Sunday Afternoon August 26th

On Sunday afternoon my family got together for a picnic here in the campground.  We had a wonderful time.  It was nice seeing both my sisters and my brother.  Visiting with them and catching up on all of the news.

The great nieces and nephews went swimming after dinner and of course some of the adults needed to go along and chaperone.  There were a couple of small frogs in the pool so the kids had fun catching them.  My niece, Sydney put them over the fence so they could come back later.

 

The guys decided to try a little tournament of ladder golf.  Others just stayed behind at the camper relaxing and talking.

 

 

After all of this, of course, it was time to eat again.  There were a few desserts:  carrot bars, spice cupcakes, brownies and dreamsicle cake.  Plus there was still fried chicken, lasagna, brats and hotdogs left.  And a few of us enjoyed the salads, too.  Then it was time for bubbles.

 

 

Some ball was played also.  Mostly catch.  Overall, it was a great afternoon.  Couldn't have asked for better weather, either. 

State Fair is Now Over

We completed the State Fair.  Sharon worked 8 days and I worked 11 days.  We finished scheduling approx. 300 volunteers yesterday so now we're free to enjoy the area and visit with family and friends.

Kevin and Taylor came to the fair on Tuesday & Wednesday.  We were able to spend a couple of hours with them.  I'm not going to try and explain their practical joke on us.  But, let's say, it was good and we did fall for it.  Especially me.

Thought you might like to see a few of the pics that we took.  I promise not to bore you with the 100's but a few shots from around the fair.

 

 

Chocolate Moose

Travis LeDoyt, Elvis impersonator

 

Proof, we were at the fair.  This was a beautiful morning as you can see from the rainbow in the water fountains.

 

The fair wouldn't be complete without the butter carvings.  This year was Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs and, of course, the butter cow.

 

Watched an acrobatic show with Kevin & Taylor

 

 

 

 

On the last Saturday was able to watch my niece at a gymnastics competition.  She did pretty well for being in gymnastics for a couple of months and first big competition,

 

 

Last morning of the fair we walked around and took some final pictures.  Watched the chainsaw carver for a few minutes before climbing to Grandfather's Barn.

 

 

 

The last afternoon of the fair we spend tearing down/apart the volunteer information data to start getting ready for next year.

 

 

July Catch Up

It's been awhile since I last posted, I know, over a month ago.   Sometimes we have a slow internet connection which makes it hard to post.  And, sometimes, it's the poster.   So, I thought I'd catch up for the month of July before moving on to August and Iowa and the State Fair.

Like most of the central states it was hot and no rain.  We were busy in the campground.  It was just too hot do do much of anything so I guess you can say we just enjoyed the days staying in the camper most of the time.  I didn't get caught up on the pictures but we did play a few games and watched other campers from our window.

The dinner we had with the owners, Scott & Diane, went very well.  She fixed pasta with 2 types of sauce and some great garlic breadsticks.  We took a tour of their house and it was very nice.  We enjoy their company.  They have some great stories to tell.  They both grew up in California near LA and moved to Springfield when they bought the campground 9 years ago.  They have one son who is now a lawyer in the Chicago area.  He just passed the bar in Illinois and he has already passed the bar in Missouri.

In my last post, I talked a little about the couple, Howard & Jinnie, well Scott finally had enough and asked them to leave on Monday, July 30th.  Here's a picture of them.  Scott's in the background.



They were only working about 15 hours a week and Scott & Diane had to be there during their shift.  Let's just say they couldn't work by themselves.  Howard would do a lot of standing around staring at people or driving the golf cart around the campground looking at what needed to be done.  They were really nice people.  I think they would have been asked to leave a lot earlier if their car hadn't broke down and they were without transportation.

We made one more trip to Lambert's before heading out of town.  We had to wait about 1/2 hour on Wednesday afternoon around 2pm but it was definitely worth it.  Sharon had their special, New York Strip Steak and I had the rib-eye.  Yum Yum.

Yes, we are back in Iowa now and looking forward to the fair.  On Sunday night, Scott called us.  Kathy & Keith packed up and left the campground.  As they were closing on Sunday night at 8:30, Kathy came up and gave them the keys and shirts.  No clue this was coming.  Diane asked her why and Kathy's words:  "You know why".  Actually Diane didn't so she asked Kathy to explain.  Kathy said she needed more hours.  She wanted to work more.  Keith has cancer and hasn't been able to work as much but he has been working between 24 & 30 hours a week.  Kathy was working at least 35 hours a week.  Scott must have talked to us for at least 1/2 hour about this.  We're still in shock that these 2 people left.  They worked hard. 

Sharon & I are still planning on going back there on Sept 14.  Reconfirmed with Scott that we weren't needed before hand.  Another couple was there to take our place while we were gone and they hired another college kid and another maintenance man.  Thought they would be fine until we returned.  At least it wasn't on July 4th.

Next post will be about the trip north and arriving in Iowa.  More later.