Grandkid’s Summer 2013 Vacation #1–Update #2

Monday morning, we wrapped up our weekend at the Bastrop KOA, with the kids taking final swim in the pool.  They also visited the small playground with Patsy….

By noon, they showered and we were packed and headed on our way to Lockhart State Park…………. a quick 40 mile trip. 

We arrived and got set up by 1:00pm, and due to the heat, we watched a movie on the DVD, and rested until about 3:30pm.  Then it was time for the pool……….

We left about 6:30pm to pickup some BBQ at Kreuz Market in Lockhart…. my favorite BBQ sausage place!!  After eating dinner, the kids decided that they were too tired to go for more swimming.  In a way, that worked out well, because the pool at Lockhart State Park is closed on Tuesdays, and we would have had to go to the local city pool. 

Instead, we planned other activities during the evening.  The plan will be shown in tomorrow’s blog!

Grandkid’s Summer 2013 Vacation #1–Update #1

We left home at about 9:00am on Saturday morning, and arrived at the Bastrop KOA at about 11:00.  Once we got here, Patsy and I remembered that we had been here before, but that time, it was not a KOA.  This was about 9 years ago when we joined a camping club out of Houston, TX that eventually died and some of the members formed the current Camping Friends Club.

Before we left, the kids helped us with the yard.  Matthew mowed (first time), and Aubrey blew the grass clippings off the driveway.  Aubrey saw me taking pictures of Matthew mowing and asked me if I was going to take a picture of her blowing?  She happened to be sitting in a chair blowing bubbles…… so I thought that was what she was talking about……

That was when I got the following “look”, and she said ‘No, blowing the driveway!!”

So, here they are working……

After we got set up in our site, which was right across from the swimming pool, they hit the water, and were in and out of it for the rest of the day.  At times, they had the whole complex to themselves.  The “Splash Park” was considerably less than what I had envisioned, but the kids really had fun.  Here are some pictures……

Aubrey was proud of her new shirt that Grammie found for her at Kohl’s….

Sunday started out with more swimming as soon as the pool opened!

I am going to close out by posting a couple pictures of signs.  The first one is for my buddy, Mark Didelot, who is jealous of my ability to make U-Turns with the motorhome….. a lot of them……

I also sent the following to my daughter-in-law, who told us not to overfeed the kids…………….

Actually, I found a reference to a ‘sign making’ site on the internet where you can create a lot of neat signs…….. and the kid in me just could not resist!!!!

Grandkid’s Summer 2013 Vacation #1

Currently, we have two separate vacation trips planned Matthew and Aubrey this summer.  The first is a ‘Swimming Vacation”, beginning this Saturday morning with 2 days (Saturday and Sunday nights) reserved at the Bastrop KOA that lists a swimming pool with an accompanying ‘splash park’.  With my attitude about KOA campgrounds, my expectations are fairly low, but we’ll see!  Regardless, the kids are excited, and from Goggle maps, it looks like a nice overall park.

Monday and Tuesday nights, we will move about 40 miles down the road to the Lockhart State Park……… one of the few Texas State Parks with a pool, and it is a really nice one!  We spent a few days there last summer, and we could only get a couple of weekdays this week….. hence, the weekend at Bastrop!

The next two days, we will travel to Waller, Texas and the Yogi Bear Jellystone campground and Wet-N-Wild Water Park.  We originally got this idea from a couple in our Camping Friends Camping Club and were going to join them for the upcoming weekend.  However, by the time we figured out that the kids summer activities would allow this week for travel, we were unable to secure reservations for a rig the size of our Bus!!  So, we did the next best thing and made reservations for Wednesday and Thursday nights and we will head home on Friday afternoon.  This actually turned out well, because we are now invited to a surprise 80th birthday party for my cousin!!

Summer 2013 Vacation #2 will be for two weeks and will occur in mid-July.  This trip will take us to see their cousin, our third grandchild, in Little Rock.  I have already purchased them season tickets at the local water park…..Wild River Country Water Park.  On our way home from this trip, we will stay a couple of days at the Crater of Diamonds State Park.

Of course, there will be some 2—3 day trips in between all of the kids summer camps and activities.  More on these in later posts

Camping Friends Rally–May ‘13 - Part 2

This is the final report on the rally.  On Sunday morning, we caravanned in cars to The 77th Ellinger Chamber of Commerce Tomato Festival about 13 miles from the campground.  One of the highlights of the festival was the local parade that had many of the antique automobiles from our tour on Saturday.  A lot of candy thrown from the parade vehicles was collected by our two grandkids and the three that accompanied the Didelot’s.

We did not see the first tomato anywhere at the festival, but we had a lot of fun.  The local VFW did a nice memorial Flag Raising/21 Gun Salute service.

Back at the campground, the kids swam some more, and we visited. 

Later in the afternoon, the ladies and the kids participated in a craft project to make American Flag pins.  I was surprised that the kids took to it…………..

In the last few pictures above, you can see Weston (black shirt) and Austin (yellow shirt), twin grandsons of Mark and Sue Didelot.  The last picture features Darlene King (no relation) who along with her husband, Tom (really no relation!!!) hosted this rally.  Thanks, Darlene, for helping the kids, especially Aubrey, who came back to make a second pin for her mother!!

On Saturday evening, we had a ‘baked potato’ dinner with the club furnishing the potatoes and the members providing a variety of toppings.

After dinner, the members participated in a couple of games that included the kids.  One of them was a race with a potato inside a pair of pantyhose and tied to the contestants waist.  The goal was to swing the potato with your body, and knock an orange to the finish line.  Fortunately, since I was an adult contestant, there are no photos of the guys, but here are some of the kids…………….

The younger contestants were Austin Didelot (yellow shirt), Matthew King (green shirt), and Weston Didelot.  The Didelot’s third grandson, and the oldest is Trevor, who is shown sitting in the green shirt in the last photo. 

Matthew claimed that he had won, noting that the fact that the orange came into contact with his foot a couple of times was just trivia!!  They had fun!

Before we departed on Monday, the kids got to do another fun thing.  Daryl and Marsha, brother and sister-in-law of Carolyn, a member of our club attended this rally.  They are also Tiffin Phaeton owners, and carry a big toy in a trailer behind their rig.  Daryl gave each of the kids a ride around the campground…..

Our next planned trip is with our grandkids at the end of June.

Later…………

Camping Friends Rally–May ‘13 - Part 1

We arrived at the Colorado Landing RV Park in La Grange, TX on Thursday at about 11:00am, and got checked in & set up.  The Didelot’s arrived about 2 hours later and set up in the site next to us. 

About all we did Thursday was me continuing to update this blog from the last two months and Patsy exercising in the swimming pool…….. which is right across from our site.  On Thursday night, we did get together to play card games with the other campers.

We had arranged for our Daughter-in-law, Laura, to meet us half way from home with our grandkids on Friday evening after they got out of school, so they could spend Memorial Day weekend with us.  By Friday, most of the other club members had arrived, and at 4:30pm, we left to meet Laura and the kids on the other side of Hallettsville, TX.  We got back to the park a little past 7:00pm, and the first thing that the kids wanted to do was to hit the swimming pool……… so, guess what we did!!

 

After swimming, we went back to the clubhouse and played some more card games.  The Didelot’s also had three of their grandson’s with them, so the kids had some company.

On Saturday morning, we slept through the 7:00am club breakfast and did not get up until after 8:00am.  Grammie made pancakes and sausage for us in the Bus,and it was good! 

Then we had to hurry and get ready for a trip to a local guy’s house, who is a friend of a club member has three large barns full of antique cars and some motorcycles for a ‘viewing’.

The kids liked this corvette convertible………

Here are two of the barns……

The kids standing next to a ‘64 Chevrolet Impala 2-door hardtop that was just like what I owned from 1965 until 1973….. a nice car!

Didelot’s oldest grandson, Trevor, showing where to gas up a ‘56 Chevy….

Really old cars……….

Aubrey found another car to drive……….

…. and then a purple one that she really liked:

Since the kids sometimes shorten my name to “Pops”, they wanted this picture………

More cars………..

This guy also had some motorcycles.  One of them was used in the movie, “Terminator 3: Rise of The Machines”, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger.  In fact, when he bought it, he also got the jacket that Arnold wore in the movie.  Here are some pictures of the bike & kids with the kids wearing the jacket…….. complete with ‘bullet’ holes!

In the middle picture above, Matthew is showing off Arnold’s autograph on the sleeve of the jacket!!  He also autographed the gas tank on the bike……….

Kids on the bike without the jacket………

In addition to the storage barns, the guy had a “party barn”  He said that he rents it out for weddings, graduations, etc.  Here are some inside pictures with the kids playing with one of the “toys” and some outside pictures of Patsy and Aubrey in the yard…..

After the tour, we headed back to the park for lunch and more card games and swimming. 

For Saturday night dinner, we went to a local Mexican restaurant, Las Fuentes.  Here are some pictures from dinner……….

More rally on Sunday and Monday……….