Family Time

After making Mom's funeral arrangements, we went to the Smokehouse in Gainesville for a bite to eat.

Sisters 

(Outside the Smokehouse)

The entire crew!

(l-r) Lexus, Randy, Sue, Me, George, 

Linda, David, Jeanne

I thought this was a good photo of 

Lexus, Triston & Preston.  

It was taken at Applebee's

after Mom's visitation.

Some of us stopped by the VFW after Mom's funeral since that was one of her favorite places. While there, a fellow took some of us to tour a nearby ranch. This was taken on that ranch next to the Red River.

Me, Sue, and our friend Karen

It was great to see Karen that day. She has lots of funny memories of Mom. I don't see Karen often enough these days but life happens. Hopefully, that'll change one day.

The day after Mom's funeral, a Monday, some of the family got together at Linda and David's house.

Just pooling around!

Pool Pals

Pool Sisters

There was grilling, and texting...

 and visiting and high fiving...

As well as corn hole playing 

and observing corn hole playing.

A family photo was in order so

George set the camera up on the tripod.

Then, he ran to get into the pic.

As you can see, he didn't make it!

I moved to the other end so he 

wouldn't have to run quite so 

far but he still didn't make it!

Third time truly is a charm.

He made it!

 (Front l-r~Triston, Lexi, Preston, 

Back~Geo, me, Michael, Jeanne, 

Randy, Sue, Tracy, Brandy, Linda, David)

Last, but not least, our traditional 

"Make a Face" picture!

It was nice that we could all be together but, of course, the circumstances were not as we wished. 

Nevertheless, we had a wonderful and extra special time together and that's definitely the way Mom would want it!

Smiles Always,

D~~~~

Photo Memories of Mom

On July 9th, Mom went home to be with the Lord. She was 85. She always said she was going to live to be 100 but the Lord apparently had other plans. I think living to 85 is pretty darn good though!

I wanted to share some photos of Mom and the family through the years.  

 As a teenager

Late teens or early 20's

Mom and Dad

(We all think Daddy looks a bit 

like James Dean in this photo.)

Mom and Dad headed to the 

1951 Texas/OU football game.

Wedding Day

with 

Grandma and Grandpa Richter (left) and

Grandma and Grandpa DuPell (right)

January 26, 1952

Pregnant with the first of us five kiddos!

February, 1953

Jeanne is missing from these next four pics.  

She wasn't born until 1966. 

This was taken around '57.

Love Chuck's big smile!

Our House

Deptford, NJ

In front of 

Grandma & Grandpa Richter's House

Collingswood, NJ

1964

Headed for church on Easter

Deptford, NJ

1965

There's Jeanne!  I'm holding her.
Pine Acres, NJ
1967

Pine Acres again

1967

Chuck is missing here

Gainesville, TX

Late 70's

Daddy passed away in May, 1983. 

Several years later, Mom started going with Don and they were together almost 25 years.

Mom & Don at Sue & Randy's wedding

on the Ohio River in Mt. Vernon, IN

1993

Germanfest 
Muenster, TX 
Late 1980's

Making gravy on Thanksgiving 

Chuck & Gwen's house

Gainesville, TX

Probably the mid to late 80's

Mom's living room

Gainesville, TX
Late 80's

Becoming an honorary Texan!

Late 80's

Mom with the Big Hair Gang  
(except for Chuck and Jeanne)! 

Gainesville, TX
May, 2008

Same day as the pic above

Granddaughter Brandy is in this one too.
Fredericksburg, TX 
May, 2008

Mom with her dog Daisy Mae.
Daisy is our dog now.
Mt. Vernon, IN

January, 2009

Make a Face!

Sue & Randy's House

Same day as the previous picture.

In the shop at Sue & Randy's house

July, 2009

Our House
Krugerville, TX

Christmas, 2009

Pilot Point, TX

July, 2011

Pilot Point

November, 2011

The best photo of Mom in the last few years.

One of my favorites too!

Christmas, 2013

I'm sad that she's gone and I miss her!  

I'm comforted, however, in knowing that she left behind a lot of wonderful times and special memories, as well as lots of family and friends who all loved her dearly!  She certainly did lots of living, loving and laughing in her good, long life, and knowing that, my friends, really makes me smile!

Smiles for Mom,
D~~~~

Out With The Old and In With The New

THE OLD

We thought it might be nice to have a smaller RV.  Plus, our current RV, a 2005 Fleetwood Southwind, is 10 years old. In four or five years when we're ready to take off for longer periods of time, she'll be 15, so on a bit of a whim, we decided to sell her. We didn't think she'd go quickly, if at all. 

We listed on RV Trader and a few other sites. As soon as we did, it started raining, and it rained for over a month. I don't know if the rain had anything to do with it but as soon as the rain stopped, we received two calls. 

Southwest Sarah

The first person to look made the purchase!

We were a little sad to see her go and a bit surprised that she sold so fast but we knew it would pass once we got another one.  I admit that even writing this post and seeing these two pictures makes me sentimental.

Bye Bye, dear friend!

THE NEW

We started looking at smaller Class C's but somehow, someway, something went awry. Everything we looked at didn't fit the bill. A couple units came close but didn't work for one reason or another so we decided to expand our search and look at some Class A's too.  Still no dice.

The longer we looked, the more we were beginning to wonder if we should have sold ours! We also began to consider our future needs like storage for one. When Geo retires, we will want to take off for months at a time which means taking more stuff.   

After a couple weeks of looking almost every other day, and a lot of disappointment, Geo came home from work talking about a 2015 Thor Motor Coach, Challenger 37 GT that he saw on the internet. He watched an hour long video about it and wanted to check it out live and in person so we did.   

Guess what we ended up with? 

Yep, you guessed it!

Below is a video of it 

that we found on YouTube.  

Our coach has different colors on the outside and inside. Also, there's a bunk above the driver's and passenger's seats that comes down electronically.  So we went from 32' to 37'. 

We pick it up Friday and have nowhere to go. Our 4th of July plans were cancelled because of flooding so we'll camp in it with our grandsons in the backyard.  

Needless to say, but I will of course, we are very excited!

Smiles,

D~~~~

RV Trip For Some Flea Market Fun

Last Thursday, we RV'd on over to Purtis Creek State Park in Eustace, Texas where we met up with our friends, Joe & Linda, Rick & Carrie and Charlie & Sandy. We were there to attend First Monday Trade Days in Canton which is beyond huge! It would be very easy to spend several days going through it all if one is inclined to explore every corner, nook and cranny.  

Also, it's definitely a Don't Miss Flea Market for anyone who loves flea markets. I saw on HGTV's Flea Market Flip that it's the oldest flea market in the country dating back to 1850.  

I was in La-La Land and not thinking when it comes to pictures because I didn't even take one picture of the park! Bummer. I took a few photos at LaurieAnna's Vintage Home Store which is down the street from Trade Days and awesome!  It was at the top of my to do list so we went there first. 

The photos from LaurieAnna's are on my art blog, and you can see them by clicking here. The above store link (the store name) is to LaurieAnn's online store and her blog is here.

George took his favorite, extra special, super duper camera and he didn't snap any photos either! What were we thinking. Or not thinking. We will be going back, and I will not forget to take park photos next time.

The two photos that I did take were at the flea market when we were grabbing a bite to eat and hanging out with our silly and fun friends.  

George, Charlie, Rick & Joe

Carrie, Sandy, Linda and Me

See you soon.

Sending Smiles,

D~~~~

Cayman Islands~Part 2

(Click here for Part 1 OR click "older posts" at the bottom of this page)

After horseback riding, we sat out by the pool.  

Jack grilled a great dinner.
It was quite delicious!

Middy and I stood four feet away from the grill.

Up until we moved closer to the pool.

~~~  Day 4  ~~~

The next day, we went to Hell. 

No! Not that one.

The Cayman Islands Hell

It's small like Lukenbach, Texas except 

Lukenbach is a quaint, entertaining 
little country locale whereas Hell is not. 

Hell consists of a post office,
and a couple little souvenir stores.  

As well as these creepy rock formations 
located behind the stores which make it 
crystal clear why this place is called Hell!

The pictures do not come close to 
conveying the true eeriness of this place.

This sign explains it.

Photos from Hell.

Two angels in disguise!

Once we left Hell, we popped into George Town 
for lunch at Rackams Waterfront Bar and Grill.

I love this place!

Notice all the docked cruise ships?
Apparently, they stop in George Town.

The secret to life.

One thing.

The Caymans!

Tarpons!

You can feed them every night at 7:30.

Going back to the condo, 
we passed this flip flop tree!

It's covered all the way around.

Full moon through the clouds.

~~~  Day 5  ~~~

After a walk on the beach, 

we decided to spend the day at the pool.

Aren't these pretty and unusual?
Anybody know what they are?

Shhhh.  

We're in the library section at the pool.
There were many readers out there, 
and when in Rome...

Look at the belts on these babes!

Actually, they're squirrel stoppers.

Gotta keep them away from the coconuts.

It wasn't long before we 

migrated away from the library section!

In the evening, we strolled to 

the beach to watch the sunset.

But SOMEBODY is hiding.

Check out the cruise ship
as it approaches the sunset.

Getting closer.

And closer.

Almost there.

In the sunset!  

See you in the morning sunshine.

Once the sun set, we meandered down the beach to a restaurant & bar on the beach for food, drinks and some live music. I can't remember the name of the place but it was really neat.  We ate, danced, and had a good time.

~~~  Day 6 ~~~

Today is our final day. We started out by eating breakfast across the street at Coconut Joe's.  It's a really cool place and the food is quite tasty! Their website leaves a lot to be desired though so I didn't post a link.

More signs.

Gotta love the weather report on this one.

Geo waiting for me to hurry up and take the pic.

Stingray City is our plan for today. It's on a giant sandbar about 30 minutes out into the ocean.

Here we go.

Jack & Middy on the boat.

Stingray!

On the sandbar.

Stingrays everywhere!
And people.

Jack & Middy have done the stingray thing before so they watched from he boat while we indulged in this unique opportunity.

First, they introduced us to this guy.

I'm naming him Mr. Sting Sting.

We were told that they won't sting unless 

you aggressively jump around or step on one.

I'm still calling him Mr. Sting Sting anyway.

The guides wanted us to 
kiss Mr. Sting Sting so we did!

There's no such thing as a monkey on your back in these parts.  It's a stingray here!

On my back!  

I didn't know what to think about him being on my back but the experience as a whole was very cool! I loved it!

Geo smiled.

A lot!

We also fed them squid. (I think it was squid). I didn't tuck my thumb in properly and he bit my thumb!  If you can call it a bite. It felt like a powerful suction and intense gumming of my entire thumb. I think he was trying to suck it down like he did the squid but it startled me. I didn't feel any teeth so I'm guessing they don't have any.  

After Stingray City, we boated on 
over to another area and snorkeled.

There's some pretty fishies down there!

On the way back, one of the guides 

cleaned some conk shells out to get the fish.

Very interesting.

We also decided to go eat shrimp since it's one thing we hadn't eaten yet. We had calamari, mahi mahi, lobster, swordfish and conk fish but no shrimp. 

We snapped a few more pictures before 
heading out to dinner on our last night.
Brother photo!

And a brotherly pose.

We decided to go to Rackams again and oh yum!

We watched the sunset while we ate.

This time, we fed the tarpons too.

The weather was perfect throughout the trip. The temps were in the 70's or lower 80's every day and there was always a nice breeze.  

Bye-Bye Caymans.

Oh, what a great time.
It was a spectacular trip!

Wishing You Sunmy Smiles,

D~~~~