Goodness - it is February already!

Well I have been awful about posting and could do a whole big blog post with excuses but none are very good so will skip it. 

We have been in Arizona since the beginning of January and loved the beautiful weather we had.  Last year we were there during record cold and that was not much fun but this year I think every single day was 70 and sunny.  We made a trip up to the Grand Canyon where it was NOT 70 or even sunny but wow the view was worth it.  My brother and his wife made sure we had a good time and we saw lots of cool things while there.

I decided to write a quick blog post to publicly thank God for the blessings he gave us seven  years ago.  I want to thank Him for giving the nurses and doctors the skill, intelligence and talents to take three little tiny girls and keep them healthy and help them grow and survive.  Today is the triplet's seventh birthday and they are healthy, happy, well behaved, smart little girls that have brought so much joy to our lives.  I remember so well that day when we went to the NICU and saw first Isabel and Audrey - 2 pounds 9 ounces each.  I remember thinking how small they were but then we went to the other area where they had Lily and I saw her and burst in to tears.   One pound one ounce.  Think of Lily next time you pick up a pound of butter.   The nurse looked at me and said, her lungs are just as strong as the other two and she is going to be fine.  I didn't believe her but she was right.  I have only prayed that hard for something one other time in my life and that time God didn't answer the way I wanted Him to but this time he did.  Lily is still tiny but she is a feisty mighty little girl that cracks everyone up with her silly antics.  Many people prayed for the girls and I hope I thanked them all   -   if you were one - thank you. 

Soon I will catch everyone up on my knitting and other activities but now need to get ready to go party with some excited birthday girls.

Camper news

This is a good news bad news posting.  Our camper suffered damage on the way to Alaska - we spent around $2,000 and five days in White Horse Canada that we didn't plan on spending.  The frost heaves caused by ice forming beneath the surface of soil during freezing conditions in the atmosphere results in huge bumps in the road.  Many of these are marked by orange cones or flags in Canada but some are not (which we joked that the mechanics in the next town removed them to increase their business).  We hit one that raised the truck off the ground and resulted in the broken spring on the trailer which was replaced by the wrong spring which resulted in a blow out that ripped the lower fender off the camper.    Then the front edges of the fifth wheel started to separate at the edges.  Dennis tried to fix it himself but it didn't work so we took it to a camper repair shop.  They discovered much more internal damage than we ever expected and the damage amount is more than the value of the camper.  We were very upset when we heard this as we loved our fifth wheel.  We made changes to it that made it "ours" and in our opinion it was just perfect.  We expected to use this camper until we stopped traveling.  We certainly did not want to have to go camper shopping and spend more money on a camper.  But this is what we are doing and fortunately today the insurance company called and they are being generous with the settlement (thank you State Farm) and fortunately we found a fifth wheel that we really like earlier this week.  This one is a couple of feet longer than our old one but Dennis says it won't matter in towing.  It has a very nice kitchen with an oversize refrigerator and a lot of counter top area which is hard to find in a camper.  It also has a marvelous pull out pantry which will be fabulous.  It has plenty of clothing storage - love the drawers which the other camper didn't have.  Most important to Dennis is it has a lot of outside storage areas which the other one was sadly lacking.  We found out we can take our desk out of the old one and put it in the new one so that makes us very happy too.   So we will probably remove the white chair and put a desk there which is the same thing we did with the old camper.

Hard to see the kitchen but there is a lot of counter and drawer space

The white chair may go - but may stay.  Will decide as we use it

This pantry will be so great!

Clothes closet and drawers next to sink and additional small closet by bed

The bathroom is on the left with the toilet and tub but the sink is on the outside - I really like that.  The bathroom has a large cabinet for towels.   The camper is a 1999 but it looks very good inside.  We need to have an awning put on the slide out and a few minor things repaired plus a different hitch put on.

Craft update

I have been busy with my crafts - just haven't blogged about it for awhile.  My biggest accomplishment has been a crocheted afghan that about drove me crazy.  When I crochet afghans (and I have probably made over 100) I usually use a mindless pattern that I can do in my sleep but results in a nice warm blanket to throw over someone or a pretty little blanket for a baby.  My darling daughter, Stacy sent me a link to an afghan that she thought I should make.  I immediately said no - requires too much thinking.  But then I kept looking at it over quite a few months and really loved it and decided to try it.   It is crocheted lengthwise which made it quite a bit easier than I first thought but it was still much more complicated than my normal afghans.  I worked on it on the trip to Alaska and was almost half done when I realized I has made an error back at the beginning.  I had to rip out three packages of yarn and take it all the way back to about two inches from the start.  Needless to say, it went in a bag and was put in time out for about a month.  But it is finished now and I love it so much that I might make two more - one for each kid.  :)

I also have been crocheting cowls for a number of family members.  It started when a cousin put a picture of one on Facebook asking if anyone would crochet it for her.  I've now made five - they are so simple but come out very cute.  I made these two for Maranda and then made fingerless mitts from the leftover yarn.

My other project right now is knitting anklet socks for Christmas presents.  I found a pattern in Creative Knitting magazine and it is quick and easy.  I had issues with making socks - seemed like I couldn't get the hang of it but these have been so simple using the Magic Loop method and I love the way they turn out.  I bought quite a bit of sock yarn during the Yarn Hop this year and love the self striping ones. 

Still cross stitching but not as much as before I learned to knit but a lot more than before I retired. It is so nice to be retired and have my daytime hours free to cross stitch.   The project I am working on right now is a very simple one - nothing like the big ones that I enter in the state fair - but very relaxing.

Canton Texas

Another new experience for us - First Monday at Canton Texas.  This is a HUGE flea market that started in 1850 that is held every month on the Thursday - Sunday before the first Monday of the month.  It is 100 acres with sometimes 6000 vendors selling everything you can think of and a lot of things you can't think of.  Have you ever thought of making a guitar using a bed pan?  Didn't think so - but someone there did.  There is junk - saw a package of adult diapers that were open and a few missing but the remaining were were sale and there is brand new items as in beautiful clothes that you won't see in the stores.  I told the kids that when we die to take all our stuff there to sell - they will make a lot more.  :)  There was so much stuff there that we own or owned or my parents owned and now they were for sale for a lot more than I could believe at times.  A mixing bowl that my mom had and Stacy still uses was $65 there.  It was fun just looking at things and trying to figure out what it was - one time five of us were gathered around a table trying and trying to figure out what some tools were and we never were successful. 

One thing we learned the first day - there is a pecking order here.  Those driving scooters ruled - do not get in their way - they will run you down.  Some had wagons behind their scooters, some had another chair behind them and then a cart behind that.  Second were people with carts - and most had them. They will also try to run you down if you get in their way.  Some of the people had their carts so piled high I don't know how they saw over them.   We were in the minority walking around with just bags to put our purchases in. 

We took our fifth wheel and arrived on Wednesday and stayed until Monday.  The weather was hot the first few days so it was so nice to come back to the camper and relax in the air conditioning for awhile then walk some more later.  A cold front came through on Saturday and was welcomed by all shoppers.  Stacy came on Saturday and we had fun shopping with her.  Of course it was the day with the biggest crowd but the place is so spread out that you don't notice how many people are there most of the time.  There are a number of buildings that have the newer or nicer things and they get pretty crowded at times. 

It was a lot of fun and I imagine we will go back again sometime.

First day at the RV Park

By Friday neighbors had moved in

Everyone and their dog was there

Food vendors were the same as you see at the fairs

These were cute little shops to go through

The pink flamingo was very tempting.  :)

Shops were right across from the campground

Vendors were from many states.

One more picture

One more picture from the blue grass festival - this one is for Izzy.  The girls are all taking violin lessons and if Izzy keeps playing, I bet she will want this violin someday. 

Other summer activites

Earlier this month we went to the Black Top Nationals - a car show that is held on Douglas each year.  Saw some great cars - can't imagine how much they have invested in them.

Of course we attended Audrey's first ballet recital.  The class was at the park board so there were only a few students and it was pretty casual.  But she was adorable.

We also made a quick trip to the Texas panhandle, over by Amarillo to meet Laura and see a property she was interested in but didn't buy.  While there we visited the Palo Duro Canyon state park. 

At the beginning of August Jessica and I went to the Taylor Swift concert which was great.

In September we attended our first (but certainly not last) Winfield Bluegrass Festival.  It was so much fun!  The stages and the vendors are all close together so you aren't walking all day, the people are all friendly and the music is just the best.  We took lawn chairs and I took some knitting and it was so enjoyable to just sit and listen to good music and laugh at corny jokes.  The vendors were very interesting with all the different music instruments and sheet music.  I took the accordion as a kid and was surprised to see accordion music.  Now I would love to learn to play the dulcimer.

Fiddle player from US but the accordion player was from Ireland

Our favorite - John McCutcheon

Pasta for sale!

  

Alaska Trip

These are some of my favorite pictures from the Alaskan trip.  I took over 1200 pictures then picked out my favorite 200 to print and put in an album.  I am really happy with the album as the pictures are in order of the trip and I have notes on some of them if they need explanation.  I know we will treasure this album for years as the trip was a trip of a lifetime.

4th of July in Canada - not much celebrating

Bald Eagles in Seward

Emerald Lake

Exit Glacier

helicopter with water bucket

Moose!

Loved this view of snow capped mountains

Don't see these in Kansas!

Mount McKinley - we were so lucky to see it so many times

Mt Foraker, Mt Hunter and Mt McKinley 20,320 ft

River Boat at Fairbanks