GKC - Day 2

You know it's gonna be a good day when there is a dollop of ice cream in your honey nut cheerios and a blueberry muffin on the side! It was an early wake up at 6:30 AM!

There were fireworks to pop!

And four wheelers to ride!

All while Grammy and PawPaw packed the two vehicles and two trailers for the trip to the mountains!


The stop at the NM Tourist Information Center brought a little disappointment again. There were no picnic tables for our picnic! So, we tailgated and...


ate in the truck and...


played around a little.

We had PBJs, grapes, almonds and a little cake for lunch.

The trip was long and there were some sleepers earlier and lots of potty stops! We saw train tracks and trains. One in particular was carrying empty coal cars. It was decided that they were going back to the 'colon place' to get more coal. hmmm...

We arrived at the cabin about 5:30 mountain time and the kids got busy - helping us unload, surveying the new driveway and enjoying the 58 degree weather! We were too busy for pictures this evening. A quick and easy dinner of ham, pasta with butter, green beans and beautiful, home grown tomatoes fresh from the Lodmel's garden and was a huge success and one to remember for simplicity!

Brock and Charlotte are excited to be here and we love having them come for the first year!

We should get into a good routine in the next couple of days.

It is very quiet now and we are headed to bed!

Good night!

GKC 2009 - Day 1

There were many activities in Benjamin, TX (population 264) today - the Sr. Class Hamburger lunch, the opening of the new museum, the jail trustee was working on the lawn and our arrival at the Courthouse to pickup our little campers!

The reunion!

Paw Paw, Jack and Will rode together in Paw Paw's truck and listened to Hank the Cow dog!

Good bye Moms! Have fun this week!

We see no tears here!

Brock is such a big helper! This is the first GKC for him and Charlotte. So, as we travelled, we discussed some things that they could expect this week and there was much talk about the upcoming circus. Holly and Charlotte want to be ballerinas. Grant wants to introduce "the lovely ballerinas" with a microphone. Mitchell wants to be a "rock and roll star"! HUH?

"What is it?"

"It's a bug!"

"Is it alive?"

"Not anymore!"

Holly Grace helped me order seven kids meals at Sonic. She knew just what to get for everyone. Maybe she has listened to the orders before!

Actually, she did a far better job than our car hop and didn't even get a tip.

It was a very exciting trip. Four out of five had a nap between Claude and Amarillo.

Imagine, if you can, charging seven kids with getting to the proper bathrooms with their jammies and toiletries! We will develop a good system at the cabin tomorrow. Tomorrow is always a good day for organizing. I think that everyone was bathed, teeth were all brushed and each child was properly medicated. Charlotte and Brock can log about 5 minutes each of reading time. We will do better with that tomorrow, too!

It's a circus around here!

GrandKids Camp - coming soon!

Grandkids Camp 2009-

Backyard Circus!

Under construction

Check back next week 6/27 thru 7/4!

The Alternate Driveway!

Well, this has been quite a week!

Scott Wampler came to reroute water at the back of the cabin

but first he had to get there.

His brought his wife Tasha and their daughters, Grace and Sadie and we had a great time!

Have you ever noticed the big rock at the gate?

It is definitely in the way, particularly when we back a trailer in

and that happens frequently.

Apparently, the rock goes all the way to China,

so most of it is still there underground!

Look at those front tires!


I didn't know that a backhoe could trim trees, but Scott's can!



This is Grace. She likes to collect pretty rocks, hang on trees
and ride her pink 4-wheeler - FAST!


These are the culverts that the stream flows through.
Scott is covering them up.
I wonder if he is good at playing the 'drag lines'?



Sadie is 'daddy's girl'!

Mickey drove the bobcat for a while, then got his tractor.

Scott was careful about the damages and...

even transplanted some trees for us!

Thank you!

The inaugural run in Cory's truck!

Parsley Sage Rosemary and Thyme!

Remember me to the one who lives there...

Sorry, I just couldn't resist!

Mickey helped me design and build the step herb garden.

Debbie brought these plants Memorial Weekend!

Upper bed - Lavendar, mint and wild straberries.

Middle bed - Oregano, Basil, Cilantro, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme.

Lower bed - Dill.

(Dill seeds are strong so I thought that they should be segregated.)

Scrappin' Weekend

Mandy, Sarah and Patsy came for a scrapbooking weekend.

They scrapped, rested and watched a few movies!

We enjoyed meeting Sarah and always love having Patsy and Mandy visit.

It was a great weekend!

Please come again, but stay a little longer and bring your friends back!

Memorial Day Weekend

My favorite TX-BIL (Steve) and
favorite TX-SIL (Debbie) came to ride ATVs
and relax...


And cook...

And enjoy the Scenery!
OFF!
AND ON!

Short People lived here in the Ocate Pass!

Forest Road 76 is always an easy ride!

The weather turned nasty on our way back

to the cabin and this is what we found!