Are we sure it's July!

Yesterday I woke up to temperatures in the 50's!  That was a cold walk.  Again this morning it is cool.  Not as cool as yesterday but in the 60's.  Of course there is always a breeze blowing in Amarillo.  Sometimes the word breeze doesn't come close to qualifying what is blowing around here.  Though unusual, it has been nice not sweltering in the heat.  I hope it lasts a few more days.  Doug has decided that it must be us and is trying to figure out how to sell this weather.  When we left Arkansas it was raining.  After arriving in Houston, they had more rain than ever anticipated.  Flooding has abounded and there is no draught.  We moved on to Amarillo, and you guessed it.  More rain and flooding.  I think the people of California would pay us a pretty penny to come and bring rain there.  They may not let us back in Arkansas though... LOL

 We are having fun with the grands.  This one is a mess.  He is so funny and all boy.

                                          He found the doggy door.  Probably not a good thing.

We took the kids swimming.  It was a first for Logan.  He loved it.  He especially liked splashing us all.
Today is his actual birthday.  Since his dad had to work on this day we celebrated on the 4th.  We did however save a couple of presents for him to open today.  Can't believe it's been a year already.  Happy 1st Birthday Logan!

Hope everyone had a great and safe 4th!

We had a great family day on the 4th.  We smoked some chicken wings and Lori cooked a pork butt.  Yum it was good.  Logan will turn one on July 8th.  On this weekday, Brian will have to work so it was decided to have his First birthday party on the 4th.  We got things cooking and headed to Canyon, TX for their 4th of July celebration.

                                   Of course, the center to every town square is the Court House.

            There were all kinds of vendors.  Even this motorhome, which was a boutique on wheels!

Ashlynn took a turn trying to climb the rock wall.  She should have worn tennis shoes and not flip flops.

                           Logan got his first taste of a funnel cake and he loved it.  (of course)

The kids played in the floor while we finished up food prep.

                                  Logan loves to climb.  You have to keep an eye on that boy!

Then we had a birthday party!

                                                         This cake was for just Logan.

 He loves Mickey Mouse.  He even got to meet him at Disney World this summer. The new Mickey even talks!

Logan really enjoyed his first birthday cake!

This is all that was left of it.  Most of it was in his hair, hands and floor.  The dogs loved it too.  LOL

It was a great time with a great little family.  I hope that everyone had a happy and safe 4th of July.  Thank you so much to all that have served to make this country free and safe.

Well this wasn't a good day

Things must have been going too well.  Doug installed new LED lights over the couch.  I have more coming in for the other side of the RV.

They are very bright and I am happy with them.  From there it's downhill.  We started getting ready to roll this morning.  Doug was checking all the tires to make sure they were properly inflated since we have been here so long.  While doing that he noticed that the front passenger side tire was leaking oil.  Oil, you say.  How can a tire leak oil.  You got me...  well it wasn't the tire it was the wheel.  It seems that we had a busted seal.  We called Good Sams for help finding someone to repair it.  The dufus that they used subcontracted out the work.  The problem with that is he told his contractor it was a tire problem.  He doesn't bring the right tools to fix the problem.  By this time it's noon and we are no closer to leaving than we were the day before.  The guy says he can't do anything for us and leaves but before he does he tells us that there is someone next door to RV park that can probably fix our problem.
So we take the motorhome next door to a "outside storage/open-your-on-shop-under-a-tent garage.  LOL

 They had the part off in less that 10 minutes.  Then I drove to Houston Freightliner to get the replacement part.  This place is open 24/7 so you wouldn't think that it would be so busy that there was a line out the door waiting to be waited on.  Yep, I spent 2 hours in line waiting to get the part.  When I left the line still went out the door.  This is such a common problem they offer free soda drinks, popcorn and I guess in the a.m., donuts.  There was a large donut case that had a sign on it, "Keep Calm and eat a Donut!"  LOL

 By the time I got back with the part it was almost 6:00.  The RV park we have been staying in was closed.  It's gated and I had turned in our remote control for the gate.

At my urging, we decided to leave and head to Waco.  It is only a couple hundred miles.  We didn't get into Waco until after 9.  The GPS made us miss our exit.  It was saying, in 2 miles take exit 346.  I look up and we are passing exit 346.  The next two exits were wrong.  By now our windshield is covered in dead bugs, its dark and we can't see a thing.  On top of that they are doing road construction in this area.  We miss our turn twice because of poor vision.  I am praying Lord just get us there, we will never drive after dark again.  We weave in and out of construction cones, jump a couple of curbs and finally make it to the RV park.

I hope tomorrow is a better day.  Later 

Moving on down the road

Today was our last day here in Houston.  We have sure enjoyed these last 3 1/2 months and it will be so hard to leave that baby.  We will head to Amarillo for a couple of weeks to see our other two grandchildren before heading home.

Our granddaughter just returned from her first Girl Scout camp.  I look forward to hearing all about it.

We have a lot to do back home, preparing the house to be put on the market.  Downsizing years of just "stuff".  I haven't missed anything at the house, so how much do I really need?  Short post tonight, we have a long drive tomorrow.  10 1/2 hours according to GPS.  Later!

A fun day at Johnson Space Center and Kemah Boardwalk

With a nice break in the weather, Debbie and I set out for a fun-filled day at NASA's Johnson Space Center.

 One of the first things we did was take the tour of the grounds.  We got to enter Mission Control.  This room is exactly as it was when the Apollo missions were ongoing.  Specifically the Moon landing.  The current Mission Control is one floor below this one.  Would loved to have seen it but they have a current mission on the space station and they work 24/7 in that room.  They let us see live feed on the tv's of what was happening in there.  Just a bunch of people staring at monitors.  LOL

                            These are the emblems that the astronauts designed for each mission.

                                                                        The SaturnV

                                   NASA's newest shuttle, the Orion.  It is being tested now.

                                                                    The largest meteorite.

If you are in the Houston area, this is well worth your time.  I really enjoyed my time there.   We left the Space Center and headed for Kemah Boardwalk.

 This was a very interesting area.  Lots of shops, restaurants, carnival type games and of course rides.

Of course there were lots of boats in the water too.  But this time there were even more boats in the streets and parking lots.  This weekend they had closed them for the 8th Annual Offshore Performance Display & Stampede Street Party!  Huge cigarette boats were everywhere. Also going on tonight was Rock the Dock Concert Series.  Check it out at kemahboardwalk.com

                                                                    It was a fun day!

A fairly good report for Doug

Today Doug went to the hospital for an angiogram.  He had no blockages and just a very little plaque.  He is still in Afib but this will be treated with medications.  His heart muscle is weak and his ejection fraction rate is 40 and should be at least 55.  He will need to do cardio to help this.  All in all his report was good.  The hard part of the day was the lying flat for 6 hours.  It was around 6:30 when we left the hospital.
We will be here in Houston for at least another 2 weeks so that both of us can see the doctor before we leave.  We both have spent too much time in doctors offices and hospitals this trip.