Day at the Pacific Ocean

 We went to the beach on three different occasions. Every time J-Bird was convinced he would be going into the waves. I amused him and let him put on his swimsuit. Poor kid. The water was freezing. The good news is it never rained. Bad news is the coast is suffering from a drought. Global warming and all that...




We did manage to find two sand dollars. That was pretty cool. They are extremely fragile, so it broke before it made it home, but was still cool to know we had found one!

Aunt Ree & her boys

A visit to see Aunt Ree in Oregon

Two sisters---2.5 years apart. I'm the oldest! 

We arrived on Sunday, June 28 around 10 in the morning. The time difference really helped out. I didn't sleep much due to having to catch an early flight and being nervous I didn't pack everything needed. Prince Charming flew in from Louisville to meet us. His flight was delayed three hours! Ouch. We went to Aunt Ree's place to meet her cats and for me to take a nap. It was delightful. The boys watched Jurassic Park with Aunt Ree and Uncle Clay.

Aunt Ree & J-Bird

I woke up, we loaded up and went back to the airport to get Ryan and then hit the road to Newport, OR. We were going to go to the Rogue Brewery for dinner. Nothing like finding the local brews! YEAH!

Prince Charming and myself at Rogue Brewery

All you can eat Salad Bar!

I posted several weeks ago about my amazing raised garden at the end of my property. I had mentioned my neighbor told me I was making a deer garden. I had only ever heard about BEER gardens, but this weekend I got to see first hand what a DEER GARDEN looks like. 

EVERY ONE OF MY APPLES IS GONE. Really? Okay, the twins are super cute, but dang it! So, thanks to my subscription to Country Gardens my Mom gave me I was able to dig into my last issue and find an article about how to RID YOURSELF OF DEER. 

Plants DEER won't eat!

Mama deer heard me open my back door.
Sure didn't stop the twin from eating my tree!

Book Review: Jedi Academy, The Phantom Bully by Jeffrey Brown

I have raised my two young boys (who I usually refer to as my young Padewans) to be respectful and quiet when in hospitals and libraries. They are to use their indoor voice or fear death. It was too my chagrin when I heard them YELLING in a bookstore two days ago. I couldn't give them the death stare fast enough, but as my eyes glazed to my boys I noticed the end cap they were standing in front of----the newest addition to the Jedi Academy series by Jeffrey Brown--The Phantom Bully. I started yelling with them! IT--the end of the middle school years--wasn't supposed to be on shelves for another two weeks. We had to fight for who would read it first!

Brown has created another fun filled adventure for Roan and his gang of young Padewans! Cronah and his gang of bullies has ganged up on Roan to torture him in his last year. They take his backpack and fill it with horrible food and damage weeks of his homework, along with other mean antics to keep him fearing for his passing of middle school. Roan also gets to officially call Gaiana his girlfriend. The comic book pages, along with Brown's amazing ability to draw, and the ability to capture Yoda-ize is truly remarkable. I will know start the series again and read them more slowly as I had to pass this along to my own Padewans. 

100th post! Christmas In July on the Hallmark Channel

WOW. So, this makes 100 posts talking about myself. It is great to know I can talk to myself in a daily online journal--or something like that?

Today is a simple Sunday. I have dedicated my entire day to watching Christmas in July on the Hallmark Channel. What a fun time! I have been sitting here watching them, but now it is time to get up and walk on the treadmill while watching them.

Happy Christmas in July!

New and Improved Wichita, KS airport!

WOW. Can I say I was pretty stoked to fly out of the Wichita, KS Dwight D. Eisenhower airport? What a change! And a GREAT one at that. I often get disgruntled by tax dollars wasted. I have to say, I would gladly give my tax dollars to have this kind of experience.

The security is now stream lined. From the minute you walk in the door and check in, through security and when you return again to find your baggage BEATS you down the terminal. What the heck, right?

This is what was missing---stream lined efficiency. It is clean, gorgeous and high tech. When we checked in the bags went behind the Delta people--just like in the old days before 9/11. The bags come right off the plane onto a conveyor belt to you in the baggage claim. Prince Charming was sad he moved away from this gorgeous new facility.

The best part---my two favorite restaurants side by side. I will gladly fly in to Wichita, KS again! (Chick-fil-A and Dunkin' Donuts!)


















From Portland to Atlanta was over a four hour flight. Prince Charming decided it was better to ask forgiveness than permission and upgraded all four of us to FIRST CLASS. It rocked. I decided this was the new NORM for flying! Best flight ever. The boys enjoyed watching new movies, and I must admit so did I! An uninterrupted movie and Rum and Coke. Yippee.

We had a three hour lay over in Atlanta before we made it back to Wichita, KS. We went to Sam Adams and enjoyed some highly overpriced food. I think my favorite restaurant in the Atlanta airport is Sweetwater, but the line was way toooooo long. The boys had a good time and I believe that is all that matters!

Happy Trails to you!

Well, we finished up two weeks of being on the road. We had to stop in and see all the folk in Kansas and also headed up to the Pacific Coast to see Portland Sister and her beau! It was a great time for all, but I must say there is no place like home.

I will post more in the upcoming days about our Portland trip, our Kansas trip and to introduce you to the newest member of our family!

Prince Charming with his two Princes!

Happy 4th of July from Windy Knoll Tree Farm

On our third trip to Kansas THIS SUMMER Prince Charming came with us! It was good for him to come back and realize 'it just isn't the same....' He hadn't been 'home' since we moved in February. It was different to come back to a place that didn't have a house for us to call home. It is always wonderful to visit friends, family, QuikTrip, Sonic and Taco Shop, but there is nothing like your own bed.

The four cousins 

I was so exhausted and grumpy he even got me two nights at a hotel. It seemed rather silly as we have a plethora of places to stay. My Wichita BF's mom says----"Guests are like fish outta water. After three days both the guests and the owners start to stink!" I think she is on to something. I'm not sure if I quoted her exactly, but the jest is there.

It was fun to see the Topeka Cousins who we hadn't seen since December. 

When you move away you (we) have to realize that people don't dance on tables for you and they too have a life. This is something I will have to work on understanding. I always resented (as a child) when our family rearranged stuff for the "out of town" guests. Now that I am out of town, I am ashamed of my behavior. I read something on Pinterest today that was apropos to this behavior: