What Have We Been Doing These Past Few Months??

Well, I realize I have written anything in a few months. Not since we were headed to the Spartan Chassis class in Charlotte, MI.  All’s what I can say is “Where has the time gone? I’m going to do a quick summary of our trip home to Texas and what all happened in our 2018.

First off, the Spartan class was the best thing we could ever have done since we purchased our motorcoach.  If you ever consider a purchase of this type in the future, please consider it.  The Spartan folks are great, they fed you well and they gave us great gifts!  But mostly, they inspected the coach and found a few issues and fixed them – all warranty.  Ron got to talk underneath this thing and inspect it and learn it. We learned the proper start up procedure (which dealerships don’t teach you), they taught me how to drive it, and just overall provided a lot of knowledge to boost our confidence when driving.

Well we decided to skip out on the Friday class as our grandson Aiden was going to be showing chickens on Sunday at the Brazoria County Fair.  How could we miss that?  So Thursday afternoon we began the almost 1,400 trek home.  Now this kind of driving is sure easier to do in a motorcoach for sure!  We arrived at our winter home at Brazos Bend State Park late afternoon on Saturday.  We sure like this place as it is half-way between both our daughters, a great staff and a great group of winter volunteers, not to mention cool alligators, trails, deer, etc.

Somebody was glad to see us!

Proud of that ribbon!

And Aiden placed one of his pens of 3 chickens!  He made the sale too which is so awesome!  That afternoon we all met up over at Amy’s house to butcher all the remaining 40 something chickens.  It went smooth!  These are some really plump and I’m sure tasty birds. But glad to be done with this chore.

Aiden, his friend Ethan and his dad Mark holding chickens!

Ron and I are getting back into the routine here with our volunteer work.  There’s always something to do here.  So the other thing that happens when we’re home is all the yearly doctor appointments and tasks to get caught up on.  Two years I had a bad fall and really dislocated my left ankle. Earlier this year I decided to have an MRI on it as things just kept bothering me. There’s just too many trails to keep walking and hiking!  Long story short, I had surgery on it to fix a torn ligament and tendon.  The worse part is no weight bearing for 6 weeks.  This is my 5^th surgery on a foot so I know what that means…..6 weeks no weight bearing, then therapy, and slowly working your way back to normal, usually in about 3 months.  It was a good thing that Texas this fall and early winter has had a lot of cold and rainy days so it made staying inside the coach a little more bearable.  I hope to never need a knee scooter again though.

In mid November we, along with Ron’s 3 brothers and sisters-in-law planned a Janda family reunion and a surprise 90^th birthday for his mom.  It was held at his twin brother’s house. They just finished adding on to it and it was roomy and great.  The weather was beautiful.  Our son-in-law cooked briskets all night. Had some great potatoes and pinto beans. Lots of fun was had by all, and yes our Mom was surprised!  The first time in a very long time that she had all of her brothers and sisters together, along with grandkids and great grandkids.

Four generations of Koether's!  We're missing one niece, Kim.

There's the bbq pit!

Don, Rene', Larry, Lynn, Mike, Terry, Ron and me all propped up. Mom - Lillian

Great grandkids

Lillian and all of her siblings - Leo, Joanne, Dorothy and Arnold

Surprise!

Getting a pre-party pedicure!  LOL

Briskets getting seasoned and injected

The week of Thanksgiving we pulled out of the park and headed to Amy and James’ deer lease near Burnet, located across from Inks Lake.  We pulled the coach to Rockaway RV Park, on the shore of Inks Lake.  The weather was cool and beautiful.  We ate a wonderful, traditional Thanksgiving lunch. There was hunting and campfires, and just a lot of fun and visiting.  We don’t travel on the Sunday after Thanksgiving, so after everyone left we just took a ride around the area on some back roads we haven’t ever traveled on.  Pretty country up here.

Inks Lake

Blueberry french toast for breakfast!

Papaw and Lucy

Liz pretending to be a manicurist.

How much fun can you have in a motorcoach? And you'll notice our couch is gone - leaving at the deer lease. Getting recliners.

Somebody started a push up competition.

Ron has to show them up!

Love our Lucy!

Next thing you know, it’s Christmas!  We started the month off by going to my sorority Christmas party.  Even though I’m kinda inactive with them for the most part, I still get to interact with them.  It was a lot of fun seeing everyone!

Our window decorations

So the first full week of December, I have to go report for jury duty in Angleton (Brazoria County).  Well, as a full time RVer I could probably get out of it because basically I don’t live or reside there, I just get my mail there. But at the same time, I feel strong that should all share in this duty.  But at the same time, remember that in order for me to get anywhere at this particular time, I need crutches and a knee scooter. Surely they won’t pick me because it’s a huge hassle.  Wrong……  This was a very difficult trial for me as it involved children and an adult accused of sexual molestation.  But I survived.  Things and situations like this require a lot of prayer.

The middle of December I reached the 6 week point and was able to start taking physical therapy and walk and all that good stuff.  It’s not perfect yet, but it will get there!

The other thing that has taken a lot of my spare time was music – Christmas music!  The one that didn’t fit in our RV was my baby grand piano that I waited all my life for.  So I was able to fill in for the regular musicians during November and December and they gladly handed me the responsibility for planning a Christmas Eve Service, something I did before we hit the road.  I just had to find time to travel back and forth a few days to practice. Christmas songs can be some of the hardest!  And the Christmas Eve Service went quite well!

And the Brazos Bend State Park Christmas Party was lots of fun!  Heck all of the volunteers are fun to hang out with!

Mike sure likes our steak!

And Marva!

BBSP Christmas Party

Richard and his ugly sweater.

And Alden

Marva scoping out the Christmas gift swap party.

We had the Koether family Christmas gathering a few days before Christmas.  Not everyone was there, but we really enjoyed having family fun with those that made it.  On Christmas Day we worked with Ron’s mom and made a delicious Christmas Day meal!  It was very special!  So glad I had leftover dressing from Thanksgiving.

James getting those venison wraps ready!

Kids decorating Christmas cookies!

Aiden's favorite Christmas present!

We ended the year with a New Year’s Eve party with the other park hosts here at Brazos Bend, playing games and having a large time.  Of course it didn’t last until midnight!  But Ron and I made our campfire and got the Bose and our iPod with our favorite dancing tunes and danced outside the RV until midnight!  Made for a special night, especially since I have recuperated enough to do that!

So that’s my wrap for what has been a very good year, filled with enough challenges and trials for some of our family and balanced with the beauty of seeing and experiencing more of our beautiful country.

Our dancing patio

The first part of 2019 has brought a flood to Brazos Bend State Park from the Brazos River.

Big alligator!

Sunrise over flooded Big Creek

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Closing the park gave the game warden a chance to check duck blinds. And the birds weren't happy!

Fishing pier going under water at Hale Lake

Primitive campsites under water

And a beautiful wedding for our step granddaughter Courtney and her new husband Hunter.  We had a blast.

Love!

Me and Liz

A selfie of us girls!

Lucy and our bride Courtney

Aiden was so involved in being a ring bearer for his step sister.

James and Amy

Late night and up to no good!

Mr. and Mrs. Hunter Gann

Me and my girls!

Here’s what we’re looking forward to in 2019!  First thing will be a 14-day cruise out of Galveston that will take us down to the Panama Canal.  We’ve never cruised so this will be an experience!!!!  We’re then going to be volunteers once again at the Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park February through May. We just love the hill country springtime!  In May and June we will enjoy some good old relaxing Texas River and lake time before heading to North Carolina in July where we will be volunteers for 3 months at Mattamuskeet National Wildlife Refuge.  We’ve not had an opportunity to explore much of this area and we’ve never worked at a wildlife refuge. We’re excited!

Next up I will be sharing our experience on the Carnival Freedom!