving around Pismo Beach, got out and walked the pier, there was a surfing contest going on. Then we drove to Avila Beach and stopped and had lunch at "Fat Cats", the restaurant that Mom and Pop use to take people too, they loved that place. We also drove by McKlintock's another favorite place of Mom and Pop's.

Talked to Uncle Bob today and he sounded good and says he is doing good.

Happy 35th Birthday to you, Marisa, hope you have a great day and the back is better.

Toss up - Miss Madison or Dave

Yesterday was a toss up for me. Kim was having her hair cut at 3pm and had asked me the other day to watch Miss Madison, then there was Dave's doctor appointment at 3:30pm for his knee. What to do, what to do, Dave dropped me off at the hair place, where we met Kim and Miss Madison and Dave drove himself to the doctors. Miss Madison won, at least this time she did.:)
Kim had said Miss Madison had screamed the whole time while driving to the hair place, but when we got there she was sitting quietly in her car seat and she was sleeping after a while being in my arms. I know I'm pushing my luck because one of these days I will get to hear her screaming but not in the next couple days anyway.
Dave's knee is arthritis and the only thing to fix it is knee replacement. They gave him a shot in the knee and gave him anti-inflammatory medicine for now and said stay off of it for the next couple days. By October if he still has pain they can start with shots of lubricant in the knee and try that out, if that doesn't work, then knee replacement. He suggested he walk with a cane instead of the crutches so we went and got him a cane, I'm telling you the walker is next, I wonder if Uncle Bob has any xtras? :0)
Today we are headed out for a mini camping trip to Edna Calif with the Elks Lodge and will be back on Sunday. Should be fun the Elks group seem to be pretty nice, plus, we have been sitting so long now we need a mini trip to make sure we remember how to hook up and drive this beast.
Hopefully we won't have any mishaps, but if we do you know I'll write about them.

Happy 1st Anniversary Kim and Danny / Wicked

Today is Kim and Danny's 1 year anniversary, Congratulations, you two, you have had one great year and there will many more to come.
Our present to you is babysitting tonight so you can have a nice dinner at a real restaurant, you haven't been able to do that since Miss Madison arrived. (which is going to be 6 weeks this Wed.)

Yesterday we went and saw "Wicked" with David and Jodi and it was great great great!!! David got tickets that were the best, we were 5 rows back from the orchestra and you could see everything. It is going to be real handy with David working for the Music Center for scoring tickets, I just wish we were going to be here for "9 to 5" opening Sept. 3rd, I believe he will be meeting Dolly Parton within the next few weeks. Anyway, Wicked was the best, like Marisa said you have a whole understanding of the Wizard of Oz now plus now I can see why Spanky has gone to see the play a couple of times, it really is great.

Dave's knee went out again this time he is walking with a crutch. He has a doctor appointment on Wednesday afternoon will see what they have to say. We were suppose to leave this Thursday for Edna, Calif for a mini camping trip with the Elk's but it depends on what the doctor says now. He has to get better because in September we have a "Welcome Home" rally in Salem Oregon then New Mexico for the balloon fest. If he needs surgery, which he will, he will have to wait until we get back in October, hopefully he can hold out until then, I guess it's wheel chair time for him.

Danny's parents and brother came to the house on Saturday and spent the night, we went over to the house for dinner then had to leave so Dave could ice his knee, plus, we wanted them to have time to visit since we see Kim and Miss Madison everyday. (we don't see Danny everyday) That's the news from Bakersfield, signing out.

Happy Birthday to my Uncle Renzo too.

Tinted Windows just in time

Let me start off with YEA MISS MADISON gaining so much weight, as Kim said in her blog she is over 8 lbs now.

The new tinted windows are great, and got done just in time. Yesterday it was 102, today is suppose to be 103 and 104 on Friday. We can now keep our window covers open and now I can really spy on the park, and they can't see in the windows so they don't know that I'm spying on them, ha ha. I just have to remember that if a light is on in the coach they can see in that window where the light is. It really keeps the coach a lot cooler and when you put your hands near the windows you don't feel any heat. Going to be loving life now, just wish we would have done it in June and not wait until we are about to leave Bakersfield. Oh well.
I did find 2 other stores besides Wal-Mart, it was Kohl's and Avenue it was so much fun. :)
Wal-Mart is my favorite, and really the Super Wal-Marts are the best, hopefully by next year the Super Wal-Mart will be done here in Bakersfield.

Quick Update

Yesterday was the 1st day since Miss Madison has come into this world that I did not see her. Boy, when Dave and I had gotten there this afternoon she had grown soooo much!!! :)
Since we see her everyday we don't noticed how much she is growing, but this last week you can really see the difference. She stays awake alot longer and just looks around more and more. Her favorite thing is still the fan, round and round it goes. I'm so excited for tomorrow because it is 1st shots day (that's not exciting) but it is weigh in time, can't wait to see how much she has gained.
The reason we didn't go over yesterday is we had a company come out and give us an estimate for tinting our windows. The big slide out windows just kill us in this heat, I know, good timing on our part now that we will be leaving Bakersfield we should have done it when we 1st got here. Anyway, the guy came out and said what it would cost and would go back to the office and see when they could do it if we decided to do it. We decided to do it, we wanted to spend what is left of our money before the stock market took it all. Well, they then needed to come back out and have the person installing the tinting look around and see what we needed to do, before installing. (like moving the desk or dining table)
They are covering the windows tomorrow,Wednesday, which is gardener day at the RV Park, plus the installing will take like 5 hours, so Dave is staying at the motor home and Valley and I are going over to see Kim, Danny, Miss Madison and Toby. Since it is Miss Madison's doctor appointment and Danny is going with Kim I think I will take off and do some shopping at Walmart, big day for me, I don't get many by myself anymore, hope I can handle it.
Does anyone know if there are any other stores besides "WALMART"? :)

Video of Mady

This is my first attempt to put a video into the blog, of course it is of Mady. Just wish I could get rid of the audio so Jeri and I don't sound so stupid. Guess that's what a new grandchild will do to you. Enjoy.

Now we just need to train Danny and Kim to do this so we can keep up with Mady while we are on the road. Boy it is a lot of work getting ready to leave Bakersfield.

Catch up time / Dave's injured again

Last Saturday Linda and Larry came into town, this is a couple we met on the Mexico Caravan, and boy did we have a fun 2 days. We took them over on Sunday to Kim and Danny's to meet them and so they could see Miss Madison. While they were here we talked a lot, shopped a lot and played cards, we really hated to see them leave on Monday, but hopefully we will see them again in Oregon when we are there.
After they left we got back to work on the front yard of the Bakersfield house. We added sprinklers and capped off other sprinklers which included a lot of digging in the yard. We would work for a few hours, before it got too hot, then spend time with Kim and Miss Madison. Thursday we went and got a couple trees, plants, soil and a heck of a lot of rocks, we dumped everything off at the house and since it was already hot we decided to start work early Friday morning. Thursday night Dave went and filled the back of the truck with bark for the front of the house too.
Friday, in the flower beds we kept having problems with the old sprinklers, and because Dave had been kneeling all week his right knee gave out. So who's left to do the work, ME. Dave helped as much as he could, he was in a lot of pain, so while I worked he sat and gave me the instructions I needed to get the work done. I planted the plants, we had planted the trees together on Thursday, thank goodness, then it was time to start moving all those rocks we purchased for the grown cover. Boy was that a lot of work, getting it out of the driveway into the wheel barrel then onto the plant area, thank goodness by 12:30 I got to stop because I was going to watch Miss Madison because Kim had a funeral to go to. By 5pm I was back out trying to finish up with the rocks, Dave was out too, hobbling around trying to work. I finally sent him back in the house while I did clean up so he could fix dinner for all of us.
Saturday, we went over early again and we started with the bark ground cover. I filled the wheel barrel and dumped it and Dave was able to spread it around, as long as he didn't need to bend his knee. We got everything done pretty early and the rest of the day was just hanging around the house. Kim and Danny got to do some running around while we watched Miss Madison, then later Danny and Dave went to an electronic show at the fair grounds here, which was a rip off, oh well.
We had managed most mornings to play pickle ball but now with Dave's knee hurt we will have to take a break from it again till he feels better.

Miss Madison is getting bigger and stronger everyday, the other day while I was giving her a bottle she managed to hold the bottle. Kim was in the room working out and I took Miss Madison in there to show her, it was pretty cute but it didn't last to long, she wanted grandma to hold the bottle. She is staying awake a lot longer so you can play with her, her favor thing is the fan in the living room, she loves watching it go around and around. She goes for her 1st shots on the 13th so can't wait to see how much she has gained.

Jeri has a growth on her Arm

This is now a normal view of Jeri. If we are at Kim and Danny's you will find Miss Madison enjoying the comfort of her Grandma's left arm. I am not sure if we can get it removed in time for our planned travels that start at the end of the month. My main objection to this attachment is that I have to schedule time to hold Miss Madison.

MISS MADISON'S NEW PICTURE POSTINGS

Miss Madison will be 1 month old tomorrow and I just posted 5 new pictures of her with some friends of ours that just stopped by for a visit for a couple days and will write more about it real soon.

Back to Work / Mama Mia

Yesterday morning instead of playing pickle ball we went to the house and worked on more of the sprinklers in the front yard. We stopped around 11:30am, asked Kim if she would babysit Valley so we could go home take a shower, have lunch and then go to the movies. (so much for helping her with Miss Madison) Mama Mia was great, the theater was pretty full with old retired folks like us, I was just hoping the movie would be good or else the whole group of us would be snoozing, after all it was nap time. But like I said the movie was really good, just like Spanky said, there was laughing and some crying parts, I think when it comes out on DVD I will be purchasing this one to add to my collection of musicals.

We went over to Kim's around 2:30 and she had been having a tough day. She said Miss Madison had been fussy all day with gas, and had just fallen asleep right before we got there. Miss Madison had lots of gas bubbles, was upset and crying, then after a long while Kim would cry because she wanted nothing else but to make her daughter feel better, I told her that's when she should call me, even if it's just for moral support. We leave here in 26 days so she better use us and abuse us while she can.
We had dinner together, when Danny got home, then Dave and Danny worked on the computer for a little bit then went on the Wii to play golf. Kim was pumping and Miss Madison was sound asleep in my arms, so the guys had some free play time. At 8pm Dave and I left and Danny was going to the gym, he hadn't left by the time we left so don't know for sure if he made it there. Will find out tomorrow when Kim and I go for our pedicures, mommy daughter day, Miss Madison will join us when she gets a little older.

Dave and Danny are working on setting up a site for them to be able to post pictures of them and Miss Madison for all to see. This is a must, since we will be leaving for about 6 weeks, and you know how much a baby can change in that time period. I think Miss Madison keeps them both pretty busy, right now, so don't know how much picture taking they will take. It will be a lot easier to take pics when Miss Madison gets a little older, like maybe 3 months old. The main thing is getting Kim and Danny putting pictures on the computer instead of getting all the printouts at Costco. Printouts are old school.

NEW PICTURES POSTED

Go to our picture album and I just posted new pictures.

MISS MADISON/DADDY DANNY ARE BOTH "OK"

Miss Madison's test results came back on Monday and she doesn't have either one of the genetic disorders they thought she might have, which is great news no more medication.
Danny went and saw his doctor this morning for his test results, and he just has a fatty liver. The doctor said to exercise, watch what you eat, and watch the drinking. The 1st 2 will be no problem for him, I'm just not to sure of the drinking one though, he loves his sodas, milk and OJ. Maybe if he did drink alcohol, which he very seldom does, a beer once in a great while, it would knock that fatty tissue out, just kidding. Kim, I believe, will really be watching what he eats, but as far as I know he doesn't eat unhealthy, he eats what Kim fixes him. I guess she will have to watch what she fixes now, last night when he got off work he went to the gym and played basketball which is a great workout. Needless to say thank goodness Miss Madison and Danny are fine. Kim is doing a great job at being a new mom, she manages to do it all and get naps in too. She made a fabulous dinner last night for all of us, shredded beef enchiladas, refried beans, grilled onions and peppers and even made up her own Mexican rice. Dave and I were over in the afternoon but we mainly worked in the front yard so Kim did it all by herself and was in good spirits too, I think by nighttime she would be exhausted but not her, amazing.

Last Saturday we drove to Simi and carpooled with David, Jodi and Riley to Bryauna's dance recital. It started at 4pm and wasn't over until 7pm boy was that long. The beginning of the recital was just shocking, the girls had hardly any clothes on and the dance moves I don't think were right for little girls. I thought, boy am I getting old or what, but David and Jodi agreed with me, they were shocked too. After the 1st 2 songs then it looked like a dance recital, most of the time until the high school girls and boys were dancing, they did street dancing. Anyway, Bryauna was in 2 dances and she was fully clothed and did very well. I think from now on any of the grand kids have any preforming things to do, we will be out of town. Just kidding :)
Sunday, Danny's parents came up and had dinner with Kim and Danny, we already had plans so it gave the other set of grandparents time with Miss Madison. They might come again next Saturday and spend the night, that will be a lot easier for them, that way they don't have to make that long drive all in 1 day. Dave wants to make a lasagna dinner if they do come up, one he wants to try from the food channel network.
That's about it for now, every morning we go and play pickle ball, come home have breakfast then sometimes put the swim suits on and go for a swim lay out and read books. Then we go over and visit with Kim and Miss Madison, now slowly working on the front yard again. This darn stock market is sucking up all of our money so all we can do is lay around and not spend any.

JULY 30TH......HAPPY 4TH ANNIVERSARY MARISA AND SHAWN!!!!!!!

Bob Udate/Madison/Marisa/Bloger Misc. Update

Update on Uncle Bob, he is at a facility in Oakland right now, and when a bed becomes available in Alameda he will be moving there. Per Jim and Uncle Bob, he will not be coming home again. He can’t walk the stairs at all and really needs constant care, or at least, care real close by him 24/7 and there is no way Jim can do this by himself. I talked to Uncle Bob this morning he was in good spirits and sounded good and really likes the place he is at in Oakland. Jim wants him to move to Alameda because it is right on the beach and a really nice place. He said this way he could bring the dog when he visits Bob and take them both out on the beach. Jim has always liked the beach, I even said to him Bob is lucky to have him because I don’t think anyone in the family would have taken that much shit plus the work to care for Bob. Come to think of it, maybe Jim is tired of it too and that’s why he wants to get near the ocean, easy place to dump Bob into. :) Just kidding, I think the oxygen tank might float anyway.
Bob’s phone number is 510-834-8199 I wonder if Bob’s daughter, Kathy has been out to see him??? Sorry that was mean of me.

Miss Madison, I have heard the stories about you going potty and poop-poop on your Grandma Gonzalez, your mom and dad. Thank goodness I haven’t got nailed yet, but I know my time will come. Your mama you nailed yesterday peed on her while she was changing you then when she tried to block the shooting spray, you pushed from the back end and nailed her, you got your clothes, blanket, and changing table. Then I heard you broke your daddy in last week, while he was holding you in his arms giving you a bath, you not only peed on his arm you went as far as down his leg. Then last week too, your Grandma Gonzalez was changing you and you peed on her, we are so glad to see that you are a sharing little girl. Just remember you don’t need to share that much with Grandma and Grandpa Alton.
I must say you are a very good girl, most of the time you sleep when you should, and when it is time for feeding, every 2 hours, you do wake up and drink down what is given you. Lately, which is great, is the amount of milk you are taking in is getting to be more and more. You make the most precious faces when sleeping and even more when it is getting close to you waking up, you smile so much, it might just be gas, but at least it's happy gas.

I must say thank goodness for blogs because the last 2 days I have been going thru Marisa’s since Inara was born and believe me Kim and Danny are very lucky compared to what Shawn and Marisa went thru. I have gone thru many of my old blogs for dates of the places we have been or just questions we have had on our travels. They really do come in handy so glad these things were invented. Anyone with a new baby or new anything else should just use the blogs just to jot down things because you sure don’t remember what happened a month ago to mark it in your baby book, repair book or just anything you may need to know in the future. Kim and Danny, hint hint, just make a quick note of any changes you notice even if it seems so minor, I sure wish I would have had one when Kim was born. Not only just about the baby, make notes of things that interest you and about family things. Could you just imagine if we were keeping a blog when Nana and Paka were still alive, we laugh now but we probable would be laughing harder because you just can’t remember everything. Just remember, everyone, your parents and friends won’t be here forever, so make notes of the stories while you can.
OK enough of the deep feeling stuff.
Tomorrow Dave and I go to Bryauna’s dance recital in Oxnard, should be fun, at least we get out of the heat of Bakersfield, just kidding but it is a 10 year old's dance recital, how exciting can that be?? Will let you all know when we get back.

KIM DROVE..BAD BAD / DANNY'S BACK AT WORK

Today was Danny's 1st day to go back to work since Miss Madison was born. I haven't talked to him but Kim said that her and Miss Madison walked him out to the car and waved bye to him. He called in the afternoon right after I got there to check on Mom and Baby, he had Kim put the phone on speaker so he could talk to Miss Madison, very cute. Kim did say she was going to give Miss Madison a bath this morning but Danny wanted her to wait until he got home, and Kim said "No Problem". She said when Danny gets home from work, he gets Little Missy Girl and she(Kim) is going to take a nap, will find out tomorrow if that played out.

Yesterday, Sunday, Dave and I went over in the afternoon and were staying for Danny's Lasagna Dinner, Dave was fixing Garlic Bread and I was doing the asparagus. Anyway, when we got there Danny had gotten home from Target and I looked at Kim and said "you must be going stir crazy not being able to just take off in the car and go shopping". She looks and me and tells me she left this morning, by herself, and went grocery shopping while Danny watched the baby.
I told her she was crazy, she isn't suppose to drive for 3 weeks, or until the doctor releases her, then I went after Danny, as he says I was yelling at him. He is saying to me "Why are you yelling at me" and I said what were you thinking letting Kim drive? Then he remembers that Kim wasn't suppose to drive, so then he went after Kim. Kim, being the shit she is, just smiles and says, well (Danny) you didn't stop me so I just drove slow and went shopping. Danny said he was changing the baby and feeding her and had forgotten all about it. I had said to everyone last week that we needed to take her car keys away from her because I know her, I would have done the same thing so I knew she would. With Danny back at work now, I don't believe she will try driving again, Miss Madison is just too new to be putting in and out of the car seat.

That's it for now, I could go on forever about Miss Madison, but I'll probably lose all my readerships if I did.

HAPPY SURPRISE B/DAY MIKE/MISS MADISON'S 1ST REAL OUTING

Hope you were surprised Mike with the party, Marisa, Spanky, and Trini worked real hard on it, so you would be surprised, they even put the party off until Miss Madison was born so that we, meaning the Alton's and Gonzalez's could make it. If she would had planned on having it the weekend of your birthday, I don't believe we would have made it. The 1st few days Kim, Danny and Miss Madison really needed our help but now after 10 days they are doing great on their own, or at least Kim and Danny are, Miss Madison still wants Grandma and Grandpa Alton to hold her while she sleeps.

Thank you for having the party, the food was great, the people were fun, and it was nice to see Mike still able to walk around on his own, I mean 60 years old, boy is he getting up there. I remember when we were younger and seeing Mom and Pop, Nana and Paka to the grandkids, that was so old 60, but now that we are all getting there....I still have 10 yrs to go.... it really isn't that old. It's all in your mind and I know our minds are still young. Just look at Bob Miller, you can tell he is still young, because he has a long ponytail on that head of his.

Anyway, this was Miss Madison's 1st real outing from Bakersfield Kim and Danny got to show this new little, and I mean little, beauty off to the family.(You have to agree she is a little beauty). Baby Girl, Inara, that little cutey with the chubby checks, looked hugh, compared to Miss Madison, Marisa and Shawn couldn't even remember Inara being that small. Mike and Trini had a house full of beautiful little girls, I think it's about time, for the child bearing ones, to start producing boys, Kim you have to wait awhile.

It's was great seeing everyone and seeing all the kids around, sure brings back the memories of 42 years ago, when Caryn Lee was 1st born and little kids starting showing up, too bad Marty wasn't there, and Vance too.

Mike we all can't wait for you to spend time with Miss Madison and give her the Uncle Mike Tomaselli name, sorry we didn't have enough time on your surprise birthday.

MISS MADISON HAS GAINED WEIGHT/DANNY IS OK

Dave took Danny at 6:15am to have a Liver biopsy, his count has come out a little high and Nurse Kim wanted it checked out. Dave had him back home by 8:30 and he was very sleepy and very sore, the doctor had told him his chest would feel like he had been kicked by a horse, and it did.
Dave then drove Kim and Miss Madison to the doctors to get weighted again and she had gained 2 1/2 oz., which is great. The doctor said she should be gaining 1/2 to 1 oz a day which she has done since Monday, good job Miss Madison.:)
Dave ended up driving Kim because Danny was still kind of out of it and he said I would wait on Danny a lot more then he would.
Danny's results should be back in about a week at the most so will let everyone know what they find out.
Danny's Mom, Kathy, and older brother, Alex, came late this afternoon to see the baby and visit for a while. At 5pm I went and picked Kim up so she could have a hair cut while Danny, Miss Madison, Grandma Gonzalez and Uncle Alex could sit and visit. Kim isn't allowed to drive for 3 weeks, doctor's orders, so if she wants to go somewhere she has to ask someone to take her, and I know she hates that. She hates it so much that when Danny goes back to work next week I think we should take her car keys away from her, believe me I know that girl.
That's about it for now, that was the news I was talking about in the last blog.

1st REAL BABYSITTING JOB / PICKLE BALL

Dave and I did our real 1st babysitting job to Miss Madison. Kim and Danny went to the OB Doc so Kim could have her staples taken out, so Dave and I had Miss Madison all to ourselves to babysit and feed. Kim called me and said they were just leaving the doctors and there was no pain with the staples coming out then she went on to say that they talked about birth control methods that she could use in 5 weeks, I was thinking...Keep your knees together... but she said they talked about some other method because of the breast feeding. Sorry Danny you just have to wait a while.:)
Kim's appointment was at 1:30pm so they left about 1:15 then called me at 2:10 and said don't wait for them just give Miss Madison her bottle of breast milk at 2:15. Dave had a doctor appointment at 2:50 for the foot doctor, so there I am all alone with Miss Madison. We had a long talk about her finishing her bottle or else I was in trouble, then about how to torment her parents when she gets older. She told me she has her Daddy wrapped around her finger already and if anyone wants to see him jump just ask her, he does what ever she wants.

Dave got back from his docs at 3:20 and still no Kim and Danny, they finally called me at 3:30 and said they had so many errands to run but they were on their way home. When they got home they realized being gone for that long without Madison they felt like a part of them was missing, which is good for 1st time parents, wait till the rest of the kids come and they will feel differently, just kidding.:)

More news tomorrow, but at 4pm today 101 degrees Dave and I went to the tennis courts and practiced a little pickle ball. Dave has gotten the green light from all of his doctors so we went and tried again. Will see tomorrow how he feels, will let you know about Dave and the happenings that are going on tomorrow.

BELATED B/DAY WISH FOR MIKE / MISS MADISON'S 1ST CHECKUP

Sorry I didn't blog yesterday, so I wanted to wish a belated "Happy 60th" Birthday wish to my brother, Mike. I know his birthday wish came true, he had his Granddaughter, Inara, with him. He had the rest of the family too but grand babies are very special, I know I have one now. My brother, Marty, said he knew I was older then him because I'm a grandma now, he just doesn't know what he is missing.
Yesterday morning, Sunday, Dave and I went over and made the kids breakfast. Dave made Danny his waffles and I did the turkey bacon, sausage and scrambled eggs. Dave and I then went home to work on the air conditioner and managed to get it working again, yea. Then in the afternoon we went back over and made a couple meals for Kim and Danny, one to have for dinner and the other to freeze for later on. Kim got her beef stew and then I made a chicken soup for their dinner. Danny ended up having both for dinner then they froze the rest for lunches and dinners for later on. We didn't have dinner with them because if we do it defeats the purpose of the leftovers for meals for later on, like when Danny goes back to work and Kim quits cooking for him.:)
Oh, by the way, when we went back to the coach the air conditioning had quit working again, so another hot night.

This morning Dave decided to move the coil from the working air conditioner to the back one to see if that was the problem and when he got the cover off the non working one he found the motor start compositor was burned up. Needless to say Dave made some phone calls to see if anyone had the part and one place did, an RV Repair place, for $39.95 he called a motor place and they had it for $9.95. He went and got the cheaper one installed it and everything is working great. We went over to Kim's tonight fixed dinner came back to the coach and it is still working. Just pisses me off how much the RV repair place jacks up the price of an item, thant goodness Dave made that other call and didn't stop at the 1st place.

Miss Madison had her 1st doctor appointment today and she is now 5lb 3oz, just what she was when she left the hospital, she had lost 10oz but the doctors were OK with it. Kim said the doctor wants her fed every 2 hours, wake her and feed her. She goes back on Thursday and everyone is hoping she has gained some weight, which she will. It's a little tough breast feeding right now, but she's a little peanut and will catch on. Almost everyone we have talked to has said it can take up to 3 weeks before every thing goes smoothly, Kim's not a quiter and either is Miss Madison and before long they will be in sync, and she won't even remember having problems. The same thing happened to me with Kim, every 2 hours and she kept falling asleep on me, and you know I have no patients so if I could do it, she surely can.

P.S.
Those of you that looked at the pictures of Miss Madison, that David Jr. took, those were just the rough draft, he will be cleaning them up and you will be seeing the shading difference with her hair and the black background. But isn't she just a doll no matter what the picture looks like????
Miss Madison already has her Daddy wrapped around her finger.:)
Marisa, Inara is going to look hugh when she gets around her cousin, Miss Madison.

GUESS WHO RULES THE ROOST - MADISON DOES

Just got back to the coach, we have been at Miss Madison's house all day or at least since 10am this morning. This little Missy is very demanding of all the attention, she doesn't ask for it... not at all... it's just she is such a little thing and she seems to know that someone or everyone will be watching over her 24 hours a day. Her mommy and daddy try and get some sleep when she is sleeping but that isn't working too well right now. She is more then happy to let her parents sleep while Grandma and Grandpa Alton are there, because she knows we will not take our eyes off of her, but Kim and Danny haven't learned yet to take full advantage of the time yet, oh, but they will.

Kim and Danny are doing well, just very tired, we went over this morning and made them breakfast and I fixed dinner for them too. Danny made a comment that if I wasn't fixing them food that they probably wouldn't eat. This afternoon David, Jodi, and Riley came up to see Miss Madison and then David got some great pictures of her. I'll tell you what, this little girl is a ham for the camera. Every time Kim or Danny change her diaper she cries, boy, for the photo shoot they laid her down completely naked and she was wide eyed and almost posing for the camera, too funny. As soon as David down loads them to his website I'll post the address and you all can see the pictures. Lets see, she likes to be naked and poses for the camera, I hope this doesn't mean something for what she will be doing in the future. :)

It was nice to get everyone home from the hospital yesterday, not only did Danny move into the hospital with Kim and little Missy, but Dave and I kind of feel like we did too. You know normally if you are visiting anyone in the hospital you want to get out of there as soon as possible but not this time, it was never a dull moment watching little Missy and helping Kim try and breast feed. I know for Dave it wasn't any fun because he had to stay behind the curtain at feeding time and believe me the feeding times lasted up to 2 hours at some times. We would go early in the morning and not come home till late at night. We did get to sneak away in the late afternoon and relax a little, feed the dogs, then back to the hospital, but it was well worth it.


We went back to Miss Madison's at 6pm to fix dinner for the adults, but it was her feeding time again, so Grandma and Grandpa ended up eating by themselves. We stayed for a little bit then headed back to the coach, Kim and Danny would eat later they said. When we got back to the coach the air conditioner had gone out again. We ended up just staying in the living room until late, opened up the windows and turned the fan on in the bedroom and it managed to cool down enough so you could sleep in there. Valley stayed in the living room in the air conditioned room, smart dog.

That's about it for now, tired, tomorrow we will go over early in the morning and fix breakfast, and try and let mommy and daddy get some sleep.

It's a Girl

Here are Madison Kathleen Gonzalez and her proud daddy. Madison was born on July 9th 2008 at 10:42 am. She weights 5 lbs 13 ozs and is 19 inches long. Mother and baby are both doing fine. There are more pictures at our picture site, http://picasaweb.google.com/altondw/Madison. Jeri will write much more this evening.

26 HOURS TO GO PLUS NEW PICS POSTED

New pictures are posted so now my camera is emptied out and the next pictures posted will be related to the baby.
Dave's last post was to see if he could do the blog from his phone, he will post there if the baby is a boy or girl.
Nothing new to report from last night.

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Dave Alton

1 1/2 DAYS LEFT / JULY 9TH IS BABY G. DAY

Went to the doctor's today for the last appointment before the baby. Kim is 3rd on the surgery list for Wednesday, July 9th, so the doctor said it would be around 9am when she goes into the operating room. I'm guessing around 9:30 we should know if it's a boy or a girl and who wins the guessing contest. Everyone but 1 person guessed that it is going to be a boy, so if it's a girl Jodi Alton wins the contest, will post on the next blog along with a picture of the baby.
After the doctor's Kim and I went to the hospital for her blood work, so everything is ready on the hospital end.
Today Dave, Kim and I did the last of the cleaning and laundry so the home front is ready, except for the bathroom toilets and the front shower, that's Danny's job, we had to leave him something to do. Dave did the floors today using the cleaning machine and got them real clean and shiny.
On July 4th, Danny had the day off so we all went shopping and got the bassinet and baby bath tub, so the baby is all set for furniture now. I believe tomorrow is going to be the longest day for Kim and Danny, I know Danny is starting to get nervous, Kim is still pretty cool and collected, just wait.
Sunday night Kim got her pick of restaurants to go to because Monday the doctor said to start on a soft food diet because of the c-section, so she picked BJ's Brewery and she was a little bummed that she couldn't have her berry beer that she likes. Tonight for their last night out, without baby, we went to a salad/soup bar place, it was just OK and thank goodness we got out before the bus group all piled in.
Saturday night Danny's brother, Hector, came over and we all played domino's and BBQ'd chicken and ribs, or I should say Dave did the BBQ'ing.

It's suppose to be 103 here tomorrow, hopefully we can hold out at the coach without running over to Kim's, we kind of want her to have a day to herself and enjoy the quiet for the last time. :)

Wednesday it's suppose to be 108, welcome to Bakersfield Baby "G"

PS
Spanky Kim and I went and saw "The Strangers" wasn't as scary as you lead us to believe, sorry.

5 1/2 DAYS LEFT

It's after 6pm now so it's down to 5 1/2 days, also wanted to say "Happy Birthday Mom, Nana, Grandma, or Beth Tomaselli" what ever you called her while she was alive.

Today was cement pouring day, OMG!!! It turned out to be a lot more cement then Dave thought it would be, and he thanks Danny and I, very much, for all the help. Poor Danny, it was his late day of going into work so he was up at 7am waiting for Dave and I to show up with the cement, boy was he sorry. I just really thank God that he was there, if it had just been Dave and I, I don't believe we would have ever finished. Danny had to quit at 11am and Dave and I finally left at 2pm, and boy were we tired. I'll tell you, I'm going back to work this retired life sucks, what ever happened to taking it slow and relaxing??? We got back to the coach about 2:30 so I could take a shower, Dave took one at Kim's because he had a change of clothes there I didn't. Anyway, he dropped Valley and I off then went back to drop off the cement tools we had rented, rent a movie, return a Wii game, go to the bank, then get the car washed. He got back to the coach at 4pm, I had put out some salami, cheese and crackers, since we hadn't had lunch (Kim doesn't feed us, all though she did bring us water once while we were working, :) just kidding Kim) we had some snacks then promptly fell asleep. We both woke up 15 min. later and both complained that ever part of our bodies hurt. Dave hurt more then me that's for sure, he and Danny did a lot harder work then I did, hope Danny is feeling OK.

The 1st part of the week was Kim and I doing a deep cleaning of the house again, it is a never ending story. Hopefully with this new cement we poured and the new lawn, in the back, it will cut down on the dirt the dog/dogs track in. Kim is finishing up her scrap booking so on Monday we can clean the living room and her bedroom and Dave can polish the wood floors, then we should all be really for the baby. Danny has bathroom duty, showers and toilets, I just hate doing those so I'll let him chip in and help so he doesn't feel left out. :)

Happy 4th of July tomorrow, don't' know what project we will be doing yet, but I'm sure I let you know on the next update.