Some of the reasons we love our new home.

Cole's BD party - sorry about picture quality

Action at the soccer game

Thinking about the game.

Grandpa Stu visiting in Cole's room on Grand Parents Day.

Two months have disappeared!

Wow, it is now the 18th of April and almost two months has passed since my last post. We have been a little busy, but not more than normal. I think the time is just going by faster and faster. We spent a couple of days in the Metroplex, Grand Parents Day at Cole's school, at a new RV Park that was suggested to us and we just loved it. The Grand Parents Day was delightful and I was able to meet Cole's teacher, the principal, and several other teachers and students. The school is K-12 and is a faith based private school. The students all seemed very nice and polite and there was a very positive feel to the campus. The best selling point is that Cole really loves the school and his teacher. He has ten (10) students in his kindergarten class. Other elementary grades have either 10 or 15 students as the max so you know each child will get lots of attention.

The park is in Grapevine and is right on Grapevine Lake. The park was built by the Core of Engineers and was sold to the City of Grapevine when the COE got out of the RV Park business. The spaces are really huge and spaced out among the trees and all have some kind of a view of the lake. They are planning to re-do many of the spots and add a few more spots this spring. Some of the spots have only water and electric, no sewer. When they are finished all sites will leveled and paved with full hook-ups with 50 amp power.

From Grapevine we traveled to Durant, Oklahoma for one of our Alfa Club Rallies. The park there was part of an indian hotel casino project and it was really nice. We had a good turn-out for the rally and despite some wet and cold weather we had a good time. From Durant we traveled to Choudrant, Louisiana where our friend, and fellow Alfa Club member, replaced our shocks, fixed a small wiring problem with the grab bars on the coach, and also checked out our AC system. From Choudrant we traveled to Red Springs, Texas where we stayed at an RV Park that we are considering for a future Rally site. From there we traveled the 20 miles to Tyler where we did a little shopping at Sam's Club and took in a movie, The Green Zone, with Matt Damon before heading home. We have been looking at buying a new car and this stop was partly to have the base plate removed from the old car so it could be replaced on the new car when it arrived. We had a call from the dealer on that Tuesday, March 16th and they said the car would not arrive for two weeks. Unfortunately the new car wouldn't arrive next week and we were going back to Grapevine the weekend after next for Cole's birthday party. So anyway we headed home with the base plate still on the old car.

We got home on Friday and later that afternoon we got a call from the dealer indicating that our car was there and could we come and pick it up. Well that wouldn't work, due to the base plate change over, so we scheduled the pick-up for Tuesday morning. I then called the hitch company in Tyler and made arrangements to have the base plate removed on Monday morning and then have it put on the new car on Wednesday morning. I was up early on Monday and was at the hitch shop before they opened at 8:30. They removed the base plate and I was home by lunch time.

Tuesday morning we drove to Dallas, did the car exchange, and drove the new car back home. Later that afternoon I drove the motorhome and Tippy drove the new car to Tyler. Wednesday morning I was again at the shop before they opened and they began to install the base plate right away. Seven (7) hours later I was on my way back to the RV Park! Needless to say it must be more difficult to install a base plate than it is to remove one. Anyhow we got it done and on Thursday drove back to Grapevine for Cole's birthday weekend. On Friday Rachel brought the kids out to the motorhome after Cole was out of school. The park is only about 5 minutes from the school so it is very convenient. It was a nice day and we had a great spot right on the lake shore. The kids were able to play in the water, very shallow, and we also walked over to the park to play on the equipment for a while. David came by after he left work and we grilled hot dogs and hamburgers and then made smores over the campfire. Pretty cool time for me and I think everyone felt the same.

Saturday was Cole's birthday party which was held at a Laser Tag facility in Southlake, TX. The party was pretty cool for the kids as they each had a laser gun and the whole arena was on a computer set-up that recorded every hit each player took and every hit they made on an opponent. At the end of the session the winners were announced based on most points scored. Unfortunately I was not able to go into the arena, only the kids with the laser guns, so I just had to hear about it from Cole. They had two sessions in the arena, 15 minutes each, and then the party was held in a small room off the main entry area.

So it was a great day for Cole and his friends. He also had a soccer game on Saturday morning that I missed but he did score a goal! The league doesn't keep score during the game, although the kids seem to have a pretty good idea what's going on, and they don't allow goalies either. It is basically an introduction to the game and everyone plays and has a good time. David took Cole's birth certificate with him to the first game I attended two weeks ago because he is so much bigger than the other 5-6 year olds as you can tell from the pictures above.

We cam home on Sunday when Tippy returned from Mass and will probably be here until we leave for the summer trip in June. I have been doing some boat repairs in anticipation of the upcoming fishing season that is actually here now. I needed a new live well pump and I needed to service all of the batteries and fill the boat with fuel. I am now ready and hope to start catching fish next week. I have also been doing some odd jobs around the house like shampooing carpets, cleaning out flower beds, mowing the lawn, edging, weed wacking, and blowing the leaves and clippings away. I am now looking for a gardner as I don't like that work! Enjoy the pictures and I will try to do another post before we head west in June. Be safe.