The Howard Family, Newport OR, 6/13/2010 - 6/20/2010

A year ago we made reservations for us and all of our kids and their families to get together in Newport, OR, at our Thousand Trails Park, Whaler's Rest.
We have been looking forward to it for a whole year. It has been three years since we have all been together at the same time.

There was lots to do at Whaler's Rest. Wesley and Sean had to take on Jill in a tennis match. Jill has been playing in a tennis league in Idaho Falls and she and her partner have been beating almost everyone. It was a little different for her to play her two nephews by herself.

Some of us tried out the Frisbee golf course. It was a lot of fun. We played with Jill, Kamber, Chaz, Wesley, and Boe.

Sarah took some of the kids to play miniature golf. It was a fun course and everyone had a good time.

Later, Jenna, JT, Lindee, and Luke found a big banana slug to examine.

We found a really good spot for a family picture on the trail down to the beach. We surprised the kids with tee-shirts--each family with a different color. Travis is blue, Shay is gold, Ryan is orange, Sarah is green, and Jill is red. We had Sue, a good friend of ours who was at the park that week with her husband, Jim, and grandson, Jake, take the pictures for us. She did a really good job!

Here we are with all of our grandkids. What a great group!

Each family did one evening meal during the week and we ate together every night.

We had great meals and, even though we sometimes went separate ways during the day, or just two or three families, we could all meet back together for dinner each evening.

One day we went to visit a lighthouse. It is one that is still used to guide boats.

Most of the gang were with us as we headed to the lighthouse to climb to the top.

Lindee was a little too short to be allowed to climb the stairs so we stayed outside and watched everyone else and the great scenery.

One of the first things we did was go crabbing. We had two crab pots, Shay had a couple of small ones that fit on fishing poles, and we usually rented a couple more.

We sometimes caught more than crabs. Nate and Luke are showing off a starfish that came up with the crabs.

Everyone worked hard at pulling in the crab pots.

Even Marissa was brave enough to hold a crab. We caught enough that everyone who wanted some got to take some back to camp for a treat that afternoon.

We spent time every day in the Family Club House at the park. Here Tyson, JT, and Ryley are playing a game.

Jenna, Kamber, and Emily put on some really good puppet shows for everyone.

Lindee, being the youngest, just hung out playing, mostly by herself.

Boe and Luke spent quite a bit of time working on improving their pool skills.

Nate showed them how to reach those "long ones."

Tyson and Chaz are enjoying some "cousin time" together.

Spencer and Marissa, the oldest of the cousins, were pretty much inseparable except when their families went to different activities. All of our grandkids have at least one cousin who is close to 3 months difference in age, except for Lindee. It was so much fun seeing them play and have fun together. They all got along well and had a good time.

Of course, you can't get the Howards together without a little pinochle playing. Sarah is trying to beat her dad at a game of two-handed pinochle. The adults all got together every night after the kids were settled for the night and closed the clubhouse down playing games.

We had a ping-pong table in our home as the kids were growing up, so they all like to play it. Jill and Travis challenged . . .

. . . Ryan and Shay. I am not sure who won, but it was a wild game!

Most of us spent time at the tide pools at one time or another.

We all found lots of treasures to take home. One of my "treasures" still had a critter inside of it and a week later it was still in my jacket pocket and we kept thinking we had a dead mouse somewhere in our 5th-wheel, until we finally realized where the smell was coming from!

Of course, we spent lots of time on the beach. It was right across the road from the park.

Josh and Nate bury their feet in the sand.

Wesley is showing Mom and Boe his latest "find."

They all had fun building things in the sand and then watching the waves come up and making them disappear. Once in a while they were caught off guard by a surprise wave. What fun to be at the ocean!

Several weeks before our get-together, I became a "Scentsy" consultant. Scentsy is a wickless candle that heats up in warmers and gives off very nice smells. I am going to take it on the road when we get back to traveling. It is a great product and lots of fun. The girls let me practice on them and then I set my display up for the first time at the craft show in the Park the Saturday morning before we left.

We had a great time with our kids and grandkids. I hope we can do it again--maybe in two years. Travis says he wants to go to Cascade or McCall, ID, next time. As I am writing this, Terry and I are camping at Cascade and we have a spot all picked out, so get ready Kids!

Headed to Idaho, May-June 2010

Our plans for the rest of the spring were to go on to Palm Springs, Yosemite National Park, Yuba City, and then on up to Idaho. But, for some reason Terry got this bee in his bonnet that he wanted to go home early. His excuse was that he wanted to plant a garden! So, we headed up through Utah, stayed at my Aunt and Uncle's place for a few days where we got to see quite a few of our my relatives. Then we landed in Rexburg at Jill's and got to watch our granddaughter's recital and our grandson's baseball game. I didn't take many pictures, but we also got to see Sarah and family and Shay and his family. We had a great time with all of them.


Kamber did a great job in her recital and Boe hit a home run!

We did make it home and Terry built his first ever grow box garden. The weather didn't cooperate really well and we had to plant it several times, but it is doing good now. When we knew we were coming home early, I contacted the current Gem County Clerk and asked if she could use any help at the election precincts, since we would be there during Idaho's Primary Election. She said that she actually had a position open in the Courthouse for six weeks to help with the absentee voting and asked if I would be willing to do that. I thought that would be kind fun going back to the Courthouse after serving as the Elected County Clerk for eight years. I also got to work one of the precincts on election day. It was a lot of fun working again after being retired for 3 1/2 years. But, it also let me know that I really would not like having to go back to an 8:00-5:00 job again!

I did take time off from my Courthouse job to go to Charlotte, NC, with my sister, Lorrie, to watch my niece, Megan, run in the Collegiate National Steeplechase race. She has been on the Humbolt State University track team for the last four years. Lorrie and I made these shirts with Megan's name splashed all over it to wear to the competition. Then after the meet, I gave my shirt to Megan.

Megan did so good! She place sixth in the Nation and got All American. She bettered her PR and broke her school record. It was the best race she had run in the last four years! What a way to finish her college track career. She will be pinned as an RN in December. We are so proud of her!

Lorrie and I had a blast running around Charlotte. We used the public transit system and missed our stop a few times. Our adventures actually started on the plane ride from Boise to Chicago when they closed the airport there because of a lightning storm. We had to fly around in the sky waiting for the airport to open, until we almost ran out of fuel and had to land in Madison, Wisconsin. Then by the time we got to Chicago, we had missed our connection to Charlotte. We would have had to spend the night in the airport except we were lucky enough to get stand-by tickets for later that night, even though we were number 21 and 22! We had a great time!

My brother's son, Mike, Jr., got married this summer. We were lucky enough to be in town when it happened and got to go. They actually got married in Filer, ID, which was a 3-hour drive from Emmett. My brother Bill came from Portland and our kids Shay and Jill came. We all rode with my sister Lorrie in her daughter's van. The trip was as much fun as the wedding. Congratulations to Mike and Aimee!

Babysitting in Payson 4/8/2010 - 4/23/2010

Travis and Shannon went on a Mediterranean Cruise and we got to watch the four boys for, what was supposed to be, about 11 days and turned into 16 . They left on a Thursday and on the next Wednesday, a volcano erupted in Iceland, which closed down the Heathrow Airport in London. They stayed an extra three days in Scotland and and the last two days in London. They were some of the lucky ones that didn't have to sleep in the airport for five days! They got an extended vacation and we had the boys for an extra 5 days!

One evening the boys and I made cookies from an "Easter cookie mix" that their Mom hadn't made and each of the boys came up with their own cookie shapes. They did a good job, everything from a golf club to a volcano, Mickey Mouse, and flowers, and the cookies were delicious!

On Taco Tuesday we had to get tacos from Del Taco. We got 30 tacos and Grandpa and Spencer had a contest to see who could eat the most. I think Spencer won by one taco!

Ryan and Lori also live in Payson and it happened to be Lori's birthday while we were there. So, we got an ice cream birthday cake and took it to her house to celebrate with her.

Ryan's kids, Wesley and Ryley, and Nicholas had soccer games we got to go to. It was a little cool a couple of the evenings but it was fun getting to see them play.

Spencer is quite the musician. He is pretty much self taught on the guitar. After taking some piano lessons from his mom, he can read music, although he mostly plays by ear. He played a little for us while we were there.

Josh doesn't have much of a yard to play in so he rides his toys on the deck. We spent quite a bit of time out there when the weather was nice.

We communicated with Travis and Shannon through e-mail and through texting on the phone (my first attempt at texting!). Terry even took a turn at the computer once in a while (although I think he is playing solitaire here!)

Josh and Chaz had a couple of "play days" together while we were there. They sure have fun together.

Grandpa and Josh having a "quiet time" together one afternoon. I am not surprised that Josh is not sleeping. He says "Grandpa snores too loud!"

This picture is kind of blurry, but I had to put it on and show the treats that Nate and Nic won from me. Before Travis and Shannon left they gave me a container of soft mints. The boys really liked them. I had a hard time keeping Nic and Nate's names straight so I told them that each time I called them by the wrong name, I would give them a mint in their sack. It helped me pay attention a little bit better and use their right names, but I still lost a few of my mints!

We made a "Welcome Home" sign for Travis and Shannon. As Terry was putting it up, he wanted to leave it with the first three letters missing! He thought that "COME HOME" was more how he was feeling than the "Welcome Home." I think the boys were probably as ready for their folks to get home as we were! You can only take so much of Grandma and Grandpa!

Although the boys were anxious to have their Mom and Dad home, they were very excited to see what treasures they would get for being such good kids for Grandma and Grandpa. We had a fun time with the boys and are now anxious to get back to our "normal" lifestyle--living in our RV and all of the fun and exciting things that go with it!