Leaving for WI

Our goal since Eric and I married was to tent camp for the first 5 years and then move up to a pop up camper. Well it has almost been 10, but we have finally arrived! Everything fell into place perfectly. Eric happened to have breakfast at Hy-Vee on Wednesday, he checked the paper and saw the add for the camper. He immediately called and told the guy he would be over to look at it. It is a 13 Ft. '98 Palomino Mustang. It is in a really good shape. The stove and fridge have never been used. We are the third people to own it. I has only been used once in the last three years.

Eric went to the house to see it and another person was there, but the guy said Eric called first, so he gets first dibs. He called me at work and described it. I told him to say we would take it. So we are going to take it on its maiden voyage to WI tonight. We are excited to use it, and Chase is really, really excited to sleep in it. The one bed is a king and the other is a queen. One of the tables folds down into a full size bed. Eric is already trying to figure out how we can get an air conditioner for it.

We are heading to Lake Winnebago for the weekend. My mom is bringing up Hanna and Madi on Saturday afternoon. Then on Sunday Justin, Anne and my girlfriend Sara are coming up to celebrate Chase's birthday. He will then get to stay with my grandparents until Thursday, and then my mom will have him until we meet on Sunday to pick him up. I hope everyone has a safe and fun Memorial Day weekend.

Our Newest Addition

Good Trip

Last Saturday it was really cold for Chase's game, but we persevered. We then came home and packed the car for Lenexa, KS. The trip down went really well. Chase watched his movies and Anthony ate, slept and we played. We checked into our hotel around 4:30pm and then headed over to Miranda and Rob's. We hung out there for awhile and then Rob suggested we check out Powerplay.

It was a really fun place. They had a buffet for $3.99 and then you can buy a card to play the games and rides. It is like Chuck E. Cheese but a lot cooler. They had a great kids area, that Chase just loved with a train to ride on. They had Tilt-a-whirl and swings. Indoor go-karts, laser tag, glow in the dark mini-golf and tons of video games. Miranda, Anthony and I just hung out and talked, while the boys went off and had fun.

Sunday we met for breakfast and then headed to Garden City. We stopped at Wal-Mart and Chase picked out some fake flowers for the vases on Mom's and Grandma's headstones. He picked out some really pretty white and purple flowers. We cleaned off the stones and decided that next year we are going to plant rose bush between the two headstones. We then went into town to see if Eric's dad was home, but he wasn't, so we headed back to Iowa.

For Mother's Day the boys surprised me with a beautiful Mom necklace with a ruby and diamonds. Eric says the boys will have to work it off! We got back to Des Moines aroun 4pm and went to Joe's Crab Shack for dinner. I had crab legs and they were delicious. I had a very nice Mother's Day.

Headin' to Mizzou

Tomorrow after Chase's Bam Bam game we are heading to Kansas City. We are going to visit Miranda and Rob. They are moving to a new apartment on Monday, so we will get to check it out. The hotel we are staying at is suppose to have a pool. So hopefully we can take the boys swimming.

Then on Sunday we are all heading down to Garden City. Eric has been wanting to visit his mom's grave, and I suggested we go on Mother's Day. Eric's grandparents are buried there as well. We will spend some time changing our the flowers and cleaning up, and then take the 4 hour ride home. We have to be home by 7, so we can watch the "Survivor Finale." I am really pulling for Aras.

We hope everyone has a safe, relaxing and Happy Mother's Day! Love to you all.

E-mail and Work

I will no longer be checking my e-mail, writing e-mails or blogging at work. Please write me at my Hotmail account, and I will check it at home. Management recently became aware of how much we were all doing it, so I am making sure to do my part, and stick to work. So now I need to make time after the boys are in bed to blog. I apologize because I may only update once or twice a week for now.

Down and Out

Friday night I started getting a sore throat. I slept very poorly going into Saturday, and woke up with a temp of 101. We went to Chase's game, and afterwards I decided to go to the doctor. They only take walk-in's, so I had to wait almost an hour.

The nurse took my temp again, and it was 102. I told him my symptoms and he said they would do a strep test. I had to wait 15 minutes, and it came back positive. I also had tonsillitis. I had two options. I could have a shot of penicillin or take 10 days of antibiotics. I wanted the medicine to start working as quickly as possible, so I opted for the shot. It was terrible! It took over a minute to get the whole injection in, because he had to stop half way through to make sure he hadn't hit a vain. My head and throat were already pounding, and I got so lightheaded, but I made it through. I then had to wait 15 minutes to make sure I didn't have an allergic reaction. I was finally home two and half hours later.

The doctor said I would feel worse before I would feel better. She was right! I had to force myself to drink water, it hurt so bad. I continued to have a temp until Monday. Finally by Monday night I started feeling a lot better. Tuesday I woke up and almost felt 100%. This morning I woke up and was good to go! The doctor said Anthony is too young to contract strep, so we are watching Chase, but so far so good! Eric was really helpful with taking care of the boys, so I could rest. He even went out and bought me chicken noodle soup!

The Elk's State Convention

The Elk's have two state conventions a year, one in April and one in November. They hold them at the Holiday Inn by the airport. There are six districts in the state of Iowa, and then 10 or so lodges within each district. The Elk's reserve six pool side rooms, and turn them into hospitality rooms for everyone to visit on Friday night. Each room has lots of food and a bar set up. You can go into any one of them to get food and drink, and it doesn't cost a dime. Then they had a bunch of tables set up in the atrium pool area, and a dee-jay.

I discovered that even the older folks weren't afraid to get up and cut a rug. It was a lot of fun watching them dance. Another couple we are friends with, showed up around 8. I then had a dance partner. Misty and I had a lot of fun. Then came the slow dances. One would think her husband would ask her to dance...I waited and waited. Finally our friend Jim asked for a dance. I think Eric was relieved he didn't have to get out there! Jim was a lot of fun to dance with. We whirled and twirled and really enjoyed ourselves. At 11pm the Elk's do a toast to all the brother's who have past on. They read a really nice poem, and then the festivities wrapped up for the night. There was a bunch of meeting on Saturday, but since Eric isn't a trustee, and he doesn't hold a position, he didn't have to be there.

AAA to the Rescue

I left work Thursday night and went to start the Tahoe, and nothing happened. I had battery power, I had gas in the tank, but no fire. I tried several more times turning over the motor, but I wasn't going anywhere.

I called Eric and he came over with the mechanic from G&K. They tried a couple of things and then Eric declared, "Call Triple A, we need a tow." Eric and Jeff thought it was the fuel pump, and indeed it was. I waited for the tow truck while, Eric went back to bring me his truck. He still had to work some more.

The tow truck showed up in about 45 minutes. The driver was very cordial, with dirty teeth and B.O. you could smell a mile away. He sat in my truck for all of 20 seconds, and his stench just lingered. I made sure to wash the steering wheel off when I picked up the truck on Friday. We had it towed to Midas, and Tom fixed her right up on Friday. He was good enough to call Eric and have him buy the fuel pump from O'Reillys, rather than paying the extra $300 Midas would have charged us for the part. Eric just received his bonus, which was great timing. However, it isn't much fun forking over the money for a necessity, rather than something fun!

Here is the icing on the cake. Eric called me Tuesday morning at 6am. He was at Hy-Vee getting food for their morning meeting. He went out to start his truck, and it was dead. The fuel pump went out in his truck 5 days after mine. We have the Gold Triple A card, which means we have extended towing. So Eric had them tow it to Jody's shop in Knoxville. Since it is an older vehicle, Eric and Jody are going to fix it. We just couldn't believe both our vehicles needed new pumps. Then yesterday, one of Eric's route guys was stranded, and the fuel pump was out of that truck too! What a strange coincidence.