A Wonderful Easter Weekend!

div>This was a perfectly wonderful weekend in Watertown, South Dakota. Three of the grandkids live there now and the folks, Brian and Tammy, came out from St. Peter so the whole family was together. On Saturday night we gathered at the pool and then at the motel meeting room to enjoy each other's company and some sandwiches.


Megan has always been a clown when the camera comes out and her "new glasses" certainly add to the charm... (Seems mom and daughters went to a thrift shop and all bought the newest fashion in eyewear.)


Ashley and Lyric,

and Jonah, Lyric and Brian all enjoyed the water.

Lyric nearly fell asleep while eating - I think the water just wore him out. Aren't those eyes going to break hearts... Doesn't Grandpa Brian look good with his short hair! After looking at this pic Tammy, I can see where Megan gets "the ham gene".

Little Brian woke right up after some food and here he must be showing off his fabulous physique...

Everyone was in a good mood. Ashley and Megan gladly posed with Grandpa, Megan and Mac were only too happy to demonstrate newly learned skills "taking down" their dad, and Jonah joyously hammed it up.

When the evening drew to a close, we headed back to our home which was parked out by the casino - good deal - free camping with electricity.

On Sunday morning, we met at Ashley and Jonah's place and headed out to the Monastery for Easter Services. Ashley has become friends with Sister Adrian and she had invited all of us to enjoy mass with the Benedictine sisters. After church we posed for a picture. That is Sister Adrian between Ashley and Jake, Megan's guy.


Lyric enjoyed a ride compliments of one of the other sisters.



We all enjoyed Easter Buffet at the casino (Thanks Brian) and later in the afternoon, we regrouped at Ashley and Jonah's home. I'll be darned if the Easter Bunny didn't make an appearance. As you can see, he was greeted warmly by the kids.

Later, we all enjoyed the sunny day as the kids sought to find the hidden eggs, tried their hardest to break the pinatas, played with Megan's and Mac's dogs, and consumed lots of the Easter treats.

All too soon, the weekend was over. BUT I got to enjoy a few more hours today when I visited Ashley at "her school", had lunch with Brian and joined the preschool class for show and tell - those giant pine cones we collected at Mount Laguna in California.

Thanks to all for a delightful weekend. We enjoyed the camaraderie, the teasing and bantering and the conversations. We have wonderful Grandchildren and delightful Great Grands! And now we are in MN and will soon get to visit the other part of the family and mom. It may be cold outside but we certainly are enjoying the warmth of family!

The Road to Easter

It is Good Friday and this day always elicits strong feelings for me. It is dreary outside and somehow that seems appropriate. For Christians, this is a solemn and somber day; the day in which Jesus was crucified. Lent is the road to Easter; Easter is when Jesus is risen from the dead. Since Lent began on Ash Wednesday, many changes have taken place. Obviously we have moved from one location to another; sunny southern California to gloomy South Dakota. But besides that we have let go... I let go of a couple of pounds (not nearly enough but it is a start). We have begun to let go of our gypsy lifestyle by thinking about becoming homeowners. And we let go of a friendship with Bobbi and David... don't know if that is good or bad or permanent or temporary, but it is a change.

And so, our road to Easter hasn't just involved a long drive on I 80 but a time of reflection and growth. As all gardeners know, if there isn't change, there isn't growth and without growth, there isn't life.

So enough introspection! Tomorrow we are going up to Watertown to spend the weekend with Brian's family. As I was thinking about seeing everyone, I remembered that Megan used to LOVE homemade buns so when I got up this morning, I actually baked bread - something I have not done for years!

Then I decided to color some eggs. When I was a little girl, mom used crepe paper and vinegar (and rubber gloves) to color eggs. They looked like stained glass windows when finished and I can still see how beautiful they were. Today, due to new and improved crepe paper, the color doesn't run so I had to resort to little tablets.

The results are still colorful and joyous!

Without Good Friday, we couldn't have Easter. Without change, we wouldn't have life.

May you enjoy a Blessed Easter!

Great Basin National Park in Ely, Nevada

Since we have plenty of time to get to South Dakota, we decided to stop off at this national park and check one more off the list. We stayed in Ely at the Prospector Campground for only $15 a night - of course by the time we hit their casino it cost us a bit more, well me anyway, Mike did well. The drive from Pahrump to Ely was an experience; at times the road seemed to stretch on forever. We did see some wild horses. When we got to the campground, I picked up some literature and found out that the cave at the park had a limited number of participants for each tour so I called and thank goodness I did. When we got there the next day, there was only one ticket left. The cave was one of the better we have seen as it has some unique characteristics created by the minerals in this part of the world. BUT the ranger that conducted the tour... suffice it to say that he really liked to hear his own voice. Mike and I were both taking pictures and most of what you see here are ones he took. I was trying the "sunset" mode and my photos turned out too red. Remember when you are looking at the pictures that all the shapes and twists and contours are created by water dripping through rock... You can see water standing below this one. A closeup of "popcorn" makes me wonder, how in the heck is this formed???

Stalactites hang tight to the ceiling and stalagmites are mighty floor structures - just in case you forgot. And sometimes, they connect as in these pictures.

Look at these amazing "umbrella" structures. This was part of one room that was simply too much to take in; thousands of years and the effects of mother nature - WOW!

This one really needs to be enlarged to be appreciated.

This "curtain" is created when water drips through a long crack - not often seen to this degree.

After awhile we were able to tune out the guide; it really was a great way to spend 90 minutes.

We will need to return to this park in late summer or fall because we still have not seen Bristle cone Pine Trees that can be as old as 3000 years. They grow in this national park but at an elevation that was closed to us because of extensive snow cover.

On Sunday we headed further east and made it as far as Rock Springs, WY. Today we drove through rain and thick pea-soup fog and landed at Cabela's in Sydney, Nebraska. It is now cold cold cold and we are both wondering why we headed north so soon... ah yes, family!

Mountain Falls in Pahrump, Nevada...

could very well become our home. Now that I have your attention, let me tell you about this place and how we came to make such a statement.


At Quartzite, in January of this year, we were joined by Greg, Sue and Dan's son, who we found out was a "honcho" at a housing development in Pahrump. Since we were planning to visit this area in the spring, we told him we would stop in and check out some of the good deals.


When we landed at Charleston Peak RV Resort in Pahrump two weeks ago, Greg appeared within a couple of hours and gave us golf passes at Mountain Falls. It didn't take us long to drive out and show off our poor golf skills at the course. We do have fun though! After golf, we ran into Greg and he introduced us to Debbie, a natural born sales lady. We toured a couple of the model homes and ... Well, suffice it to say that over the next 12 days, we played the course a couple more times, drove around the development and toured the models several more times. And we realized "We could live here."


Imagine a 1550 square foot house with a master and guest bedroom, den, dining and living area and a kitchen with granite counter tops. Then add in a laundry room, 2-car garage, and front and back yards. Then imagine this whole package, ready to move into for less than $120,000. Oh, I forgot to mention that this home is in a development where there are 2 swimming pools, a well equipped exercise room, huge clubhouse with reasonably priced restaurant, beautiful golf course and association dues are only $55 a month. Now, do you understand why we could make this home? Take a look for yourself. This is the perfectly manicured golf course complete with just enough sand traps to make me cuss. Water on a course may be considered a hazard but on the back 9, the water is just plain beautiful. Weeping Willows in the middle of the desert... go figure.

The falls are a definite focal point. This is the huge clubhouse and grill. Now, on to the house. One of the really nice things about Mountain Falls is the green; it is a bit of California in the desert. This is a typical street in one of the seven subdivisions.

And this is the style house we are looking at. Note the sold sign in the window... no, it is not sold to us but this gives you an idea of what the move in house looks like.

These are pictures of the model home. The entry with the den off to the left and living room straight ahead.

The guest room is at the front of the house with bath right next to it.

The kitchen has an island and more storage than I would know what to do with.

The living room and the den and bedrooms are carpeted and the rest of the house is tile. A real comfortable feeling exists in this model - Mike could move in here tomorrow as he loved the colors and furnishings.

The backyard is up to the homeowner; we would forget the grass and go with more of a desert look I think.

So that is a quick look. What do you think? Seriously, what do you think. I would love to hear. And if you want to find out more about this community, check out the website at http://www.mountainfalls.com/.

Tomorrow we hit the road with plans to be in Watertown, South Dakota for Easter with family.

Till later...