A few busy weeks....

Two of the questions that Dan and I get fairly often are "What do you do all day?" and "Don't you get bored?"  The answers are NO!!  We manage to fill our days quite nicely.

Right before we left NC on our trek north, we were able to spend the day with our friends Rick and Gail.  They were staying at Falls Lake so we packed up the Sea Eagle and lunch and headed over to their place for the day.  We spent an hour or so just gabbing and getting caught up and then headed down to the lake to eat lunch and launch the kayaks.  We had a delightful afternoon but I totally forgot my camera!  Click on their names above to see their blog post about our day. All too soon we had to leave but know that we will see them soon again!

On our way up to PA, we were going to take a slight detour to visit my brother and his family. He thought we were coming up for a visit and to see my niece's ballet performance...little did he know his wife had also planned a surprise 40th birthday party.  :-)

After some tricky maneuvering, Dan got the rig parked in the driveway and we were settled in for a few days of family time.

My niece and nephew....Sammie and Nick

Having fun with my sister Barbara and brother Patrick

SIL Jenny, Sammie and Patrick after Sammie's ballet performance.

Barbara and I were tasked with getting Patrick out of the house so that the house could be decorated and set up for the party.  We headed out to explore Rehoboth Beach and Lewes.  The weather had turned chilly (what a crazy Spring this has been!) but we walked the boardwalk despite the wind and cool temps.

Walking the boardwalk with Sammie and Patrick 

Sister and brother acting crazy! 

Shark attack!

Barbara and Sammie

 Lewes (prounounce Lewis) is such a cute little town with wonderful old homes and buildings.

We didn't get too spend too much time in Lewes as we had to get back to the house for the surprise party.  Lewes is a great little walking town and would love to go back and stroll the streets.

When we got back to the house and Patrick walked thru the door, everyone yelled "SURPRISE"!!  He said "for what?"  His birthday is actually in January so having the party in May threw him off!  My SIL figured that  having his party in January wasn't such a good idea since he had just gotten back from being deployed and the weather could be cranky in the winter.

Moustache fun

Jenny and Patrick

Dan and Ben (Jenny's nephew)

We had a great time in Delaware and all too soon, it was time to head further north.  We made it to the farm in PA about 2 weeks ago and have been going non-stop.

I, along with Dan's Mom and SIL Ann, went to a very moving Memorial Day parade and service.

The oldest commander in the US lives in the Valley (that's him standing up next to the chairs in the above piture).  He was in his mid 90s and I had the opportunity to talk to him a few days later.  He was handing out poppies at one of the local restaurants.

We have celebrated two birthdays!  Dan's niece Jessie and his great nephew Caden.

Caden, Hunter, and Landon

We went to see Tony Orlando in concert at Tioga Downs.  The concert was wonderful and we had a fantastic time!    No pictures though.

We are both working on our projects, too....

Anyone know what this is??!

Dan is working on building a new truck bed.  He built the original truck bed to fit the Harley and it was quite involved to load and unload the bike/scooter and it was HEAVY!  After some thought, he decided that it would be best to drop some weight and to build a simplified, lighter, truck bed.

And I don't mean simplified design...just a simpler way to load/unload the scooter.  Within 24 hours of us being back on the farm, he already had the old bed off the truck.

He has been designing, welding, chopping, measuring, fitting, and grinding 8-10 hours a day and he hopes to have it finished in the next few days..ahead of schedule.   It is amazing to me how he comes up with these designs and how intricate it is to ensure that all of the angles, measurements and "stuff" is right.

My projects are nowhere near as involved but I sure am having fun doing them!  I can't show pictures as they are gifts for my daughter, DIL and son for Christmas.

We have been having lots of family time, visiting friends, helping Dan's Mom with a few things around the farm, going to yard sales (me!), and just enjoying our time in PA.  The weather sure has been funny....warm, then hot, then cold.  I've seen flurries and temps in the 90s since we've been here.  And that was in a week's time span.  I love walking on the farm and watching the wildlife.  There are TONS of birds this Spring with robins and red winged blackbirds being the most prevalent.  Dan and I were out walking last night and the killdeer are now out and about.  We've seen cute chipmunks and not so cute woodchucks.  There have been a handful of deer but no bear yet.  I'm still holding out to see the mama bear and her three cubs that have been spotted a few times on the farm.  Although it's not the best area to ride bikes, I have managed to develop a routine path that I am able to pedal.  It means that I have to circle it several times and do loops but it's all good!

We've got a few more weeks here before we hitch and move north. Life is good!!