Christmas with the Vander Ploegs

Sharon's family got together on the 26th. So we drove up on Christmas Day to her sister Donna's house. It's a little longer drive than to Des Moines. We were on the road by 7:15 am. That's right, before coffee. Had a thermos in the truck but still we were up and on the road that early. We arrived at Donna's around 4:15. We assumed 9 hour drive if we ate sandwiches in the truck. We estimated correctly.

When we arrived at her sister's, they were still celebrating Christmas with their children and their families. We were able to visit with them for a couple of hours and Sharon got to see her newest great nephew, Reid (about 2 months old).

Sharon and Reid


A few random pictures from the get together on the 26th at Kevin's (her brother) in Sioux Center. Kevin was smoking wings out on the deck so Verle, Lyle and Kevin were standing outside on the deck. Notice the outerwear. It's December in Iowa. We were loving it. Still missed some parts of Texas but the fact that we were able to get together with family out weighed Texas this year.




On Tuesday we visited Sharon's mom at the nursing home. This is a picture of her mom from Monday night at the party.


We left around 7am from Donna's on Wednesday and arrived back here in Springfield at 5pm. Stopped outside of KC for some dinner.

We worked on Thursday and Friday. Ran some errands on Saturday including grocery store. Enjoying relaxing and not doing much of anything right now.

Christmas with the Christensens

My family got together on Sunday, December 18th at my brother's house. Both my sisters and quite of few of my nieces and nephews were able to attend. The weather was beautiful. Sharon and I drove up to Des Moines on Saturday, Dec 17 and returned on Monday, Dec 19. The DM and KC areas were expecting ice/sleet/snow on Tuesday. We tried a different route up and enjoyed it immensely. The state highways were divided and we made better time than the trip down. Of course, we had the camper on the trip down.

It seems that every time we get together for Christmas we divide up into 2 teams for a game of trivial pursuit. This was a great and memorable year. My team beat my sister's Marcia team. Absolutely awesome. Everyone always likes being on my sister's team. She has a real knack for remembering obsolete information.

A couple of pictures from that day.

My great niece Jersey. Doesn't she look cute in her glasses.


My nephew Mike; my niece Mykie; and my sister Pam


My great nephew Ethan teaching my sister Marcia a new card game called 'trash'.


A few of us sitting around talking and nibbling on relishes and candy before eating dinner.

New Year's Day

Well, it's the first day of 2012. I've had several comments over the past two weeks about how I don't update this very regularly. So, as always at the beginning of the year, I'll try and do better each week.

We went to bed last night after seeing the ball drop in New York to be awakened by fireworks very close by and people cheering. So, I guess you can say we saw the New Year in.

I was disappointed that no Rose Parade today but tomorrow morning. I had scheduled my entire day around this parade. It's been a few years since I've seen it in its entirely. So guess laundry will have to wait until Tuesday. I'm definitely not missing this parade this year.

We had great time with families celebrating Christmas this year. I'll establish a separate blog for each trip north. Right now, Sharon's watching Green Bay. Sounds to me like they may be losing at the moment. She's not yelling as much as usual seems she's coming down with a cold: sore throat, stuffy nose, and slight head-ache. Hope I don't get it. At least we don't have to go anywhere or work until Thursday.

Every now and then I get a picture of Sharon sitting in "her" chair. Here's one. It's not today while watching the game but close enough. She has a sweatshirt on instead of a t-shirt but you 'get the picture'.

Bass Pro Shop

Couple weeks ago we spent the day at Bass Pro Shop. O.K. Most of the day. When we walked through the main doors, there was a small coffee shop; sitting area and fire place. We went down to the fishing/boating area first. I looked around some and took some pictures. Then went and sat beside the fireplace while Sharon continued to look around.
Fireplace and the acquarium on the way to the marine area.


Interesting lights/chandeliers in this store.



Not that this is a surprise but we then went to the shoe/boot section. Found a couple of shoes/boots on sale. Now, we needed a cart. Started getting hungry so we went to Hemingways (restaurant at BP). They had a wonderful buffet - Sharon could have all the catfish she wanted. They had great pasta, ham, and carved roast beef form me. :)

buffet area


You can't forget all of the "animal scenes" etc scattered around the store. By the way did I mention the restaurant is on the 4th floor.




Close this post with some pictures of the water areas and/or acquariums.

Sharon and the Frog & Various Other Events

Thought I'd start with a recent incident. Who knew that Sharon disliked frogs so much. Let's see spiders, mice, & other various birds & animals don't seem to upset her. But have a frog jump at her from the storage area under the camper and you definitely know that something aweful has happened. She was telling me about it since I was doing laundry at the time - so sorry - no pictures or video. I did ask her if she'd like to relive it so I can film it. Her answer - well, let's just say that there isn't a video for you to watch. Apparently she tried to get rid of it but it preferred to cling to the water hose; side of the camper; rags and whatever else it could attach to. I really would have liked to see how she was trying to remove it since she refused to touch it. Well, she got rid of it and filled in the hole - now mind you the hole is the access on the bottom that the water hose feeds up. Sorry, didn't get a shot of that either. She went out & checked a couple of days ago and no frog so all must be well.

We put up our bird feeder and have had lots of birds. Here's a few pictures.




The Jelly Belly On Tour stayed at our campground a couple of weeks ago. Here's a couple of pictures of their motor home & car. And, of course, we received a "few" packages of beans and gems.




We did make it to Wilsons Creek Battlefield. Will have a separate post about that. Big news in town this past week was the grand opening of the new Hy-Vee food store. Apparently, everyone was excited about it. For the first couple of days, they were shuttling people from another parking lot about 1 block away. Amazing, isn't it. We're still finding which store we like the best. Believe we've been to at least 4 different stores now. Have found a meat market. I can firmly attest that you don't want to buy any meat pre-packaged in the stores here. Oh MY!!

Well, Packers are doing better - Sharon's not quite so mad at them at the moment. Guess, I'll see what I should do next. I'll try & get around to posting about the battlefield in the next day or two.

Wilson Creek Battlefield

Realized that I didn't finish this post and publish it. So here goes. Started this post on 10/16.

Didn't have a chance to post last week. Went to the battlefield last Friday. The visitor center was interesting and we watched a short movie about the battle that took place here. The park is a drive through and has either an cd audio (you can buy) or a number that you can call on your cell phone and listen to the updates.
Visitor Center

Our first crossing of Wilson Creek


The only original house still standing after the battle. The family came out of the shelter and helped attend the wounded after the battle.


Just a couple of pictures of the various stops we made along the way. The leaves were just beginning to change color and the weather was absolutely gorgeous.



Decided we were hungry so went in search of a restaurant. The town of Republic wasn't very far away. Ate at this cafe called Ziggy's. First time in several years we were asked if we wanted the smoking or non-smoking section. Didn't think any of these were still left. Several older gentleman aka farmers came in for coffee and dessert in the afternoon.

Lazy Afternoon

Worked today from 8 - 2. Grilled a couple of steaks for "lupper". Sharon's watching Green Bay and I'm having a lazy afternoon. Decided to play on the computer for awhile and then thought, WOW, I should update the blog for the past couple of weeks. Work is going well. We're getting accustomed to the changes. Had yesterday off, so ran some errands: Walgreens (needed some scripts), UPS store (needed to return a couple of items purchased on-line), Springfield Visitor Center (pick up some Springfield guides - we were out in the store), Lowes (thinking about getting a space heater) and the grocery store. First, went to Walgreens - got those scripts picked up. The UPS store was close by so decided to do that next. Then, we decided to find the visitor center. Knew what street it was on. How hard could it be to find. Did we get out the GPS, no, should we have - probably. Finally found it. It was on the left side of the street. No problem - just go around the block. What - no block - so drove behind a couple of motels and found a side street. Actually not too bad, there was a stop light. O.K. - so we pulled into the driveway of the visitor center. Should have taken a picture - first a small tight curve, then parking spaces about the size of a vw bug. Got the truck parked. Then, to get out of the parking lot, another tight turn and then through a bank parking lot. My - oh my. Definitely not made for pick-ups, not even sure a SUV would have had an easy time. But - no dents - no tire smudges on the curbs either. So, then decided to drive north to see where that would take us. Thought about finding a Lowes. In all of the driving around we have done, have not found any type of home improvement store. O.k. - pulled into a very large McDonald's parking lot and got out the GPS. Found one. Let's just say it was probably 10 - 15 miles from where we were and about 5 miles from the Walgreens from where we started. Only 7 miles from the campground. :) Lowe's had some great potted mums. Picked up a yellow and yellow/orange.

Now, we're hungry - Sharon wants Chinese. So plugged in Chinese restaurants into the GPS. Problem is - can't tell if fast food type or restaurant style type. Dragon Inn II sounded interesting so said - take us there. It was very near Missouri State campus - and, of course, Missouri State was playing football at home yesterday (UNI). The restaurant was a tiny little building that was take out only. O.k. find another one. There was a Chinese Grand Buffet but decided we'd try something different. If this next one wasn't o.k. then off to the buffet. Guess what. Yep, you guessed it - back towards Lowe's we go. This restaurant was called the Lotus Restaurant. This was a buffet, also. Small family owned. We stayed. Food was very good and the place was clean. The whole meal was $6.49 each. We had tea and that was included. We kept saying at least we're learning our way around. Next stop - Walmart. Decided to get groceries there, also. By this time, we just wanted to get home. Had a great day, though. Last weekend, the camper got washed. This guy came to the campground to put out a flyer. He did an excellent job. Check out the pictures of the roof and the awning.

This week we have Thursday & Friday off. We're hoping to make it to Wilson's Creek Battlefield. There's quite a few places we'd like to visit while the weather is good. Some of the gardens, etc. close by the end of November. We found out that we get in for free at the Fantastic Caverns - so looking forward to that jeep/trolley ride. Health is still pretty good. Sharon's been having some back & leg aches - we're thinking from the changes in the chairs/store/etc. At least not as bad as when in Des Moines.