Oshkosh Stories

Let's see! It was hot there! It was supposed to be in the lower 80's, but instead ended up in the mid 90's, which with high humidity, no air, port-o-potties, and crowds, is NOT a good thing. I sweated like a crazy woman. You'd take your "shower", come outside, and instantly be drenched. That part wasn't fun!

But get this, I got up at 4:40 a.m. one day. I really did. Here is the sunrise photo to prove it. I got up at the literal crack of dawn because that was when the B-25 briefing and flight was happening. I got to go along on a B-25 (WWII Bomber) while a magazine photographer took close up formation flight photos of several war birds. These Mustangs and Corsair and other planes, they would come up in close formation flight with the B-25, and the photographer was sitting in the tail and would snap their photos. We were up there for a long time, and it was kind of a surreal experience. On our way back in, I got to climb up front and fly it a bit. It took me the first 45 seconds just to find the basic altimeter and heading. I was surprised at how stable it felt, though it was definitely 'lumbering'. Neat airplane, I really enjoyed the flight and appreciated the opportunity to go. Here's a photo of Duane left seat and me right seat in the B-25. On a funny note, on the inside, to move around in this thing, you basically crawl around a lot of hard, sharp objects. There's a tunnel to get to the nose cone, and you climb out there and you are sitting on basically glass, in a bubble out in front of the plane, and you can see the world from up there. Pretty cool as long as you're not afraid of heights. :D Then to get to the BACK of the plane, you have to crawl on top of this platform and scoot your way across. When you get to the other end, either end in fact, there is a pretty big drop off. So you have to plan how you're going to put your feet and where. The first time I did all right, though far from graceful. The second time, going back, I ended up upside down over a rather large drop-off, hanging on by my fingertips and upper body strength, and trying not to land on the young man sitting in the other seat. I didn't succeed, he finally had to get up and move so I could crash down into my seat. Talk about embarassing. lol The next day, my legs looked like I had down 5 rounds with a leg-boxer. I had bruises EVERYWHERE. My knees were bruised from crawling, my legs were bruised from smacking into stuff trying to get a photo or get back in my seat. But it didn't hurt at the time, I was too busy enjoying the scenery to think about it. Not too many people get to say they rode in a bomber at Oshkosh, and I'm thankful to Duane and Tim for letting me go and letting me fly, and to Nathan for getting me the seat to go.

I know, I'll do hodge-podge stories that occur to me instead of a time chronology. So here's one. Basically, we pulled a trailer behind a pickup truck (a mighty fine pickup truck!), and we camped out with a bunch of other Glenndale families at Oshkosh. You're out in a field with thousands of other people, all there for the airshow event, and it's pretty neat, actually. Well, we have a shower in the trailer. It fits me...barely. You have to bend down to get your hair wet, and you have to watch how much water you use, you know, just get damp, shut it off, soap up, rinse off fast, etc. So one day I decided I'd use the public showers. I'd heard the water was good and hot and plentiful, and that there were separate curtains for the showers for privacy. So I walk in with my stuff, and see naked women walking around. See, the curtains are JUST around the showers. There is no space to put your stuff. So you have to get undressed and dressed out in the main area. Well, now, that's just not my style. At all. So I huddled behind the shower curtain to get undressed, and would reach around and hang my clothes on a little hook outside the shower. I shut off the shower, grab my towel from the hook, and there go all my clothes onto the soggy wet cement floor. I just threw on a t-shirt and pants, no underclothes or anything, and I booked it out of there. Drove the golf cart back to the camp, and finished changing clothes there. It was my last trip to the public showers. I don't do public nudity. Or wet clothes. Call me picky.

Each night we had a campfire, and a group of us would sit around it and enjoy the view, occasionally roast marshmallows, just sit and talk and have some beverages.

One afternoon, Nathan and his wife Tre and his daughter Holly set up a Jimmy Buffet night. We had steaks, potatoes, Margaritas, and they decorated the area with palm trees and parrots and a tiki bar, and played Jimmy Buffet over the speakers. Everyone got a lai, and we had over 40 people there eating, drinking, and having fun. The food and atmosphere were great and everybody had fun!

Speaking of food, John Dale also set us up with Filets. He brought in a bunch of whole filets, and right there in front of us set up a table, sliced up and prepared the meat, the rice, the whole shebbang, and we had ourselves a gourmet meal. It was...tasty! For dessert, he made Banana Foster, with spiced rum, cooking them over a pan, topped with vanilla ice cream. Man, we all had two helpings of that. You know, we may have been "camping", but we were NOT roughing it with food. Dawn and Charlie made lots of great meals too. We were taken care of EVERY night for supper. Before Oshkosh actually started, we went to Kodiak Jack's for dinner twice, and MAN, that was good too. I had filet one night and crab legs one night, and I could eat those again any day. Deee-licious. Enough about food, I'm making myself hungry, and after all that food, I need a "diet"!

I think I'll stop here for awhile, and put up more stories later. My laundry needs done, my child needs to stop watching TV, and I have a TON of stuff to still put away. But trust me, there's more to say. ;)

Home and Hot

Well, sort of. We're home! A lot happened in a week, I'll have to think about it some tomorrow. For now, I'm very tired, and I think I'll just say "I'm home!" We had an enjoyable week. Aviation and Oshkosh is always a fun thing. I didn't get my internet access after all, but that was okay. In fact, in retrospect it was the best possible thing, allowing me to truly enjoy the week with family and friends without negative outside problems. For now, those are up front on my mind, and I can't really talk about them even though this is My personal blog, which means I can't concentrate on talking about Oshkosh the way it deserves! So I will come back later or tomorrow when I can do that. It was a fun week. It got hot on us, hotter than it was supposed to, but lots of fun things happened, and I did enjoy myself and so did Kaylee. :) And Steve, of course! I have 180 photos! I will try to get them cleaned up and on my photos site within the next few days. We got home around 4 a.m. last night (this morning), didn't hit the bed until 5 a.m.-ish, got up by 10 a.m., and then did a lot of working, cleaning up, putting away, etc. I still have a lot more to do, but I'm dragging, and shouldn't have trouble sleeping tonight!

I WILL say it's good to be home from a few respects--a long, hot shower where I can stand up and leave the water on as long and as hot as I need; a toilet that flushes Normally; the distinct lack of port-o-potty smells; Air conditioning at all times; a King sized bed to stretch out in wiht full comfort all night. Ahhhhhhhhhh, yes! I will miss the company though, and the lack of availability in being reached!

I'll fill you in more tomorrow or so! :)

The Last Supper

It was another busy one, but that's good. We got everything finalized, our stuff packed up and most things out to the trailer and ready to go. Then we ate out at Olive Garden for a fine celebratory supper. Deeelicious. I even ate dessert, and I'm STILL full, hours later.

We have to get up sometime before 5 a.m. to leave the house by 5:30 a.m. to be on the road at Glenndale by 6 a.m. (Let me interject a Yuck here). We're driving with another airport couple, and will hopefully be there in 6-7 hours.

Ah, how could I almost forget again. You know the other day when my car wouldn't start at CVS? A nice $400 later, my car came back to me today. The first place I took it was to the grocery store. I'm standing in line at the grocery store, and I go to pull out my Kroger card from my key chain, and my keys aren't in my purse. Oh yeah. I knew immediately. I had locked my keys in the car. I had no choice but to call Steve and tell him I'd locked my keys in my car. He had to drive from Russiaville, go to the house, hunt down the spare set of keys that weren't where they were supposed to be, then drive to Kroger to come let us in. In the meantime, Kaylee and I sat in the lawn furniture under an outdoor awning thing in the middle of the grocery store. People stared. A few glared. Kaylee would act like a statue when someone came by, and stand there with a pose and a huge grin until they moved on, and then she'd just crack up. Then she acted like a doll where if you pulled her finger, she'd sing and dance for a few phrases, then stop. Then about the 5th time I pulled her finger to make her dance, she fake tooted. It cracked us both up. Which caused even more grouchy shoppers in the aisles to stop and stare at us. I couldn't help it, I was sitting under an awning in the middle of a Kroger in a lounge chair with my grocery cart sitting next to me and my five-year-old grinning at strangers while holding perfectly still in these goofy poses, with my keys locked in the car I'd had less than an hour, pouring rain outside, and now she's fake tooting. A fake toot is always funny, admit it. But in those circumstances, I just couldn't be too much of a grown-up. It's hard to be a grown-up while lounging on patio furniture indoors in public with a dancing laughing tooting kid next to you.

I also have an interesting problem. My fingernails are too long. I've never in my LIFE had to cut or file or trim my fingernails. I have made it 34 years without doing that. And now I'm not sure what to do. Filing with my teeth is bad, right? Ha. I don't like how files feel on my nails, it creeps me out. But I'm guessing if I don't cut them or file them soon, they'll either break off, or bug me so badly I'll pick/bite them again. So...I'll worry about it another day. For now I have to go to bed so I can get up at butt-crack before dawn. *sigh*

I guess I'll catch up with the coming week as I can!

Countdown...

More busy days. Steve was up early to go work/fly/computer again, and we followed behind him a ways. Let's see...today I got a bank deposit ready for SMA Support and took it in, went to my bank to cash a check, then the post office, got gas ($50 to fill up the Jeep! Geesh!), and went to CVS where the good news is one roll of my tubing photos is back, the bad news is that the other ISN'T back, AND I forgot my coupon to save $2.00 at the store. Went from there to home to pick up a check, then out to Sam's Club. Went to write my check at Sam's, and I'd left it at home after I stopped back home to pick it up. Yeah, yeah. Had to improvise. Went from Sam's out to Glenndale where I unloaded the Oshkosh stuff onto the trailer. Spent some time in the trailer putting snacks and drinks in the fridge, and cabinets. It's still miserable hot around here, but at least the air is running in the trailer, so that helped, though I STILL left all sweaty. Got home, unpacked the Sam's Club stuff for the house, did two loads of laundry, started packing my bags, and balanced/reconciled my checking and savings account for SMA Support down to the penny, after six months has gone by (I didn't even know that much time had gone by since I did it!) Took out all the trash in the house, filled up the cat food and water, and shortly here I will fix supper, then clean up some things. The kitchen, the floors, wash our bedding. Finish packing my bags as much as I can. Tomorrow I have one more store trip to make to pick up RV toilet paper (Couldn't find it at Sam's), cokes, and lawn chairs if I can find them (Sam's was out). And I have a flight in the Citabria with a student. Finish packing up the trailer, water the plants...what else am I missing? Well, I'll probably scan in my tubing photos if I have time, catch up my logbook, and write out some house bills. And hey, it's not even 5 pm yet. Plenty of time. ;)

Hot, Humid, Huenormously Hweaty!

Maybe Sunny, Sticky and Super Sweaty so it actually made sense?

Anyway, it's hot. It's been hot all week. Miserable. In the 90's, high humidity, high heat index. Nasty. Have I ever mentioned I hate being hot??

This morning I got up, and took Kaylee out to Glenndale, and she played at the airport while I flew with a student there at the airport in a C-172. I got to solo the student for her first time in a long time, so that was good! Then I borrowed Chuck and his pick-up and hauled the giant Kid Kart box off to Fed Ex and got it on its way. We stopped for lunch at Arby's and met up with Judy there, then came back to Glenndale for a few minutes. I ran home, packed up some of our Oshkosh stuff that is here, and took it back out to the trailer. I went to wash the sink out, and used some water from the tank, and it smelled like sewer water. Ummmmm. Anyway, I got some drinks in the fridge, the other drinks stored, plates, napkins, silverware, bedding and towels. Now, on to the rest of the stuff we need. Tonight I'll make up a grocery list and take it to Sam's Club tomorrow, then haul that stuff out to the trailer. So that when Thursday comes it is just last minute stuff we need and we'll be ready to go first thing Friday morning.

If I can get some billing and SMA Support check stuff done, and the laundry and bag-packing done by tomorrow night, I'll be in good shape!

Nicole and Kaylee are playing again today. Yesterday they started arguing and getting into stuff they shouldn't. Today is starting off that way. In another 20 minutes or so, if they haven't stopped going where they aren't supposed to and doing things they aren't supposed to, I am sending Miss Nicole home so they can both take a break and maybe make better decisions next time. :)

My new iPod ear buds came in today too, for $1.65 on eBay. They are supposed to fit into your ear canal and block out all outside sound. I'm not sure I like them. They DO plug up your ears so that even your own voice sounds funny to you. And my ears are "stingy" as my grandma calls it, they're little, and the buds screw in pretty tight, not sure it's the best fit for my ears. But the sound seems to be really good. If I can get a time where I'm just listening and NOT listening for Kaylee at the same time, it'll be a better test. Right now Kaylee is playing with a friend and I can't be oblivious to all outside sound. I can't even hear the phone with them on! I'll take them to Oshkosh with me too, along with a few novels. Ahhhhhhhhhh

Last night I put in 300 photos into my album. I hadn't put photos in since EASTER. Now that's not like me! I have 250 more photos coming just from July...we've done a lot of stuff this summer! And now heading to Oshkosh it'll be even worse. lol But I'm glad! It means we're having a fun and busy summer! Kaylee's school doesn't start till August 21st, so we still have some time. :)

Hope you're all enjoying your summer as well!

Crazy Day

This day isn't over, but I have to write out part of it anyway before I forget.

When I got up this morning, I had a pretty good-sized list of things to do/errands, so I started in on the phone ones first thing. Things went fine when I called the inverter place to take care of an SMA order I made. Then I called Capital One. And here's where things came to a screeeeching halt. I spoke to someone who put me into the system to do something simple, and they put me on hold, and the bottom line is that I was on hold for over one hour and 40 minutes without speaking to another person. Why did I stay on the line that long, you ask? Because I wanted to see how long it took them to get back to me. THEY NEVER DID. After an hour and 40 minutes, I called them on my cellphone while my home phone was still on hold, and told them how long I was on hold and what I wanted, and I very calmly (probably eerily so) told them I wanted helped NOW, please. The person I got did it, without transferring me, speaking rapidly and calmly, and I was done in five minutes flat. I would have left my other phone on to see how long I was still holding, but man, I had to GO! And my battery was wearing down. Unbelievable. While I was on hold with them, I called and dealt with my Healthcare company, a friend I was calling to ask about something to bring to Oshkosh, did a ton of emails, posted on a board, ate breakfast, etc. I couldn't decide whether to be furious or to laugh, so I laughed angrily, and thus probably the rapid response when I DID get through to a person. ;) Anyway, THAT is done.

Showered up, grabbed Kaylee, snacks, and drinks, and around noon piled into the car to run a marathon of errands. No joking. First stop, the post office. Picking up the mail and a package I had waiting for me (my iPod holder is here!). Then we hit the business bank. After waiting in line for a few minutes, we make it through. Off to Glenndale to pick up a bunch of SMA Support supplies and equipment I needed to send out. I had four people to ship out stuff to. Three I found quickly, the fourth took some effort of hunting around adn compiling things. One of them was a giant box, a Kid Kart. I had brought the Jeep so I could get the box in. It's a big box, very heavy, and no, it didn't fit in the back of the Jeep, either. After I huffed and puffed and lifted that thing up there by myself. So I huffed and puffed and lifted it back into the storage room, sweating profusely in the 95 degree temps. The rest I got though, and headed to the shipping place to send them off. That took some time, but awhile later after that was accomplished, I went to the computer store to pick up a computer for Steve for Cscape. I walk in, and it's not ready. Fine. Get back in, skip the next stop (where I was going to drop the computer off at), hit McDonald's for lunch now that it's 2 p.m. Go from there to Staples and pick up card stock for business cards. Stop at the book store to pick up a couple of things to read while I'm in Oshkosh. Finally make it home at 3:30 p.m. after three and a half hours of solid errand running. I know I'm missing some...

I also need to get to the store and stock up on the rest of the stuff for Oshkosh, but you know what, I'm thinking I will do that TOMORROW! (pant pant)

How could I have forgotten to mention my own personal embarassment story from our trip to Eminence?? We stopped at a gas station, and there was a one-seater restroom. Kaylee takes a long time in the bathrooms, and I had to go too. There was nobody in the men's room right next door, so with Mom standing there too, and Steve saying "hey, nobody's here", I went in to the men's room. As I was finishing up, the door I had thought I locked comes flying open, and there is a man coming in. I saw white shirt, khaki shorts, and an open mouth. I yelped, saw Mom standing there with HER mouth open too, and I am bent over at the waist to cover myself, facing the door, with my pants around my ankles and toilet paper hanging from my right hand. He leaves, I finish up. Now...if you had just walked in on someone of the opposite sex, wouldn't you kind of wander off and let them leave before you came back? Not this guy! I come out of the bathroom and he is standing there leaning against the corner. I made a weak joke that I don't currently remember, then got some snacks, go to head to the counter, and I'm following him. I just want to get away from this guy, you know!? Finally we get out of there, and I think to myself, "at least I am where nobody knows me." I can just picture that guy going to all his buddies and saying "Hey, guess what!" Grooooan. By the way, who makes doors that lock horizontally instead of vertically?? Sheesh...

Well, I have too much to do to sit here! Just had to share the 'joy'. ;)

How do I love thee, let me count the ways...

Or how about just one. I went to the fair today with you, my dear! Did you know it was the hottest day of the year to date? That the banks were reading temperatures of 104? That the heat index was above 110 degrees? That the humidity was awful and there wasn't a breath of wind to save our lives? Did you know that if I go on too many spinny rides in a row, I will get sick, particularly if it's extra-special-hot to boot? But by golly, we went to the fair, and we had a blast. But it sure was the day that almost wasn't. If I believed in bad luck, I'd say we had it today.

Kaylee and I got in the car to run three errands then hit the fair. I was prepared with sunscreen, bottles of water, ponytails, and light-weight and light-colored clothing for us both. We got to CVS to drop off my tubing photos to be developed, and came back out-and the car wouldn't start. Well, technically it would START, it just wouldn't STAY started. I tried for about 10 minues, before reaching for my cellphone to call Steve. No cellphone. Left it at home. Okay, no problem. Went to the pay phone at CVS to call Steve. No dial tone. Pay phone isn't working either. Did I mention it's hot? I am starting to turn red for more than one reason by this point, but I calmly look around and find another pay phone, go across the parking lot to it, and call Steve to inform him of my difficulties. He comes, and Richard and Ann come, and we wait a long time in the parking lot for the tow truck. Did I mention it's hot? Finally tow truck gets here and we all head home in the Jeep. I drop off Steve at home, and Kaylee and I hop into the Jeep to go to the Fair! Finally!

We arrive in one piece, get out of the car, I grab my camera and tell her to stand in front of the fair so I can snap a photo. No battery. During the transfer from cars, apparently my camera got turned on. Not a drop of battery left. So, no photos for this whole, once a year, fair day. Now THAT makes me angry. Although it was one less thing to haul around, but there were SO many great fair photo moments there on this bright (yes, hot) sunny day. You KNOW that drives me nuts. And today's the last day of the fair so I can't even go back and take photos another time. Ah, well.

Anyway, we rode around on various rides, and Kaylee loved it. But she especially loved the fast ones that are too big for her to go on by herself. Which meant I had to go with her. Which was fun the first 7 or 8 times. And then...then I started focusing on how to not get sick. She loved the Scrambler, and it did go really fast. We did a "skateboard" one that flings you up and around in circles. After quite a few of those I was feeling it, and we stopped for ice cream. Um, not the best plan. It was REAL ice cream, the good heavy creamy kind. That sits in your stomach. The Coup de Grace was this circular rollercoaster that goes REALLY fast, frontwards and then backwards, all to blaringly loud rock music. Kaylee was just snorting and screaming with laughter, it was so fast she couldn't even hang on or keep herself from plowing into me, and I just had to hang onto her with one arm to keep her from flying all over the place. She's giggling, and I'm going "Okay, this is my last ride, or I will be leaving pieces of me behind next time." Hot. Fast. Loud. Spinning over and over and over and over and yeah, I'd best stop that right here. We walked around for awhile, and she said "Let's do it again!" and I said "Honey, I hate to tell you, but I'm done going with you on rides, so from now on you have to pick rides you can go on by yourself." "Why, Mommy, I like these rides!" "Because, honey, if I spin around one more time, I'm going to bring up that ice cream I just ate." "Eeeeew!" "Exactly."

We went down a giant slide (she even went by herself then!), the carosel, the huge ferris wheel, swings, the kid's roller coaster, airplanes, the Scrambler, that fast roller coaster, all sorts of stuff. She had a wonderful time. She had bright, happy eyes, a big grin, and a face redder than I've ever seen her face before! That girl was HOT. She drank two entire bottles of water by herself and never stopped to go to the bathroom. Now that is hot. The last thing we did was get an Elephane Ear with cherries and a drink, then we headed on home. I'm still not feeling that well! I think it was the heat as much as anything else, really.

Only for Kaylee would I wander around on hot pavement for almost 3 hours in 100+ degree temps! But she did have a wonderful time, the fair is only here once a year, and I am glad that we made it before they left!

One side note: I was amazed that almost none of the ride operators or vendors were or spoke 'English'. Not that I have a problem with it, but it was odd to be at our county 4-H fair in the middle of heartland, Indiana, and have most of the fair workers be from other countries--I'd never seen that before. As I was spinning around on the rides, I had the same thought I've had every year for the last few years now. "Lord, please let that guy down there who put this thing together know what he's doing!" I didn't care when it was just me riding, but taking Kaylee on some of those, I just tell myself "people ride these constantly. it will not fall apart on your child." So far, so good. ;)

Well, I'd share a photo of her bright red happy face, but my CAMERA didn't work, so I can't. You'll just have to trust me. lol

We got home, had dinner at Cracker Barrel with Chuck & Judy, off to Ritter's for ice cream for dessert, and now Kaylee and Nicole are playing and I am going to go lie down for a minute. I ate too much!

My Poster from Last Week

This actually came from a hangar at an airport in California, and I apologize for anyone offended, but after the week I'd had when I got back from California, I adopted this poster and enjoy the thought, anyway!

Eminence, Missouri

Well, we are home! We had a great time, and got to do some new things. We went to Eminence, Missouri, which is really a very pretty area. Tons of winding roads, woods, rivers, natural springs, just a really pretty location. And boy did we get lucky on the weather. The one full day we were there to river tube, it was clear and calm, but the other days it was stormy and iffy, so it ended up perfect! Muggy as all get out, but it wasn't any better here in Indiana so we were glad to have something fun to do!

We flew into Cape on Wednesday, because the weather was too iffy to go to the little airport by Eminence. Drove on over with Mom & Ernie, a bit less than 3 hours. When we got to the lodge, we really liked it. It was all wood and cast iron and antiques, but clean and neat and modern facilities, right on the river. You can go right down from your room and play in the Current River if you so desire. They'd just had flooding rains, so we didn't do that for safety sake, but we enjoyed the view! The lodge was decorated with blue and white lights that came on at dusk, and it was just really pretty. Wednesday we checked into our room, drove around a bit, looked at town, tried to determine what river tubing activity we were going to do the next day, and visited the first Mill & Spring. It was Oooober hot, and when the breeze stopped you couldn't hardly even breathe. But the springs were so cold, and crystal clear, and bright blue. There are a lot of cliffs and caves in the area too, and we looked around for awhile, walked around for awhile. When we made it back to the lodge after supper, the ladies came inside and went to bed (well, I read a book, but the other two went to bed!) and the gentlemen sat out on the deck and enjoyed the evening.

Thursday we got up and headed into town to pick up things that were left behind for Kaylee. Somehow her suitcase got left in the plane, so we had to head into town and pick up some underwear, swimming gear, and an outfit and toothbrush. After we managed that (they didn't sell swimsuits ironically enough, so she got a shorts outfit to wear in the water), we headed out to go tubing. The place we originally were going to had a change of story and said they only did a six hour tubing tour. Well, good lord. That was just a BIT much for us, so we went to another place and ended up on a 4-hour tubing trip. We packed drinks, sandwiches, and sunscreen, and headed out in a van with our tubes behind us to a drop off spot. They said when we got to a bridge, get out, and they'd come get us. We weren't really sure what we were doing, but by golly we gave it the old college try. It was pretty funny. It was SO hot out there, in the 90's, with mega high humidity, but the water was so cold that you never felt hot in it. These tubes had a mesh bottom, so your legs didn't dangle, which is good because the river isn't that deep. But it's also not perfect because you can't kick with your legs, either. But these tubes had a headrest, and we had a floating cooler attached to Ernie's tube, and Kaylee's tube was attached to Steve's tube by a rope. Mom and I were unattached. I was first down the river, and right off the bat the current took me towards the shore, where I went right into a bank of trees---with a spider web complete with "Charlotte" at my face level. I couldn't get away, couldn't do anything but crash into it, so I was rather bothered. Okay, I panicked. I yelled and kicked and thrashed and felt like throwing up. What can I say, it's called "PHOBIA" for a reason. This of course set the stage for how Kaylee was going to react when HER tube started heading towards trees/shore, but soon enough she got it under control and learned to just duck and relax. I, on the other hand, didn't get over it, and stayed as close to the middle of that river as I could stay. I learned quickly how to paddle, anticipate the currents, use my hand as a rudder. I bruised up the inside of one arm before I figured it out, but after that I had it down pretty well! No more spiders for me! The rest of the trip down the river was a combination of beautiful scenery, relaxing floating, and furious paddling to get where you wanted to go. Sometimes you'd have to choose to go left or right around a river obstacle, a couple of times the current took you where you didn't want to go (like into sticks), and Steve, Ernie and myself all got our butts stuck on or smacked on rocks on the bottom of the river at one point or another. But the water was clear, and cool, and it was a nice trip. I've never done that before, so now I can say I have. We all agreed that it was good that we weren't on the six hour tour, the four hour one was just about perfect! We came out of the river tired, mom was severely sunburned on splotches on her legs and feet (we'll have to discuss proper sunscreen appliation!) but the rest of us were pretty much fine on that end, and we'd had a great time. Kaylee thoroughly enjoyed it too, and when you weren't forcefully paddling to go in a certain direction, the float was relaxing and very pretty. Plus we pretty much had the entire river to ourselves, which was GREAT. Low traffic day. And it was the only day it didn't storm. Perfect! We drove back to the lodge, showered, changed clothes, ate, and then headed to Rocky Falls.

Rocky Falls is a beautiful rock formation waterfall. Kaylee and Steve and I climbed up it, though both Kaylee and I were in flipflops, not the best choice of shoe wear to be climbing on wet, slippery rocks. We took our time and enjoyed the view from up there. I'd love to see it in full water rush! Kaylee really loved the climbing thing this trip, that's for sure! When we got home, there was a fire down below at the lodge, and the boys and Kaylee headed down there for awhile. Steve said that she was chatting with the people around the fire, like a big kid. They had s'mores, and shared one with her, and she interjected her stories with theirs, told them about herself and her family. She did the same thing with a waitress in a restaurant, just chatty and friendly and outgoing. Cute stuff. :)

Friday morning we got up and checked out of the lodge, then headed to another couple of springs. Right when we got to "Big Springs", a downpour happened. We bolted back to the car to stay dry, and when we got out, we went to visit the big cave and springs. While we were there, an inversion fog rolled in over the water, which looked really wild. The sun shining, the water crystal blue, and here comes a white mist floating on top of it, rolling in. Neat stuff. Another spring we went to, "Round Spring", you climbed up on this rock overlooking the spring. No handrails, no nothing. One mis-step and you go down a Loooong way into some seriously deep water. I wonder how many people have fallen in there, seriously. I couldn't get a photo of it though, no perspective to see how far down it was. Oh, and at the cave, it said small children shouldn't take the tour because of the presense of Radon. Um, okay. How'd you like to be the tour guide for that tour? Small children, pregnant women, and people with respiratory issues shouldn't go in, they said. What about the rest of us?! But it didn't open until too late for us anyway, so we just went in to where the gate was, about 100 feet in, and I used the flash on my camera to look around a bit in the pitch black, and then we headed back to the car.

Made it back to Cape, had some supper, including home made peach crepes (YUM), and crashed!

Today we got up, Kaylee played all morning with Grandma, something she just loves to do, and after doing some computer stuff and play time, we packed up the plane and headed home...clear skies ruled all the way home, and the flight home was uneventful. We got home, and I buzzed Glenndale to say "hello" to what is usually a busy day, but didn't hear anybody out there. When we landed at Kokomo, we wiped down the plane, packed up the car, and Chuck called and said they were having a cookout down there and lots of people were there after all. So we got to say "hello" after all. :) Unpacked our bags, had supper, and I'm catching up on emails, photos, and blog. This week we have to get ready for Oshkosh, and tomorrow I'm trying the fair again for its last day in town. Please let the weather work!

I have pictures up on Kaylee's site Here but I have more to put up. On the river, I didn't take my camera (thank HEAVENS), but instead took two disposable waterproof Kodak cameras. I have to turn them in tomorrow and I know it'll be a few days before I get them back. Darned film. ;) Once I do, I'll add any good ones to her site. Here's one of the mill and springs from the first day. Just a really pretty area...

Anyway, we had a lovely, relaxing weekend!

The Day Before

Well, today was supposed to be Fair Day, but it rained. ALL day. It's still raining. Kaylee was pretty upset about it at first, but then I found out that Sunday they will still have rides open from 1-8 pm, and we should be back by then, so I am hoping to take her Sunday, on a hopefully nice weather day, to be able to go do her giant Ferris Wheel ride and the roller coaster she loved last year, etc. She likes all those spinny rides. I remember when I used to like the spinny rides. Now I try to focus so I won't get sick on them. It was her fault-I never used to get motion sickness until I was pregnant with Kaylee, and it never went away! Thankfully that hasn't translated into problems in airplanes or cars yet. There's something funny about the fact I can go up and do aerobatics for 30 minutes and feel just fine, (at least the one time I did that in the last six months), but put me on a kiddy ride, a carosel or a tea cup ride more than twice in a row, and I'm focusing on clenching my teeth and finding a spot to look at that isn't spinning.

Anyway, we ran a bunch of errands today, and I worked on the computer some, and went out to the airport for a bit. When we got home, Kaylee and I went swimming in her pool. I had gotten these underwater-use cameras to take on the raft trip, so I decided to try one out in her pool. It's not digital, so I won't know how the photos came out until I get them developed (oh how I don't miss THOSE days), but I went totally underwater and tried to take a photo of her sticking her head in under water. Problem was, even with my eyes open under water, I couldn't see right where she was, so I probably took six photos of the side of my pool. But, we'll see. She was surprised that I could go under water, and shocked when I held my breath down there to her counting to 25 slowly. Hey, I used to like water too, and swimming, especially under water! It's just that the sun and the heat don't do nice things to my skin. Well, that and my Baywatch Complex. Running in slow motion on a beach without air brushing, good lighting, fake...accessories...and the right music playing in the background just doesn't work for most of us real people out here in swimsuit land. Can I hear an Amen??

Thank you.

Well, I caught up my logbook again other than yesterday's trip to Detroit. Here's a photo of me in Detroit yesterday. Killing time, waiting for the Flight Plan that was Eaten by Lansing Flight Service. Thank you again, Lansing, you messed me up, AND made me later than I already was.

Anyway, now I am off to finish up some laundry and go pack some bags so we can head out hopefully fairly early tomorrow for our trip. This weather had better hold off, too! I'll catch up when I get back, by Sunday!

Detroit & Dirt

Well, this morning I got up early (6:50 IS early for me, thank you!) and by 8 a.m. was on my way to Detroit in the Baron with Chuck. I was going to visit a friend whose daughter was undergoing spinal surgery--a very intensive rod-in-the-back surgery. I was supposed to be there by 9:20 or so, but ended up having a day-long brain fart which kept me turning east instead of west, missing roads, etc. and put me there about 40 minutes later than planned. But hey, in my tour of Detroit, I got to see "8 Mile Road", you know, where good buddy Eminem is from! Those of you who get that, I'm kidding. :) Actually, it took one road off the main road to turn you into an area you *really* didn't want to be. When I turned down an alley to turn around, Chuck asked "Um, where exactly are you taking me?" I told him I was going to score us some drugs so the rest of the drive would be more carefree. A six mile drive took me over 30 minutes. But the trip home went properly, at least the driving back to the airport part!

Oh, some of you know the girl who had the surgery! It's Erinne Williams, the young lady with SMA who four years ago spent 120 days in the Intensive Care Unit, literally at death's door, the little girl who outlasted all the predictions of doctors, who survived something with an 85% fatality rate. Today she had to have spinal fusion surgery, and she came through the surgery fine, and tomorrow they hope to extubate (take her off the ventilator) and begin the recovery process. You can see her website at www.our-sma-angels.com/ErinneRose. :)

The flight home started off with me filing a flight plan to leave Detroit which is Class B (the very busiest in existence type) airspace. Then we had to wait 20 minutes before trying to pick it up, so we just sat in the plane and hung out. Finally we fired up, called in, and...our flight plan had been lost anyway. Now we had two options. Go out VFR (on our own) or file Another flight plan. We went out on our own. What a pain in the hind end. Detroit is very neat-looking from the air, and hey, we even flew into Canadian airspace on the way in! I flew over Windsor, Canada. Here's a photo, though you don't really get the full effect here. Maybe if you can click on it and blow it up or something...Anyway, it was good to get home, several hours later than intended, but it's all good.

After I got home, Kaylee played with Nicole for awhile, and man does she get dirty feet! I don't know what those girls do sometimes, but Kaylee ends up with dirt all over the place. Her feet, her dress, her hair, her face. And I'm kind of glad. She's out there in the sunshine, playing in plants and rocks and dirt and water and with a friend, having a care-free and "old-fashioned" summer. Vacations, family, sweat and dirt. I am thankful for my carefree daughter, for a loving family and home for her and for me and Steve, for a job I love, a mission I love, a hobby I love, and the health we all currently enjoy. Much to be thankful for--including dirt on the feet of a five-year-old who can walk and run and dig and play and whose biggest trial in life is when I finally make her go to bed.

And, as I told a friend today, life is good. I actually have FINGERNAILS right now. Not fake ones. Not bloody nubs. Fingernails. I haven't had fingernails in two years. I have chewed them and picked them until my fingers bleed, literally. And yesterday I just painted them and they look NICE. No blood. A tiny thing in the scheme of things, but it's an indicator of my stress level, which right now is blessedly low. I am happy to have fingernails. To not be picking and gnawing and twitching and irritable to everyone around me. I'm just...happy again. Enjoying life. Now if I could get and keep some things cleaned up around here, I'd be just a Tad happier. And I'm not promising to never bite my nails again, either! ;)

Sunday...

Today was a nice family stay at home day. Kaylee woke Steve up at 3 a.m. or so (she's too smart to wake ME up) and asked him to cuddle with her on the couch, so they did. Watched TV, had a snack, and dozed on the couch for awhile. Later she came back in and fell asleep with Me. Everybody got up late and lazed around for awhile, and it was nice.

Kaylee played with Nicole most of the day. A built-in next door neighbor friend is really helpful sometimes!

I ran to Meijer today and got some supplies for Oshkosh and some swimming things for Kaylee and a waterproof disposable Kodak camera to 1) Take a photo of Kaylee underwater in our little pool and 2) to take lots of safe photos on the river trip we're taking with Mom & Ernie without exposing my good camera to a river. I just lost an iPod in a lake, I'd shoot myself if I lost my camera. In fact, I don't even care to think about it! So I'm bringing it, but while on the water, I'm by george bringing the disposable waterproof ones!

Tonight we had steak and corn on the cob and fresh tomatoes and all sorts of good stuff for supper, with Richard & Ann.

Afterwards, as it was getting dark, I gave Kaylee four giant sparklers to play with. We weren't home on the 4th so they just kind of sat here, and tonight seemed like a good night to use them. Then it's off to bed for her!

I turned on my iPod and listened to it today to see how long it would last. From 10 a.m. until 6:30 p.m. with only one break in between for lunch, it ran solid. Now I'd say the battery works just fine. ;) Oh, and I figured out how to transfer the songs, too! See, you're not SUPPOSED to transfer songs from an iPod to your computer and then back to another iPod. Apple doesn't provide instructions for that. They don't want people ripping off songs, and the software is designed to only send music from iTunes to the iPod, not the other way around. But I mostly figured out the loophole on my own anyway, then found a site that reminded me of a simple step I'd forgotten, and I was good to go. So with the iPod, not only did I get a 15 Gig iPod for $56 plus shipping, I also got over 200 songs on top of it. Now I only kept 80 of them or so, but STILL, at $.99 a pop for songs, I got a deal there!

Tomorrow I may have a trip in the morning, and then maybe get the Cheyenne when I get back. Then Tuesday I take Kaylee to the FAIR (she is Very Excited about it). And Wednesday morning first thing, we head down south to go river rafting adventure with Mom & Ernie! It'll be fun! The next week we pack back up, and off we go to Oshkosh for 7-8 days. Whew...

While I'm in "quotes" mode...

People are often unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered;
Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives;
Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies;
Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you;
Be honest and frank anyway.

What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight;
Build anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous;
Be happy anyway.

The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow;
Do good anyway.

Give the world the best you have and it may just never be enough;
Give the world the best you have anyway.

You see, in the final analysis, it's all between you and God;
It was never between you and them anyway.

~Mother Teresa

As we grow...

As we grow up, we learn that even the one person who wasn't supposed to ever let you down probably will. You will have your heart broken, probably more than once, and it is harder every time. You will break hearts too, so remember how it felt when yours was broken. You will fight with your best friend. You will blame a new love for things an old one did. You will cry because time is passing too fast, and you will eventually lose someone you love.

So take too many pictures, laugh too much, and love like you've never been hurt, because every sixty seconds you spend upset is a minute of happiness you will never get back.

Don't be afraid that your life will end,
be afraid that it will never begin.

~anonymous~

A *Lovely* Saturday!

It was a beautiful day again! Man I love Spring/Summer/Fall when it's not too hot.

Today at 10:30 a.m. I headed to Glenndale, and at noon took a first flight with Nathan's niece in the Citabria. She said she loved it and hopes to slowly take lessons. It was my first "instructing" in the back of the Citabria of a non-pilot in the last 10 years. Felt pretty comfortable. Later went up with Kaylee and she and I goofed around some, and then Steve and I went up and he did some take offs and landings from the front as well.

While I was there, Chuck ran home because the mail had come in, and my new iPod is here! It's charging up as I type this. The guy that sent it didn't clear it out first, so I have a bunch of his songs too! Some were password protected, but most weren't, and I got some good tunes to add to mine. Now if I could only figure out how to get what is on my iPod transferred to iTunes when the iPod is NOT plugged in, that would be great. Anybody know? I've messed with it repeatedly, but because I'm too impatient to let the battery full charge first, I keep having to stop and plug it back in for awhile. ;) Woo-hoo, I'm back in Tune Business! Love it.

Kaylee was such a big girl today, she often stays at the airport on the ground now while both Steve and I go fly, particularly if one of us is just staying in the pattern. She's gotten on the radio a few times and knows how to call us. When she and I went up today (she really likes the Citabria even though it's not a "jet"), she even made the radio call when we did a takeoff. Cute voice saying "Zero Five Tango Departing Runway 18, Glenndale." :)

Steve's tooth in the back of his mouth broke apart, after months of hurting and two years of being cracked. Now he says it doesn't hurt any more. Which is good!

Umm, guess that's about it for now!

From Victor

The very wise 18 year old man who just graduated from high school a couple of weeks ago with SMA. I wanted to share this...

The Human Collage
COMMENTARY
Victor Alvarez

Acceptance can be defined as “favorable reception, approval, tolerance.”

I have discovered from trial and error that, when people embrace their greatest fear, they start to live. When I was 11, I accepted the fact that I could die at any moment: I could choke. I could fall. I could stop breathing. I could get really sick. It was then I began to live. Death was okay. I wasn’t afraid any more. I know it sounds morbid. Death was liberating. It embraced me as a friend, and I was free to learn.

People are prisoners of their fears. If you are afraid of something you avoid it. If you’re afraid of being alone, you surround yourself with people whether or not you care about them and they care about you. You are living a lie.

Another thing—if you can accept that you don’t know everything, that you’re not always right, that you don’t hold the key that opens every door, you can surrender and ask for help. You will then be open to accepting other views.

My friends are a collage of unlike views and values—from the collected, well respected and astute to the wacky, crazy, unpredictable and mesmerizing. I am the product of the ideas I have embraced from them. Some of these characters met each other at my graduation party. They mingled and talked like old friends, and someone told me, “Now I know why you are the way you are.” It was an “aha” moment. Together my friends form a great art piece. I have accepted them for who they are and what they bring to the world.

When I was in sixth grade, my art teacher showed me how to evoke a certain feeling with a single stroke of a pen or paint brush. As I recall, a long stroke evokes sadness. A zigzag line evokes agitation. A dot evokes peace. I created a self-portrait and covered my face with a variety of lines, zigzags and dots to depict the accumulation of emotions I was feeling at that particular time in my life.

This drawing was a starting point in my accepting my own feelings. I realized I did not have to be this person who took on the whole world and never fell apart. Each human being has strengths and weaknesses. When we accept our weaknesses our strengths become even greater.

From the man who collects money on the corner to the CEO of a corporation, we’re all connected below the surface. As humanity, we may be separated by mountains or by water. But we all have the same blood flowing through our veins. Essentially, we are all made out of the stuff of stars.

Albert Einstein once said, “Once you can accept the universe as being something expanding an infinite nothing which is something, wearing stripes with plaid is easy.”

Let's see...

"My" iPod is on its way! Woo-hoo! I can't wait. I've missed it! I also got some new earphones to try with it for $1 plus shipping.

Today I worked on the computer during the morning, then took Kaylee out to Glenndale at noon. We did the airport lunch, then Chuck and I took the Citabria to Kokomo and back. A bit later I flew in the 172 with someone to check them out, and just after that I took the Warrior back to Sheridan and came back with Chuck in the Citabria. Something was wrong with a heating duct under the cowling, and the metal plate and tubing on the floor of the plane was Blistering hot. I was flying along in flip flops (I didn't know I'd be flying when I left the house wearing them!) and my feet were just HOT. I reached down and touched the metal, and when my foot brushed against the side, it literally burned me. I thought briefly about spontaneous combustion, then let that thought go. Hopefully it's fixed now, because that was HOT on a hot day.

Came home, did some emails, some dishes (finally), and worked on the airport billing while Kaylee played with her neighbor friend Nicole. Now I'm folding, stuffing, and licking for the billing so I can get it in the mail tomorrow.

And...that's about it!

July 6, 2006

So I can't think of titles right now; YOU try to think of something different to caption every day. :)

Let's see. Today Kaylee and I both kind of ended up sleeping in, I didn't even hear Steve leave for work. Out Cold. Later that morning, Chuck & I went flying in the Baron, first time in a couple of weeks. It was a nice day for it, and all was well. Landed, I stopped at Wendy's and picked up lunch and headed back to Glenndale. The guys headed out to lunch, so I took Kaylee with me in the Citabria and went up to practice "wheel landings" (land on the two main wheels and keep the tailwheel in the air as long as possible) in it, the first time I'd done them in that plane. I'd only recently done a few in the Decathlon and really didn't do them beautifully. Fortunately for me, either the Citabria is easier or I was on a roll, because I didn't have any trouble with the wheel landings, and that made for an extra nice morning! In fact, may I say, I couldn't have done a nicer one that first landing if my life depended on it, I might even say it was perfect; centerline, rolled on, smooth as glass, tail up until the plane slowed way down, I'll probably never do another like that again, and none of the others were THAT good, so I'm keeping that memory. lol Finished up with that, and just hung out at the airport for most of the day. Ran an errand with Chuck, where I found out that I can get an oxygen tank, a big one, that uses the exact same oxygen as medical oxygen, for a LOT less. Something to keep in mind, folks. Later that afternoon, went back up in the Citabria with Chuck up front, and I practiced some from the back seat because I'll be doing some (primary) instructing out of it this weekend. I wasn't really focusing that well any more, so kinda sloppy, but the take offs and landings were fine. The cushion on the back seat really helps give me JUST enough visibility to make it more comfortable for me. A nice flying day.

Now I'd best get that stuff in my logbook before I fall way behind again...

I have the 4th photos done, but I have to catch up on the photos from when the Cherry's were here first so I can put them in order on Kaylee's site. We certainly wouldn't want photos out of order. That would send me into the corner rocking like Rain Man, you know. But here's a photo of Kaylee with her friends Maggie, Gwennie, and Jamie, watching the fireworks at Nathan's house. Isn't she a cutie pie? Such a happy face, and what good posture! ;)

Hump Day

Well, today is Wednesday, Hump Day as we used to call it, back in the days before that could have been construed in a negative way. The weather was gorgeous today, but I spent most of it indoors. I had some things I needed to think through and talk through with people, and I feel lighter having done so. Then this evening I got a call and headed to Glenndale and did some flying in the Citabria. It was a nice break!

Last night we went to Nathan's house for a 4th of July party, and everyone had a good time. Lots of good food, good company. The kids had fun playing in the basement and the pool, and then when it got dark there was a home fireworks display, and all the kids did sparklers too (and nobody got hurt!), and then we raced in the cars to see the local town display too. Kaylee was sitting next to me on the tailgate of the Jeep, smiling, her fingers in her ears, giggling. She would make comments about this one or that one, and she finally got sleepy and started leaning on me a little. It was...peaceful.

I should have photos up soon, maybe tomorrow. One thing--Kaylee was the second oldest child there, but she was the least water acclimated. There were two year olds splashing and going under water and going down the slide, and she wouldn't leave the steps. Finally I convinced her to go out in a tube, and a very nice man (Chuck's son Brad) was in the water and he was REALLY good with helping her and being patient. I was there at the side watching, and Steve was too. Anyway, by the end Kaylee would go out in the tube on her own and swim around, and she was feeling better. I know if she'd go quite a few more times, that peer pressure alone would help her out in the pool. If only I could take her without having to get in a swim suit in public at a co-workers house in daylight. *sigh*

Oh, and today Chuck found an iPod on eBay for only $56 just like mine! It's funny, it has no accessories with it...which is PERFECT because I already HAVE all the accessories. It's a 15 gig iPod in white which is what mine was, exactly! I said if it comes and it smells like Kentucky Lake, it just had better work. Otherwise, it's like it was just there for ME. I'm so geekily excited to have "my" iPod back!

Guess that's it for now! Here's hoping for blue skies tomorrow!

A Whole New Lattitude...

Isn't that what they call it on the Corona commercial as people relax by a body of water?


I am trying to hang onto that "Om" as I come home, with limited success. I believe my computer will be shut off from now until tonight, as I spend the 4th of July holiday with family and friends.

Whenever I think of the 4th of July, I always think of the Will Smith movie "Independence Day", which came out over this weekend holiday and is one of the few movies I've seen in the theater in years. As cheesy at it sounds, the speech the President gave before they went to try to defend their planet from extinction gave me goosebumps. Freedom and sometimes survival itself is very costly in any arena, from life to business, and heroes come in many packages, not just the muscle-bound flashy ones, but often small, flawed, imperfect ones. In the movie, the drunken crop-duster had just as much guts and heart as the military figher pilots, and was there to do his duty even though everybody else thought he was a waste, useless, whether they wanted him there or not. He had heart and he made a difference. And the real people I know that I consider the strongest are often the ones the rest of the world considers the least important--if they consider them at all. But there they are, day in and day out. The rest of the world can have the muscle-bound flashy ones...I'll take the sometimes flawed, quiet ones with heart any day. I certainly trust their motives more.

On another topic, I never knew how hard it was just to do your best. But it is. It's like the Aesop Fable with the boy, the old man and the donkey. Someone comes along and says "Look at that poor little boy walking next to that donkey, that man should let the boy ride." So the man puts the boy on the donkey. Soon someone else comes along and says "Look at that! That boy riding while that old man walks. What is wrong with people! He should let the old man walk!" So the boy and the man switch places. Someone else comes along and says "Of all the nerve, that donkey can hold them both, why should the boy or the man have to walk?" So the boy hops up on the donkey. Until someone comes along and says "Good grief, look how hot it is, those people should get off the donkey and give him a break! Why, they're almost big enough to carry HIM!" It seems like the rest of the story is that the donkey falls off a bridge and drowns when they try to carry him; the moral being you can please some of the people some of the time but you can't please all of the people all of the time, and if you try, you just have a lot of problems that keep snowballing, hurt your back, get all worried and upset, and lose your donkey to boot. To which I say, NO KIDDING. I'd already learned that awhile ago, and while it was painful I think it was probably an important life lesson. It's made it much easier from there on out to stay uninvolved emotionally as well as literally for the most part in things that aren't really my business, or that I can't change. God bless peace, perspective, persistance, and just doing what you believe is best, no matter who is passing by on the road, muttering about you or your donkey.

Home one more time!

Ah, it's always good to be home, isn't it!

Let's see. "The Cherry Kids" as we call them were here Thursday afternoon through Friday afternoon, and Kaylee crammed in as much cousin time as she could. She enjoyed swimming with them in her pool, having a fire, roasting marshmallows, playing on her playground, and even sleeping on the floor with them all. I think she kept a couple of them awake for awhile...she tends to do that when she gets excited! Anyway, it was great fun at least for her, and I should have photos up on her website soon. :)

They left Friday around 4 pm, and I ran around and packed bags, and we headed out to Kokomo where we grabbed the Baron and flew to Kentucky Lake. We hung out on the house boat for the weekend, and Buddy was it HOT. And muggy. I like California/Vegas MUCH better! Thank heavens for an air conditioned interior on house boats! We had some coolers and lots of food and some good cruising on the water in comfort and Kaylee and Steve went swimming a couple of times. The first day everybody in the water got attacked by a swarm of dead bugs floating on the water. It was nasty. Dead Mayflies in just hordes on top of the water. When I took off Kaylee's swimsuit, she had dead bugs plastered in her hair, on her back, under her swimsuit, etc. Nasty. The next day the water was more clear in that area, thankfully. Though Gayle said that as soon as she got in the water, a huge spider came walking across the water right towards her head. I'd have Freaked Out. Anyway, other than that it was a nice, relaxing weekend as long as you stayed in the shade, or if you're a wimp like me, as long as you stayed where it was cool! I made a few exceptions, one of them the second night sitting on the back of the boat where there was a nice breeze, listening to my iPod. I was out there for quite awhile, and enjoying a beverage and some tunes and a view. When it was time to go in, I stood up, my iPod hooked on something and pulled off my waist, where it hung for a split part of a second hanging on by the ear bud cord...before pulling free and splashing immediately into the 13' deep murky water off the end of the boat. Gone, right like that, in an instant. I was just stunned, I didn't say a word, just held up my empty earbud cords. Later we went fishing with a magnet on an off chance that we could get it, dry it out, reload it and make it work again. Obviously that was a lost cause. And I am now out an iPod that I really really liked and enjoyed that was given to me as a gift. Nothing to walk to on my treadmill anymore, or fly with on practice days, or drive with when I'm alone and want some peace, or work on the computer with so I don't have to listen to cartoons during those times. I am still bummed about it and I don't want to talk about it any more!

But Kaylee really enjoyed the boat, the cruising, sleeping in a little cuttie (spelling), getting into the water with her daddy once she got over the initial freak-out of not being able to touch bottom with her feet, having ice cream, etc. She enjoys having something that has several levels that she can run around on, climb up ladders, etc., and she usually chats with whomever walks by on the dock and says hello to her. Here she is watching the water as we went cruising. Doesn't she look so BIG and mature in this? Well, look at the difference! Here she is this weekend, and in 2003 she is here...

Anyway, we made it home today in about an hour and 10 minutes or less, God bless the Baron! Love that airplane. We beat home some thunderstorms. Got home, and got some cleaner and Steve and I cleaned up the Baron. Nathan is having Opie and Gayle out tomorrow, and I knew he'd want the Baron looking nice, so we wanted to take care of that after being able to borrow the plane for the weekend. It was SO hot and muggy here that we ended up just covered in sweat again before we were done. Got done, stopped at Arby's for supper, came home and I worked on emails and laundry and unpacking bags while Steve immediately had a computer emergency to go take care of. Welcome home! :)