The move started early Sunday morning...

Tents being taken down, firewood loaded up, bikes--plenty of bikes--latched up and attached to the back of the RV, ice chests stuffed into the back of the van...

All the weekenders heading out...going home to get ready for the work week.

The regulars stayed behind...to enjoy the quiet of the RV park...

A little bit sad, really...

Not to worry, I'll get over it...

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I have decided...I need these for my girls!  Two pink tents!  Side by side!  Mom and Dad will not let the girls camp out with them, I'm sure, but we can set them up in the living room!  Yep!  That's what I need...

I am pleased to report I am back among the living and Better Half and I are back at the RV park...

We work in the area--as do most of the regulars staying here.  Regulars don't sit outside much, don't cook outside much and generally stay to ourselves much.  The mosquitoes are pretty plentiful starting right now and West Nile has already been reported in the area.

And now, it's spring time!  The park is completely full!  With families and bikes and dogs and tents and bikes and grills and ice chests and bikes--and noise and laughter--and I love it! 

Did I mention there are plenty of bikes here this weekend?  It's as if the security guard would not let anybody in unless they had a bike on their truck or trailer...

Now...look at all these bikes...each bike owns a kid, okay?  That's how many kids are here!  It's the darndest thing!  And they all appear to be in a great mood...

They're running...

And swinging...

And sliding...One's even trying to slide up!

They're four wheeling, too!  Not to worry--the four wheeler is electric...

Pretty ingenious, if you ask me!  This may be the safest place for this little guy...

And of course, there's the dogs, too. This one is plenty friendly with proud owners.  They had him pose for me...

Tons of fires are going, grills heating up...getting ready to cook the old stand bys--hotdogs and hamburgers...

Ah...the game's on...

Okay...I've made a decision...I'll buy the girls the pink tents, their parents two like the the ones to the left of the pink tents and Better Half and I will camp out in our trusty Cameo.

Sounds plenty fair to me...

I love camping...

Remember how Harry toasts George at the end of It's a Wonderful Life? 
He says something like, to George, to the richest man in town...

That movie just happens to be my go to movie each and every Christmas...Literally, no really, I watch it every Christmas...
That's pretty much how I get the whole season started...

Anyhoo, lest I regress...

Of late, I feel like ol' George...I'm the richest woman in town...
rich in wonderful family and fabulous friends...

You see, I just had eye surgery--21 days of down time.  It's being fixed and I am glad.  21 days has allowed hours of telephone time with friends and family, visits from folks I wouldn't normally visit with,  watching old movies and reconnecting with friends I have been remiss with keeping in touch...

I answered the door a few days ago and look what I received...

I answered the door a few days later and look what I received...

This morning, I combined the best of the two and
created this beautiful arrangement...

Yep...the perfect description of me...
the richest woman in town...

Thanks, family and friends...

I can't remember a time when spring has had such a hard time getting here! 
It's just plain cold! 
In April? 
Really?

We had lots of rain, last night, accompied with lightning and thunder...
This morning... cold again...

By the hardest and in spite of everything, it's giving it a shot...
Spring is trying to get here...

Seriously...the holly berries are still hanging around!  Beat it!  See you next fall!

Ahh...good to see my azeleas attempting to add a little color to the driveway...

The big tree in the field has budded out...

The one right beside it...not so much...

I'm betting it's going to happen soon...

Cause and effect, chain of events
Both of them together makes perfect sense...

Just think about...
 ...what if I had done this...
...what if I had done that...

What if
I had not met Better Half...
I would not have married him...
I would not have had my children...
My children would not have been born...
My children would not have grown up and married...
My children would not have had children...

And I would not have this...

An introduction to our newest addition...
A beautiful baby boy...
Born on our 36th wedding anniversary...

Boy! I'm sure glad I did that! 

It makes perfect sense!

You know, I've shared the parade information from Houston; however, I failed to mention where Better Half and I stayed--the Lancaster Hotel...

I wanted to stay close to  the parade route, googled the address of the way it was going and decided on this hotel.  Located just two blocks from the route and after reading reviews, I knew this one was the one...

I was right...

Upon entering the foyer (for lack of  better description) I smelled fresh flowers, wood and leather...A great combination, especially when horses and parades are on one's mind..

The cool part of all this...the Lancaster continues to be  family owned and operated!  For five generations!  Five generations!  Really? 

Can you imagine a family--any family--agreeing on anything for five generations?

Well...apparently the agreeing on anything is not always the case with this family, either...

While having an early supper, the evening before the parade, the hostesses were changing tablecloths from white to black...I asked why...One hostess said the managers could not agree on black or white so the compromise was white for the breakfast and lunch crowd and black for the evening crowd...

Oh! I get it!  In order to get along with family, one has to compromise...hmmmm...

I'll end with this note...Remember I told you we had an early supper the night before the parade?  Well, the food was pretty tasty, but the mints sitting in this big silver bowl--on the way out of the restaurant--were, like, the best I've ever tasted!  I'm just saying, I stuffed my leather jacket pocket full of them...Supreme!

I love spring! 

Better Half and I went for a walk--to the cemetery below the house...

The walk started out all bright and beautiful...I commented, several times, how
much I love spring time...

However, (add scary music) the more we walked into the woods,
the darker it became...
and a little scary...

And then...it became alot scary...
and darker...
and quieter...
and very forlorn...

And then we were at the cemetery...

That's all...end of story...

"Are their heads square yet?"  Better Half and I used to glance in the back seat, view our kids with their eyes glued to the TV/vcr positioned up top and in the middle in that surburban...I can't believe it's been 20-25 years ago...We made sure we had, at least, two or three Disney tapes--Jungle Book, Cinderella, etc...and of course Gulliver's Travels...

Fast forward to today...Little Girl with her attention glued to my iPad that had been filled with 20 minute segments of Mickey Mouse and Dora, legs hiked up and over the safety car seat sides, eating Cheetos...

Pretty much, we'll do anything humanly possible to make long trips more
comfortable for little ones...

Son-in-law's job--you know he's in the Army--has transferred them to another military base...we've had Little Girl for the week...

Now, on the road we've gone...with Little Girl and the iPad...taking her to Mama and Daddy...

She's an awesome traveler--very unlike her mother was 25 years ago...

I will miss Beautiful Daughter and Little Girl and wonderful Son-In-Law,  too...

Hey--but that's why roads were created, right?

In preparation of the stork, the Little Brother and I'm the Big Sister shirts are here, my bag is packed, so is Better Half's...

Dang! This is pretty exciting...

Beautiful Daughter-In- Law has made this beautiful wreath...

...oh, and by the way, it's a boy!

I am not misrepresenting when I make this statement:
Most every body in Houston was at that rodeo parade
and most every body loved it!

Every size, shape, creed and color...you name it...I saw it...

30 to 45 minutes before the parade, the foot races began...
10 K followed by a 5 K...15,000 runners...no really, I'm not kidding, 15,000...

Real tried, tested and true runners...

Mama and Daddy with stroller full of babies runners...

Every size and every shape runners...

Girls with tutus runners...

Girls pretending to be horses runners...

Even girls with bunny ears runners...

All kinds of folks gathered together in celebration of the
Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo!

With more trucks, bands, horses, wagons, cowboys, and cowgirls than I could count, the parade went on and on and on and on...until the trail ride people started parading...hmmm...where's brother? 

There he is!
Brother waved to us, waved to the crowd around us,
and then he was gone on his faithful horse, North...
What fun we had watching and waiting for him to pass us...
He looks like a real cowboy...well, dang! I guess he's proved he is a real cowboy...

Hey!  And there's his side kick, Greer...
I wonder if he has smoked all of his cigars...

OK, enough already!  I'm done!
You get it, right?
This parade is not your run of the mill, average kind of event.
This is the real deal for
real horse lovers and
real rodeo lovers and
real parade lovers...

And let's not forget,
real 5 K and 10K runners!

I hope Brother is getting ready for next year...
Better Half and I most certainly are...