Patti, Bill, and Laurie

Kinect Fun

2012-02-06T06:19:00.004-06:00

We played Xbox Kinect with friends Saturday. Cory and Todd are practicing for our big ski trip.

Man, that's good exercise.

Billy made a special punch. with lots of white alcohol, blue berries, strawberries, & oranges. It was really good.

Aww, that's so sweet.

Judy and Lisa are getting ready to box.

Vacation in Kaleefornea!

2012-01-20T13:34:00.000-06:00

Vacation in sunny beautiful Kaleefornea!

We took a walk on the beach in Oceanside, CA.
I had a hard time stepping from rock to rock! It was a little scary.

Next, we stayed with Donna and Stu. Bill met Dora the doggy.

We had a delicious meal at a Mexican restaurant. Then visited and napped until we were hungry again and went to In-N-Out so Bill could have one of those famous burgers. Yum, yum.

Bill and Stu walking on their back yard path.

We then headed to the San Bernadino Mountains.

Wow, are they beautiful or what!?

We hiked the Cougar Crest Trail. It was about 6 miles round trip.

We kept hiking after we reached the end.

Here is Bill at the tip top of a mountain peak. That was so cool. It wasn't part of the trail, Bill just decided he needed to stand on top of the mountain. I climbed up there too!

The next day we went to Big Bear Mountain and skied on Snow Summit. Snow Summit is on the right two highest peaks. Big Bear Ski Resort is on the left peak. We skied down the two longest runs over toward the right, plus another one at the top and the beginner's baby slope at the bottom.

They had very long runs for beginners. That was soo cool. The beginner's baby lift was faster than the other lifts. I'd say getting off the beginner's lift was the scariest part of it all.

Do these pants make my butt look big?

Billy's a fantastic teacher. I had not been skiing for 20 years and forgot some of the tricks. Bill gave me some excellent pointers. I had a better time than I thought I'd have. In fact, I loved it!

We'd been to the ocean and mountains, Next it was time to see the desert. We rode bikes around Palm Springs.

The bike trails go all around Palm Springs. It was pretty nerve racking though. The trail was on the side of the streets sometimes. The cars do not slow down. Yikes. We got all turned around on the bike trails, but it was a gorgeous day.

We definitely got a workout on this trip!!!! My legs still hurt, LOL

2011-12-31T08:12:00.001-06:00

We stayed at the Anrews Inn in Key West. It was right in the center of all the fun on Duvall Street.

It was a Bed and Breakfast. We had our own bath and our room openned to the pool area with a patio. They had a free happy hour daily at 4 pm.

It was a tropical paradise. They had a delicious breakfast in the pool area. We had our own little table on our patio right outside our door.

Bill was soooo sick. He was miserable the entire time. He did get out of bed and even went on a bike ride around Key West the third day. Poor guy, he's such a trooper.

Everyone rides scooters or bikes in Key West. There is a beautiful trail around much of the island. Wow, how cool is that!

Billy's looking at a map while we head back through town.

The temperature was perfect. Upper 70's / low 80's with a little breeze. The sun shined every day.

More of the bike trail.

CoOKiE dAy 2011

2011-12-04T17:26:00.001-06:00

HaPpY ThAnKsGivInG!

2011-11-27T11:17:00.005-06:00

GRooin iN ThE California SunShine

2011-10-08T06:24:00.005-05:00

Just two tourists at Venus Beach California

I love this picture. The kids are so enthralled with their sea catch - now look at Kevin's face. Priceless.

Two cool chics.

Two more cool chics.

What a gorgeous beach!

Donna, Jill and I think that's Bel (I'm just not sure, Ava and Bel look so much alike).

Now we're styl'in! Feeling groovy

Family dinner. Erin is visiting and Viv is sharing. See what I mean? OK, now I see the two older Burke girls and I know Bel was the girl in the previous pic.

LA vAcATioN

2011-10-08T05:53:00.023-05:00

My favorite daughter and I are on the front porch of Donna & Stu's cabin in the mountains. That's Dora next to Laurie and Chris is in the cabin door. He makes awesome margaritas!

Awe sweet baby Ivy and her mama. Erin may not know it now, but she will always remember these days as the good times.

Jen styl'in. Maybe she has a thing for fur. She wore a fur top hat during Mardi Gras in Soulard too.

Laurie with her nook companion. That thing must have some heavy duty batteries!
I'm not sure what she's reading... I'm afraid to ask. I probably wouldn't understand the title.

Mountains on the way to the cabin. Wow how beautiful is that!

Larry was our chauffeur on our "day trip" through the mountains, to the cabin, and back. His arm is probably permanently damaged from my pokes. He seemed to be driving too fast around all those crazy, dangerous curves. Laurie had to close her eyes. What an adventure. Thanks Larry, we are only half way kidding.

Ivy claimed the baby bed and she looks right at home.

Here's the gang minus Barb. She stayed back to rest.

Sisters, and you can't even tell we're related. LOL

That's just too cute.

Jen and our faithful chauffeur, Larry. They are sitting next to Don and Pati. Yes we have two Patti's. That was a popular name back in them days.

Back at the house, Laurie's on the porch. Underneath her is a twisting path through orange, lemon, and mango (?) trees. There is even a waterfall and a little deck with grapes hanging from overhead. That's just so cool. Donna fell last year while planting flowers on the hill with the water fall. Major bummer, but we won't go there.

Will the REAL Batman please step forward. Holy smokes, it's Tyler on the way to the Bat cave.

Robin and Laurie. Those were popular hats on that day. Hey, I think they may show up as a Christmas gag gift (again).

Na, na, na, na, na Holy jumping balls Batman, it's an entire Batman family. They are standing in front of the Batman ball tent. Stu really had to hold his ground when the rental store was out of Batman and wanted to give him a different character. Not a chance!

Donna, her stogie and her hubby :)

Batman Summer Pool Party

CA sunshine.

Barb in the hot tub with Jen floating by to visit. I think Chris probably made quite a few trips to that area with refills.

"The Burke Pile" Hey, they all have shoes when it's time to go home!

Barb and the neighbor sharing a moment. I think they are singing. yikes.

Back to Nature in Colorado

2011-09-04T05:52:00.013-05:00

Day two. Hike up a mountain trail to Lost Lake. It took 2 + hours to get up the mountain and one to get back down. My new nickname is Turn-Around Patti. I wanted to turn around twice!
This was incredible! It looked like pictures of Alaska.

The hike was as a butt kicker! The location is off of Rt 14 somewhere near Nederland/Eldora. It was not an official Nt'l trail. It was privately owned. The trail was mostly rocks through woods. On the way down there was a huge pile of doo doo in the path. It was not there on the way up. We were not alone! Probably a moose, but whatever it was, it was very big.

Day One: this is excersion two and the second half of our day. Back on the road. These pics are not in order :) This is after the rain and sleet adventure on the Trail Ridge Road, Rte 34. It was a wet, cold, windy, ride up to the top of a mountain. The road it's self was 12,183 feet high. wow. I seriously wanted to turn around after the the first sharp curve without a guard rail. It was terrifying. But, we needed to get off the mountain. It was about 9 pm and of course dark by the time we got to the bottom of the mountain.

We pulled off the road and into a shelter for protection from the rain and sleet. Trail Ridge Road is part of Rt 34. It's closed from mid-October through June. I think this pic was on route 125 going south. (not sure)

Beautiful!

We drove 280 miles that day.

Part one of this trip: Hwy 14.

Break time.

We rented a Harley and drive around the Colorado Rocky Mountains.

The rocks next to the road were so close I could almost touch them.

I'm not sure what river this is, but we followed it on route 14 practically the entire time.

REtiRemEnT

2011-07-10T14:24:00.002-05:00

I took this pic on my way to work. hmm what's wrong here? Oh, maybe because on this beautiful Friday morning at 7:45 am, Lisa and I are working and the boys are relaxing. Marty stopped to get some of Bill's Sponge Bob golf balls and Bill's resting up before laying sod.

Yep, that is a Bloody Mary before 8 am. Bill didn't have one until a little later after his hard work, but he didn't get a full glass because Mic discovered he loves Boody Mary's, especially from Bill's glass.

4th Of jULy

2011-07-10T14:16:00.002-05:00

Pool Party!

awe

Ollie is sharing a brownie with Viv

bye

RoAD tRiP tO FT. doDGe

2011-06-26T22:53:00.005-05:00

We rode home from Ft. Dodge, Iowa today. It took us 12 hours to make it home. The round trip totaled 935 miles of back roads. It was pretty cool. This is Olivia and Carolyn at the REO Speedwagon concert.

Kathy and Olivia.

Lizzie, Laura Lee, and Olivia. Olivia doesn't like her picture taken. LOL

Me and Biwwy partiers until our bed time, 10 pm.

Olivia plays a terrific air guitar.

Carolyn wore one of designs. love it.

On the ride home.

Taking a break and scoping out the next road.

On the Ferry

Bill's Great Grandfather

2011-06-07T19:03:00.005-05:00

Bill's sister, Carolyn, was looking up their family history and found information about their Great Grandfather George Spencer Jewell. It's pretty interesting.

PoOL pARtY MAy 2011

2011-05-30T18:43:00.004-05:00

Thanks Barb and Larry. You did it again. What a great Memorial Day Pool Party!

Here's Erin and Kevin sharing a rare moment without Ivy.

Grandpa Don shares fruit with Ivy.

Tyler, Barb, and Jill are chill'in
Bill and Larry are in deep conversation.
Ava's trying to keep her face shaded. I think it's too late. It was pretty red. Ollie is delivering snow cones in his Batman sunglasses.
Bill is pooring Four Loko shots.
These are the kiddie jello shots. Don't worry the big kids had some too.

My MoM

2011-05-08T18:18:00.019-05:00

When You Thought I Wasn't Looking

When you thought I wasn't looking,
I saw you hang my first painting on the refrigerator
and I wanted to paint another one.

When you thought I wasn't looking,
I saw you feed a stray dog
and I thought it was good to be kind to animals.

When you thought I wasn't looking,I saw you make my favorite cake
and I knew that little things are special things.

When you thought I wasn't looking,
I felt you kiss me good night, and I felt loved.

When you thought I wasn't looking,
I saw tears come from your eyes,
and I learned that sometimes things hurt,
but it's all right to cry,

When you thought I wasn't looking,
I saw you take care of our house and everyone in it
and I learned we have to take care of each other.

When you thought I wasn't looking, I looked ...
em>and wanted to say thanks for all the things
I saw when you thought I wasn't looking.

iVy tuRNs onE!

2011-04-30T20:51:00.008-05:00

Happy birthday dear Ivy! What a sweet baby!

There was a lot of visiting, eating, playing, and picture taking.

What a cute cake. Oh, my, I think the cake is melting.

Donna is standing on a chair to see Ivy eat her cake.

Poor baby. She grabbed the elastic from her birthday hat and snapped it on the side of her face. Ouch, you should have seen the surprised look on her face! It didn't take long for the icing to make it all better.

Next was the ice cream cone pinata that wouldn't break.

All the kids took a turn smacking it, and smacking it, and smacking it, etc.

Kevin found a golf club and the kids swung that around a few times. Hurray, it finally broke

Then the grown ups entertained themselves by trying to drop the ice cream on Ivy's head. We love you Ivy! Happy birthday.

sOccER Game

2011-04-17T18:17:00.002-05:00

What a gorgeous day! We went for a motorcycle ride and stopped to see the soccer star, Ava, play. Woo hoo, they won! Now they'll need to play again for the championship.

Here's Viv. She's so happy. She was lugging a coat, blanket, lawn chair and soda. Wow what ambition! Unfortunately, she wasn't able to carry Bill's lawn chair too. LOL

Jill was dressed for snow. :)

nEW MoTorCycLe

2011-04-16T08:28:00.003-05:00

Here is our new bike. We are one step closer to a major road trip adventure!

Honda Valkyrie Interstate Valkyrie’s were made from 1997 to 2003. The Valkyrie engine is a 1,520cc liquid cooled, horizontally-opposed flat-six engine transplanted from Honda’s Goldwing. The Standard and Tourer models were first made in 1997. In 1999 the Interstate model was added. The Interstate and Tourer models were dropped after 2001, leaving only the Standard model remaining.

JoSh's BaNd

2011-03-27T21:45:00.004-05:00

Josh's band played at Legends tonight. Wow, they were great.

Josh is in the green shirt. We all, of course, clapped and yelled a few yoo, yoo's after the songs, just to keep them pumped (or embarrassed). His aunt was the loudest, with, "go Joshy!"

Josh, his mom and brother.

More congratulations and hugs. His dad is on the far right.

biLl's RetIRemEnT BaSh!

2011-03-27T12:13:00.014-05:00

Woo hoo. The day has come. The retirement papers have been submitted. After 29 years, working for the State of Missouri, Bill is retiring April 1, 2011. We had a happy hour celebration at Fast Eddies. Hey, that's a cool scarf Mr. Bill. It almost looks like girls thongs.

Here is the gang. We had such a good time. Barb got to meet some of our motorcycle friends. Get ready Larry, cause she invited them over for a pool party! Barb wants to party with everyone. Well, even more so after the shot of tequila :)

Bill had all kinds of goofy gag gifts. Our friends are always trying to talk Bill into playing golf. Bill thinks he sucks at it and won't go. Now that he is retired, they made sure he has everything needed to succeed at golf. Here Lisa is holding up the checked pants, Hawaiian shirt, argyle vest and white belt. He's wearing the cool hat too.

Isn't this fun. Here is an umbrella and golf bag. He also got a woman's club (right handed of course, since he's left handed), a furry gorilla to cover the club, Sponge Bob Square Pants balls, tees and shoes. I think it's a good look for you Billy! He also got a woman's club (right handed of course, since he's left handed), a furry gorilla to cover the club, Sponge Bob Square Pants balls, tees and shoes.

That gift bag went on, and on, forever. LOL It was so much fun. That's guys!

Bill was a little overwhelmed so Lisa helped him find the stuff so he didn't miss anything.

Everyone enjoyed the show.

These are work friends. Hey they stayed to the bitter end! What troupers.

It was cold and rainy that day. We were outside in the covered patio, but it wasn't so bad with the overhead heaters.You can't tell it, but Ed's pockets are probably weighing him down. I know what's in those pockets! We just met the girl on the right. She fit right in. Before the night was over, Bill had her bra on his head.

This is a few of our friends. I wish I would have taken a picture of the entire group. I should have gone around to get a shot of all the tables. Darn. We'll just have to do it again next weekend. LOL

I don't think that's going to happen

OK, now it's getting late and I've been raiding Ed's pockets and Bill's tequila gifts for many hours. I had to share with Laurie! yikes I think later I posed and sang I'm a little tea cup. I'm sure that was not my idea.

Here she is. Like mother, like daughter.

This is Bill's office earlier this week. He walked in and found every item on his desk and some items in his desk, all the items in his credenza, his doors, etc. all wrapped in celafane. What in the world? Get ready Bill cause I think you're going to have more surprises before April 1. What!? how did these get in our gift bag! Double yikes! Friday Bill found a note and blow up doll in his car at work. She is pretty cute with her plaid skirt. What next?

BiLl's gOOdByE LuNcH

2011-03-26T10:56:00.012-05:00

Thursday our IT Department had a goodbye lunch for Bill at McGuirks.

Me, Glenda the good witch, and Dan the Man. We were the tech team for quite a while at the downtown St. Louis office. The IT team put together an extravigant collection of sincere retirement gifts. Glenda (in the middle) was a big instigator and put it all together. She was truely "in her element"

There were two tables of partiers. Jayna, Rich and Chris (SLPRC)

Mike and John (really smart programmers). John is host of the famous annual pool parties.

Sue (our awesome assistant), Eileen (programmer), Teresa (techie). Teresa and Bill worked to gether at BHC.

Mike, John, Cathy (programmer), Sue looking at the Memory Book.

John and Bill reminicing. I didn't hear what they were saying, but it must have been a really juicy memory because they had to whisper.

Grata, Rose, Darrell, Steve, Paul (our young'n programmer). I can't remember what location the folks from the CPS side work - it's either Hawthorn or Metro Psych.

Chris, Frank, and Ray (all CPS techies)

The gifts were all contained in this adult diaper box. Very clever. Glenda you really out did yourself.

Pajama pants, those will come in handy. I want to see the door greater at Wal-mart when he walks in wearing those.

Weather Rock. You know Bill is a weather man wanna-be.

No retiree can survive without a to-do list!

Don't worry Jillian Michels, Bill will always be able to walk around the block. Be careful Billy, if you walk too fast, you may get dizzy.

In case he feels adventerous, he can always roll his new dice.

Now he'll have time to take a warm and relaxing bubble bath soak in the hot tub.

We had a terrific time. It was really kind of emotional. This was a touching and thoughtful celebration.

MaRdi gRas in noReAnS 2011

2011-03-07T11:55:00.009-06:00

Friday morning we drove to New Orleans. We had a very strategically calculated "rolling rondeyvoo". Bill and I left our house 12 minutes before Marty and Lisa left their house and we connected while driving on interstate 255. Guess who thought of that!

We drove through heavy rain and high winds, well it did rain the entire 11 hours!

Here is the gang! We stayed at Lisa's brother's house in New Orleans. Yes, they put up with all of us, even Marty:) After Bill and I left, more partiers were scheduled to arrive. They give us a free bed and chauffered us around New Orleans. Julie was the designated driver most of the time. THANK YOU JULIE, THANK YOU KIETH! It doesn't get any better than that!

I have to mention that I fell in love while I was there. They have a small poodle named Ellie. OMG she was the sweetest doggie! They found her after Katrina and rescued her. awe
The first night we had Four Loco and hit several bars. It was too rainy to go to Bourbon Street. Our 2nd day, the entertainment started at 11 am with Bloody Mary's and more Four Loco, then we headed to the French Quarter and had a few Hand Grenades. They were pretty tasty. Marty and I gearing up for the French Quarter on Bourbon Street.
Here is Tony and Ike at the Daiquiri bar.
Marty made friends with a rugby team.

We had a huge King Cake for breakfast the first morning. King Cakes are a New Orleans tradition. They have a toy baby hidden inside (really on the bottom), that represents baby Jesus. Kieth got the baby. This is Bourbon Street. The rain was so bad, the Bachhus parade we planned to see on Saturday was moved to a different route on Sunday. That was sad. We had tickets with bleacher seats and food. Apparently, at the New Orleans Mardi Gras parades, they throw really cool beads, stuff animals, masks, and all kinds of cool things. People volunteer to ride on the floats and throw gifts. They must spend an outrageous amound of bucks on stuff to throw, like tens of thousands of bucks. :) Really! Holy Cow. Bill wants to sign up for next year. LOLSunday we shopped at the French Market. It was a beautiful day. I think the temperature was in the 60's with sun shine.

Then we ate at Margaritaville . After that Bill and I headed home while the rest of the gang headed for the parade.

MaRdi gRas DoG pARadE 2011

2011-02-27T16:54:00.011-06:00

The Soulard dog parade was today. We met Marty & Lisa and Kathy & Cory at 9th and Russell to watch the fun.

Last year we froze our behinds off. This year the temperature was great and it didn't rain. Hurray!!

Girl friends :) We stayed busy taking pictures while Kathy, Cory, and Marty left in search of a porta potty. We had Kathy's camera and took lots of fun pictures. She'll have some surprise pictures when she gets home :) Sorry, Kathy, we couldn't resist. After the parade, we met up with Mel & Todd and Serell and Rich. Mel, Todd and Kyle (the doggie) always dress in tie dye for the parade. Serell & Rich sent their dog home. He was so scared. Serell was afraid he'd need a doggie shrink after the dog parade. She's got a call into Cesar Millan.

Here's a cute butterfly. awe

Hamburger and pizza.

The Beatles weren't there, but their Yellow submarine was.

Here's spike, too cute!

People-watching was fun. It's always so colorful and festive.

Sking in Galena

2011-02-14T19:27:00.007-06:00

Bill, Cory, Marty, and Todd left Sunday morning for Chestnut Mountain Resort in Galena. Boy trip!

After flaming shots and a few drinks, they headed for the slopes again - well it was Billy's birthday after all.

Cory and Todd had never been skiing, so they took lessons at Hidden Valley in St. Louis a couple of weeks ago. At the moment, Cory is still standing. I'm just kidding, Cory, I'm sure you didn't fall, especially not getting off the lift.

Marty and Todd. I think this was after the Hamburger shot. It consists of tequila, pickle juice, and tomato juice all in separate shot glasses.

Wow that was beautiful.

HaNnAH's rEd dREss

2011-01-16T15:41:00.003-06:00

Hey I've been busy making this military ball gown for Hannah. Wow it turned out great!

This was the last fitting. The sides are pinned together and it still needs to be hemmed.

cHriStmAs eVe 2010

2010-12-25T06:49:00.010-06:00

Bill has been sick with a bad cold. Poor little boy. That sucks :( Laurie and Josh had turkey dinner with us. Yum, it was really good. Josh insisted on helping clean up -wow, I did dirty a lot of dishes. Laurie, Josh, and I had some Christmas spirits while Bill laid on the couch in misery. Poor little boy.
When we opened presents, Laurie had double the gifts the rest of us had Yikes! I guess I can't count. Laurie and I got matching mother daughter boots, awww. Josh and Bill each got Hill Billy Golf. The kids had to go to Josh's great grandma's and they ran out of time. So we packed them up and they headed out into the blizzard for more family fun.

wOw! It's a Winter Wonderland!

Laurie said they put gifts for Mallie and Bastion in stockings. Bastion's favorite toy is stuffed animals and Mallie's favorite is always the big doggie bone. Bastion saw Laurie putting a squeaky stuffed toy in a stocking and he immediately knew what it was and who it was for -- him! He kept jumping up trying to get it.

This is our tree "the morning after". I put the tree skirt down for the picture. We can't keep it under the tree because Mic keeps scratching it as if he's digging a hole and then positioning his big furry self under the tree. He barely fits under the tree!

EDDIE GRISWALD emptying his mobile home's shixxxer into the neighbor drainage system. I really need that

2010 CookIE DaY FUn!

2010-12-18T20:28:00.004-06:00

THanKsGiviNG 2010

2010-11-26T06:14:00.004-06:00

NeYtiRi COStUMe

2010-10-24T20:09:00.007-05:00

Laurie and Josh were over for some of Billy's spicy Jerk Chicken Friday night. I talked Laurie into modeling some shirts for Etsy for me and also, my Halloween costume.

Guess who? It's Neytiri from Avatar. Too bad you can't see the blue ears :) I saw that American Apparel was having a Halloween Costume Contest that needed at least one item from their store visible. Since my costume includes two dresses from there, I figured I'd take a picture of Laurie and send it in.

This is the link to it: http://www.americanapparel.net/storefront/UGCStyle/Halloween10/View.asp?e=8818

Laurie looks awesome in it. It took quite awhile to get her fingers and arm all the way through all those strings. LOL She was a very gracious model, as always. Wait till you see Billy's costume! I'm really pushing my luck this year.

JiM, wHo bUTtoned yOuR ShiRt ThiS mORniNg?

2010-10-18T18:04:00.001-05:00

This was at the Crab Fesival in Port Angeles, WA.

OlYmPiC NatiOnal ParK

2010-10-11T19:42:00.005-05:00

We hiked up Hurricane Ridge Trail. It was 1.6 miles one way. Wow. Really the pictures don't do it justice

Hey, I wanted to wear that scarf, but Billy wouldn't give it up.

This last picture is an old one of Sarah and two friends. It was in an old blog post from quite a while ago. They were hiking on a trail off of Hurricane Ridge and got off the trail to explore, then got turned around and ended up on this little ledge all Saturday afternoon, evening and Sunday until about 3 or 4 pm when a helicopter crew rescued them. Yikes!! Bill and I thought we were hiking the same trail, but there are so many trails and later realized we were not on the same trail.

CrAB FestIVaL

2010-10-11T19:17:00.004-05:00

The next day we met Pam, Jim, & Kathy at the Crab Festival in Port Angeles. Pam gave Billy a whistle from one of the Native American vendor stands and after a few Pale Ales, he played it for us.

Kathy and Pam both blew a few tunes too. Give them a beer and a whistle and they all return to their childhood.

Then, believe it or not, at the Crab Festival, we walked by a quaint Thai restaurant and decided to eat Thai. Man, I love that chili-garlic Thai sauce, yum, yum. Later, we stopped at Dairy Queen and had banana splits. We called it a day/night after picking up a loaf of banana bread from Pam, double yum.

ViCToRiA, BRiTiSh CoLuMBIa CANADA

2010-10-11T18:49:00.008-05:00

We took a small passenger ferry from Port Angeles, WA to Victoria. It was windy and a little rainy.

It took about an hour to get to Victoria.

Victoria is so cool. I thought I was in France :) We walked all over Victoria, ,tried fancy beer at lunch and guess what? They had $3 shots! That sealed the deal, we went back that night. woo hoo.

The rain stopped and the sun even came out from time to time. It was perfect walking around town temperture. The Empress Hotel is behind us.
OK this is a really big tree.

PoRT ToWenSenD & CHimicHum Washingtion

2010-10-11T17:28:00.007-05:00

We've had a busy 5 days :)

Day 1: We got up at 2:30 am and flew to Seattle, met Kathy who arrive after us from Ft. Dodge, rented a car, drove to Pam & Jim's house in Chimacum, snacked and visited, drove to Port Townsend, ate at a Mexican restaurant, and spent the night in Port Townsend.

This is Pam & Jim's drive way. It's just beautiful there. Everything is so green.

Kathy, Pam, and Bill. Darn they are missing their baby sister :( It just wasn't quite right without you Carolyn.

Pam loves to cook. She made awesome banana bread for us. It was delicious. Hey, she was just getting started.

This is their hansom rooster, cock a doodle doo :) They have a chicken too and found a fresh egg while we were there. Jim said that egg probably cost them $30. I think I better stick with eggs from Wal-Mart.

This is Jim, Sarah, Peggy, Kathy, and Bill. Bill constantly found reasons to utilize his phone. Peggy is a family friend. She was pretty entertaining.

Here's the gang.

This was our view from the Port Townsend hotel. It's an adorable quaint town.

MOviNg

2010-10-02T08:04:00.002-05:00

L & J moved some on Thursday and finished up yesterday. Before the last load we took a very needed break.

Essentials - vacuum cleaner and guitar.Here is the parade from the back. Josh, Kevin, Mallie, and Bastian. With every load to the truck, the doggies followed back and forth, back and forth.

L&J's CaSA

2010-09-25T18:05:00.003-05:00

We had another busy day. Bill worked on the cabinet knobs and tried to put a cabinet door on. He must not like hinges because he cusses alot when he works on them. He also started power washing the outside of the house. The rest of us painted.

Oh boy, it's so colorful. Who'd have thought Laurie would select all this color! The living room has one red, one orange, and two neutral walls. It's just gorgeous.
We painted the kitchen today. That's the room with all the pain in the neck wall paper. It was dull, but not any more! One wall is dark orange (same as the living room) and the rest are a lighter (spiced) orange. You can't see it but the counter tops are maroon/red. I really love it.

Laurie and Josh are loading up the doggies and heading home so Laurie can get some sleep before work tonight. They had a busy day!

Stay tuned there's more to come. Tomorrow there will be more painting, grass mowing, power washing, maybe gutter work, then cleaning. Monday the carpet will be installed.

NeW hoUse - MakING proGreSs

2010-09-23T06:05:00.004-05:00

You probably can't see it but there is a man in the tree trimming the branches. It was cut waaaay back. Don't worry, they said the Hackberry trees are very hardy and will be fine. The HUGE tree had branches hanging dangerously way over the house, driveway, and into the neighbor's yard.

With Judy's expert instructions and several phone calls for advice, we're turning into professional wall paper removers! We're peeling paper, scoring the backing with a "Paper Tiger", applying HOT water, scraping, and filling in the uneven bad spots with plaster. After that is done, the walls will be washed with a special chemical from Judy. I don't know what it is. For several days I thought it was coffee creamer in a sandwich bag. LOL

I must have been so anxious to paint that I just put my t-shirt on backwards. I didn't know it until I just uploaded this pic.

Painting is so fun. It's instant gratification.

PaiNtiNg nEw hOuse

2010-09-18T19:15:00.005-05:00

Laurie fresh as a daisy ready to paint.

Bastian and Mallie love their new yard.

What a mess!

You can't see them all but there are 7 colors plus primer!

The bed room is purple and "bunny fuzz", it's some time of taupe and grey.

Billie's cutting a doggie door. This was a metal door and it took him a very long time!

LoVed mEXiCo

2010-09-08T19:31:00.008-05:00

Guess which feet are Billy's and which are mine :) Bill kept begging me to take his picture. He's such a ham.

We saw a few cruise ships and sail boats, but it was mostly open ocean.

I love to swim in the ocean. It' so awesome!

PaLiSaDe'S BBQ

2010-08-22T17:04:00.005-05:00

Lisa & Marty had a Birthday BBQ for Kevin on Saturday. We started out in the pool at their Yacht club. We had such a good time we almost forgot to BBQ!

Kathy is explaining important stuff to Kevin.

Serel brought Jack Nicolson. How cool is that!

Here's Marty. You can trust him, he's the captain.

We aren't having any fun at all. What a sad crew. LOL

Kevin openned his gifts. The Morgan's love to camp and Kevin really like the Schwagstock sign I made Josh for Xmas, so Bill and I made him a nice little family sign for their camp site. Then, we added a few things to give it a little of Kevin's personality.

--can't be trusted with camera's or super soakers

--we believe in 3-legged chickens

--expert marble collectors

--warning not so innocent

He got lots of nice gifts including this coupon that said, This is not a coupon.

Hey, you guys are facing the wrong way!

Bill, Kathy and Kevin playing with the doggies.

LaUriE & JoESh - DrEamInG of A new HouSE

2010-08-07T09:57:00.003-05:00

House in Wood River. Wow, this house is sooo awesome! Laurie and Josh put a bid in on it and yesterday, they accepted the seller's counter offer. It's not super big, but it has a lot of room. One bedroom upstairs and I think 4 rooms downstairs, a garage (spotless!), double door frig, stove, dishwasher, front load washer and dryer. There could still be issues with the loans, inspection requirements, and who knows what else, but hopefully it will all work out.

The back yard has a high privacy fence all around it. It's completely landscaped. The back yard patio looks like bricks, but it's some kind of rubber or something soft.

I gotta go, we're working on Laurie and Josh's house in East Alton today, gotta get it ready to sell it.

MaRbLEs, MArbLes EVeryWhERE

2010-08-07T09:45:00.005-05:00

Marbles, Marbles everywhere, even in your underwear.

After we had dinner at Judy and Kevin's, they found marbles on their tables, duck decore, china cabinet, well really everywhere. hmm, I wonder how all those marbles happened to get there? That night Kevin found marbles under their sheets! Judy didn't seem to mind, she slept on them all night. They are still finding marbles, in their shoes, pockets, toilet paper rolls, well, just everywhere! For some reason they're focusing the blame on me! Hey, I was born innocent.

Hey, guys, keep looking.... there are 151 marbles in a package!

MotORcyCLe RIdE to Bare Foot Inn

2010-08-07T09:18:00.005-05:00

Nothing better than a motorcyle ride with friends on a bright, blistering hot Sunday! We wanted to go to Kinder's but due to flooding, we made adjustments to our destination and rode to Barefoot Inn.

Bill uses the map as a hat to protect himself from the sun. Hey, Bill, maybe you can sell map hats when you retire!

Judy joins Biwwy under the map hat.

Kevin and Judy look so nice and I look like I'm up to something. :) I didn't bring marbles, I PROMISE.

Politician, Kevin needed to practice shaking hands with all types of people, so he talked Kathy into posing as a "rough and rowdy biker girl".

The boys are bonding.

ChICaGo TriP

2010-07-10T17:16:00.007-05:00

Shopping Michigan Avenue

Park on Michigan Avenue
This was at the end of the second night. It was a great day.

First night at the Irish Pub.

Cool city from Navy Pier

The view from every angle of Navy Pier was so cool.

Here's my favorite daughter!

Laurie's skirt kept flying up. :)

This is one of my favorite pics.

Fashion statement.

Shopping Michigan Avenue.

Can you tell we'd been shopping all day? We sat in a coffee shop reminiscing.

Laurie ordered a shot, but it wasn't tequila, it was espressoYum, yum, looks delicious.

We didn't eat dinner until 10 pm and man that Margarita tasted soo0o good.

Last night at Fado Irish Pub.

4th Of jULy (minus the fireworks)

2010-07-05T08:42:00.004-05:00

Happy 4th! Larry, Bill, Erin, & Kevin played hillbilly golf.

They continued, even when it started raining.

Cool guys or the three stooges?

Erin, Kevin, & Ivy. They are having the time of their life. There's no slowing down for the Thurston's. They pack-up Ivy and keep going. Ivy's such a good baby, just like her mama was!There were other people at the BBQ, honest. My pictures were too blurry or dark. bummer. Check out Jennifer's blog, I'm sure she has more pictures.

MotORcyCLe RIdE to ALToN & DoGgIES

2010-07-05T08:18:00.003-05:00

This was a beautiful day in June. Billy and I and three other couples took a little trip to Timeout in Alton. Cathy & Cory are the fearless leaders.

Judy's chatting with Lisa & Marty.

Expert Gardner, Judy and Kevin, Mr. Innocent (a.k.a. James Bond).

We watched Laurie & Josh's doggies while they went to the Ozarks. P

This is payback :) for all the times they watched our doggies. Bill is giving me instructions on how to give them a treat without causing WW3 or losing a finger. Mallie, Bastion, Mic (Jagger Jewell), and Sadie and oh, yes, Billy the center of attraction. Believe it or not, they all sit and wait their turn.

Mallie and Sadie getting ready for a walk. I can only handle two at one time.

KaTHy's ReTIrEd

2010-06-29T06:19:00.002-05:00

Bill, Carolyn, Kathy, Laura Lee, Laura Lee's daughter, Olivia, and Lizzie.

Billy's sister, Kathy retired from the Iowa Department of Corrections last week. Lizzie had a surprise retirement party for her. She said, "There is no way I can ever repaid all Aunt Kathy has done for me through the years. I want to do this for her." Lizzie was so excited.

Bill, Carolyn, and Kathy. Pam lives in Chimicum, Washington. She wanted to come but was not able to make it.

Mother and daughter.

No more alarms that

wake you up each day

or slopping hot coffee

as you re on your way

No more back stabbing

that you have to tolerate

or listening to the junk

your boss to you dictates

No more overwhelming demands

that quicken your heart rate

or those lousy phone calls

asking you to work late

Now you have all day to do as you

wish talk to your neighbors

or cook yourself a dish

Travel around the world

do anything desired

all things are possible, now that you're

RETIRED!

Too cute. Kathy said if the inmates don't pull up their pants, they are punished by having to wear the orange jump-suits for two days.
The next day, ahhh resting.

Lizzie, Bruce, and Laura Lee. Lizzie said she got a lot of help and her mom and dad did quite a bit.

Recovery

2010-06-24T06:37:00.002-05:00

Don't worry, Biwwy, Barb and I will help you finish your dwink!

Aren't they cute!

Where the boys are, la, la, la (Connie Francis, 1960)

Gorgeous moon

HApPy BiRtHdAy aT ZaPS!

2010-06-24T06:13:00.003-05:00

Happy B-Day Mel!

This was before Mel spooned fried ice cream in his mouth and well, sort of missed and it ended up all over his face. You know Mel has a mischievous streak in her :)

Don't do it Cathy! Don't give your camera to Marty!!

HApPy BiRtHdAy fAvORaTe DaugHTeR

2010-06-16T19:54:00.004-05:00

Happy B-Day Laurie! Big 26 - watch out, you're pushing 30. Picture this: Laurie's working midnights, Josh shows up wearing a Steak 'n Shake hat and brings her dinner and an ice cream cake. That's just too awesome.

Bill made us a steak dinner, yum, yum. Then Laurie opened her presents.

woo hoo it's a nook. If you don't know what that is, I'll just leave it up to your imagination.

PoOL - AnNiVErsAry pARtY!

2010-06-14T05:52:00.008-05:00

Surprise! We arrived at B &L's pool party to find the coolest surprise. Happy 30 years anniversary!!!! Wow, we were just blown away. I love my family.

I'm enjoying a jello shot. I know Donna helped with a lot of the work. Hey Stu, look at all the important life details you're learning with Donna and us. Donna & Stu, we really wish you could have been there. Chris and Chris, we missed you too, we had a jello shot for you, then another, and another, and another... But, you know, it just isn't the same without leopard thongs on the water slide. Bill protected his beer from splashes all afternoon. Larry and John didn't mind the pool deluded cocktails, I think after the first one, they couldn't tell.

Ollie wants to trade jello cups with Bill.

Here's our favorite daughter, Laurie Mac! Tomorrow she turns 26 years old. How could that be? Because she shamefully begged us, we sang happy birthday to her. She had a birthday party w/friends the night before. I think she was still feeling the effects. Then that night, when she turned 26, Josh showed up at her work wearing a Steak & Shake hat and carrying dinner (from Steak & Shake of course) and an ice cream birthday cake. Man, the damage I could do with a picture of that!
Here's little mother Bel holding Ivy.

Ivy takes a little swim. She was even awake for some of it.

Erin must have said something that the older crowd found funny.

Here's a close up of baby Ivy.

Here we are toasting to love and romance, or something mushy like that.

Here's Kyle giving us a beautifully wrapped gift. That's right, TeQuILA!

Paula is such a trouper, she took a swig from the bottle, too.

woo hoo Now, in our trips across the US, we'll know all the laws. Cool! Love this pic! Personalized by Barb, I bet!

FUN aT FaZzi's

2010-06-10T06:37:00.005-05:00

Yum, yum, Greek dinner at Fazzi's with Donna & Stu and Barb & Larry Monday. A little sisterhood bonding. We had a great time. Donna & Stu's vacation is almost over. They're California bound next week. Motherhood, Grandmahood and Stu must be giving Donna that big smile :) Barb & Larry have been busy camping. Oh, hey, if you ever need to sign up with a sweet and spicy dating service, just ask Barb. Maybe she should go into business, she has a natural talent for it!

BrEathe EaSy, yu iN JaMAiCa mOn

2010-06-07T21:17:00.004-05:00

Bill relaxing on the beach in Runaway Bay. Bill read two good WW2 books, one was A Helmet for My Pillow and I don't remember the title of the other one. In desperation he had to read my Women's Health mag, which by the way, is really good. I looked for novels at the resort, but all they had were written in German. That didn't help.

Beautiful isn't it?

It rained all morning for the first 3 days and one of those days it rained all afternoon, too. That day it was even kind of chilly. We were told Jamaica at Runaway Bay was nearly having a drought. They hadn't had rain for a long time. I guess we brought the rain. Maybe we're good luck. :) After that, the weather was great.

LaUriE in bLuE

2010-05-22T11:15:00.007-05:00

My favorite daughter will be in a wedding today. She looks like a beautiful angel in blue. Josh's sister Kara is getting married in the rose garden at Gordonmore Park. Josh is playing music and his brother is the minister who will be marrying the happy couple. She stopped by so I could curl her hair, but we ran into technical difficulties. The curling iron broke about 2/3 rds of the way through. I tried desperately to finish in 10 minutes with a not so warm curling iron. In the end it turned out fine. BTW: you can't tell Mic loves her, can you? :)

MotORcyCLe RIdE to KiNdeRs

2010-04-19T18:59:00.007-05:00

Kathy & Cory, and Billy & I met Todd & Mel. The adventure begins.

Yep, Cory has horns all right :)

The first stop was closed, but that didn't stop us from enjoying our first break.

We're off to the next stop.

HiPPiTy hoPpity EasTeR's HeRE

2010-04-19T18:36:00.009-05:00

Nope, it's not the Easter Bunny. It's really little Sadie doggie -too cute!

Groovy man check out the tie dye.

It was a gorgeous day! There's Larry shooting the bull with everyone.

PLAY BALL!

Tie dye, t's for everyone :)

Cool, huh

GAmE ON!

2010-04-04T07:26:00.008-05:00

Game on, man. Nothing like a friendly little cut throat game of world domination. Laurie & Josh dug around in the basement and found an old, but practically unused Risk game. Wow, did Josh light up! He had never seen that edition before. That's when the first warning bell, rang. LOL

We played Capital Risk. Laurie & Bill play to win and Josh is ready for BLOOD and all 4 capitals. Guess what? With step by step strategic moves, I concurred every country from Asia to South America and took the last country, Peru! Woo Hoo! I'm the big wienie!

Bill made a delicious meal and cleaned up afterward :) Hey, I did really good when I married that guy! Then it was time for Easter baskets!

The Easter bunny left them all the fix'ns for Irish Car Bombs.
Yum, yum.

HApPy BiRtHdAy aT ZaPS!

2010-04-03T10:16:00.007-05:00

We took a little motorcycle ride with Kathy and Cory to Zapatas. All those presents are not mine. It was Kathy's birthday celebration too.
Happy B day Chatty Kathy! We are convinced this is Kathy.... Check it out. You Tube, "A women born like that?" http://wwww.youtub.com/watch?v=DXHTnj38sk0
Here's Judy and Lisa. Cheers, ladies.
Cory, Marty, and Lisa laughing at Kevin and Kathy.

Kathy was threatening Kevin. He just can't behave.

Marty, you're just not right!

EriN's bABy sHoWEr

2010-03-28T13:43:00.008-05:00

Ahhhh , Here's Erin and Kevin patiently waiting for baby Ivy. April 28th Ivy - we are all waiting for you!!!
The baby shower was in Wood River, close to home. That's always good.

There were so many presents, it looked like Christmas morning.

Jen and Donna taking pictures of Erin and Kevin.

This garage was huge. I thought, I'd died and gone to garage heaven!

We played a poopy diaper game. We passed around newborn pampers labeled with a number. They each had a melted candy bar in them. It was not as easy as you'd think. You had to open the diaper and poke around a little to figure it out. The first person to guess them all correctly, won. They really looked like chunky, poopy diapers!

Afterward, a bunch of the family ate at Apple Bee's. We had a great time. Ollie is such a hoot. He was Batman, Donna was Bat Girt, Erin was Bat Robin, and I was Bat Girl-Robin. Hey we make a great super hero team. I was new to the game and not really sure what the official Bat Call signal was, but I was talking into my wrist a lot (an invisible walkie talkie) and that worked just as well :) Later Ollie gave us a magic show with disappearing pennies.

Jen said she remembered Bill's magic trick rubbing quarters into his elbow. Hey I bet Ollie would like that :) Jen also remembered when Grandpa Jewell took the kids to the garden and planted Cheerios. The next morning, sure enough, we had a full grown donut tree with donuts hanging on the branches. Billy must get his magical talents from his dad :)

tHat'S jUst WRONG!!!

2010-03-26T06:14:00.003-05:00

Kevin really wore these golfing and to Fast Eddies. I thought it was a joke. Hey, Kevin, they don't make your butt look big at all.

BuNny RuN anYoNe?

2010-03-09T20:54:00.003-06:00

Sunday Bill & Marty went to Chestnut Mountain Resort in Galena for some serious snow skiing.
It looks like you could ski right into a river.

Marty arrived at our house at 4:30 am. Hey, they were pumped!

Bill's mission was to get a picture of Marty skiing with bunny ears. He didn't have bunny ears, so this was the next best thing.

MaRdi gRas DoG pARadE

2010-02-07T17:47:00.007-06:00

Rachelle, Jill & Angus, Todd, Mel, Me, Lisa, Bill, Marty and Kyle in front.
Here we are after the parade, just hanging out. Marty, Bill, Mel, and Todd. They must be discussing the weather -- it's cold!
Mel gives the doggies a treatHey, cool shirts! Mel made matching tie dye t-shirts for her, Todd, and Kyle.

Todd's daughter, Jill decorated a sweatshirt for big bad Angus. Great Job. Notice the doggie sitting sitting with the rest of the family watching the parade. Do you think that color will come out?
I love Mardi Gras. It's so colorful.

Huge, itty bitty, fluffy, regal, they were all out having fun.

This guy likes color too

Hey, this guy brought his gold fish. See - it's hanging from the front of the cart.

HiT IT MaRAcA Boy!

2010-01-03T12:36:00.007-06:00

Avatar in 3-D - you gotta see it. If you go with Kevin, don't get up to go to the restroom or grab a snack, unless you want to watch the show through glasses smeared with popcorn butter. Sorry Marty :) Kevin, can't you behave for just one night!

La, La, La, La Bamba, Hey!

Biwwy, you look so cute!

The 3-D was so cool! Billy just couldn't give up his glasses. He wore them in Zaps and still has them on.

OK, who invited "IT"?

Ho Ho Ho mErRy cHriSTmAs!

2009-12-26T08:35:00.012-06:00

Here's Pool Boy wearing a Santa hat.

Jen & Chris (Chris in a "mommy shirt")

Donna, Stu, and Ollie. Hey, Donna, did you have Stu grab up Ollie, just so you wouldn't have to wear a Santa hat? Smart.

Larry, I love that Santa shirt Martha Stewart (whoops, I mean Barb) made you! I'll have to make Billy one next year.

Here's Erin & Kevin, last Christmas before mommy/daddy-hood. I don't think Erin had anything to do with Kevin's Snowman shirt. Believe it or not, he dressed himself. We all need one of these fake Christmas shirts.

Holy smok'n guns! It's Batman in a cowboy hat! Is that Suzie Who? No? Is that Bat Girl with a baby? No. Oh, I see, it's Viv rounding up all the Burke girls.

Bel's sitting on Uncle Kyle's lap, but he's pestering her instead of the other way around. Chris is enjoying the day in his "mommy shirt" He apparently doesn't wear sweaters very often. Ava is watching sports on TV and there's Father Knows Best in the back. Barb taking a picture of Patti taking a picture of Barb. Barb & Larry put together a wonderful Christmas. They always do. Although, I think they could try harder to decorate.

It' time to retire to the garage and puff a cigar. Donna started this tradition years ago. I think it was around the time she bought the Miata. She had a little too much wine (probably an entire glass) and out of the blue, lit up a stogie. What in the world! Jen said, Erin and I were traumatized, we were only 13 & 16!

The cigar experience just isn't the same without turkey gizzards. Oh well, the kids had a great time greasing up their sleds with Pam.

cHriStmAs eVe

2009-12-25T06:04:00.007-06:00

Christmas Eve with Laurie Mac & Josh. Aren't they something? It's a good thing they have a sense of humor.

To add a little pizzaz to their next Schwagstock camping trip, they got a hand painted sign (it's an original by Mom:)), some tie dye, table top grill, and what Schwagstock adventure would be complete without a hula skirt!

Laurie just returned home Christmas Eve from visiting Kristen in Chicago. As a gift, Kristen took her to a trendy hair salon for a new do. It's just gorgeous!

Mic wanted to make a bed in the hula skirt and if that didn't work, he wanted on top of the presents.

CoOkiE dAy 2009

2009-12-14T05:11:00.006-06:00

Laurie worked Saturday and missed Cookie Day. She came over Friday night and we cutout chocolate gingerbread cookies, baked them, and decorated a few.
Laurie made different nationalities of gingerbread men. She made chocolate, red, yellow, and white cookies. That's my little world peace child!

Laurie made us a holiday music play list and we had a little wine and whala! gorgeous cookies :)

Cookie Day is an official holiday in our family. Jen is the Cookie Day Queen. She hosts it. Wow, she's brave!

Here's the cookie baking crew. My two sisters and their daughters and grand children, Erin's friend Allison, and our new family member, Paula.

Sisters

Sticky fingers :)

This was the "stir'em up table"

Here's Ava and Bella. That's just too sweet. The kids played with her for quite a while.

jEn TuRNs 30

2009-11-29T08:44:00.002-06:00

Donna and Larry are singing "I Got You Babe", or not. Barb and Jill are probably coming up with a strategy to get some family time togehter between all the soccer games. Good luck with that!

Chris and Tyler were there, but I don't have a pic of them. I'm falling short as a professional photographer.

Erin, Donna, Ollie, and Jen share a moment :)

Erin did a fantastic job on this party. It was soooo nice. Here's part of the table. I have the best family! Barb and Larry recently went to California to deliver Donna's car. She's so happy she has wheels! Barb's telling Paula and John all about their vacation. Kevin's parents are so nice and easy to talk to.

Jen turns 30 Holy Cow! How did that happen!

It doesn’t seem that long ago she was dressed in adorable Easter outfits, dancing at a 4th of July BBQ, then she had babysitting down to an art, I remember when she moved into her apartment, then she was so happy to wear the red “power” suit (I'm pretty sure Donna made it for her), next there was the Soulard’s Marti Gras & Alton Block Party phase. She enjoys all life has to offer. Now she's having the time of her life being a wife & mom. Wow she's awesome.

THanKsGiviNG 09

2009-11-29T08:25:00.006-06:00

Hey, there are serious gamblers in this group. We played LRC for nickles, then Apples to Apples just for fun.

Here's Viv. Man, that girl can shake her booty. She's quite the entertainer.

Ava grabs a quick snack while Viv and Jill color.

Bill and Bel battle it out with a game of Halo. Earlier Bill played soccer outside with the girls.

The kids painted baker's clay ornaments. If you look close, you'll see a gingerbread tree in the center of this pic.

HApPy 40th BArB & LaRrY!

2009-11-16T06:27:00.008-06:00

Jill & Viv. Always the mother.

Jill & Kyle did a terrific job. The party was so fun.

Here's Larry, Chris, and the new "parents to be", Kevin & Erin.

Bel skate boarding.

The hosts :)

Get ready for the wedding reinactment. Jill recruits a priest and Chris prepares a name tag for him.

Barb's confession before the wedding. Yikes. That was barely PG!

We all enjoy the reinactment.

Jill tries to recruit Bill and Kyle for the priest, but that didn't go over very well :)

Here's the happy couple and their kids. I think we did some counting, hmm, now how many months after the wedding was Jill born. I'm just kidding!

Sue's always ready for an opportunity to stirup something!!! I'm pretty sure she's saying, "do it, Bill, come on you can do it"

Getting a picture of such a big crowd is a two man job!

Here we are.

Kyle serves his mom a Coke.

HaLloWEen'S sO fUn

2009-10-24T23:34:00.004-05:00

Joesh was a Pirate this year. Ahoy, there mate!

HAlLoWeEn PaRTy

2009-10-18T13:03:00.050-05:00

Slash & Axel - Halloween 2009

Priest Kevin & Nun Judy and Slash & Axel. I think Kevin is starting to like dresses. He wore an Angel gown within the last couple of years. The party was in full swing by the time we got there. We didn't have any fun at all, can't you tell?

I know it's hard to believe that he got up on stage for best costume. I love that man so much! The things he does for me!! Billy won a tie for best costume. Probably because he played a guitar solo "Sweet Child 'O Mine." Just kidding about the guitar solo. But, he did win (probably because Mel, Diane, and other friends were in the front row screaming for him). He was absolutely rock'n. Since rock stars really have enough money and it's good publicity, he donated the money to the charity of the night.

Hey, where'd you get those cool tattoos? Notice Terry in the back ground. He was a cd player and Diane was a cd rack.

Here is the real Slash in action. Bill looks just like him don't ya think? Ta Da! Here comes Axel Rose. Well, a female version of course. Yikes, I know I painted a dirty word on the t shirt. It's not normally like me to do that, but I thought it was necessary to show the wild rock star image.
Well, I don't look quite that scary.
I bet Axel doesn't have a mic like this! Eat your heart out Axel. This is my microphone.

I tried to get a wafer from the Priest. I thought it would go good with tequila, but I guess he didn't think I was holy enough for one.

This is the only picture of the back of my t shirt. I told you, I'm into cutting up t shirts. Kathy was Little Red Riding Hood and Cory was the big bad wolf. There were referees, soldiers, doctors, nurses, Gothic, 1920's, Scottish, pirates, devils, etc., etc.

MArGaRiTa NiTE

2009-10-18T11:38:00.007-05:00

Thursday nite at Zap's. The girls are entertaining Cory.

Kevin is showing Kathy pictures on his phone.

Kathy is making her rounds.

Don't we look innocent!

The bartender kept putting whip cream on Lisa's beer. Yum, yum.

Ahoy Mate

2009-10-15T04:27:00.004-05:00

This was probably a motorcycle trip to Grafton last summer. I just saw it and thought it was too cute.

HiPpIE's HaNG'n OUT

2009-10-04T18:25:00.024-05:00

Jake's Leg is a band that play a lot of Grateful Dead music. On Sunday they played on a farm in Staunton. http://www.jakesleg.com/

The girls. Wow, Diane has her leg way up there. That's why I'm in the back:)

Here are some of the young'uns.

Here is a pic of the crowd. This Dead Head culture is a colorful, hippie, happy world.

Lots of tie dye, hoola hoops, and dogs.

That's us. :) We rode the motorcycle. It was a beautiful day.

Bill and Judy working together and Todd's their moral support.

Yum, veggie stir fry, bratwurst, pasta salad, and lots more. As always Judy and Kevin provided an awesome meal.

Judy is stiring while others are hang'n out.

Where else could you wear a shirt of weeds and with those pants?!!

Billy and Diane - pre tequila

Judy, Bill, and Diane played frizby.

Kevin, what's the deal with the spoon???

GoOd tIMeS

2009-09-28T20:04:00.017-05:00

Thursday we met my favorite daughter and Joesh at 54th Street for dinner.

Aren't they adorable! Laurie had finished two tests and Joesh had wrote and acted out a skit at school. They were ready for a night of free food and drink.

We had a great time. We told them stories of when we were younger. Yes, believe it or not we were young and reckless once. Yikes, I thought Laurie was the one who should be telling us crazy stories we'd never heard. You know, things that would shock us. That wasn't the case this night.

Two Sunday's ago, we went to Loading Dock for chips then Pere Marquette Park with Judy and Kevin.

What a great day for a ride!

Here's Judy and Kevin :) Later we met Kathy & Cory for a LIT (Long Island Tea) at 54th St. It was a perfect ending to our wet mini vacation :)

BLuES, bIKeS, & BBQ

2009-09-26T19:38:00.044-05:00

907 miles in 3 days. We're seasoned MC riders now.

We don't give up easily. Thurs at 6 am we left for BBB in Fayetteville Arkansas. It was cold and raining. We decided to go ahead and start the trip and then turn around if the rain is too rough.

See the wet bike and road in the back ground.

Wow, it was dark and pouring rain when we went though St. Louis. All 5 lanes of rush hour traffic - bumper to bumper. When we got through St. Louis we stopped for coffee. I took my shoes off to put on 2 pair of leggings.

Temperatures in the 50's traveling 65 mi/hr - very, very chilly!!!

It rained until we were past Rolla.

The ride was beautiful when it stopped raining.

We stayed at the famous "Biker Hotel" Thurs night. Been There, Done That. Not going there again :) As we laid in a very hard bed, in a room that smelled like urine, with no tv, we thought about just leaving and finding another hotel, but it would have taken just too much energy.

I told you we're officially seasoned MC riders :)

You can't go to a bike rally with a dirty bike! Seriously, all the hotels around there provided rags for bikers to wash their bikes.

We drove around Eureka Springs. It's a very artsy, old town, kind of like Soulard.

Fri we got up early and headed to Fayetteville.

It's just beautiful there.

We found a wonderful hotel. They were full, but said they could give us their Meeting Room for half price. Wow. we had a very nice (smelled great) huge room, with a terrific bed. I'm lov'in this!

A couple we met at 54th Street said they were going to BBB too. Sure enough, they texted us. They were all decked out in new Harley attire. Hey, they blend!

This is Dickson Street. It was full of bikes the entire time. You could sit and watch the road for hours, the stream of bikes never stopped.

It was so cool.

400,000 bikers :)

Pink Poka Dots :)

Saturday we headed home, and guess what....

Rain, Rain, and...... more Rain

It was cold and raining about 3/4th of the way home.

We made it home around 3 pm. The doggies are glad to see us :)

Ta Da! Motorcycle Mama :)

That was really cool. I want to go back next year. Now I know where to go and what to expect. It would be good to stay two days in the same hotel so, we don't have to get up early to travel every day. The weather can't be much worse, ya think?

SOutH DaKOtA or BuST

2009-09-26T18:47:00.021-05:00

Well, if you would have voted in favor of Bill healing in time to go to South Dakota before it got too cold, you would have WON! We left Saturday morning at 7:45 am for the vacation of our dreams :) traveling across the country on our shiny white Goldwing (motorcycle for old fogies).

Have you ever tried to pack a motorcycle with all the stuff you need for 8 days! What a task that was - clothes for cold & warm weather, rain suits, tennis shoes (gotta exercise for crying out loud), boots, maps (4 states), magnifying glass to read the maps, tools, flash light, GPS, cell phones & chargers, purse, book, contacts, glasses, toiletries, makeup, even swim suit. There must be space left to put the leather jackets and chaps when it warms up. Hey and don't forget, this is for two people and do you know how much room Biwwy's shoes take up?? Yikes, I'm exhausted just typing this.
But, hold on, before you sit back with that warm glowy feeling, just wait.

I forgot my brush. For real, I did. We got past LaGrange IOWA and turned around. The trip was a total of 350 miles. We were exhausted.

Sunday was a new day! We were ready and I had my brush, but the NOAA listed 30 mi/hr winds in SD on Mon. Even on Tues our journey would be through 20 mi/hr head winds. Then there was the little issue of the rain. It was raining and would probably be raining most of the way to Ft. Dodge IA. Crap.

And that's the end of the South Dakota motorcycle vacation. I'm not worried. South Dakota is not going anywhere. It'll be there next year.....

ZaPAtaS & RooF

2009-09-26T18:22:00.014-05:00

Hola :) We enjoyed another Thursday at Zap's.

This time with Judy & Kevin and Suzie and Jim.

We're into vegetable fajita nachos. They're delicious!

We are the proud owners of a new roof. The old one was only 23 years old. It was a shame to replace it so soon, but we were bored and needed to spend a few thousand $ on something.

Is this really a knee ???

I think this may look like a knee, I'm not sure.

Just kidding Billy! For real, Bill's knee is healing great and he's walking with just a slight limp. He does have a little trouble bending it to walk up steps, but he does it. And, hey, it's not stopping him from riding the motorcycle!

Quiet Weekend

2009-09-07T21:16:00.012-05:00

Here's Billy's leg unwrapped. It's looking so much better. The swelling goes down every day. South Dakota, here we come!

Our assistant put a little post-it on the balloon. It's kind of funny she called him Wild Bill too :)

this is a basket for Billy from work.

Since I had some time on my hands, I worked on our Halloween costumes. We are going to be Slash and Axel from the band Guns n Roses. Man, it was hard to choose, I really wanted to be hippies or Mia & Vince from Pulp Fiction. I think I'll go for Pulp Fiction next year.

I finished Bill's Slash hat and suggested that he try it on. Since he's at my mercy when he wants his sock and shoe on, he agreed w/o complaint. I didn't break out the nose ring and all the wrist chains. I know better than to push it. :) Wow, the arm tattoo's look so real, ya, ya I made the hat from an old leather coat I got free from a garage sale.

This is Slash. Bill looks just like him, too cool

For Crying Out Loud

2009-09-04T18:15:00.010-05:00

Hey Bill, Dr. Taylor called Kevin, he said he wants his money.

I laughed out loud when I read this email from Bill. It's not funny, but his email is. :)

Bill Has a Bell and Knows How to Use It

2009-09-03T06:57:00.010-05:00

Due to multiple requests, I've added knee surgery to the blog.

The surgery was over at 10:30 am and took a little over an hour. Alton Memorial Hospital was organized and had their stuff together. They took the drain tube out and let him go home at 2 pm.

The first thing he said to me after surgery, was "Were you able to connect to the Internet? Did you look up the Bad Lands in South Dakota?" Is he looking forward to taking the new bike to South Dakota, or what? :) He was still groggy for heaven's sake.

If I have this right, he had 3 bone chips removed about an inch each and other bones in his knee were mishapped due to arthritis. That was all shaved off. He will heal just fine although he will have problems with arthritis in the future.

He's doing well and has barely taken any pain pills. Of course, his leg is wrapped up from the top of his leg to his ankle, so there is no movement at all.

FriDaY NitE

2009-08-30T19:57:00.011-05:00

Bill and I went to 54th Street then went to Kohls, Target, and Home Depo. We were headed home for a nice quiet evening in the hot tub when we got a text reminding us about the Alton Block Party. We must be getting old. We forgot all about the Block Party. :)

Bill and Cory are chatting, probably about motorcycles.

I think this is Catdaddies.

OPEN UP!
Mel charmed some young guy into allowing her to poor sugar straight from the sugar jar into his open mouth. She told him it would cure his hickups. It did and he was pretty impressed.

We talked Dawn into going up to Tim and asking him to buy her a drink. He had no idea who she was. You should have seen his face.

RoAD tRiP tO WaTeRLoo

2009-08-30T18:22:00.007-05:00

We met at McDonalds in Bethalto for breakfast.

Then we headed to Waterloo.

The second stop was Lee's to pick him and Dawn up.

We met a big group at Rich's house.

This is a rest stop

We stopped at a restaurant to eat, but it was 2 pm and they didn't start serving until 4 pm.

Tequila!

Trip to Litchfield

2009-08-30T18:05:00.005-05:00

Wednesday we took off work early and went for a ride to Litchfield.

A huge yellow jacket/bumble bee landed on me and stung me. Hey, that hurt like heck, and according to Bill, it's really not good to hop around on the back of the motorcycle.

On the way home we stopped at 54th Street for super nachos, and Long Island Teas (LITs).

We took a dip in the hot tub when we got home, what a wonderful afternoon.

SuNDay MoToRCYclE RiDE

2009-08-24T06:05:00.009-05:00

Sunday we met friends at Fast Eddies then headed down the River Road

This pic was taken by Mel last Thursday on the way to Zaps.

Mel & Todd at the Loading Dock.

Stopped for a chocolate shake in Grafton.

It was a beautiful day - not too hot, not too cold.

St. cHaRLes FeStIVal

2009-08-23T09:10:00.008-05:00

What a beautiful day! We rode route 94 to St. Charles and met Barb & Larry.

That's us, sitting in the shade shoot'n the bull. Barb told us about her ride home after one of her knee surgeries. Too funny, but not at the time, of course :) She couldn't get her straight leg in the car. It got stuck between the front seats. When a crowd gathered to watch, the nurse took off. They drove to the other side of the parking lot to escape the crowd. In the end, they drove to Carlyle with her leg straight up in the air on the back of the seat. Don't get any ideas, Billy your leg would not fit straight up in any car!!!

Barb's grand daughters measured her inseam not log ago and it was one inch longer than Ava's. I think Ava is, mmmm 9 maybe?

We squeezed between two cars :)

FriDaY DiNneR

2009-08-22T06:44:00.004-05:00

After Laurie & Joesh picked up their books from SIU, they came over for dinner.

Laurie even ate the low fat potato salad. :)

After dinner, I cut up a t shirt for Laurie and Joesh helped Bill with the Valkyrie wheel.

A LitTLe WoRk & a LiTTLe FUn

2009-08-22T06:09:00.013-05:00

Thursday night at Zap's

Lisa & Brady finally showed up.

On rare occasions, Cory talks and Kathy listens :)

Oh no! The Valkyrie had a screw in the back wheel. Bill tried to patch it, but it didn't work. New project :) It was postponed when the hydraulic jack leaked and couldn't be repaired.

Isn't he organized?!

GoLD WiNG ADvEnTUre

2009-08-15T11:28:00.036-05:00

Proud owners of a shiny white Honda Gold Wing.

We made it safely home Saturday morning about9:45 am.

Traveling home on Route 94

Cool road!

Dawn arrives

We left Osage Beach Sat. at 3:45 am.

It was a nippy 61 degrees, but with the wind it felt a lot colder than that!

Friday we stopped at a hotel in Osage Beach. We were hot and sweaty. The pool felt great.

After a dip in the pool, we (or mostly Billy) took a power nap. Then he took the MC to look for a place to eat while I got ready. He said he was driving down the road and saw a cop pull out. He thought they were after someone behind him. He pulled into a pizza place and the copy followed him. hmm He said he was feeling kind of delirious and really had no idea why they were pulling him over. As he was climbing off the bike, he realized he didn't have a helmet on. Yikes! He told the cop he completely forgot to wear it. (this could have turned out to be a triple secret motorcycle probation violation!!!) She asked him where he was staying and he had to admit that he had no idea what the name of it was. Double yikes. She called the license plate in. Lucky for him she didn't figure out that the license number was for our Valkyrie motorcycle, that was at home sitting in our garage. Before they parted ways, he asked her which pizza joint she would recommend. :) I'm glad he asked because the pizza was awesome.

We stopped at Sonic in Buffalo for lunch. The waitress told us about their Sunday motorcycle special. They get a coupon for a free drink and then they all do a run somewhere. :)

Jim Heitman had the Gold Wing on Craigs list, but he didn't know how to post a picture with it. Bill called him several times. He felt he could trust the guy enough that we agreed to purchase the bike. We made plans to travel to Ozark (south of Springfield MO) to pick it up. The guy said he was retiring in Feb from the State job. He works for the State too. He said he has traveled to the Boys home across the interstate from Bellefonetaine Hab Ctr many times.

He is recovering from two knee surgeries and an arm surgery. It's uncomfortable for him to keep his leg bent while ridding the Gold Wing, but he can ride Harley because the are built to put your leg out straight.

Here is his wife Diane. They had planned a 3-4 week vacation this month to ride all the way to Victoria/Vancouver Canada, but his leg problems put a stop to that. Lucky for us. Don't worry, he already purchased a new Harley. They'll be able to go next year.

She hugged us like we were old friends. She said she was busy finishing something she had planned to make herself. She wanted to give it to me. OMG! This woman had the most awesome sewing room I have ever seen. I thought I had died and gone to heaven! She made a beautiful pouch/clutch that has two gold wing patches on it. It's quilted and too cool.

This is at their house. Bill is messing with the bike that will soon be his.

PS: The bike has a name. They named their black and white motorcycles Bonnie and Clyde after their black & white cats.

DrEaM bIKe

2009-08-10T20:24:00.008-05:00

White Honda Gold Wing

We've selected a white 2005 Gold Wing. It looks similar to this one but with more bling, bling.

Bill is soooo excited. We'll pick it up Friday. That is, unless we get there and it's all rusted like the one we looked at in Belleville.

The owner said if he hadn't had knee surgery, he and his wife would be riding it to Victoria & Vancouver British Columbia right now. Check this out... We are going to Victoria & Vancouver next month and Bill has knee surgery scheduled at the end of September. Weird.

About the surgery.... Bill said, the doc said, it's not going to be a long recovery time. Have I ever mentioned that my foot surgeon said I'd be back to work 2 weeks after the surgery? I was back in 3 1/2 and in a wheel chair for 2 more weeks. Yes, that was a completely different surgery. I only bring it up because that was a very good lesson for me. Doctors may underestimate the time it takes to heal. :) Billy has pieces of bone and fluid in his knee. This is not a knee replacement surgery. He's had it for years, but recently it's been getting more frequent and worse, etc., etc.

RoLlinG DoWN ThE RIveR

2009-08-09T14:01:00.010-05:00

Saturday we spent the day with Lisa & Marty and Judy & Kevin on the Petrie's boat.

Can you tell ...we didn't have any fun at all.

Just for kicks, we passed around the breathalyzer. I think Judy was the big winner, but that was because she didn't wait after drinking. After 20 minutes she was no longer the winner.

This is Judy & Kevin's boat. It's pretty cool. It has a jet ski inside it or rather it has a small boat or seating/storage area around the jet ski.

We met Judy & Kevin in Grafton and rode in their boat to where Lisa & Marty were anchored.

The water was very low. We could hang out in the water just standing by the boat.

This is just a pic of other boats and the scenery.

What a nice day!

MArGaRiTa NiTE

2009-08-09T13:03:00.014-05:00

Thursday we rode the motorcycle to Zaps.

We ate inside then moved outside. It's really cool out there. One of the girls chased Cory into this fountian, good thing it wasn't on.

Mel and Cathy - girl talk :)

Milling around

Tada

Since I didn't have a pic of Marty's hand, I included a pic of toes.

Mallie gets a vacation with Gandma & Grandpa

2009-08-09T12:43:00.008-05:00

Laurie & Joesh vacationed in Colorado last week. As a full-time employee, this was Laurie's first paid vacation. Woo Hoo. So far, all I know is they went for a mountain bike ride on trails and went camping. That sounds pretty cool. Joesh is experienced with camping and outdoors so I'm sure they did just fine.

So sweet little Mallie got to sleep over with us M-Th. I think she really likes it here. Bill gave Bastian some attention before and after work.

I found some curtains and put them up on Tuesday afternoon. They looked really cool. I can't wait for Laurie and Joesh to see them. I made sure they would be easy to take down and return if they don't like them.

Hey, Laurie, your clock needs a battery.

This is just not right! Their house is cleaner than ours. Man, I'm such a slacker.

Weekend With My Injured Sisters

2009-08-07T06:12:00.011-05:00

Donna and Stu were here for Ollie's 3rd birthday. We met them and Barb and Larry for lunch at McGirks in Soulard.

Donna had a heck of a time getting into the restaurant on her crutches in the rain! Poor thing :(

We had a great lunch and visit.

Sunday we went to Erin and Kevin's for a pool party.

Here are my injured sisters!

What in the world......????

Donna, Erin, and Stu

Ollie loved the water. Just a warning, don't let Larry wrap you up in a towel. You'll be practically immobile!

We took turns looking at the wedding pics on the TV.

Here is Erin's bachelorette scrap book.

How sweet!
It was so nice to see my sis's!

After that Bill and I stopped in Belleville to test drive a Gold Wing. It was not what we are looking for. All the accessories were rusted. They'd all have to be removed. We'll keep looking.

Burning Bus

2009-08-07T05:45:00.010-05:00

Saturday night we took an evening motorcycle ride. It was a beautiful night to ride.

In Grafton, on the street by the new winery, there was a big white bus on fire.

The street was blocked and everyone got out of their cars. Everyone at the winery were all milling around watching it burn. No one seemed to know where the bus came from or who had traveled to Grafton in the bus. Apparently no one was hurt.

Notice the location

The bus rolled down the side street and into the river road where it stopped, blocking the road.

x What a sight!!!

big, bright flames
occasional mini-explosions
popping, braking windows

The bus rolled down the side street and into the river road where it stopped, blocking the road.

The wheel was burning like crazy the entire time. There must be a mark or hole in the pavement. We'll have to check it out the next time we're in Grafton.