100th!

ONE HUNDREDth!! YES, THIS IS MY 100TH BLOG!! It's taken just under two years to achieve. I should have my business degree in half that time. That helps to put it all in perspective. Speaking of my degree... I received a 100% for my participation in week one. YEA! This class continues to be a challenge, but I've finished my assignment for week two. I had a 750 -1000 word paper to do and it was t-o-u-g-h! Oh, I'm so glad to have that done! It will make for a much more enjoyable weekend. John and I are going to a sprint car race about 150 miles away tomorrow. It will be a down and back trip which will make for a long, but fun day! We will miss watching the NASCAR race Saturday night, but a dirt track race in person has priority over a non-dirt track on t.v. Jimmie Johnson won last weeks race too. Same story, different week (we are not especially fond of Jimmie Johnson).

We had no trouble getting the ball joints in on Tuesday as planned. With that, the rig was ready to roll. We love our lifestyle of being able to travel and see so many friends and family around this beautiful country. With the anticipation of 'hello' comes the dread of 'so long'. We were sad to say 'so long' to our IL family, and hit the road for Minne'snow'ta. It was a beautiful day for a 400+ mile drive. Once we arrived and as we were getting set up, John's daughter and family saw us and came running! It was so wonderful to see all five of them running with all their might to come welcome us with hugs! Those moments are my most favorite.
Our first order of business was to celebrate a belated Father's Day. John's daughter had prepared a big box with goodies that reminded her of her dad. She is a very talented writer and created a very fitting poem for him to go with all the goodies. First was a big bag of M&Ms and John didn't miss a beat, he said "Kyle Busch!" (his favorite driver currently racing in the NASCAR series and sponsored mainly by M&Ms). Also in the box was a stuffed cat, homemade goodies, a bottle of soda, tube socks, a stuffed dog, and a t-shirt. The stuffed dog and socks were a reminder of one of John's favorite games - to put "nose-mittens" on the dog's snout and watch them lose their way...

Second stop was to visit John's mom, and when her friend told her we were there, she asked "are you sure?". She'd been waiting for so long, I'm sure she did not want to get excited until she knew for sure that it was us. Third stop was another daughters, and her two daughters were so excited to see Grandpa! They had a big cardboard box 'house' in their playroom, so of course that was the first place I headed for! After some playtime, the oldest one told Grandpa "you can go home, 'Yan' is staying at here!". More favorite moments for me! John's first wife, still a family friend, lives in the area and when we stopped to visit her, she spoiled me with a container of hand-picked strawberries! YUM!

This weekend we are grand-dog sitting while Sidney's family goes on vacation. Three cats, a dog, and a bunch of grandchildren! What a memorable Independence Day this will be!! Happy 4th, THANKS to all who have provided our independence and protected our FREEDOM, and THANK GOD for our many blessings!