Our friends Shelly and Bob winter with us in Cedar Key. Shelly’s birthday is in August and she really didn’t want to have a birthday party so instead, they threw a “Life is Great” party and invited 150 of their closest friends!
We spent 2 nights at Shelly and Bob’s “Go Away” Campground before moving to a nearby forest preserve.
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| Go Away Campground! |
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| Our "home" for 2 nights |
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| Love their front porch |
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| The main part of the house and barn are over 100 years old! |
Shelly and Bob are very gracious hosts and we had a blast exploring with them and helping them prepare for the party.
Bob took us on several excursions showing us his farm equipment, farms, buildings, etc. as well as points of interest around the area. He has A LOT of tractors!!
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| Bob enjoyed talking to Dan about his old tractors |
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| I enjoyed seeing the horse barn |
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| Old tack room |
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| Playing in the cornfields - LOVE this picture |
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| Dan on an old lawnmower |
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| Antique hog oiler |
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| Dan in the farm truck |
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| Statue of Blackhawk - over 48 ft fall |
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| and up close |
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| Mama and her baby |
Gin, Syl, Shelly and I went to Rockford one afternoon to run a few errands. Of course we did not behave ourselves….
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| Goofy Gin |
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| Silly Syl |
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| Shelly, Gin and I monkeying around...Rockford is home of the Sock Monkey! |
A lot of our friends from Cedar Key were coming to the party…
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| Rod, Ronnie, Bob and Mike |
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| Glenda, Shelly, me, Jeannie, Syl and Gin |
Shelly loves to have fun! She wanted Syl and I to get people to “check-in” at the party by playing a game called Pie Face…it was like Russian roulette as you never knew if you would get whipped cream in your face.
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| Dan |
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| Gin (and Syl in the background) |
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| Vel |
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| Shelly |
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| Bob |
There was even a 94 year old lady that did it. And, of course, she got whipped cream in her face. She was such a good sport and said “you only live once”!
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| All dressed up! |
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| Vel, Maggie, Tammy, and Rod |
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| Bob, Beth and her sister |
It was a wonderful party with tons of yummy food and drinks, good friends, music, dancing and tons of laughing.
A few days after the party, Shelly and I along with 6 of her friends went on a road trip. Shelly called us “Ladies on the Loose”. We were head to Hamilton, Missouri…home of Missouri Star Quilt Company.
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| Crossing over the mighty Mississippi |
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| Yep - we were being tourists! |
We stopped at Amana Colonies in Iowa along the way…it was a neat little area and you could still see the German influence.
The flowers were amazing…
I had a number of “firsts” on the trip…first time in Iowa and Missouri, first time seeing a crop-duster and first time seeing an upside down rainbow!
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| Scientific name "circumzenithal arc" |
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| Corn is BIG business - corn processing plant |
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| Whohoo - Quilting Mecca!! |
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| Love the murals |
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| Hamilton, MO is also the boyhood home of JC Penney! |
As a bonus, we got a “behind the scenes” tour of Missouri Star Quilt Company. It was pretty darn neat!
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| Look at all those bolts of fabric |
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| precuts - ohlala! |
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| Customers quilts waiting to be quilted |
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| Long arm quilting machine |
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| Ladies on the loose |
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| This says it all! |
Yep - life is indeed GREAT!!
