Saturday, May 21, 2016

Back at the Lake

We have now been parked at the family cabin on Whiteface Reservoir for a week.  We had considered driving up here last Friday evening, but thought the better of it since we would be sharing the roads with the fishermen heading north on opening weekend and since we prefer not to arrive after sunset.  Instead, we loaded up the granddaughters on Saturday morning and had a more relaxing drive.  We also took the time to stop at the girls’ favorite drive-in for lunch and ice cream.

Two years ago the lake was still ice-covered on fishing opening weekend.  This year the ice was gone, but snow flurries were in the air and the temperatures were in the low 30s.  The wind was biting cold – a huge difference from our winter weather in CA, AZ and TX!  But we have had a continual improvement in weather every day and the stillness of the morning lake has been very peaceful.
 
The granddaughters didn’t seem to mind the bad weather last weekend and even decided to clean up their swing.  Unfortunately, the swing was too old and broke in half so Brett will replace the wood and they can finish their project next weekend when they come up for Memorial Day.  We’ll have a full house then with Dave and his family coming up also.  Looking forward to that.
 
It’s also been good to be back here and reconnect with our Whiteface friends.  We saw a lot of them last night at the Friday night happy hour and some had come over during the week to say hi also. 

We’ve been able to spend time with Paige’s mom and helped her purchase a new mattress to help alleviate some of her back pain.  She is moving about more freely now and is almost back to normal after dealing with the back and shoulder pain issues.  She plans on driving to the cabin soon.

Thursday, May 12, 2016

Family Times #3 & #4

We have had a quiet week at “Camp Winnebago”.  We have had to arise early every morning to disconnect from power and drive to the Service Department’s parking lot by 7:00 AM.  We have been here many times, but this might be the busiest we have ever seen them.  Many of the other customers we have met schedule all of their service work here at the factory.  The mechanics are always friendly and helpful, plus they know what they are doing, and have all the parts needed.

All of our planned work (as well as a couple of surprise extras) was completed early on Thursday, which allowed us to get the motorhome back early enough to do a complete housecleaning, and still have time to go out to dinner with new friends.  Plus, we extended our stay to include Thursday night, so we could sleep in while our neighbors were going to the service department early on Friday morning – life has some occasional pleasantries. 

Our annual Riewe campout at Lebanon Hills got started early on Friday afternoon (family time #3).  Bob’s brother Denny and his wife came to visit with us for a while, then Brett brought his daughters to spend the weekend with us, and finally David and his family arrived to park his trailer in the site next to us.

Saturday, Bob took some of the girls on a geocaching hike, while David took his own, longer, hike through the county park. That evening we had the whole group around a campfire.  Sunday brought a big group breakfast before we split up: David and his family to NE Minneapolis and we brought the granddaughters to their home in Elk River.

We have parked the motorhome along Brett’s curb and will be here for the coming week, doing “Grandparent duties” (family time #4) each morning to see the girls off to school, and at least one vocal concert at the middle school, with maybe a soccer match possible.  During school hours, we are visiting with friends and getting some doctors’ visits out of the way.

Sunday, May 1, 2016

Family Time #2

For a few years now, Bob’s cousins have held an annual reunion in southern Minnesota.  We have attended once or twice in the past, but it has usually been scheduled when we are still too far south to attend.  This year’s gathering was delayed enough that we could make it.  Leaving the motorhome at the Winnebago Visitors Center, we drove about an hour and a half to meet the rest of the clan.  Thirteen of the sixteen cousins were there, along with many of their spouses, some of their children, and even some grandchildren.  We didn’t get a total headcount or even any pictures, but a good time was had catching up with everyone.  

Now we are back to Winnebago’s plant where we will remain for most of the coming week.  Their service people will start on our list of (mostly) minor repairs on Monday and we should learn how long we can expect to be here at “Camp Winnebago”.  We have stopped here in the past and have usually had a good time socializing with the other owners who are having service work done.