I Apologize

Many of my dear readers have been writing to ask how things are, and if everything is okay. Thank you SO MUCH for checking in on us!

Yes, things have been crazy....  family obligations have taken the forefront. It has been an roller-coaster for sure. I have not had a lot of computer time, and when I have, it has been a crazy turmoil of emotions to write about. I think I am in a slump.

Maybe writing about them makes them more real.  

Makes them keep me awake at night. 

Makes them scary. 

I am trying to focus on the positive....

First and foremost, our darling little grandtot number six is FINALLY gaining ground, maintaining her blood platelets and putting on more weight.  whew!!!!

You go, Whitney Wonder Wade!   

You grow and prosper and gain strength and keep up that smile! 

Just look at those dimples????

The toll that cancer has taken on my father is hard on the entire family.  We have been doing what we can, and helping him out with controlling and understanding his health issues, household tasks, errands and bookwork. Helping him with his denial.  Helping him trust the doctors and nurses.  I am so glad that my siblings are pitching in and helping with him too.  The telephone lines are burning up back and forth as he calls to complain about every little thing, but given the fact that he is facing such a terrible disease, we can let him ramble.

Sadly, another dear family member is also facing a serious health crisis, and it's tugging at my heart and making me even more sad about this terrible disease.  We will see how things progress with the next doc appt. and go from there.  It gets to where I hate to even answer the phone.  I can't take any more bad news.


On top of all the sadness, we do have three HAPPY events going on in our month of September!  We have THREE WEDDING CELEBRATIONS!   I will write a blog post about each one in the next few days, so each wedding gets it's own page.

On Monday, I was able to spend a wonderful morning with grandtots Allegra and Mason.  After bringing Allegra to school, little Mason and I had a day to ourselves!  It was nice to have some one-on-one with the little 3 year old guy.  I kept him busy and his naptime in the car was well-needed as I brought him home again.

This week, Steve and I had the chance to escape out to High Cliff State Park for four days.... our friends Herb and Karen were up from Milwaukee and we had made reservations with them months ago to spend some time at the park together.  It was a nicely timed escape, and the weather was going to be gorgeous!

The camp hosts for the month of September had left the park to attend a Volunteer Jamboree sponsored by the Wisconsin State Parks....  we were supposed to go too, but instead decided to stay at High Cliff and take over the hosting duties while they were gone.  That way we could also spend time with our friends and get in some host time to help the park too.   We moved the host sign to our already reserved campsite and took over from there!

I drove out the motorhome to the campground and we got all settled onto our campsite, but we didn't really need to put out the awning.  The shady campsites at High Cliff State Park are so nice this time of year, an awning really isn't so necessary.  There was a strong breeze all four days which kept us cool, even while the temps were up in the 80's each afternoon.  Imagine that for weather in September in Wisconsin!  Geee!!!

Our friends Karen and Herb have the same brand of vintage Safari motorhome as we do, 

but theirs is a year newer and a couple feet longer.  

I really like their mural on the back of the American Eagle and flag... 

(ours has two white tigers that are "meh" to me....) 

The dogs really enjoyed being at the park again.  Long walks and watching the squirrels gathering the hickory nuts and acorns are a bonus!  Each time I took a different route around the park, so they could explore and sniff and enjoy their little "vacation" too.

We shared cooking meals and dessert and treats....  

and each evening ended with a nice campfire!

( we really needed this.... )

We proudly gave Herb and Karen the "Grand Tour" around the park...  and managed to catch a lovely sunset while exploring the pavilion, tower and Steve's maintenance shop.

 It was breathtaking.. pics didn't do it justice.  

Quick as a wink, it was gone....  

When Steve wasn't working, the guys were problem solving and figuring out stuff for repairs on our motorhomes.  Being almost 20 years old, there is ALWAYS something that needs to be done...  Karen and I shared projects, tips, and space-saving ideas.  Karen is also a fibery-person and loves to knit, spin and weave too.  We found a lot of cool things to explore and figure out together.  

Thursday came around way too fast, and it was time to load up and head out. Herb and Karen loaded up their car on their dolly and headed from here up to Peninsula State Park in Door County... There they go!  Thank you, for your much-needed and well-timed visit! 

We dumped our holding tanks, and got the rig ready to roll the short 13 miles back to our house.  Big journey, eh?   I decided that Steve should drive the rig home, because I was feeling a bit of a funny vibration or shudder on the way to the park on Monday when I was driving the motorhome.  He drove it back (but on a different road) and he decided all was fine, and it was just the road surface that I was on.  Wonderful! 

Now it's back home to reality. Home to medical calls, hospice reports, caseworker calls and worry, stress and emotions.  

....and home a big bowl of garden fresh tomatoes to get canned up.  

Sometimes we have to smile at the little things......