7-7-18 unpacking----

Sure seemed like we had a lot of stuff.  But when I got it unpacked, we still have a lot of cabinets to fill!  Ken will have to fill the upper 2 shelves, though---I can't reach them.

 The hard part was deciding where to put my decorative pieces.

7-6-18  Torrential rainfall!!!

Didn't start out too bad.  We even had a visitor today---this cute little guy.

 But by night time, it was storming like mad.  This was the most rain at one time that I've seen in a while. 

 Wouldn't have been so bad, but Angie and Josh's pool overflowed.  In fact their whole back porch had about 2 inches of water above pool level.  A week later they still haven't gotten the pool back in swimming order---and we're about to get rain again.

7-5-18  moving in day!!!!

Today was a really exhausting day!  Today we got the rest of the furniture over---and most everything else.  2 more trailer loads, 2 more Edge SUV loads, and 2 or 3 Explorer SUV loads!  With Ken's bum foot, he got relegated to putting the dining room/kitchenette table back together and babysitting Layla.  Layla ended up sleeping most of the time, so he had a pretty easy job. 

 Fortunately we didn't have to move the couches!  They were part of the deal when we bought the house.  He wanted more sq. ft per $ for the house, so we had him throw in the living room set.

7-4-18  4th of July!!!  Time to start packing and moving.


Fortunately we're only moving 2.5 miles away!  Not sure I would have been able to do it all in 1 day!  This is the look of an exhausted old lady!

 Eventually the TV will go here, but for now----scenes of the ocean!

7-2-18  taking possession of our new home!


So all our trials and tribulations and waiting finally are over (well, some of it).   I was excited to get over to the house and check it out!  This time it is ours!!!

Got an even better look at it then before.  And Jonathon and his crew did a great job of cleaning it---except for the patch painting being a different sheen.  But it is clean.

7-1-18 KNOX - Perry

Started today off with breakfast from First Watch with the kids. 

Since it was next to their brand new Total Wine, the kids and I decided to check it out.

6-30-18 STL-KNOX

Wanted to be back in Perry by the 2nd---when the seller was moving out of the house (not really sure why the hurry, though, since we didn't even do a walk through with him).  We decided to leave on the 1st and spend the night at the kids' in Knoxville again.
Good bye St. Louis---again.

Mid America airport with 2 planes at it!!!!

6-29-18  around the house

Last full day here.  So we did more stuff around the house.  Like take our trash from the last few days to the dumpster in the condos behind us.  Wonder if they'll ever take care of the wild vines near our house.  Last year I had to pull a bunch of them off the lilac bush.  Took days to get it all off.  So far this year it hasn't hopped over to our yard---yet---but is growing all over the power lines still. 

Finished in time to have dinner at Stef's and visit with Ken's brother, Bill.  Too bad no one else was around to join us.
Later (about 9:30), we went to Fischer's and played Mexican Dominoes for a couple hours.  Game night with the Fischers, just like the good old days!  Only then it was cards

Back in Perry, someone was celebrating her 7 month anniversary today!

Angie's write up about her:

Layla is Seven Months old today!

Our little chunkster is up to 16 pounds now; she has TRIPLED her birth weight! She's still only in the 19th percentile for height, but she's now in the 37th percentile for weight. (Please stop growing, TuTu!)

Layla continues to amaze us with how well she's developing and we're so happy she loves the pool.

6-28-18 Grants house

Not really for a visit---just wanted to get my Senior National Parks pass.  The kids and I are planning a trip to Yellowstone in Sept., so I wanted to get it before then.  So Ken and I took a ride out to Grant's House.  While there, I walked the grounds  a little bit.

Not only is Grant's house here, but Grant's farm is across the street and it has lots of wild animals in it.  They even run a shuttle through the farm sort of like a safari.  Pretty cool!  But no time for that today---we were meeting my brother and sister in law in O'Fallon, Illinois for lunch.

So I paid my $80 (was $20, I think, up until a couple years ago), got my pass, took a few pictures.

Headed back to the car.

And we were off for a fun visit with my brother.
Also had a dinner date with our neighbors, but had to postpone it due to another big storm coming through.

Didn't get the effect of the storm here---it was really dark and only 6pm.

Fortunately it was a fast moving storm and we still made it to dinner at Massa's Italian restaurant.  Good eats and visit!

6-27-18  Cardinal Game with Becky, Allison and Paula

More running around.  Met Josh's Mom for breakfast.  Had a really nice visit.
Then Becky picked me up at 5:30 and took me to the Cardinal game.  Their sporting goods store splits season's tickets and she just happened to have tickets for a game while I was in town and invited me to go.  We made it a girls' night with her daughter in law and another friend of ours.  Great seats!  WOW---does that say the ticket is $151?!  Thanks Fischers!!!!

Great people.

Not so great game!

But it was still fun visiting with them.

it was a beautiful night for a ball game---unlike that last 2 nights when they had 1 1/2 hour rain delays before the start of the game. 

I still consider myself a Cardinal fan.  Although they haven't been doing too well the last couple of years.  Don't get to see many games anymore.  So it's a real treat to get to go to the game, especially getting to sit so close to the field!

6-26-18 running around north county

Ken had his Dr. appointment this morning.  So I messed around with my new computer for awhile.  Using my new phone as a Hotspot.  Caught up on a couple bills I thought were covered.  I thought our insurance bills were all being covered by the premiums, but turns out 2 of them aren't!  At least they're only due once a year.  Also got the MSD bills of our rental home straightened out---I hope!  Seems like there's always something stupid to have to fix whenever we're in town.  In fact, there seems to be something stupid always going on now!

We did head off to Pirrone's for lunch with a friend.  Company and lunch was great as always there.

Dropped our friend off at her son's house after lunch.  I got a kick out of the sculpture he has in his yard.

I headed off to run some errands in the afternoon.  That's when the storms decided to roll in---literally.

The roll clouds were pretty impressive!

and very wide

fast moving, too.

AFter a lengthy downpour, we headed out to Alton for dinner at Castelli's.  LOVE their fried chicken.  Also love that when we're heading back into Mo. from Illinois, we pass a great vantage point for catching sunset.  Looked like we might have a nice one, so we stopped and watched it. 
Looking back at the bridge to Alton.

checking out the migratory ponds before sunset.

The over to the river overlook and a pretty nice sunset.

The water level was lower then usual. 

But still made for a nice view.

A pretty nice day.  Sometimes I miss St. Louis.  But I would miss the kids more if we lived here full time.

6-25-18 on to STL

Monday rolled around and it was time for Tim to head to work and us to head to St. Louis.  We had Dr. appointments waiting for us---so we thought!  About halfway to St. Louis, I got a call from my electro cardiologist's office telling me my appointment for Thurs. was cancelled since the Dr. was going to be gone all week.  Really?!---Instead of confirming my reservation last week they couldn't have told me then???  At least Ken still had his appointment.
Heading away from Knoxville.

My favorite part of the ride---through the Eastern Tennessee mountains.

Another beautiful day for traveling.

Love seeing all the farmlands, too.

Usually we travel around Nashville on Briley Parkway, but today the navigator on my phone and in the car said staying on 40/24 through Nashville was faster---so we decided to give it a go.  There was more traffic and a bit of a slow down, but not bad.  Not sure we got through any quicker, but I always like seeing the batman building.

Just past Nashville this guy ran across the highway.   See quite a few of them in Kentucky---as road kill.  They must not have a policy for cleaning up road kill.

Back to barns

and farms

Not sure what was growing here.  Seems late for starting crops.

More interesting clouds. 

The good old yellawood barn

lots of corn this time of year.  Looked to be doing very well.

after about 6 1/2 hours, we were heading over the bridge in Paducah.

After a nice couple hours stop in Mt. Vernon for dinner with my brother and sister in law, we continued on.  Near Belleville is the MidAmerica Airport.  They built it thinking "they would come".  But they're still waiting for "them".

Our first views of St. Louis---right before cutting across to north of the city on 255 to 270.  It's a longer distance, but usually a lot less traffic.

Heading over the Mighty Mississippi in N. County.

These cranes have been there forever.  Not sure what they're doing.

Got back to our place in Florissant with a couple hours of daylight left.  So I gathered a couple trash containers of yard waste and set them out for pick up the next day.  Good thing, too.  With all the rain and 100+ temps, didn't get much of a chance to do much else around the yard.