Catching Up!

After Mike's demonstration of patriotic pride... or whatever, we did have a great July 4th! We enjoyed the parade in Elysian and even saw our host as he rode with the posse.

Later in the day, we enjoyed a picnic lunch and then beautiful fireworks over the lake. It was tough to know in which direction to look since so many individuals had fireworks going off and we could see them from the town of St. Peter. Since Elysian really celebrates Independence, the weekend continued with bingo on Saturday and "thrown" pancakes on Sunday - yep, the guy serves them by throwing them - fun to watch; I preferred getting them placed on my plate - clumsy you know. Sunday was Corky's birthday, so I made my first ever all protein "cake" for her - what do you give a gal who is doing so well on low carb, low sugar... I understand it got eaten up.



Also on Sunday, Mom and Rich and Anita came out to the lake to visit - what a treat for mom to feel well enough to make the trip over to see us. Then later in the day, Janet and Kaci and Amariah paid a visit - of course, then the camera had to come out. I love this smile!

It was a beautiful MN day and it was fun to have family around!

On Thursday, we headed north to the Minnesota State Fairgrounds for the FMCA rally.

We met up with Bud and Carol and made our way to the grounds where we were parked on "Machinery Hill" under the FORD sign - you natives will know where I mean... We came in early because I had volunteered us to do "security". We were assigned to sit for 6 hours (over two days) at a gate that was locked, closed and secured... needless to say, our job was very easy. The highlight was talking with a delightful young gal in law enforcement and swapping tales. In the evenings we had some bad weather, but we were spared and even my plants survived!

The MN fairgrounds has wonderful carved statues all over the grounds - this is one of my favorites.

On Saturday, we drove to North Branch and picked up our new JEEP. We had ordered it a couple of months ago and it finally came in. As it was a bright and sunny day, we took off two of the roof panels and enjoyed the feel of a convertible on our way back to the fairgrounds. Here she is parked in front of our home and our friends' place. I absolutely love the new car and feel a bit like this lady...

I know we will enjoy the week - who wouldn't enjoy looking at over 600 motorhomes, talking travel, meeting new people, and spending time with old friends! More on the rally later.