2017: The Year From Hell Recap

2017...

The year 2017 was a mixed bag of emotions. Joy, sorrow, grief, worry, accomplishment... But, the best thing about it is that it's over. Rather than try to blog about each event, I'll summarize with pictures. Here we go!

Loss:
Saying goodbye to Mom, after watching her live without Dad for 2 years was bittersweet. She ended her life with a dignified and graceful battle against cancer, sustained by the knowledge that she would be reunited with her sweetheart. I miss her more that I can put into words, and the tears still come without warning. She was a wonderful woman and a powerful influence on me. I'm so thankful for her.

The best mother/grandmother/great-grandmother ever!!!

Saying goodbye to 2 more fur babies added to the grief our family suffered this year.  Crazy Magellan and Dirty D joined Daisy, Buddy, Sassy, Burgess, Pepe, Tara, and Jack over the Rainbow Bridge. Run free, crazy boys.

Our water loving beagle...

Sweet and gentle Dirty-D...

Change:
When Mom and Dad moved to Texas, they found their own little piece of heaven; a piece of hilltop property outside of the city of Killeen. They built their dream retirement home and spent the last years of their lives there. After Dad passed away, Mom toyed with the idea of selling their home and moving into something smaller in Temple. She never quite found the right place; and, in hind sight, that was for the best. She wouldn't have lived long enough to really settle into a new home because she passed away just 2 short years after Dad. Getting Mom's estate settled was such a challenge and I couldn't have done it without the support I had from family. I can't really explain what it was like to work beside my brothers, their wives and children, and my immediate family to prepare Mom and Dad's home for sale. It was joyful because of the memories and bonding experience of working together. It was also a way to transition from seeing the house as Mom and Dad's home to simply a piece of property. Cleaning out, painting, and prepping was therapeutic in many ways. It is now the home of complete strangers and will hopefully provide them many years of happiness.

Scott & Ron...

Cory...

                           

Kathy Lee...

Deb...

Amanda...

Entry...

living room...

                           

living room...

dining room...

         

kitchen...

                           

porch...

porch...

sewing room...

front bedroom...

master bedroom...

front of the house...

Growth:
Birthdays come and go, regardless of family situations. Luckily, having children in the family provides us with joy-filled moments to distract us from the sadness of loss.

Super hero twins...

June birthday people favorites...

Jamie, Ron, & Scott.. June birthdays...

Sophie's Capt. Underpants b-day...

Another cute cake...

Ryan...

Maggie Lyn...

Maggie & Mimi...

Milestones:
Ron and I celebrated our 45th anniversary, the twins started 1st grade, Maggie and Sophie experienced home school, I had to sell Groot and buy Thor, Ryan started teaching 5th grade, Rebecca and Ed came home from Greece, Seth started driving, I retired, Jamie and Ryan got married... Life goes on and we celebrate the milestone events with elation, tempered with a tinge of sadness that we can't share them with Mom and Dad.

Cute invitation for my retirement celebration at work...

keeping with a camping/RV theme...

celebrating with family...

friends and co-workers...

socializing and sharing memories...

my greatest accomplishment!

Ryan at work... doing???

We added Thor to the family. LOVE this beefy guy.

45th anniversary cruise, improvised, thanks to my genius daughter-in-law.

The wedding cruise made up for it...  relaxing down time with Ron.

Ryan and Jamie celebrated their love with a beautiful Mayan wedding ceremony.

The twins looked like angels at the wedding. 

Dressing up the old couple is fun, but painful. Glitter and heels aren't comfortable.

The newly weds.

Scott getting caught on camera for the news...

The future...

I know these pictures don't adequately represent the many experiences our family had in 2017. However, the year is now recorded on the blog. Suffice it to say, I'm glad the year is over and I look forward to many new and happy adventures in 2018

Mother Neff State Park; November 2016 (catching up post)

After our first horribly hot trip in Miss Lippy to Inks Lake, we were anxious to take her out when the weather had become more mild. This trip was much more enjoyable and yet another learning experience.  Lesson learned: you really don't need to go far to find an absolutely beautiful park and escape for a short time. Mother Neff was (I believe) the first state park in Texas. It sits along a river and has had a history of flooding, which would make it impossible to access. However, the parks department has recently expanded the camping area and built a new visitors center, which are both well above the flood zone. There are several hiking trails, a play ground, each site has water, electric, AND sewer; and, each site has a nice picnic table, fire pit, and graveled parking. The sites are very level and wooded so they have privacy.  There are an assortment of trails that criss cross over streams, pass small ponds, have wooden bridges, may or may not lead to the stone water tower or the cave. It was beautiful in the fall but we were there when most of the leaves had already fallen. I'd like to go back again earlier in the year so we might catch some fall leaves. There is also a junior ranger program (not great) and a few geo caches to occupy the grands.

 The playground isn't very big but the grands loved it.  There is a bench that is in a shaded area and nearby is a hiking trail. We walked to the playground, spent some time playing, then finished up the hike. None of the trails are difficult and the girls handled them with ease. When we weren't hiking, we played board games.

Sophie Lyn

Maggie Lyn

Boomer

The twins joined us for an overnight. I'm so thankful Jamie takes the girls out often. They are so fair and I worried about sun burn; but, they make applying sun screen part of their normal routine. The girls loved spending time together. 

The girls at the water tower.

One of the trails

another trial

Finding a geo cache... not sure that's spelled correctly.

We finally figured out that Boomer is so much happier in the lead.
He would tug, and tug, and tug to get in front! 

The girls hanging out in the cave.

Taking a break by the pond.

The second lesson learned was the need for bunks! I think at this point, Scott had started the remodel on the bunk room; but, it wasn't finished. Sleeping arrangements were a bit of a challenge; especially with Tico when a storm moved through! He went home with Poppy the next night!!!

"Whine! Whine! Whine! There is a storm out there!!"

Only room for one over the cab. That became a bit of a worry when they all tried to sleep up there!

All in all, the girls were "super" on the camp out. Hence, their super hero pose! Love these girls.

Palo Duro Canyon, Texas: Thanksgiving Break 2017

During our Thanksgiving break, the family campers decided to take a trip to Palo Duro Canyon State Park here in Texas. We've been discussing a long road trip to either Yellowstone or Mesa Verde in the upcoming spring and wanted to build our RV road trip stamina by taking a fairly long road trip this fall.  From my house to Leslie's home in Ft. Worth, then to the canyon and home it was 1,020 miles. Miss Lippy didn't go quite that far because Ron and Scott went up earlier than the girls and I and bypassed Ft. Worth. But, it was a pleasant drive for both vehicles. That gives us some confidence in the old girl's ability to make it out of state. 
Ron and Scott took Miss Lippy up on Tuesday and took care of some general maintenance and put the flooring down in the bunk room. By the time Leslie, the girls and I were there, camp was set up. It's really easy to tear down camp but setting up seems to take a long time. I'm kinda glad we missed that part.
We spent our time at the park hiking different trails, building our evening camp fires, and looking at the amazing night sky. That was simply breathtaking! Maggie actually squealed with delight when she looked up the first night. She was astounded that she could see the Milky Way's band across the sky and so many constellations. We were wishing Uncle Ryan was there because he is the family astronomer and would have brought his telescope. Maybe next time!
The canyon seemed to have so much more vegetation in it than I remember from our last visit. We have had an unusually mild summer and even in central Texas things are more lush and green than normal. Texas has summers like that from time to time. I think I like the park scenery when it is more rugged and harsh.
The condition of the park was a little disappointing. There is a lack of camp hosts so the bathrooms weren't as clean as I would like for them to have been.  I assume that's why. Ron had talked to one of the rangers about the condition of the park and he explained that all of their funds for maintenance had to be diverted to the gulf coast because of the hurricane. That made sense so we just overlooked things and hope for an increase in funds next year.

Here are the pictures I took while we were there.

One of the most fascinating sights in Texas is the extensive field of windmills. 

Leslie gave Maggie my camera and she managed to get some really good pictures of them.

The girls were laughing at the tumble weeds that rolled across the highway as we drove to the canyon. They found a dried twig blowing around in our campsite and had to take a picture of the "tumbleweed."

When you arrive at the canyon, it's pretty surprising. You drive for about 30 minutes after you see the first sign for the park. Then after you pass through the gates, there it is! It's a pretty steep drive down into the actual park.

Like I said earlier, Ron and Scott had the camp set up when we got there so we just had to cook dinner then turned in for the night. Tico didn't like being inside. His favorite thing to do was sit at the door and whine to go out.

Leslie and Maggie spent some time reading the book that the movie Wonder is based on. It will hopefully be the last trip we take with that nasty couch and carpet! They guys are planning on ripping it out tomorrow. Can't wait!

Leslie, the girls, Scott, and the dogs did a lot more hiking than Ron and I.  Ron has been having trouble with his hip so he staggered along with his cane. Rather than leave him straggling behind, we just strolled portions of the trails. Hopefully, he will be better our next trip.

The trails are rated from easy to difficult and are marked at intervals with these blue stakes. There are numerous side trails that you can take if your adventurous. We played it safe and stayed on the main trail.

When we came to a section that intersected with side trails, there were white arrows painted on the ground so you wouldn't lose you way.

The Lighthouse Hoodoo is the signature rock formation for Palo Duro. The kids and grands hiked all the way out but Ron and I only went half the way. They said the last part of the trail was pretty tough.

Another shot of the Lighthouse.

Ron at the trail head.

One view of the canyon from the Lighthouse trail.

Another time when we were wishing Ryan was with us. I know the layers have a story to tell about the history of the canyon. Ryan could have told us all about it.

My obligatory picture of me.

and a selfie of the two old people.

The second trail we hiked went along the river. Ron had a lot of trouble with this one so we back tracked and then drove to the trail end to meet the kids. 

map of the park trails

Crazy Tico has got to have some Rat Terrier in him. He stuck his snout in every hole he passed. I think Leslie was pretty thankful he didn't pull anything out of any of them!

This was on another trail that went along the river. Can't for the life of me remember the name; Rojo or Rio something???

This was a very overgrown trail. We only went a short distance because there was a lot of cactus along the sides. Dingbat Tico kept walking in them. 

There are turkeys and coyotes all over the park. This small flock walked right by the RV our last evening at the park.

Thor was our chase car for this trip. This car is the most comfortable ride with very roomy seating for 7. I was hesitant to buy him; but, I sure am glad I did.

Home away from home... Miss Lippy.