Saturday - May 20

 Pretty Saturday - 73, sunny but windy!   It was only 51 when we were up and at 'em this morning.   Mark took the truck to Home Depot for lumber to fix Anne's steps and ran some other errands.   I left shortly after for a manicure with Lisa, then to Crafted for a latte - what a busy place that was.....so many young adults playing sand volleyball, drinking their coffee, and waiting in long drive-thru lane.   Just up the road is CCHS and they have all the graduates continually showing up on their digitized bulletin board.    We saw Liam yesterday when we left the eye doctor.

I picked up gondolas from Avanti's for the boys lunch (a long-time favorite).   Drew drove from Cedar Rapids and the 3 boys flew from Charlotte to Peoria.   They all arrived within minutes of each other around 1:40.    Sooo good to see them all......they ate lunch, we gabbed a bit and then they were off to check into their hotel and onto Anne's for their step-fixing project (Mark, too).

The guys hard at it - building new steps

Philip, Ryan, Michael, Mark

I drove into town arriving at Anne's the same time as Auntie Karen.   We just hung out for awhile and later, all went to Baxter's for nice dinner

Ryan, Mark, Pat, Philip, Drew, Anne, Auntie, Connor, Liam, Jaycee, Michael

Friday - May 19

 Big day with an early morning trip (7:20) to town for my eye check-up rescheduled from 1 week ago.    While I was doing that, Mark dropped off some goodies from Braker's at Anne's and took some measurements for new steps on her deck.    He took me to Starbucks and went onto Home Depot to check out lumber.

We had lunch with Donna Rae at Westminster Village (thank you) - always a nice selection and of course, enjoyed our visit.    An extra treat this time was getting to see Rhea (long time friend of she and Earl who passed away a few months ago).   Rhea's son and daughter-in-law were visiting from Colorado.

Rhea with her daughter-in-law Melanie and son, Craig

After lunch we took Donna Rae to the beauty parlor at WV for her weekly appointment and then we left to run a few errands. 

Sweet Donna Rae at the beauty shop

 Delivered a cherry pie (from Busy Corner) to Roger and Carol and enjoyed another great visit along with ice cream and coffee.

Roger and Carol

Back to KK at 4 and Mark took a nap!!!

Annette's pretty peonies that she picked at her home - we both love this spring-time flower 

which smell so good

On our way back to KK, we noticed the temperature had dropped, the wind picked up and the sky was very hazy.    Then we got alerts on our phones about the bad air quality all coming from the wildfires in Canada.    Amazing how those fires from so far away have affected many areas of the US.

Each year the senior class at CCHS chooses a charity to raise funds for during the year.    The class of 2023 chose the Boys and Girls Club and presented them with a check for $10,000.    WOW.... soo proud of Liam and his classmates!!!   Congratulations!!!

Have a wonderful weekend - we are looking forward to partying with Liam......🎓

Thursday - May 18

 We are happy campers here at KK out in the country on this pretty spring day in central Illinois.

After breakfast, Mark cleaned off a bunch of bird poopie do on Flo and the truck....darn birds!   THANKS honey!

Butch and Joyce from Champaign came at 10:30 and we visited on the picnic table and then headed for Mackinaw and shopping/lunch at the tea room at the depot.    Delicious as always and lots of good catching up.   Stopped at Beth Ann's (boutique up the street from the tea room) and then to Braker's in Eureka where we found plenty of goodies.    Onto Scottwood Floral for iced coffee crunchers (delicious) for Joyce and me; regular coffee for Butch and nothing for Mark.   We browsed around this beautiful store and final stop was Busy Corner to pick up a pie for tomorrow.    Back to Flo and more visiting till 4ish when they left for home.    We'll see them in Florida hopefully this fall.

Fun day with these fun friends

Mark and I walked around the campground - new states tonight.....Texas, North Dakota, Georgia, Arizona and Utah.

Wednesday - May 18

 Another pretty day....we packed up our stuff and left with Bob and Linda for "Cindy's on 34" for breakfast as the cleaning ladies just arrived.    Good breakfast, they took us back to their place for our car, good bye hugs (hope to see them sometime this summer in Port Clinton) and we were off to Princeton to visit Annette's parents.

Bob and Linda - great host and hostess

Always enjoy going to Dave and Judy's and enjoy their beautiful home in the country.   They have done so much work to both their home and the landscape - LOTS of hard work has really paid off and it is a showplace!

After walking around their "farm", we enjoyed eclairs and iced tea and chatting away.    Great to see them and catch up.

                        Dave is taking Mark for a little ride on his pontoon which he built - amazing!

Pretty gazebo on the lake

The "White House"

Judy and Dave

Stopped in Princeton and I got a new pair of shoes while Mark got the car washed and gas.    On home, unloaded the car and we both took a nap!   

Sure had a fun little trip - and so good to see several kinfolk, celebrate Auntie Karen's retirement, great eating, etc.

We went for a walk, had some leftovers and called it a day!    Nice to have Flo's windows open and let the fresh air in!

My brother Bob loves to do puzzles....here's his latest accomplishment!

All about golf - 1000 pieces

Liam and Connor loved it!

Liam's class of 2023 from CCHS

wearing shirts for their respective college choice

 

Tuesday - May 16

 A beautiful spring day!    We had a light breakfast and then the 4 of us were off to Sublette for coffee and at "The Local Cup and Cake" in my little hometown.    Quite impressive little place with all the specialty coffees, pastries, etc.    What a nice surprise to see my cousin Dave's wife, Mary Jo, and then a another cousin and former classmate, Tom and finally, Don, a cousin and great historian of Sublette and the Dinges clan.

Bob and Pat with our cousin Tom ( went all thru grade and high school together)

Cousin Don - 87 years young!

After all the visiting we drove around town, thru the cemetery and out in the country.    

Linda and I had planned to visit Ruth (canceled lunch from yesterday), but she's not feeling well today.    So, the 4 of us played SkyJo and the got ready for our guests coming.....Aunt Marian and her daughter, Paulette visiting from Cocoa Beach, FL, and cousin Dick and Mary.    We had such a fun evening visiting, playing cards (4 and 6-handed euchre), enjoying lasagna, salad, garlic toast and Door County Cherry pie.   

Aunt Marian with nephew Bob, niece Pat, daughter Paulette and nephew Dick

Aunt Marian (94 and going strong)

Bob, Paulette, Mary, Linda

Mark, Dick