Sunday - October 13

We are back at Lake James tonight after our fun, family weekend in Omaha.   We were off to Eppley Airport this morning for our noon flight which was delayed but then our crew made up for lost time and actually landed early in Charlotte.     Leaving cool sunny skies in Omaha, we landed in rain and 64 degrees.    Drizzle off and on to Lake James and we went to Annette's where she had made a delicious dinner of grouper, rice, sauteed brussel sprouts and cauliflower.    Brooke and Blair joined us as the guys are all still in Iowa City.

Maeve and Blair are spending the night on Flo.....Maeve's first time.

Grandma's little sweethearts

This handsome dude is ready to play his first hockey game as a Shark - and they won 5-3 with Liam getting 2 assists.

This Hawkeye fan was all ready for last night's game - love his hat!!

Sweet dreams for these little dears

Nighty night!

Saturday - October 12

The sun was shining, the winds died down (for a while) and the temp was only 31 when we got up but warmed up to 58.    It was a great celebration for the Jubilarians (Servants of Mary) celebrating 50 years (3); 60 years (2); 70 years (1); 75 years (1).    We all attended the 11:00 Mass which was beautiful with a packed chapel on the campus of Marian High School and then enjoyed a wonderful brunch and more visiting.

The various siblings trickled away heading home or wherever their travels may take them (Tom and Beth are off to Iceland).     Mark, Theresa, Doris and I stopped at Starbucks for a quick fix and braved the strong winds!   

Spent the afternoon playing cards (Shanghai and Sliva Poker) in the hotel dining room.   Lots of fun with some of the cousins, sisters, and Karen's friends, Pete and Brenda who stopped by - they live in Omaha.    Late evening we walked across the street for sandwiches at Culver's and said our good byes to all....

Cousins  

Lots of family celebrating with Sister Mary

Exciting morning for Liam and Connor - their hockey team won 4-3 with Liam scoring all 4 goals!

Michael, Davis, Brady, Philip and Ryan are in Iowa City with Drew for their annual guy football weekend - Iowa is playing Penn State tonight, but not the outcome we wanted. 

Michael and boys having breakfast this morning in Iowa City at Pullman

Thursday-Friday, October 10-11

Thursday - Met Annette and the kiddos at 7:20 and off to school we went.   I got to see their classrooms, meet their teachers, etc. 

Saying good bye to silly Luke who did not want to pose for a picture and Maeve who thought it was so funny!

Maeve making a "donut" for Grandma

Annette and I headed to Mount Airy (1.5 hrs) to pick up her new car.     Took longer than we thought, but while she was finishing up the paper work, driving her new wheels, etc., I went to Aunt Bea's and got us some breakfast sandwiches.    Mount Airy is Andy Griffin's hometown and signs of Andy Griffin Parkway, Aunt Bea's restaurant, etc. are here and there.

Popular spot in Mount Airy

We were on our way with Annette in her new dark grey Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid mini van and me driving their old mini van.    Traffic on I-77 was big back-up cause of construction, but we finally made it back to Morganton by 2:40, switched the car seats and got the little tykes.    Took old mini van to Honda dealer who are purchasing it.

Annette's spiffy new car

  Annette dropped me off at Michael's where Flo is and I did some last-minute packing, took a shower and we were on our way to Newton.     Michael, Brady, Blair and I had a nice dinner at the Catawba Country Club and on home to spend the night.   Brooke had a tennis match and Davis was at school soccer and volleyball games.

Michael, Blair, Pat, Mark, Brady

Saw Brooke briefly when we got home and off to bed.....

The little girls love to pose.....Miss Blair wearing her Daisy Dukes!   I called her Daisy - of course, she had no idea what I was talking about!    Ha

Friday - up early and on our way to Charlotte airport for 9:30 flight to Omaha.    CLT was a zoo....must be cause of the Columbus Day holiday on Monday??     Michael, Davis and Brady arrived about 1/2 hour after us and we were in same terminal but 19 gates apart.    Chatted briefly and said our good byes.    They are in Iowa City this weekend for their annual "guy football" time with Drew.    Ryan and Philip flew in later this afternoon.

Our plane had mechanical issues so they brought in a different one but smaller, so begging people to take a voucher and later flight.    Luckily they got enough people to do that and we were off - 3-hour flight.    But upon arriving in Omaha.....oh my gosh....it was 37 with 30 mph winds and no sun!

Mark's brother Tom texted that he and Beth were just 40 minutes from Omaha and did we want to meet for lunch?    We got our rental car and arrived at the  Crescent Moon (good pick, Tom - thank you Trip Advisor) about 8 minutes apart.    They are known for their Ruebens and many beer choices.   Mark and I shared a Reuben - very good!

Onto the hotel where we'll party with Mark's siblings and cousins celebrating Sister Mary Chamberlain's 50th Jubilee as a nun.

Sister Mary and Pat

A wonderful party celebrating tonight - lots of family and friends from Sister Mary's past and present, great slide show, awesome food and much chatter.     Sooo fun to be together with our big family and meet many new Chamberlains'.

Hard to believe that it's been 3 weeks tonight that Patrick passed away - Sister Mary, said a little prayer for him as she was introducing us along with all her guests.

Wednesday - October 9

Cloudy start to the day but late morning, the sun came out and sooo pretty....we went to Annette's first thing this morning to say good bye to Ryan who was flying back to Memphis.    Mark and I came back to Flo and I started the laundry and he did several Flo projects, including getting the tires situated and hopefully, no more issues with them!    ARGHHH!

It was a glorious fall day with warm temps but seeing just a hint of color here and there.    When we were traveling the past few days, we noticed more fall color the farther south we went - course, we were getting into higher elevations, too.

Enjoying the beauty of Lake James

We met Bob and Judy (Brooke's parents) at Judges in Morganton for dinner - we had a great visit celebrating Bob's 80th birthday (October 5th) with laughs and tears as we reminisced about Patrick.

Bob and Judy

 Fall color just starting 

Silly Maeve loves to "pose"

So sad and sorry to hear tonight that a friend from Cypress Trail (Debbie Mattox) passed away.   We are shocked.....had lots of fun playing euchre on Tuesday nights with Debbie.

Tuesday - October 8

Whew....what a day!    We left in fog at 8 AM only to be a short ways out of the campground when the tire pressure sensor went off again....arghhhh!    What the heck?    We drove a short distance to a truck stop and were told they only work on semi's - not RV's and we should go across the street where they do RV's.    so off we went and of course...."No, we have no tech available so we can't help you"!    They told us there were 2 tire places about 3 miles down the road, but we could not drive there as the tire was going down quickly.

We parked in a spot with all the semi's and I asked permission to do so and explained the situation - we would be leaving our Airstream and taking the TWO tires (yesterday's and todays) to be checked out and then come back.    2 girls said that was fine.    Off we went to Tire Discount and after waiting probably 45 minutes, they checked the tires, said both had the valve stem leaking, fixed, and no idea why this happened.   The service guy thought maybe corrosion, but Mark wasn't buying that as Flo is not even 18 months old.   Possibly someone finagling with the valve stem and loosening?   We'll probably never know but really strange that 2 tires in a 2-day period had this problem (both on the same side.)

So, 3 hours later, we were on our way (11:00) and had some rain thru the mountains of NC.    Ryan met us at Michael's where we parked Flo for the next week and so appreciated his help settling in.

Off to Annette's with the kiddos - Philip is working in Florida all week.   We had a wonderful "comfort-food" meal of sweet 'n sour meatloaf, mashed potatoes and green bean casserole.    Also she made orange crushes (a favorite of mine - with fresh-squeezed valencia oranges, vodka and cointreau).  Delicious!!!

Pat and Annette with their delicious orange crushes!

Good visiting with Annette and Ryan, hugs and kisses for Luke and Maeve and then back to Flo...

   They had over an inch of rain here at the lake today.   We were lucky cause for the most part, sunny skies for traveling.    There was a ban on campground fires when we arrived at Whispering Hills last night.    The sign should've been taken down cause the night before we got there, they had 4" - no more drought!

Been a long day - nighty night!