4-27-18  back to Perry!

Not really sure why Ken was so insistant on taking another load of stuff to Perry, but here we are!  We have a 20' truck reserved for the 9th, but I'll be surprised if it's half full!  Hope stuff doesn't shift around too much!
Anyway---we've been looking for a place to rent and everything that looked good is gone before we have a chance to see it.  So we decided to check out purchasing a house.  I've been somewhat disappointed that I've never really had a chance to look for and pick our a place to live.   Our place in St. Louis was Mom and Dad's before we took over payments and spent the next 40 years there.  Then Ken chose the apartment in S. Florida without looking at anything else.  But I was so excited that he was willing to rent one that I would have agreed to any place!  Turned out to be a really nice place, though.  Then when we were moving to Georgia I had a list of 5 or 6 apartment complexes to look at.  But before we got up here, Ken put a down payment on our current place sight unseen because he liked the location of the apartment in the complex and that it had an attached garage.  Didn't look at any other apartments, but I do like it---for an apartment.  But I'm not real happy with our current upstairs neighbors!!!  Sounds like it's thundering about 20 hours a day!  So when we decided to follow the kids to middle Georgia, I started hitting the internet hard for home rentals.  We quickly decided on renting a house so we didn't have upstairs neighbors and since we couldn't find apartments with garages.  AFter seeing a couple rental homes, we decided to check into purchasing a home.  There certainly are a lot of them available in the area!  And the price is right! 
Ken happened to find this one on line and sent me the link.  After looking at it, I decided I really liked it---so did he, obviously.  So we called the owner and set up a time to go see it while we're down here this time.  Angie and Josh weren't to excited about that.  They didn't like that it's for sale by owner or  the neighborhood it's in---a lot of construction going on and some odd fences in the area.  But I kept looking at houses and even toured 3 or 4 and didn't see anything I liked nearly as much as this one.  Love the size, 1700sq'; wooded back yard; layout; colors of floors, cabinets, counters; covered patio; master bedroom and bathroom.  I even liked the furniture in the place!

 By the time we left (6 days later), the house to left of it was ready to have the roof put on!

 Loved getting to spend a lot more time with this little cutie, too. 

We only planned to stay a couple nights, but ended up extending our stay to 6 days.

4-26-18  Dicky Doos and Ivy Creek, too:

Before Angie and Josh moved to Perry, they gave us a $25 gift certificate to Dicky Doo's that Josh had won at a work party.  So today Ken and I decided to go check it out.  I was impressed!  Quite an a variety of entrees and sides!  And it was all very good and cheap.  We did manage to spend the whole $25, but we both got drinks and dessert with our meals. 

 Cute little place.  Too bad we didn't know about it sooner.  Don't know how often we would  have gotten there since it was a pretty good distance away---20 minutes or so when traffic on I-85 is good.  It's just scary to get on I-85---you never know when it's going to come to a complete stop.

 Back at the apartment complex, we stopped at the dumpster to throw some trash away.  I'm always amazed at the stuff people throw away.  This time I found this tri-pod there.  This is a $100+ tri-pod!  It is missing the quick release piece, but they're easy to find online and only about $15.   Ken also grabbed the yard stick.

 Back at our apartment, Ken had managed to get most of the garage items into the 5x8 trailer to haul down there this Friday.  It hasn't been this empty the whole 2 years we "lived" here!

 Later I headed out on the Ivy Creek Greenway.  I'm really going to miss it!  Even though the traffic here is awful, the preserve the runs along our apartment complex is convenient.  Often when Ken and I are out, I have him drop me off up by Costco and I walk back through the preserve.  I've heard people express concerns of safety there, but I've never encountered anything strange there.

 Except maybe some of the wildflowers.

 and flowering vines.

 Quite a few people do use the trail, even though it may not look like it here.

 The apartment amenity area of the trail---which leads up into the complex.

 the stairs and ramp to the complex.

 I always take a break here and enjoy the sounds of the creek.  Great place to sit and drink the water I often bring with me.

There will be a lot I won't miss about this area, but the Preserve is one place I will miss!  Hopefully I can find somewhere to go that's conveniently close to our new place in Perry, Ga.

4-24-18  STL - Buford:

The 6 nights in St. Louis really went quickly.  We thought about stopping in Knoxville for another night or two, but Ken was anxious to get another trailer load of stuff to Perry (and our other car), so we just headed straight back to Buford.

Of course we didn't even get out of north county before getting stopped for an accident.

It merged down to 1 lane.  We got there as they were putting this poor guy on a back board.  Hope he's OK.

4-23-18 chilling at the house

Today was a day of just chilling around the house---at least for us.  Angie, Josh and Layla did some more visiting.  But we hung out with the pups.  They probably thought the trip really sucked since they had to sit in a car for 11 hours then we all kept leaving them alone.  At least they've been here a few times before, so I think they weren't scared of their surroundings.

Micky getting some attention.  For being the baby for the last 4 years, he's taken to the new roll of middle kid quite well.

I use to worry about Molly with as aggressive as she was, but she's turned into quite the protector of little Layla.

Tried to meet up with a couple friends for dinner, but they were busy when we weren't.  So just had lunch with Becky.   Rest of the times we ate by ourselves or with the kids---or at the parties. 

4-22-18 Impromptu LaBeaume meet Layla party:

Had to put Layla in one of her new-used Cardinal onesies. 

Ken had made a call to Bill to see if we could get together with some of them at Stef's today so they could meet Layla, but he said it was too busy.  So he invited us to come to their house and invited everyone over there.  Such a nice impromptu get together, but they were all anxious to meet Layla, too.

4-21-18  Hicks's 50th Anniversary party:

The Farmers' Almanac was wrong!  Carol was upset a couple months ago because the almanac said it was going to rain today.  But there was a pretty good sized indoor space, so that shouldn't have been a worry. Angie, Josh, Layla, Ben, Sandy, Ken and I arrived early to set up the seating and decorate.  I thought Angie did a great job---simple, but pretty.  And who doesn't like almond kisses?!

Carol seemed to be happy.  Although they fought Layla for attention.  The family was excited to get to meet the newest Hicks, too.

4-20-18  more party shopping with Angie and Layla, sunset near Alton:

Another day of party shopping.  This time Angie, Layla and I went together.  We even found a really big, really nice Once Upon a Child in St. Charles.  Had to stop and stock up on Cardinal onesies for Layla---plus a bunch of other things for her.

That night the kids went off to have dinner with friends.  So Ken and I headed to Alton to our favorite fried chicken restaurant---Castelli's Moonlight Restaurant.
On the way back, we hung out by the river to watch the sunset.

It wasn't spectacular, but it was still pretty.