Arkansas Trip

 Our nephew had gotten married last October and they (Bruce and Jamie) decided to hold off on a party till this summer. In Arkansas. It was last weekend. Mike’s sister Kathy, and her daughter and her husband were coming over from Phoenix and we really wanted to see them.

I got us a VRBO on the white river for a week so we could relax, fish, and spend some time with family. Daughter Stacy wanted to come down so I invited her to stay with us. She could only get away for 2 nights. She drove the 8.5 hours all by herself. So glad she came.

Patio was the place to be

Wildlife was a plenty. Mike and I took our morning walks alone the river on a private road. We saw an Arkansas squirrel. At least that’s what I called them.

Armadillo 

The fish were huge, but I only caught the trees overhead. 4 times and I left my hook, sinkers and bobbers behind in the damn branches every time.

Big fish who were not interested in my bait

The party was at his uncle’s house (on his father’s side).It was so hot, but they had tables set up in a pole barn and there was plenty of shade. I avoided going in and out of the house. Don’t need to be reminded how hot it was. Just stayed hot.

Backyard selfie

 We got some family pictures taken. 

Back row groom, Bruce, Larry, Mike, Me
Second row is Niece, Mellisa and Stacy 
Front row is sister Kathy and bride Jamie 

 

Mike and Kathy

Mike and I  haven’t been able to take a vacation for awhile, so this was a much needed getaway. I glad I found  this house. It was the perfect spot to be a part of everything away from it all - if that makes sense! Mike grilled and I cooked. Stayed away from people and other vacationers.

AND the best part of the whole trip was our stop on the way down. We stopped at….

My happy place

Puzzle Warehouse!

I could spend hours just looking around.  I was a little disappointed in the selection of 1500 and up piece puzzles. I did find 5 different puzzles brands that I haven’t fixed before and Mike talked me into getting all of them. Wasn’t very hard for him I will admit. I was pretty easy to convince.

Found some I wanted

There was a girl working there at a table sorting thru some pieces. I stopped to put a piece in and told her if you love puzzling you can’t walk by a puzzle without putting a piece in - it’s a law!

She told me she understood…

 

Garage Makeover

 Our garage floor was deteriorated. It needed help. A few years ago we had to have parts of it lifted the cracks were so bad we would trip on them.

Since then it has become crumbling and stained.

When we got a door hanger from a neighbor (who we know) promoting his business of garage floor cement finishes and coating, I took it as sign that the time is now! So I called Jason and he came over that night. It was a Tuesday. He gave a great price (we had to pay in cash 😁) and told us he had an opening that weekend. 

Our garage is The place for all our outdoor needs. It was going to be a major job moving everything out. Our patio was crowded after the move.

Everything out the door or up off the floor

My first priority was to get the really old cabinets a new coat of paint before they come.

Before 

After

Jason and his crew showed up bright and early Saturday morning. 

They sanded 

 

They sealed all the cracks and put a coat of cement on our stoop into the house

They painted the base coat

They had so many color to choose from. I picked out 3 I liked and Mike choose (which he NEVER does) the final color. Desert Sand. 

The Crew

After they threw down the flecks and sealed up the garage - we had rain in the forecast. Sunday they came back put the final coat of sealer and we had an awesome new garage floor.

New brown floor

It is so beautiful. And the walls were so ugly we decided to paint them before we purged, and put the important stuff back in. The walls are all pegboard, so I had the bright idea to spray paint instead of trying to roll over all the holes. I ordered a sprayer on Amazon that was battery operated so Mike wouldn’t have to deal with an extension cord.

Mike painting

I covered all the areas I didn’t wanted painted with garbage bags and Mike went to town. That was until the batteries ran out. I may have gone too cheap on the sprayer - the batteries (it came with 2) lasted about 40 minutes and took 7 hours to charge. Plan B borrow a sprayer from the brother-in-law, Bill. Couldn’t get the thing to work. He warned us it was old. We broke down and got a better sprayer from Menards to finish.

A sprayer that worked

2 weeks later everything we thought we needed was in the trash. The garage was organized with the stuff we wanted to keep And Our cars are now parked in their garage with the new floor. 

Bucket List Adventure

 For Christmas Stacy got us  REI. (Reach Interntional Outfitters). It’s a box with 50 cards in it all with adventure getaways. She chose Illinois for us.    

Our first choice

We chose a low cost, active, outdoors, spring, all day, card. The place was Hanna City. It is a very small town just west of Peoria. (2 hours and 40 minutes away). When we scratch it off we found a QR code for a wildlife Adventure Park. We checked out their website and saw that they had cabins to rent, so we booked one for 2 nights.

I texted Stacy to let her know we were both very excited to set out on our first trip.

When we finally found the park my first thought was OMG this is gonna be fun. 

Park closed at 4

We got maps and brochures with trails  and walks thru the animals  pins so we could plan our 1st day.

Our cabin was right next to the buffalo and elk pin. Walk out to the patio and have lunch with the elk. Still mad at myself for not getting a picture of the albino buffalos.

Mike sitting on the patio

The cabin was new with 2 bedrooms a full kitchen and a fireplace, which we did not need. The temp was 80. I brought our meals with us because when Mike researched the area there were no restaurants near by and we really didn’t want to spend time driving. The only concern was that there was no Wi-Fi so no TV. We both brought books to read, but with the weather so perfect we really wanted to be outside.

The next morning we spent walking around the animal park. It was NOT crowded.I learned that the skunk smell that Sharen and  I were smelling a lot lately when walking in the mornings was from foxes (mating) not actual skunks.

Animal park start

We were definitely getting our steps in. 

After Taking a break for lunch we had more to see - so we hopped on the train that ran thru the park. It was not built for adults. 

We got a ticket to ride 🎶

We passed by a guy fishing from a kayak in a hidden lake.

Mike spotted the lake on one of the maps so with map in hand we go off looking for the hidden lake trail. 

Sure this is the trail we want

We walked 4 miles and never found the damn lake. I was pretty proud of myself I made it without sitting down once. They left tempting spots along the trail too.

It was such a great few days. This may be  Do over.

By Buffalo Park

We can’t wait to go on our next adventure. 

49 more cards to choose from.

Thank You Stacy for thinking of us with this gift. Perfect!

Instagram Inspired

 I really try hard to stay off of social media. I’ll skip thru Mike’s Facebook account to see if family has posted. I do have an instagram account that I find myself getting caught up in, especially when the quilters and crafters show up.

I like to see the garage sale and the thrift store buyers transform trash into not trash.

When this one lady bough these ugly old Christmas houses and painted them (though gold, ick). I’m thinking “I got an old Christmas village in the basement.” I can so do this.. with my ugly houses. It’s been down there in the box for quite a few years.” I think it was from 1984 when Linda and I were selling “Christmas around the world” . Who remembers them home parties?

Old Christmas village

I took out 4 houses that I thought would look good as gingerbread houses and spray painted them brown.

The easy part - plain brown

Now comes the fun part. I got my craft paint from the basement and sat down to some serious painting.

Lots of painting

Here they are about half painted. I realized that they all needed to be different - except that each one had to have a heart somewhere on them. It took me 4 days to where I was satisfied with them. 

They are now displayed on my kitchen counter next to the new cookie jar that Sharen got me.

Every year for our birthday and Christmas Sharen and I go shopping together at Hoppy Lobby. What I want I put in her cart and she puts her gift in mine. We are both mindful of the costs, but sometimes you just don’t care. When I saw that cookie jar I had to have it, not looking at the price at all. Sharen didn’t care either. When she figured I spent a little more than she did (both still not caring) she went back with me and bought me the little trees for my gingerbread village. I guess I have to call my new village TwinTown. We both had a part in it.

TwinTown

Pretty sure this display will be out each year.

Logan’s graduation

 It was a very cold (thermostat on the car said -2) morning, but we were not about to miss watching our grandson Logan walk across the Northern Illinois University stage to receive his diploma.

I know everyone says how hard they all work, blah, blah, blah - but Logan worked so hard and never gave up. He went to classes part time and worked 2 jobs. He worked at Menards in the yard and was part of the coaching staff at Byron HS who took the school to state and winning 3 out of the last 5 years. He has a deep love for coaching and has never wavered at his goal of one day becoming a head coach somewhere. He is well on his way.

Mike and I were a bit confused - ok a lot confused - on how to scan the code to get to the program. This is the program?!? Pretty sure you can’t save that in their memory box.

Today’s program

Congratulations 

Entrance on the Jumbotron 

I feel very grateful to be a part of such a special time in his life and to celebrate him and his journey. 

Dream big Logan! Grandma Karen is praying for great things for you. I am sure you are ready for your next chapter and you’ll face it with determination and confidence. I’m really proud of you.

That’s my Grandson

The Nutcracker

 The fifth grade at MSW put on their annual Nutcracker and Owen had a big part. This will be our last one. You would think I would understand the play by now, but Roger was a toy solider, Luke was a clown so when Owen said he was Uncle Dosselmeyer I had to look it up to find out his role. The curtain opens and there he is!

Owen opens the show

He does appear thru out the play.

He was so good, knew all his lines and gave a great performance. He does admit he enjoys acting., and it shows. I was so proud of him. 

He even made the advertising poster.

It was our last time seeing the Nutcracker, but I’m sure it is not the last time we see him on stage.

I’m usually right on top of getting pictures, but I really just wanted to sit back and enjoy the play. So, thanks to Bryan who was at both performances and shared these pictures with me.

Thanksgiving

 It’s been awhile since I hosted thanksgiving and I missed it. I missed the family being together. 

I planned it for early dinner. Bryan and the boys were playing in the annual turkey bowl (Owen came home with the MVP) so it made sense to have eats at noon. Logan and Nicole were celebrating with Nicole’s family and Dylan was spending the day with his new girlfriend Regan and her family. 

We had  a table full of food and  family and it was wonderful.

Dinner table

Our children

Our grandchildren who were there

Happy thanksgiving 2025.