Away……Away

The old blog has been a bit quiet here.  We were actually away on vacation for the last two weeks – over 5,600 hundred miles, thirteen states and way too many meals out!  If was great to get home again, but life has been completely hectic since arriving.  Plus….someone turned on the heat here.  Yikes.  We actually recorded the hottest temp in the nation with a temperature of 108* on Friday.  It is suppose to remain warm for at least another week, but we did get some nice cool temperatures on our trip. 

We visited all three of the grandkids who headed off to colleges this year – NAU in Az, University of Dallas in TX and Benedictine College in KS.  They are all settling in and enjoying college life.  We saw amazing scenery along the way.

A canyon out of Snowflake, AZ

Cotton growing in AZ

Granddaughter in KS

Amana Colonies in Iowa

Late evening harvesting of corn.  DH got to help each day as my cousins did beans and corn from 7a.m. until past 11 each night.  They farm over 3500 acres.

Onto the soybeans.....

Long, hard days....

Amish farming at a neighboring farm....a different technique for harvesting their beans.

Meal break.

School is dismissed.

A new batch of pigs arrived while we were there.

Cattle too....it's a busy farm.

My grandmother's home.  A cousin now lives there.

Carhenge in Alliance, NB

The beautiful Stanley hotel in Estes Park, CO.

Elk roam the town in Estes Park.

Splashes of fall colors in the Rockies.

The scenery was so pretty along the routes that we took so I got very little stitching done along the way, but I did catch up on my Minion beanies!

It felt good to be home again and back to our busy schedules here.  Construction should be completed by tomorrow and now the cleaning will begin.  I may surface one of these days!!!!

Here, There and Back Again

It has been a whirlwind of travels around here in the last few weeks and I feel as though I need to reacquaint myself with my own bed!

It started out with a trip to Iowa, staying at my cousin’s home and welcomed each morning with this fun view. 



The visit was actually for my uncle’s funeral, but it was wonderful to visit with family.   Of the remaining 24 first cousin there were only two that were missing so it was great to catch up.

It was back home for a few days and then off to the beach.  My cousin, her two daughters and DIL from Iowa came to visit.  The days were full as we tried to squeeze in a lot in the time they were here.

Beautiful days were spent at the beach watching sunsets, sunrises and surfers as well as visiting. 

An interesting rock nestled in the sand...whale, tadpole????

We took a few side trips during the days…….

……a trip to the local orchid greenhouses

Makes me want to have a blue or purple wedding!

…..a visit to the Santa Barbara Mission



……a stop at the gate of Never*land Ranch

The many hearts are filled with messages for the 5th anniversary of MJ's death.

….lunch at the historic Cold Springs Tavern – an old stagecoach stop.



….and a little wine tasting.



We all departed on Sunday.  They left for their return to Iowa and we headed off for a business meeting in Atlanta, but we had such a great visit. 

Life is now back to a more normal (whatever that is) routine with cleaning and laundry waiting to be done.

Do you think this seagull has an identity complex?



Again….sewing has been very portable these last few weeks.  I started a small cross stitch project to keep my idle hands busy without much concentration needed.